Guest Star Kelduo: Justice from Afar

Chapters

Chapter 1: Strangely Familiar
Chapter 2: R.E.B.O.O.T.
Chapter 4: A Star of Hope Awakens
Chapter 5: Mama Mia!
Chapter 6: Saved by the Buck
Chapter 7: The Adventure Begins
Chapter 9: Not a Rotten Egg
Chapter 10: Party 'Til--Uh Oh!
Chapter 11: S.E.A.R.C.H.
Chapter 12: Your 1-Up Kid
Chapter 13: En Garde!
Chapter 14: Dedede Bash!
Chapter 16: The Aura is With Me
Chapter 17: A Royally Heartwarming Reunion
Chapter 18: R.E.R.O.U.T.E.
Chapter 19: Interference
Chapter 20: E.X.T.R.A.C.T.
Chapter 21: Wahoo!
Chapter 23: R.I.N.G.
Chapter 25: Enter the Sing Squad!
Chapter 26: Astral Confusion
Chapter 27: Breaking News...?
Chapter 28: An Old Friend
Chapter 29: En Garde Redux
Chapter 30: Status Unknown
Chapter 31: Revenge of the Meta Knightmare
Chapter 32: A Fine Tune
Chapter 33: R.O.C.K. O.N.
Chapter 34: The Harmony Analysis
Chapter 35: Your Success is in Another Castle
Chapter 36: Still Not a Rotten Egg
Chapter 37: A Remarkable Discovery
Chapter 38: First Day
Chapter 39: The Astral Transport Complication
Chapter 40: The Leaves of Blue
Chapter 41: My Element
Chapter 42: W.A.L.L.O.P.
Chapter 43: Under the Sea
Chapter 44: The Blizzard Gauntlet
Chapter 45: A Smashing Bash
Chapter 46: Luigi's Guide to Winning
Chapter 47: Sizing Up the Situation
Chapter 48: The Absorbent Monstrosity Showdown
Epilogue: The Satisfying Resolution
Prologue: Star Allies--Whoa!
Chapter 3: Peachy Pony Princesses~
Chapter 8: The Story Unfolds
Chapter 15: Justified Friendship
Chapter 22: Target Acquired

Chapter 1: Strangely Familiar

I slowly opened my eyes, and the world around me was a blur. There was, however, one thing that was clear: I was being bombarded by questions. "Who are you? Where are you from? Why are you here?"

My eyes adjusted, revealing a strange, crystal room. Not knowing where I was, I used my Magma Suit, which I used for the battle with Void Termina in outer space, to contact someone that might know my location. "Maxie, come in. Do you copy? Maxie? Helix? Susie? ROBORYGON?"

"Answer me! Wait, Roborygon?"

I jerked myself into a sitting position. "Sorry, I was a bit dazed from... whatever happened. Can you repeat the questions?"

"Okay, one more time. Who are you, where are you from, and why are you here?"

"My name's Pummel Fist, but you can call me Pummeler. I'm a human from Planet Earth, and I'm not sure how or why I got here." My helmet somewhat obscured my vision, so I took it off. I realized that I was staring at the equally surprised face of a purple unicorn/Pegasus hybrid.

"I thought humans looked different than... that. Are you sure you're a human?"

"100% sure. I just got turned into this creature by these two humans that sprayed a weird potion on me and my mother. It's actually pretty awesome to be able to turn into any Pokemon I have registered in my Pokedex. This specific species is Machop, which has the power to easily throw one hundred adult humans." Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Not that it matters. Right now, I'm about to return the volley. Did you see me end up here somehow, and did you see any other foreign creatures end up here?"

"She didn't, but I saw you fall out of the sky." I looked down and saw a little purple dragon. "I didn't see anything else, though."

My gears began to turn. "...Fall out of the sky? That's it! My friends and I had just blasted this monster known as Void Termina with the power of friendship, and we tried to escape the crumbling battlefield. We must have been knocked out by something, causing me to free-fall here. I hope the others are okay." I stopped to think about who I was talking to. "By any chance, who are you two?"

The unicorn/Pegasus replied, "I am Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship, and this is my assistant, Spike."

"Twilight Sparkle? Spike?" My eyes opened wide. "Does that mean I'm in the land of... Equestria?"

"Exactly."

"Oh, man! I can't wait to tell Amy and Kirby that I--"

Twilight shoved a hoof in my mouth. "Wait a minute. Did you just say Kirby?"

I nodded.

"The same Kirby that beat Hyness and Queen Chrysalis?"

I grinned. "I always knew Kirby could beat anyone. The pink puffball makes me so proud. Also, Void Termina was the one Hyness was trying to free from a dark heart called--"

"The Jamba Heart. Hyness had the nerve to tell my and my friends his evil plan. He called the one sealed within the Heart the Dark Lord. You said you beat Void Termina, who's apparently the Dark Lord. Was Kirby with you?"

"But of course! We worked together with all our friends to beat the Dark Lord. It truly was a sight to behold."

Twilight got out a feather pen and paper. "Who were the friends that helped you?"

"They come from multiple dimensions. First, from Pop Star, we have Kirby; King Dedede, the self-proclaimed ruler of Dream Land; Meta Knight, who watches over and protects Dream Land; and Bandana Waddle Dee, King Dedede's most faithful Waddle Dee servant and highest soldier in his army.

"Then we have the heroes from the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario and Luigi are human plumbers who were accidentally transported from Earth to said Kingdom after stumbling upon a warp zone. Princess Peach resides in the kingdom as its ruler. Paper Mario came to the Mushroom Kingdom after Luigi encountered a book holding his own paper kingdom.

"After that are the heroes from Mobius. Sonic is a blue hedgehog with the ability to break the sound barrier with his running speed. His best friend is Tails, a yellow fox with two of his namesake and a knack for fixing things. And Amy is a pink hedgehog who is in love with Sonic.

"Finally, we have me, my mom, and Helix, the former two of which have discovered another world that contains these creatures called Pokemon. Helix was corrupted by his past, so he vented by battling me using the same potion that turned me and my mom into Pokemon. My best friend is Keldeo, a unicorn Pokemon who fights for justice. My mother has befriended a Pokemon called Meloetta, who's the master of music."

"I actually met Meloetta. She seemed to be friends with Kirby and this gray floating thing called Roborygon."

I smiled. "Roborygon was built by my Pikachu, PhD, to assist me and my friends. He's one of the smartest allies I know. The last one with me when we beat Void Termina is Lucario, a Pokemon that can read minds and see things without his eyes due to his Aura powers."

After Twilight finished viciously scribbling on her paper, she said, "Celestia would love to meet Kirby's friends! She must know about your coming here. Spike, take a letter."

Author's Note

Next, we'll see how a robot is doing.

Chapter 2: R.E.B.O.O.T.

Recalibrating... Activating auditory sensors...

"Hello? Are you okay?" Unknown male voice detected. Activating visual sensors... Identifying speaker... Wing shells+long beetle-like antlers=Species: Changeling. Traits: Taller than normal changeling, green skin, purple eyes. Conclusion: Speaker is Thorax, ruler of the Changeling Kingdom. Mood: Concern.

Engaging appropriate response: "I am okay, changeling."

"I'm so glad you're okay. Pharynx saw you fall out of the sky. What happened?"

Activating memory banks... "I recall my friends and I defeating a monster of destruction before escaping the collapsing battlefield. I must have been struck by debris, causing me to crash-land here. Have you noticed any other creatures falling out of the sky?"

"Nah, just you." Deeper male voice detected. Shifting view to left... Tall, dark changeling detected. Identity: Pharynx. "By the way, I took care of your crooked horn for you."

Activating self-evaluation... Antenna: 100% repaired. All other systems: No damage done. Initiating gratitude: "Thank you very much, Pharynx. My name is Roborygon Mk. Z, but you can simply call me Roborygon."

"Wait, Roborygon's back in Equestria?" Unknown female voice detected. Young, light blue changeling with red wings detected coming from afar. Current mood: Shy. Identity: Ocellus. I had almost forgotten about her after our adventures in TV Equestria! "Oh, it really is Roborygon! Excuse me, but, um, why are you back here?"

Thorax responded, saving me an explanation. "Truth is, he was the thing that fell out of the sky. I'm sorry the sound of him crashing scared you away."

"It's okay. I'm just happy that he's back. After all, he helped defeat our evil queen and a wizard."

Compliment accepted. "It's what my friends and I do. We travel the universe, taking down evil where we go. By any chance, Thorax, might this young changeling be Ocellus?"

"Yeah. She's pretty shy, but she seems to kind of like you."

"That's because he disguised himself as a pony to blend in, like I do. He's pretty good at it too."

Initiating reasoning for my actions: "I only blended in because Equestrians had never seen anything like me before. I was certain that they would fear me, and I wanted to get along with them."

Green cloud of smoke detected. Direction of travel: Northeast. Origin likely Spike sending a letter, which is now normally sent in case of unusual circumstances such as foreign creature sightings. Engaging magnetic levitation. "I would be happy to stay and get to know Ocellus, but I believe I should go in search of my friends. Until we meet again, farewell!" Objective: Locate friends.

Author's Note

After that, we'll meet a trio of princesses.

Chapter 4: A Star of Hope Awakens

I woke to a friendly voice saying, "You poor thing! Are you okay?"

I opened my tired eyes and saw what appeared to be a pink alicorn. I jumped out of her hooves and had a look around. I couldn't believe it. I was in the Crystal Empire! With a big ol' smile, I replied, "Poyo!"

The alicorn returned the smile. "I'll take that as a yes. I was so afraid that you got really hurt after that nasty fall. Come on, little guy, I'll take you somewhere that you can rest. You'll be able to meet my little Flurry Heart."

Flurry Heart? I couldn't wait to meet the little alicorn! I quickly followed--Rumble! Rumble! Whew, beating a world-destroying Dark Lord can work up an appetite! I rubbed my poor belly who didn't have any food to party inside it.

"Oh, you must be really hungry! I'll get you something to eat." Wow, that alicorn was so nice! I didn't know anypony who was so caring and kind and loving--wait, loving?

"Cadance?"

The alicorn gasped. "Y-you just said my name. How did you know?"

I can't talk really well, so I just said, "Here before!"

"You've been to Equestria before? That's really neat!" How did she not know?

Anyway, Cadance took me to a long table, where she set out some food. "Here you go. Eat as much as you need."

I ate one of the crystal berries, and it was just as delicious as I expected it to be. I stepped back and prepared to leave Cadance speechless: I opened my mouth super wide and sucked all the rest of the berries laid out right into my belly.

After pulling herself back together, Cadance said, "You must be really hungry! I hope you've got room for dessert!" Oh man, dessert is the best meal of the day! ...After breakfast, an after-breakfast snack, lunch, an after-lunch snack, and dinner, of course.

I watched as she put a platter in front of me, drooling on the inside. That is, until she removed the lid. Pie. Why did it have to be pie? I took a step backwards, cowering in fear.

Cadance was confused. "What's wrong with the pie? Do I have the flavor wrong?"

She didn't know about my encounter with that awful pie-making beast. "No, bad memories!"

"The pie brought back bad memories? You must have eaten an incredibly awful pie to be scared of pies!" Yeah, the monster's pies were awful. No wonder it was called Belly Buster! "I know how to get your mind off of that. Come with me, and I'll introduce you to Flurry Heart!"

We went into a smaller room, where a white unicorn stallion was playing with a baby alicorn. He turned and saw me. "Oh, it's you! What brought you back to Equestria, Kirby?"

Cadance asked, "Kirby? Is that his name?"

"Don't you know about his acts of heroism? He saved Equestria from a foreign enemy. I'll tell you about it later."

"I see. Anyway, I wanted to introduce Kirby to Flurry Heart."

I walked over to the little tyke and waved. "Hiiiii!"

Flurry Heart giggled and cooed at me.

Before I could have more fun with Flurry, a Pegasus in armor came. "Princess, Celestia and Luna want any foreign creatures that seem to know--" He then saw me, and he froze. "It's Kirby, our savior!" The Pegasus knelt before me before saying, "O Kirby of the Stars, it is an honor to be in your presence! I have a request from the princesses: Any creature from another world who knows you is to come to their castle, as well as you. Shall we go, intergalactic hero?"

I jumped on his back with a smile. "Yeah!"

As we left, I tossed a Friend Heart down to Cadance, who was waving at me, as a memento of our first meeting. While I was thinking about the Friend Heart, I began to wonder about my friends. What had happened to them? I hoped they didn't run into any trouble...

Author's Note

Did you get the reference to a certain Nick Jr. television show, or the one to the anime? Try to guess the show!

Time to meet the poor soul who rescued the spooks from a fiendish ghoul's curse.

Chapter 5: Mama Mia!

I rubbed my eyes as I sat up, and the first thing I heard was the last thing I wanted to hear hear besides a Boo.

ROAR!

"Aiiiiieeeeee!" I ran away on instinct, trying to get as far--Thunk!

This time, when I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by all kinds of animals: birds, squirrels, a bunny, and--a BEAR! The same one from earlier!

"Please don't eat me!" I pled.

But the bear didn't lunge or anything. What was going on? Was it waiting for the right time or something? I was freaking out!

Suddenly, a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane walked into the... cottage, I think. "Sorry I'm late. I had to take a--oh, you're awake."

I asked, "Where am I? What's going on?"

"My animal friends saw you fall out of the sky and warned me. Harry tried to wake you up, but he must have scared you away into a tree's path when he roared at you." The bear gave me a remorseful look. "That's Harry. My name is Fluttershy, and this is my cottage. Who are you?"

"I'm-a Luigi, and I'm from the Mushroom Kingdom. Did you see anyone that looks like me, but wearing red? He's my brother, Mario."

"Actually, I just finished taking a red paper thing to get treated for poison joke. I couldn't tell what it was, because it was all crumpled up."

"That must have been Paper Mario! But what was that about poison joke? Never heard of it."

"Poison joke is a blue leaf that causes really strange side effects to those who touch it. Maybe it was what caused Paper Mario to crumple up. He'd know about it if he was from Ponyville, or just overall Equestria. Where is he from?"

I reached into my overalls and pulled out a big book with a Mushroom on the front cover. "Paper Mario is from this book I found that holds an entire paper Mushroom Kingdom. It's weird, I know."

"I've seen weirder..." I couldn't hold back my surprise and fear as the following happened: A paintbrush appeared and painted a really, really weird creature that looked like a baby drew it. The creature came to life and put the paintbrush inside a top hat that appeared out of nowhere. Finally, it then pulled a friend of mine out of that same hat. "...like this."

Said friend, Roborygon, retorted, "Said the lord of chaos, who also happens to be a draconequus, to the being who, along with his allies from other dimensions, brought down a monster that looked like one of the friends."

"Touche."

Fluttershy said, "Luigi, meet Discord. He used to be bad, but my friends and I reformed him. Who's that gray thing with the purple eyes?" i was about to answer, but she stopped me. "Wait! Didn't he work with this pink thing named Kirby and his friends to defeat Hyness and Queen Chrysalis?"

I exclaimed, "No way! They actually did that!?"

Roborygon replied, "We most certainly did! I was going to tell you guys after defeating Void Termina, but now that we got launched here after some debris hit us, I'd better wait to tell everyone until we regroup at Canterlot Castle, where the sun and moon princesses reside. Fluttershy, please escort Luigi there while Discord and I search for our other friends."

Fluttershy said, "Okay, Roborygon. We'll do that."

As we went towards a small town, Discord and Roborygon took off on... a red doghouse that can fly? With Discord wearing Roborygon as an aviator cap? I wondered if they'll have any luck with finding the rest of my friends...

Chapter 6: Saved by the Buck

Author's Note

Next comes a very close friend of Kirby, followed by a master of melodies in the chapter after this.

Chapter 6: Saved by the Buck

When I woke up, something must have hurt my eyes. Either that or I was in a super dark room, because everything was black. At least, until something pulled me by the foot. I was half-buried in the ground, with my feet sticking out! I could tell because of the small hole in the ground.

"Are ya alright?" I heard a female voice say with a Southern accent.

I was about to answer, but we heard someone groan. I looked around and saw Heart Fist, Pummel Fist's mother, flat on her back under a tree. When she tried to sit up--thunk!--an apple fell from the tree and hit her right on the head, knocking her out cold. "No, Heart Fist!" I hurried over to check on her, and I found something stuck in the tree's trunk. My spear! I pulled it out and dusted it off. "What's the big idea?"

"Well, I just saved ya from that spear that was fallin' straight towards yer hindquarters by bucking it clear into that there tree." The voice belonged to an orange pony with a light mane and a brown stetson. I didn't question it, because my friends and I had went through a lot of crazy stuff. As of this point in time, it's normal to us. "Ah'm guessin' ya know that critter?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Her name's Heart Fist, and I'm Bandana Waddle Dee. You can just call me Bandana Dee for short. We fought together with our friends in order to defeat this Dark Lord who destroys worlds."

"Dark Lord? By any chance, are ya talkin' about the same Dark Lord that this weird thing named Hyness tried to summon?"

I jumped back in surprise. "How do you know about Hyness?"

"Simple: He was warped here somehow alongside Kirby and his friends..." That grabbed my attention big time. Kirby was here too? "...and that's how we all whooped his hiney real hard! I bet nothin' looked weirder than his face... besides Discord, of course. I mean, he's got weird blue and yellow horn things, crazy eyes that look in different directions, and a HUGE honker!"

My eyes sparkled with amazement by the fact that Kirby and the ponies took down both Hyness and the bad guy he worked with. "I know Kirby. He's the strongest guy I know! You should've seen him team up with us and our friends! The only thing is... I don't remember what happened after we beat Void Termina, except for a piece of debris."

"Well, Ah can tell ya Ah saw ya and Heart fallin' right outta the sky and into Sweet Apple Acres. You fell straight into the ground while Heart fell into an apple tree. That was when I saved ya from that spear, but the spear must've knocked Heart outta the tree, as well as an apple. I sure am sorry about the apple landin' on her."

"It's no big deal. She should wake up after a while. Also, thanks for saving me from my own spear. It was an honor to be rescued by Applejack herself."

"Well, that's what friends do," the pony, Applejack, replied. "Y'all must be friends with Kirby, Ah reckon?"

"I'm his best friend and King Dedede's most faithful servant."

"From Pop Star?"

"That's right. You should come there sometime. Pop Star is home to a talking apple tree!"

"Maybe if Ah ever get the chance, Ah might come over to Pop Star and check it out. But right now--"

Suddenly, a Pegasus in armor came. "Young bandana-wearing creature, do you know of Kirby?"

I replied, "I certainly do, sir, and so does Heart Fist over there. We worked together with our friends to defeat Void Termina, the Dark Lord."

"That is all I need to know. I request that you and Heart Fist come with me to the princesses' castle. They would like to speak with those who know Kirby."

"Okay, sir." I picked up the unconscious Heart with some effort and put her on the back of the Pegasus, and we set off. "Goodbye, Applejack! See you later!"

"Ah'm lookin' forward to it, li'l guy!"

Chapter 7: The Adventure Begins

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 9: Not a Rotten Egg

"I should've won! I know Ponyville the best!"

"They don't call me the fastest thing alive for nothing! Besides, you weren't the one whose team just destroyed a destroyer of worlds and narrowly escaped the crumbling battlefield."

"Wait, what?"

Here's the deal: I just finished up a 10-lap race around Ponyville against a rainbow-maned Pegasus. Turns out she challenged me after I fell through her cloud home. Also turns out I won.

I held out my hand. "The name's Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."

The Pegasus shook my hand with her wing. "Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in all of Equestria. My friends and I have taken down tons of bad guys, including King Sombra, Lord Tirek, Nightmare Moon, and Queen Chrysalis. Get this: Just a couple days ago, this pink thing named Kirby and his friends were accidentally teleported here to Equestria, as well as this robed dude named Hyness. Hyness teamed up with Chrysalis to beat us and Kirby's team up, but we took both of them down big time."

"Kirby? The same one that eats stuff to gain powers and tried to stop Hyness from reviving a Dark Lord of some sort?"

"Yeah, do you know him?"

"We worked together to take down said Dark Lord and escaped the battlefield, but something knocked us out. You really should've seen us blast him with a giant laser beam of friendship, followed by all our friends charging at him and blowing him up!"

"Aw, you're ripping me and my friends off!"

"How so?"

"Well, for the Lord Tirek battle, we unlocked the Chest of Harmony and got access to this cool Rainbow Power and shot him so hard we blasted the magic he had stolen out of him and gave it back to all the unicorns and other magic users! We looked so awesome!"

"I'm sure you did! Truth is, I can get an awesome Super form by collecting every one of the seven Chaos Emeralds and harnessing their power!"

"That's sweet! Anyway, are there any other cool bad guys you and your friends fought?"

"You bet! There's my evil counterpart, Shadow, the water monster Chaos, and the Deadly Six, a group of monsters, just to name a few. But the baddie my friends and I fight and beat the most keeps trying to rule the world or something using his mechanical creations: Dr. Eggman."

Rainbow snickered at the mention of ol' Egghead. "Dr. Eggman? I'd think a dude with a name like that would be rivals with Twilight Sparkle. She's a real egghead if you ask me. But seriously, is Eggman his real name?"

"Nah, his real name is Robotnik, but everyone calls him Eggman. It's way funnier and easier for me to insult."

Rainbow snickered even more. "Smart move, Sonic, calling him Eggman just to insult him. Oh, hang on a minute." Rainbow flew up high and listened to something very hard. "Twilight needs every foreign creature that knows Kirby to go to the castle of the princesses. Come on, follow me!"

And just like that, we were gone.

We reached Twilight just in time; she was about to board a train, with a young purple dragon and my pal Pummel Fist in tow.

Pummel said, "Hey, Sonic! Glad you could make it. You heard that the princesses need all who know Kirby to come to their castle?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"Good. Introductions later. Right now, we have to catch the train. We just need to reel it in!" Pummel high-fived the dragon while Twilight did this: :facehoof:

Before we could board the train, we heard rapid hoofsteps. "Hold on there! We're headin' to Canterlot Castle too!" An orange pony with a cowboy hat came, with Heart Fist unconscious on her back.

"You're just in time. We're about to set off!"

As the train began to roll, however, we heard some panicked shouts. We looked out the caboose and saw Meloetta, Luigi, and Paper Mario, accompanied by some ponies, trying to catch up. With my super speed, they were inside the train in a snap. "Hope we didn't miss anyone."

Pummel paused. "...We did, didn't we?" Yep.

Luigi replied, "Whoever we didn't get, Discord and Roborygon will."

Author's Note

There's a reason this chapter took place after the race: Sonic and Rainbow Dash are just that fast. :rainbowdetermined2:

Next, we'll meet the blue blur's self-proclaimed girlfriend, Amy Rose.

Chapter 10: Party 'Til--Uh Oh!

Ka-BOOM! That was the first thing I heard when I woke up. "SURPRISE!" That was the second. The first thing I saw, on the other hand, was a pink pony with a hot pink mane. I put the pieces together and quickly figured out where I was and what made the sound.

"What's the occasion, Pinkie Pie?" I asked.

"You're the occasion, Amy! I'm throwing a crash-into-Ponyville party for you! It isn't every day that a pink hedgehog crashes into Ponyville! I mean, just a couple days ago a pink ball crashed into Ponyville and I threw a party for it, but he wasn't a hedgehog."

"Pink ball? By any chance, was it named Kirby?"

"You bet it was! It was about this tall, had red feet, and had a HUGE appetite! Why do you ask? Do you know it?"

"Yeah, I'm friends with him. We fought alongside our friends--"

"--and beat a Dark Lord of some sort that destroys worlds even though you guys didn't let it because you blasted it with a friendship laser to defeat it and escaped the crumbling battlefield but ended up in Equestria somehow?" That's Pinkie Pie logic for you, crazy but always correct. "Did you know that Kirby actually helped us beat Queen Chrysalis and this thing named Hyness while he and his friends were here? It was awesome!"

"That's great! I think this calls for a party! Unless you already celebrated with a party, then this'll be an after-party!"

"You read my mind! Let's party!" Without further ado, the party began.

Pinkie Pie seemed to know just what to prepare for me, because she had a pinata for me to hammer open, stuff to cook, and of course, lots of pink. There was just one thing missing... I called Sonic on my communicator, but he immediately said, "Can't talk now, Amy. I'm in the middle of a race, and I'm in the lead!" Oh well, I guessed I'd just have to go on without him, but Pinkie quickly lifted my mood with her antics. You keep doing you, Element of Laughter!

We partied on until Sonic called back. "Amy, where are you? We need to regroup at Canterlot Castle, where the princesses have summoned us to!"

"Canterlot Castle? I'll be right there. I just have to say goodbye to Pinkie Pie."

I went outside after hanging up, where Pinkie showed me a huge party cannon. "Say hello to Big Bertha! Get in, I'll shoot you there!" I distinctively remembered from the movie that it's both safe and fun to be shot out of a party cannon, especially a huge one, so I got in. "Ready, aim... FIRE!"

Author's Note

After Amy, we're checking in on Discord and Roborygon. By the way, all chapters with titles in the form of codenames (like R.E.B.O.O.T., notice the periods separating the letters) will always be from Roborygon's point of view.

Chapter 11: S.E.A.R.C.H.

Pilot's log #--

I don't want to interrupt your interior monologue, but I'm the pilot. You're just telling me where to go!

My apologies, Pilot Discord. Navigator's log #1.1: The World War I Flying Aces are on the hunt in the Sopwith Camel for their colleagues. So far, there hasn't been any luck.

"Over there! I spy, with my little eye, a yellow, two-tailed fox!"

"As do I, Discord. He seems to be unconscious. Shall we wake him up?"

"Of course! What should we do?"

"Make a rat-a-tat-a-tat sound, but be careful not to blast him or the Earth pony, Pegasus, or unicorn around him, collectively known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

"You thought I didn't know that?"

"No, I was telling the audience who they were."

"You idiot! The camera's not rolling now, so you can't break the fourth wall!"

"Television isn't the only type of media, Discord."

"...Oh. Ohhhhhhh. I get it."

"So... you going to rat-a-tat-a-tat?"

"Oh, right!" RAT-A-TAT-A-TAT!

"I'm awake!" Just as I expected. I was surprised that Tails didn't utter a Waking Non-Sequitur, though. "Uh... where am I? What's going on?"

I quickly constructed a response: "You are in front of the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse. The ponies around you are said Crusaders. As for what's going on, we annihilated the world-destroying Void Termina, but we were struck by debris as we escaped, causing a majority of us to land in Equestria."

Tails gave me a confused look. "Right... So what should I do?"

I attached myself to the Sopwith Camel and lowered myself. "Hop on. All creatures foreign to Equestria that know Kirby are to meet at Canterlot Castle."

"Thanks." Tails contacted Sonic using his communicator. "Sonic, I'm on my way to Canterlot Castle."

"Great, see you there!"

After Tails hopped on, the Flying Aces continued their search. "Who's next?" asked Tails.

I replied, "I'll attempt to locate Helix using his Rotom Pokedex. ...It's no use. His Rotom Dex is offline. We'll have to do this old-school. I suggest the School of Friendship. A scholar like Helix is bound to be there."

Sure enough, the human-turned-Pokemon Helix was there. Unfortunately, he was bound in red, glowing chains while being watched closely by a menacing, light gray unicorn stallion.

I told Discord, "Ready to have some fun?"

"Always!"

"Then grab my tail and aim me at the dark green and black owl creature." Discord did so, and I transformed into a grappling hook. "Fire the Hookshot!"

I launched towards Helix and latched onto him. "I'll take care of him, Chancellor Neighsay." I raised back up and released Helix on the Sopwith Camel. "Discord, will you do the honors?"

"Certainly." Discord snapped his fingers, and a pony skeleton shaped like a key appeared. He inserted it into the lock and turned it counterclockwise, freeing Helix.

Helix looked first at the Sopwith Camel, then at Discord. "Snoopy called; he wants his plane back."

Author's Note

Not everyone hates Discord's jokes, but you bet Discord loved Helix's joke!

Now we'll meet Mr. Video Game himself.

Chapter 12: Your 1-Up Kid

🎵 🎵 🎵 "Yes! It worked! Mom, you've gotta see this!" Whirrrrrrrrl!

Wahoo! I felt like a new bro! ...Where was I? There's ponies everywhere! Was this a dream? No, it couldn't have been. That battle and the resulting explosion couldn't have sent me straight back to Pop Star.

This little brown colt with a propeller beanie (Cappy told me that was the kind of hat) rushed over to me from inside a nearby house, his propeller spinning wildly. "Look mom! It's really him! And I healed him with one of his green mushrooms!" No wonder I felt amazing. The little guy somehow knew to feed me one of my 1-Up Mushrooms!

An older, lighter-colored mare came outside, and she seemed pretty calm. "At this point, I'm not all that surprised that Mare-io is here." Mare-io? I guess that's how they pronounce Mario in this place. "After all, that pink ball with the big appetite somehow got here a couple days ago and saved Equestria from that shapeshifter and the wizard."

I asked, "Pink ball? Do you mean Kirby, the same Kirby that my friends and I teamed up with to defeat Void Termina, the Dark Lord?"

The little colt replied, "The very--wait, you teamed up with Kirbay to defeat the Dark Lord?! The one from Kirbay's Stellar Friends?! No way!"

"Yeah, but I don't remember much after we escaped the battlefield, except for a big chunk of something. After that, I just woke up here. Thanks for reviving me, little guy!"

"No problem! My name's Button Mash!"

The mare said, "My name is Cream Heart, and I'm Button's mother."

I shook each of their hooves. "Nice to meet you two. By any chance, do either of you know if Planet Pop Star is near this planet? I'd like to at least get there."

Button replied, "Sorry, but I have no idea if Pop Star is anywhere near Equestria. I thought it was just imaginary because it's from a video game."

Cream Heart added, "I agree with Button Mash. We don't know about where Pop Star is, but maybe somepony else can help you get home. May I suggest going to Canterlot to speak with the princesses?"

I smiled. "That sounds like a good idea, Cream Heart. But I don't know where Canterlot even is."

"I can take you, sir." An armored Pegasus came to us. "By any chance, might you know of this Kirby?"

"Of course I do. Do you need him for something?"

"The princesses need all foreign creatures who know Kirby to meet at their castle. Get on."

"Okie dokie. Let's-a go!"

Not too far away, a pink pony was surprised. "Spontaneous front left hoof stomp? That's new. Maybe somepony said something I often say."

Author's Note

The thing Pinkie Pie says often: "Okie dokie lokie!" I made up the spontaneous-front-left-hoof-stomp Pinkie Sense phenomenon.

Chapter 13: En Garde!

I stood steadfast as I continued to swing my sword at the blue dragon before me, who had challenged me to a battle after I crash-landed in a most appropriate area: the Dragon Lands.

"Listen, invader," the dragon menaced. "I will not let you go unscathed. This is dragon territory!"

I parried the dragon's claws once again. "You know not who I am. *grunts* My colleagues and I have fought and defeated many villainous monsters, such as *grunts* a possessed alien, a reincarnated insect queen, *grunts* and most recently, Void Termina, the destroyer of worlds."

The dragon flinched at the mention of Void Termina, allowing me to deliver a Shuttle Loop directly into its gut. "Void Termina? Do you speak of the Dark Lord that an evil wizard known as Hyness vowed to revive?"

I dodged a blast of fire breath. "The very same. I heard that one of my colleagues, the pink hero Kirby, had defeated Hyness. Together, we worked with our friends and brought down the Dark Lord!"

The dragon chuckled as it dodged my Piercing Slash. "Kirby, huh? Smolder told me about him. If you're as close to him as I would expect you to be, then you must be quite strong."

"Yes. I am Meta Knight, Star Warrior!" I dodged another flame as I unleashed Knight Spin.

"How appropriate. We're having a warrior-versus-dragon battle: Star Warrior Meta Knight versus Dragon Lord Ember!" I knew her voice and appearance sounded familiar. Ember grabbed her staff and fired a beam at me, but I retaliated with Galactic Counter, disappearing before reappearing near her and striking hard. Afterwards, I spun with enough speed to create a Mach Tornado. "Take this!" Ember struck me directly with her staff, knocking me out of the tornado.

I got up, but something terrible happened. All who know me well enough should know what happened next. If you don't, however, I suppose I have no choice but to tell you: My mask broke in two, revealing my face to Ember and the crowd of dragons that had come to watch. All the dragons laughed at me, except for Ember, who was staring at me in complete shock. "So... you really are that close to Kirby."

I used my Dimensional Cape to put some distance between me and the dragons. Once I was far enough away, I flew off, only to be picked up by some of my partners and a creature not unlike Marx's soul form, flying a red doghouse.

"Here, let me help with that." The creature somehow sewed my mask back together so I could wear it again.

I shot daggers at him before sighing. I reluctantly said, "Thank you, Discord."

Chapter 14: Dedede Bash!

"Hey! What fat penguin doing in Yakyakistan?!"

That woke me up faster than the smell of a king-sized feast. "Who ya callin' fat? My name's King Dedede, and I'm the ruler of Dream Land!"

"Yak Prince Rutherford want know why fat penguin in Yakyakistan!" If anything, it was the yak that was fat, not me. What a hypocrite, that yak.

"Listen, all I know is that my buds and I beat up a world-destroyin' monster and escaped the battlefield, and I woke up here! I ain't got no idea how I got here, so it ain't any of yer business!"

"Yak choose what yak's business! Fat penguin yak's business!"

"Whaddaya want me ta do then, scram?"

The yak, who I guessed was Prince Rutherford, stomped his hoof. "No! Fat penguin not go anywhere!"

I pulled out my hammer. "Are ya challengin' me to a fight?"

"Yes, fight!"

I gripped my hammer real good. "It's clobberin' time!" Eat yer heart out, Thing!

"Yak smash!" Rutherford started the match just how I expected him to: charge! I easily knocked him away with a sweet Giant Dedede Swing. After he got back on his hooves, he came at me again. As he got near, though, he raised his front hooves in the air, which meant he was gonna stomp me. I tripped him up with a well-timed Head Slide. While he was down, I hammered him over and over again.

"Fat penguin strong, but not as strong as yak!" The yak bucked me off and kicked me right in the belly. Even if I was fat, there's an advantage with that: shock absorption.

"I'm just gettin' started!" As the prince charged at me again, I held my hammer behind my head, charging for some awesomeness. Closer, closer... "Take this!" Ooh, that had to hurt! A Hammer Flip right to the chin! Must've felt like gettin' uppercut by a Machamp!

Prince Rutherford got up again, but he grinned. "Ha ha! Dream Land sound weak, so yak thought fat penguin weak. Yak wrong, fat penguin way strong! Yak want fight again sometime!"

I smiled. "I'd fight ya anytime, Prince!"

Suddenly, I saw a weird flyin' doghouse comin' towards me. I was able to spy some of my friends on it. Meta Knight said, "Come with us. We must go to a place known as Canterlot Castle."

"Thanks for comin' ta pick me up!" I did my Super Dedede Jump to get on, but I think it couldn't take another passenger. I groaned, "Ah, fine. I'll follow you guys there."

Author's Note

Next, we're meeting the best Pokemon of all (in my opinion)! Go ahead and disagree with me, but since he's a unicorn, I'm sure that Keldeo will appeal to at least one reader.

Chapter 16: The Aura is With Me

Many beings may scoff at the ability to foresee things and see without using one's eyes. They say it's boring and useless. In my case, however, it is very useful. I used my skills to avoid the debris that threatened the Star Allies, but there is always the unavoidable. In this particular scenario, I was caught between the unconscious Star Allies and some debris. I didn't want to harm my friends, so rather than use Bone Rush to clear a path, I took the hit from the debris and let my consciousness escape me.

So, this was where I had landed: in front of the zebra Zecora's home. I sensed Zecora's aura in front of me. It was disturbed, confused. "Strange creature, why are you here? Are you one which I am to fear?"

I replied after my eyes fully adjusted, "Be at ease, Zecora. My friends and I have been separated due to being struck by debris, whose origin is us defeating this destroyer of worlds. My name is Lucario, and I come in peace to this land. I trust you know of this pink creature known as Kirby?"

"I saw his team beat Queen Chrysalis, who had worked with this Hyness." Zecora smiled. "Kirby is a hero, I can easily say, and I truly wish in this world he could stay."

I smiled back. "So it is true. He and his friends did conquer Chrysalis and Hyness. He is among the heroes I worked with to defeat the world destroyer, Void Termina. I am actually one of his closest friends, for I have helped him communicate with others. You see, he is young and not a very good talker, so I have chosen to translate his thoughts into words. After all, I can read minds and see my surroundings using my Aura abilities. By any chance, have you seen any other strange creatures fall out of the sky? They might have been some of my friends."

"I most certainly have, Lucario. A paper thing fell, unaware of the poison joke below."

I gasped, "That must have been Paper Mario. How did the poison joke affect him?"

"It crumpled him up, but there is more. Fluttershy brought him somewhere to restore."

My Aura detected something far away. "My colleagues... they are traveling to Canterlot Castle to meet the princesses. I must join them, so farewell, Zecora."

"Farewell, Lucario, to you too. Just be wary of the leaves of blue. Also watch out for the various beasts, or else on you they might feast."

I turned towards Zecora and nodded. "Do not worry about me, for my Aura will protect me from the unknown. As for you... the Aura, may it be with you always." None of my surroundings are ever unknown due to my Aura. The Aura is strong with this one.

Navigator's log #1.2: The final ally has been located, and he is already on his way to the destination. Mission complete. Next objective: Rendezvous at Canterlot Castle.

Author's Note

After this, we're back to Pummel Fist's point of view.

Chapter 17: A Royally Heartwarming Reunion

Author's Note

WARNING! SPOILERS ABOUND!

Chapter 17: A Royally Heartwarming Reunion

We will arrive at Canterlot in approximately five minutes.

"She's still out cold," I said. "What do we do?"

"Maybe this will work." Luigi pulled out a 1-Up Mushroom and fed it to my mother. 🎵 🎵 🎵

Heart Fist opened her eyes, slowly. "...Huh? Where am I? What's going on?!"

I explained, "Remember beating up Void Termina?"

"Yeah?"

"And escaping the battlefield?"

"Kind of, but I don't know what happened after that."

"Well, we couldn't escape the debris, so we must have gotten knocked all the way here, to the mystical land of Equestria."

"Ya fell right into one of mah apple trees," said Applejack, "and ol' Bandana Dee's spear hit it, knockin' ya outta there as well as a poorly placed apple. Hit ya smack on the head."

"I'm pretty sure this isn't a dream, so I'll try to prove it." I rubbed a Silk Scarf between my hands before poking Heart Fist.

Bzzt! "Ow! Okay, this isn't a dream."

I turned to the ponies. "Everypony--and Spike--meet my mother, Heart Fist."

"Nice to meet you, Heart Fist. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am the princess of friendship."

"What's up? I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in Equestria!"

"Howdy, mah name's Applejack."

"My name's Fluttershy."

"I am Rarity."

"And I'm Spike."

We have arrived at Canterlot.

I exclaimed, "Here's our stop, Mom. Let's go." As we got off the train and headed for the castle, I filled Heart in on what was going on.

"But why those who know Kirby?"

Meloetta told her, "You'll see," with a smile.

As we approached the castle, the locals stared at us, either in awe, in shock, or in fear. Understandable, because we are visitors from another world far, far away.

"The whole gang's almost together." Lucario bounded to our location from behind. "There's just one member left."

"And that's me!" Keldeo was watching over us from the very top of the castle, and he leapt down to meet us. "So, Pummeler, we gonna see the princesses or what?"

"I like the way this guy thinks," Rainbow Dash said. "C'mon!"

When we reached the gates, however, the Pegasus guards stopped us. "Halt! State your identities."

I was about to go first, but the doors opened and revealed, of all people or ponies... Kirby? "Poyo?"

The guards gasped. "Star Warrior Kirby, we have visitors. Are they of any familiarity to you?"

Kirby took a glance at us. Then he smiled. "Poyo!"

"The hero of the stars has spoken! Visitors, please allow us to escort you to the princesses." Hero of the stars? Kirby must have been a very incredible hero to get that kind of title.

Reading my mind, Lucario replied, "The Crystal Empire has Spike the Brave and Glorious, while Canterlot has Kirby of the Stars."

As we were led down a hallway, Meloetta told me, "It was incredible, what Kirby and his friends did. I know, because I helped him, as did your mechanical ally Roborygon."

"Yeah!" Kirby put on a big smile.

We found ourselves in a large throne room, where two thrones awaited us at the end. The taller one housed Celestia, a white alicorn with a rainbow, flowing mane. The shorter one held Luna, a dark blue alicorn with a dark, flowing mane. Surprisingly, Amy and Peach were there too. Celestia said, "Greetings, creatures from afar. I suppose you all know Kirby?"

We all nodded.

"Excellent. Do you know of the incredible feat that Kirby and his friends were able to pull off while in Equestria?"

I answered, "Twilight told me that Kirby and his friends took down the duo of Queen Chrysalis and Hyness. Wow, no matter how many times I say it or someone tells me, I just can't believe it. Was it very tough?"

Kirby looked away sadly. "Poyo..."

"Alas, it did not come without sacrifice." The last of my friends came in, as well as Discord. Roborygon was the one talking. "Rocky and Gim just couldn't go on."

I asked, "But couldn't you revive them, Kirby?"

"That's the thing. You see, due to Chrysalis transforming into a mighty Ursa Minor, Gim suffered damages that rendered him unable to revive, including a destroyed weapon and torn arm. As for Rocky, well... Have you ever seen an Ursa Minor use Rock Smash?"

"That must have been super effective on Rocky. What about NESP?"

"NESP wasn't there. He was actually waiting with Zan Partizanne for Kirby and Hyness to return. He eventually got bored and went over to Ability Planet, where all of Kirby's dismissed friends go to hang out."

"Well, that's somewhat a relief. Anyway, princesses, why did you want us to meet here?"

Celestia said, "Young Kirby here has done us a favor, so we want to return it. Let us start by asking: How did you meet, and what caused you to land here in Equestria?"

Prepare for a long story, readers...

I explained, "It all started when I discovered a strange, ring-shaped portal in my yard. After a bit of research, Heart Fist--my mother--and I went through it and entered the wonderful world of Pokemon! There, we learned to catch and train Pokemon for various purposes. After traversing some of the regions, I found the colt Pokemon Keldeo in the Unova region, being attacked by the villainous Team Rocket, who wanted to capture him for their boss. My Pokemon and I were able to take down Team Rocket and make them blast off. That's their signature way of being sent flying. And as always, they cried out, 'We're blasting off again!'"

Celestia chuckled, "Team Rocket sounds like quite the comical villainous team."

"True, but they were endangering my favorite Pokemon. Anyway, after discussing our goals and thoughts about each other, Keldeo wanted me to catch him in a Poke Ball, officially making us partners. Our bond was good then, but it reached its peak when we reached the lair of Kyurem, the Pokemon that Keldeo wanted to fight in order to become a Sword of Justice. That's because Keldeo, knowing that this may very well have been the last time we'd be together, chose to confide in me a secret that somehow completely coincided with my own. After I obliged to his request, our bond became airtight, unleashing a brilliant power within us known as Bond Phenomenon!

"One of Keldeo's mentors, Virizion, explained the transformation's effects before Keldeo and I proceeded to fight Kyurem. We had the advantage early on, but Kyurem found the weak point and struck it hard. It seemed like all was lost, until a surprising heroine rose to the challenge: Meloetta! She met Heart Fist after being amazed by Heart's Dewott's performance in the Pokemon Musical, and chose to become her partner. Meloetta's music empowered me and Keldeo greatly, so we could conquer Kyurem and become Swords of Justice."

"This is Kyurem." Roborygon pulled up a 3D image of a very large ice dragon. "And yes, this is his actual size."

Discord pulled out a stopwatch. "Wait a minute. A mere human being and a misfit unicorn defeated an ice dragon triple their size with music? Surely you jest!"

Roborygon took off the jester hat Discord put on him. "I jest not. Music is a powerful force that brings harmony, which induces friendship, which is magic. In other words, music is also magic."

I continued, "And that's how we maximized our trust levels. I met Lucario when he was given to me as a gift from Korrina, Gym Leader of Shalour City. After our adventures in the Pokemon world were over, we returned home, where we tried to keep our adventures secret. However, the portal never closed, allowing Pokemon to come to my home world, Earth. Therefore, Earth's inhabitants learned to become Trainers themselves.

"After a little while, Keldeo and I got bored. That's when I realized: the Pokemon world is fictional, so why not go to other fictional worlds? We decided to build a portal to visit the Mushroom Kingdom, where brothers Mario and Luigi--as well as Paper Mario--reside, and rescued Princess Peach from Bowser.

"Bowser was too easy to beat, so we came to Sonic's home world using one of those ring portals. While there, we teamed up with Sonic and Tails to beat Dr. Eggman's army of mechanical creations."

Rainbow Dash snickered. "Heh, Eggman!"

"I know, right? Anyway, we were completely exhausted after battling Eggman, so we visited Pop Star to relax. We immediately met masked warrior Meta Knight, who escorted us to Kirby's home after hearing why we came. After a nice meal, the swordsman challenged me to a duel. I used the Bond Phenomenon to gain access to a sword and engaged in a proper duel. Towards the end, Meta Knight knocked away my sword, so I used a powerful kick attack to finish. After acknowledging my skill and strength, he went to tell King Dedede about us. Kirby, on the other hoof, came with us to have fun."

Helix added, "And I met Pummel Fist in an attempt to vent my anger created by a dark past. I sampled the potion used to turn him and Heart Fist into Pokemon so I could become one myself. I then battled him but lost, even with the help of extremely dangerous villains Marx Soul and Soul of Sectonia. Then again, I'm glad I lost; otherwise, my backup would have taken over Pop Star and the neighboring planets."

Celestia suggested, "You do know you could've asked Pummel for advice on how to deal with your problems."

"I was corrupted by my emotions and couldn't think rationally."

"That's in the past. All that matters now is that you're on the right path."

"I am glad that they were forgiving enough to let me join them. I resolve to be an even better friend than before."

"That is a great resolution, Helix. Now then, how did you all fall here?"

"I'll provide the answer and proof." Roborygon displayed a video clip of my team taking on Void Termina. "This terrible masked giant is Void Termina, destroyer of worlds. Those star-shaped flying machines are created from a combination of the Friend Stars, star-shooting vehicles that are the embodiment of the team's wishes that is formed on a Friend Platform; and the Heart Spears that were keeping Void Termina sealed in the Jamba Heart until Hyness cast a spell that attempted to release the Spears but also accidentally shattered the Heart. The name of those machines: the Star Allies Sparkler! Pay close attention!" Team Kirby fired a massive laser at the eye on Void Termina's mask, shattering it and bringing the giant down, its mask coming off and revealing a vortex. "That was a textbook Team Star Allies!"

The gang went into the vortex and entered the giant's body. As I somewhat expected, Rarity was about ready to faint when she saw the fleshy... heart (?) of Void Termina, and Fluttershy cowered in fear. On the other hand, Rainbow Dash was staring in awe. Not at the heart, but at on-screen me. "Dude, is that you, Pummel Fist? You look awesome!"

I chuckled, "You bet I do. Or, really, we do. You see, that's actually a combination of me and Keldeo that occurred during Bond Phenomenon. It happened accidentally when I tossed both of my Thunderrangs--that is, my lightning boomerangs I got from the transformation--and they stuck together. Keldeo and I stepped towards it and simultaneously made direct contact as the Heart Spears circled around it, and boom! Instant awesome! Seriously, that is how you take our team nickname, the Kelduo, literally!"

Twilight smiled. "And as soon as I thought your bond couldn't get any stronger..."

Suddenly, handles appeared on the heart, and the team hung on to them, causing the heart to open and launch our team out. The giant's arms turned into wings, and its legs into a tail, and it began to fly around. Roborygon went on, "Let me tell you a tale of Void Termina. There was this God that gave its power to this civilization known as the Ancients, who became split into tribes: Magic users and science users. The magic users were considerably close to the God. However, a crisis of some sort caused the science users to fear the God. War began, and the victors were the science users, who banished the magic users and the God. The God became bitter from the negativity that resulted from the war and caused mass destruction, now known as the Dark Lord, the destroyer of worlds, Void Termina. A group of heroes rose up and sealed it in the Jamba Heart using the power of the Heart Spears. Now that Void Termina had come back, it was up to Kirby to stop him, with an army of friends." We brought down Void Termina and made its mask come off again. "Prepare to see the core of Void Termina."

Within the beastly body once again, there was a purplish floating ball with eyes and a mouth. Twilight gasped, "Kirby?!"

"Not quite. Kirby's actually theorized to be the embodiment of the three Great Forces of the universe that contains Pop Star: Heart, Soul, and Dream. The God created the Great Forces, so it seemed to come down to the Creator versus the created. The created won this ultimate battle... if he was the embodiment. But still..."

Discord laughed. "Oh, I just love how this guy keeps changing faces!" Discord began to change his facial features around. "First he's like this, and then this, then this..."

Roborygon stared at Discord. "If you keep that up, you'll end up like Jumbelina." We all stared at Roborygon. "You know, the Yo-Kai that changes people's--or ponies' in your case--faces? ...Okay, no one got that. Moving on, Kirby has had to defeat several of Void Termina's creations, including Dark Matter and Zero, often using an artifact such as the Rainbow Sword or the Love-Love Stick." He showed footage of Kirby using such weapons. "The Star Allies Sparkler is the most recent weapon used, obviously."

Void Termina emitted a bright light and expulsed us once again. The body disintegrated and ejected Void Termina's core. I announced, "Here comes the most awesome part of Kirby battling bad guys: a duel between Kirby's power versus the bad guy's power! In this case, it's..." We fired a great laser at Void Termina, who shot a laser back in its Dark Matter form. "...the Star Allies' Mega Friend Beam of Harmony versus Void Termina's Dark Villain Laser of Doom! ...I made the names up."

Rainbow Dash said, "Quiet, I want to watch!"

The Star Allies repeatedly shoved their laser at Void Termina, dealing good damage. Void Termina then fired its laser with more intensity, and it seemed to be winning. That was when Meloetta played Be a Hero on a violin, giving us the strength to fire a massive laser that completely overpowered Void Termina's. We did a fairy-like pose, holding our arms out like wings and standing on one foot, and energy surrounded the friends that had come to our aid. Our friends then charged into Void Termina, making it explode in bright light.

Fluttershy said, "That was a cute dance. Why did you do it, though?"

I grinned. "That was a Z-Move. Z-Moves are incredibly powerful attacks which look amazing, but they can only be used if you have two things..." I showed the bracelet on my left arm, which had a pink crystal in it. "...a Z-Ring and the necessary Z-Crystal. This is a Fairium Z, used to unleash Twinkle Tackle. Z-Moves take a lot of energy to use, though, so they can only be used about once per battle. And yes, the dance was necessary to use the Z-Move."

Celestia asked, "Was the explosion what caused you all to land here?"

Roborygon replied, "Not the explosion itself, but the collapsing battlefield that we tried to escape." We attempted to dodge debris as we flew away, but a big chunk of debris filled the screen. "We were knocked unconscious and must have free-falled into Equestria. If that is so, then Equestria must be in the same galaxy as Pop Star."

"And you want to return home?"

Keldeo said, "That's right, but actually, I'd kind of like to stick around for a while, if that's okay with you and my friends."

Helix nodded. "That wouldn't be a bad idea. It would be a chance for me to get to know the locals and learn about friendship."

"Fun!" Kirby added.

We all agreed on those reasons to stay.

Celestia said, "Then it is decided. You may stay in Equestria while we find a way to get you at least to Pop Star. Twilight, will you and the others show them around?"

"We certainly will, Princess."

Suddenly, a pink alicorn came in with a pink heart in tow. "Celestia, I have received word that a creature known as Kirby saved Equestria from Queen Chrysalis and a villain that Kirby seems to know, Hyness. He happened to fall in the Crystal Empire. Before he left to come here to Canterlot, he left me this. What is it?"

Celestia told her, "Cadance, that is a Friend Heart, the very weapon he used to defeat Chrysalis. Friend Hearts apparently cause whatever they make contact with to immediately befriend the thrower, as one of Kirby's colleagues told me. Because of their harmonic properties, they harmed Chrysalis. Perhaps he threw it to you to show his gratitude."

"But why do I feel no different?"

"You must already be his friend. Might I suggest you keep the Friend Heart as a memento?"

"I suppose I will. I am the princess of love, after all."

"*yawn* ...Huh? What's going on?" Mario's cap began to move, and eyes appeared on it. It transformed into a top hat-shaped ghost. "I knew I was in the presence of royal headwear!" The ghost bowed. "Cappy, hat extraordinaire, at your service, princesses."

Mario explained, "Princesses, this is Cappy. I met him during one of my adventures. He helped me defeat Bowser with his special ability, called Capture."

"Sounds cool," Rainbow Dash said. "What does it do?"

"Basically, when I throw Cappy on someone's head, I go inside their body to control them. I normally only Capture bad guys, unless it's an emergency. But don't worry, because it doesn't hurt those who are Captured. The only side effect is some dizziness after being un-Captured."

"That is quite a curious power," Celestia said. "Perhaps you could demonstrate it sometime. For now, however, it will have to wait. Why don't you go and meet the locals while we find a way to get you all home?"

I nodded. "Of course, princesses."

Twilight finished showing us around Canterlot and Ponyville. "...and here is my castle. Now that the tour is over, I suggest you split up, look around, and get to know the locals. I'm sure the princesses would approve."

Well, this just got a little more interesting.

Chapter 18: R.E.R.O.U.T.E.

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 19: Interference

Author's Note

It's time to enter the point of view of a relatively new character that only true Kirby fans would recognize: Susanna Patrya Haltmann, aka Susie.

Chapter 19: Interference

How unfortunate. It appears that the explosion given off by the destruction of Void Termina launched the Star Allies a considerably far distance, for I could not detect any traces of them. I attempted to contact those who participated in the great battle, but there seemed to be some sort of barrier that interfered with my attempts, making them futile. Therefore, I met with one of the new friends I made from this technologically impressive place known as the Expedition Society.

"Dedenne, have you heard from Pummel Fist or the Star Allies? I haven't been able to contact them since the aftermath of the Void Termina battle."

The plump, orange mouse with a long black tail turned towards me from the computer dashboard. "I'm sorry, Susie, but I haven't heard anything from them since Roborygon posted the Void Termina battle on Pokegram. Is it possible that they could have been launched far away, maybe even to another world?" Normally, I would have only heard the syllables of Dedenne mixed together, due to Dedenne being a Pokemon, but I constructed a headset for myself to wear that would translate Pokemon speak into English.

"Another world? That intrigues me. Although, Roborygon did send me pictures of this one world he claimed to have been to. What's more, Kirby happened to be in some of them. If that's the same place they were thrown to, then they've got it made. Kirby's a hero in that location."

Dedenne beamed. "Wait, are you referring to a place that happens to be inhabited by these adorable, colorful quadrupeds that use friendship to solve problems?"

"You know about My Little Pony too?"

"Uh, yeah! Even members of the Expedition Society have to take breaks from helping others in order to make the most of our leisure time, and friendship lessons make up most of mine. ...And that of Ampharos. Wait, are you a fan of MLP too? You think maybe we could be...?"

"Not yet. I've got a question for you to see if we really do share interests: Who, out of all of the Mane Six, is your favorite?"

"Only the science-loving Twilight Sparkle, of course!"

I allowed myself a dramatic pause. "..."

"...?"

I suddenly high-fived Dedenne. "Besties!"

"Yippee! Thanks, Susie!"

"The thanks can wait. Even if the Star Allies were indeed launched to Equestria, which is a peaceful place overall, some of the inhabitants have been shown to be hostile."

"But we cannot be sure that they were sent to Equestria. Should we calculate their flight trajectory before and after the debris struck to estimate where they were launched?"

"That is an excellent idea. Bring up the footage while I go find where the battle took place." I got into my Business Suit and flew away to the Pop Star universe. Where could the Star Allies be?

Chapter 20: E.X.T.R.A.C.T.

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 21: Wahoo!

"No way! It's the whole gang: You, Luigi, and paper you!" I knew Button Mash would be amazed when I gathered the Paper Jam trio back together.

Paper Mario gave a thumbs-up, while Luigi said, "Oh yeah!"

"What's the occasion, Mario? Some kind of sweet adventure around Equestria that involves beating up a bad guy or two?"

"Not this time, little guy. We were actually going to visit Applejack to help her harvest the apple trees, and we wanted to see if you wanted to come with us to watch."

"A chance to be with the Mario Bros? I'd never pass up that offer! Mom, can I go with the Mario trio?"

"Of course you can, Button Mash. Don't get yourself in trouble!"

"Thanks, Mom! Ooh, I've always wanted to say this! Let's-a go!" It made me glad to see Button so happy.

When we reached the farm, Applejack was working up a sweat bucking the apples out of the trees alongside a large red stallion. "Hello, Applejack!" I said. "Who's your big red buddy over there?"

"Oh, ya mean Big Macintosh? He's mah older brother. Ain't that right, Big Mac?"

The stallion replied in a deep voice, "Eeyup."

"...He don't talk much. Usually, y'all can only get a 'yep' or 'nope' outta him."

Paper Mario jumped twice and tipped his cap to Big Mac. I explained, "Paper me doesn't talk much either. He normally uses body language to get his message across. But that isn't why we came here. We wanted to help you harvest the apple trees. Can we?"

Applejack smiled. "Well, sure ya can. I'd like to see how good y'all are at it, so show me what ya got!"

"Oh yeah, Mario time!" I pulled out a cannon that looked like a barrel and had a red and green arrow on it. Luigi and I got in, and it split into eight cannons, with either me or Luigi in each one. That's-a right--four of me, and four of Luigi! We fired ourselves at various trees, knocking down apples from each, and removing our clones.

"Huh, you're pretty good. But can y'all do without fancy thingamajigs?"

"You haven't seen anything yet!" I motioned to Luigi, who nodded. He jumped towards me, and I grabbed his hands to swing him around and around like I did to Bowser before letting go, sending him flying into an apple tree. His kick knocked down enough apples to bury him! "Will that do?"

"I gotta admit, that's really good... at least, for one tree."

Paper Mario flashed his hammer, and Luigi and I nodded. We pulled out our own hammers, and I hammered the ground. Then Luigi hammered my hammer, and Paper Mario hammered Luigi's hammer, creating a big shock wave that knocked down a bunch of apples from all the trees around us.

I think we impressed Applejack and Big Mac, because their jaws were dropped. "...Whoa. Y'all are the real deal!"

Button smirked. "You wouldn't be so shocked if you knew Mare-io like the back of your hoof!"

After a hard afternoon's work, with AJ and Big Mac being repeatedly amazed by me, Luigi, and Paper me the whole time, we returned to Button Mash's home to rest. Well, until... "So, what's next? We going to do a Mare-io Party, or act out a battle scene, or...?" Mama mia! Here we go again!

"Button, dear, maybe we should let them rest first." Mother knows best!

Author's Note

Now we're making a trip to outer space to see how Susie's doing with her analysis.

Chapter 23: R.I.N.G.

After the Krookodile incident that angered Pummel Fist to the point of unleashing a combo of Focus Attack and Shin Shoryuken on Discord, I went directly to Carousel Boutique in search of Rarity. As I had expected, she was home, and she seemed to be working hard on something. Upon further investigation, it was a bracelet.

"Hello, Rarity. How goes the bracelet?"

"It's going marvelously well, Roborygon," Rarity replied, "although I did need a little help. Isn't that right, Tails?"

I focused my vision beyond Rarity and noticed my yellow vulpine ally with twice his namesake. "That's right. This Z-Ring ore is very difficult to carve without precision tools such as mine. Right now, we're about ninety-eight percent complete."

"All that's left is to decorate it. Luckily, I found several jewels lying around that I could use." Rarity opened a drawer, revealing several pink crystals shaped like the diamond suit.

Tails gasped, "Those are not mere jewels. They are Fairium Z crystals!"

"Oh, my! I hadn't realized that I was using the very items that you used to defeat Void Termina! I beg your pardon, Tails, but do you still have yours?"

Tails looked at his left wrist. "Apparently I don't. I'm sorry you got your hopes up, Rarity."

"Oh, don't worry about it." Rarity gave Tails a Fairium Z. "Here, you need it more than I do."

"Thanks." Tails turned to me. "Do you think the impact from the debris knocked the Fairium Z crystals out of our Z-Rings?"

I replied, "That is a very possible cause. My apologies, Rarity, but may I please return those Z-Crystals to their rightful owners?"

"But of course!" Rarity handed the Z-Crystals to me, and I downloaded them into my hammerspace storage module. After a pause, Rarity asked, "Do you think Pinkie Pie had me make a Z-Ring, likely without even knowing it?"

"That is my best hypothesis. She was most likely showing her affection for Maud. She will be most amazed when some stone friend of Maud's hit a villain with a very massive rock that explodes afterwards! If you don't like the sound of that, then I suggest you ask Pummel Fist to have one of his Pokemon use a Z-Move of utter serenity, but it doesn't have to be in those exact words. Without further ado, I must be on my way. Farewell!"

Objective added: Return Z-Crystals to their owners.

Rarity stopped me. "By the way, here's the Z-Ring. It doesn't look quite as stunning without those crystals, but then again, the dullness suits Maud. Tell her it was an honor for me to create the bracelet for her!"

Objective added: Bring Z-Ring to Maud.

Author's Note

Next, we're visiting the melodic heroine of Equestria, Meloetta!

Chapter 25: Enter the Sing Squad!

After revitalizing the Brothers Mario with my musical prowess so they can play with their pal Button Mash, I set off to find two of the most amazing ponies in Equestria when it comes to music. I couldn't find anypony in the square, though. What could have caused them to stay inside? It was a beautiful day! The ponies I was looking for must have been in their home.

Therefore, I made my way to their decorative home and knocked on the door. *knock knock knock knock knock, knock knock*

A gray unicorn mare with a pink bow tie and a treble clef as a cutie mark opened the door. My second favorite pony, Octavia Melody. She said with a British accent, "Ah, it's Meloetta! We shall forever be in debt to you for your heroic acts, and that song you had us perform was brilliant! Vinyl, Meloetta has come back to Equestria!"

My most favorite pony, DJ Pon-3 (her real name is Vinyl Scratch), came to the door. I instantly recognized her by her electric blue mane, headphones, and purple glasses. She put on a smile when she saw me. The two ponies happily let me into their home.

Octavia asked me, "What brings you here? Have you come to perform?"

I nodded before pointing to her cello.

"You wish to perform with my cello? Okay, but do be careful with her."

And so I did. The cello in my psychic grasp, I played a serene remix of The Noble Haltmann from Kirby: Planet Robobot.

The ponies stomped their hooves on the ground in applause. "Encore, Meloetta!" Octavia cheered. "Encore!"

I happily obliged. I manifested a CD out of thin air and put it in its place in DJ Pon-3's stand. I then put on a pair of Safety Goggles and remixed the Super Mario Bros underground theme.

The DJ simply smiled as she nodded to the beat.

"I have an offer for you, Meloetta," Octavia said. "What if we were to form our own band? Do you like the idea?"

"Me... Mele!" My eyes sparkled at the thought.

"That's wonderful to hear! You are the one who saved Equestria, so I suggest you come up with a name for our band. That is, if you can speak Ponish."

While Octavia had a point, do you really think that stopped me, the master of music? If you do, then you don't even know who I am. I formed my Rhythm Baton and pretended to use it as a pencil.

"Oh, that is an excellent idea!" Octavia handed me a piece of paper and a feather tipped with ink.

I wrote, "Why not the Melody Three?"

"I love that name! Not only does it state our interests, but it also rhymes, which is an essential part of songwriting!"

We put our hooves (and hand) in the middle. "One, two, three... The Melody Three!"

I wrote, "We should celebrate our alliance with a debut performance for all to hear! However, I suggest we wait until tomorrow to do so. After all, would one rather wake to a song or suddenly hear a performance during the day?"

"Do you have any ideas for songs?"

I only grinned. They had no idea.

Author's Note

What do you think? Does Rhythm Baton sound like a good name for the weapon used by Meloetta that can control people into playing revitalizing songs?

Next, we're heading back into the cosmos to see how Ribbon and Elline are coming along.

Chapter 26: Astral Confusion

"A canvas? I already have one, but thanks anyway."

"Oh, okay. I'll take this back to Adeline then." Disappointing? Kind of. Worth it? For a friend, always!

Elline and I were at the Divine Terminus, awaiting further instruction from Susie through our little headsets. "...Ribbon, come in, Ribbon. Do you copy?"

I answered, "I read you loud and clear."

"Excellent. You are clear for takeoff. I will tell you where to go as you fly to your destination."

10 minutes later...

Elline and I soared through the cosmos, super excited to see our pal Kirby and his friends. I told Elline, "Kirby's the most amazing guy you ever met! We once worked together to take down the evil Zero Two with the Crystal Gun!"

"Really? I once worked with the little guy to restore color to Dream Land and protect my home land, Seventopia, from Dark Crafter. We destroyed him with help from my sister Claycia, who gave me a canvas to turn Kirby into a rocket to bash the clay creature with!"

"Considering how many bad guys Kirby's beaten, I always knew he'd beat both Queen Chrysalis and Hyness in battle!"

"I bet right now, he's either whooping bad guy butts or hanging out with Equestria's natives."

I heard Susie's voice through my headset, as did Elline. "Guys, I'm detecting a Minior field up ahead."

I asked, "Don't you mean asteroid field? Meteors are the ones that are--oh, you mean the Pokemon. I've always wanted to see what a Minior looks like!"

"Then today is your lucky day. The Minior are about fifty meters away."

We quickly flew ahead, and before us were several creatures that looked like colorful asteroids with eyes and a mouth. They seemed to be eating... something. I think they were eating tiny stuff floating around.

Susie explained, "These Minior are absorbing particles to build their core and shell. Eventually, their shell will become too heavy, and they will fall to the surface of a nearby planet. See that dull brown one? It seems to have finished absorbing particles and is ready to crash into a planet. Since the nearest planet is Equestria, I highly recommend you follow the Minior."

I turned to Elline. "You heard her. Let's follow that Minior!"

Author's Note

Now we'll transition from fairies to princesses as we meet with Princess Peach.

Chapter 27: Breaking News...?

The path I paved was paved with help from my Altaria, named Alice, and it led back to Canterlot Castle, where I could spend more time with the princesses. We had a good chat about life as princesses.

"So what's it like to be kidnapped?" Celestia asked.

"To be honest, it's always scary at first, but Mario never fails to rescue me. Over time, I actually got bored of being kidnapped by Bowser! The funny thing is, he just wants to marry me. You should have been there when he last kidnapped me. He traveled all around the world just to get the perfect things for our forced wedding: a dress, stew, a bouquet, cake, a ring--that was much too big for me--and sparkling water. He even kidnapped Tiara, Cappy's sister, for my headdress! At least he put in a lot of effort for me."

"That's quite impressive, for a villain. How did it end?"

"That's where it gets both amazing and hilarious. Mario had to Capture Bowser in order to help us escape the castle, which happened to be on the moon. After we escaped and Mario un-Captured Bowser, we pulled ourselves together. Mario began to tip the question of marrying me, but Bowser butted in with the Soiree Bouquet. As you would expect, this horrified Mario, who countered by offering me a bouquet of Rocket Flowers. It ended up with the two just shoving flowers in my face. I knew I didn't have to put up with it, so I rejected both of them! Of course, that doesn't mean I don't like Mario. It's just that sometimes, when competing for a woman, guys can be quite overzealous."

The princesses chuckled. Celestia said, "I know what that's like. My sister and I once came to Sugarcube Corner to meet with the ponies. At one point, the owners of the bakery, Mr. and Mrs. Cakes, offered me a cup of tea. I sipped from the cup, and they rushed to refill the cup. I finished the cup again, and they refilled it once again. The fourth time, however, I pretended to sip, causing them to overflow the cup. 'Gotcha!' Ha ha! I will never forget that hilarious moment."

"So, what's it like not to get kidnapped?"

"Honestly, life as princesses is somewhat boring. We could probably use a little more adventure in our daily lives, and being kidnapped might be somewhat amusing. Well, except for the time Queen Chrysalis trapped me in a pod to steal my energy. That was most definitely not fun."

I put my hand up to my ear. "Do you hear something, Princesses?"

Luna asked, "Does it sound like somepony screaming?"

"Aaaaaaahhhh--" SPLAT!

We all looked at the new splotch on the stained-glass mural. I asked, "What brings you here, Discord?"

The splotch reformed into Discord's natural form, and he reappeared inside the castle. "Pardon the interruption. I just got sent flying here after Twilight and Pinkie Pie discovered a certain friend of yours' secret due to my assistance."

Discord then threw a yellow smoke bomb and disappeared. I looked down and saw something. "Wait, I think you dropped something!"

Celestia picked up the dropped item, a newspaper, with her magic and read it. "...Well, that's good to know," she said with a laugh.

She showed the paper to Luna. "Ha ha ha! Nice try, Discord. Perhaps you'll have better luck with your chaos next time!"

I asked, "What does it say?"

Celestia crumpled up the paper and teleported it away. "That's something you don't need to know," she chuckled.

Perhaps the paper stated that 'certain friend' of mine's secret, and how it was revealed? I shouldn't be thinking about that.

"Um, excuse me, but do you know of a creature named Kirby?"

Chapter 28: An Old Friend

It's so nice to be back in Equestria, especially since there's no one endangering it now! I would have visited my idol Pinkie Pie for that party that couldn't be held due to me leaving, but instead I chose to return to the Crystal Empire in hopes of finding Cadance.

As I had expected, she was in her castle. "Oh, hi, Kirby! Shining Armor filled me in more about your adventure to save Equestria from Chrysalis and that Hyness figure. I am in debt to you for your heroic acts, so if there is anything you want from me, I will gladly oblige."

I thought for a moment. "...Flurry!"

"You want to see Flurry Heart? Of course!"

We went to Flurry Heart's room, where the little foal was just waking from her nap. My Friend Heart was in one of the room's corners. I pointed at the heart. "Poyo?"

"I didn't know what to do with the Friend Heart, so I put it there. Do you have any ideas for it?"

"Hmm... Poyo!" I took the Friend Heart and held it above my head, ready to be thrown. My target: Flurry Heart. Once the Friend Heart made contact, it disappeared in a burst of heart outlines. Flurry flew over and hugged me, hearts in her eyes. It worked!

Cadance smiled. "What an incredible power, the ability to instantly befriend any creature! If only you could have used it to make the Dark Lord good."

I nodded sadly. "Poyo."

"What do you mean?"

"Poyo poyo."

"If only I could understand you... By any chance, can you draw?"

I nodded. "Poyo!"

"That's good." Cadance manifested some crayons and paper.

I began by using the purple crayon to draw a circle, then two ovals. I finished by making a dot. I wrote 'Dark Lord' above the drawing. I then created another Friend Heart before hitting the drawing with it.

"You mean that Friend Hearts... hurt the Dark Lord? How sad! ...I don't suppose you know why it looks like you?"

I shook my head before holding the drawing up to Flurry Heart. "POOYAAAAAAHH!"

Flurry Heart hit the drawing with a big laser beam, blowing it to ashes. I drew another drawing, this one of me and my friends escaping the explosion.

Cadance said, "The Dark Lord exploded from your friendship attack, and you escaped the explosion?"

I drew a big asteroid coming towards us.

"But something knocked you out, causing you to fall here?"

I smiled. "Poyo!"

"You don't seem too worried about such a villain. Are you used to battling bad guys?"

I grinned as I drew another drawing. I filled the whole paper with it.

Cadance gasped, "Y-you've fought all these monsters?!" I pounded my hands together. "And you beat them all?" I raised my fist in the air with a triumphant yell. "On your own?"

Flurry Heart raised her own hoof in the air. "Yaa!"

"Right, you got some help."

"Like me!" We turned and saw one of my good friends. "Hi, Kirby! Remember me?"

I hugged the fairy with a big bow in her hair. "Ribbon!"

"Glad to see you're okay! Elline and I came to see how you and your friends were doing. Do you know how they are, Kirby?"

I happily replied, "Poyo!"

"That's great, Kirby. Oh, who are these ponies?"

Cadance answered, "My name is Cadance, and I am the princess of love. This is my baby, Flurry Heart."

"I'm Ribbon. Nice to meet you." Ribbon bowed before Cadance.

Cadance chuckled, "There's no need to be so formal, Ribbon. You're a friend of a hero!"

"Thanks. I actually helped Kirby protect my homeland, Ripple Star, from the evil Zero Two. He helped me rebuild the Crystal, which we used to defeat the monster." Ribbon pulled out a crystal weapon. "This is the Crystal Gun, formed from the crystal that protected our land. As for Zero Two, that's the white thing with wings, a halo, and a big red eye."

"Are all the villains who try to take over Pop Star so scary?"

"Well, Pop Star is the land of dreams, so it makes sense that those who threaten Pop Star are so nightmarish."

"That's a fair point you make."

"I'd love to stay and chat, but I still need to see how Kirby's friends are doing so I can complete my mission. I'll see you all later! Bye!"

"Goodbye!"

Author's Note

You've already met a knight, so let's go see what he's up to.

Chapter 29: En Garde Redux

Ember seemed annoyed when I had returned to the Dragon Lands. "Ugh, I can't believe that the dragons didn't think you were a true warrior after they'd seen your face. I trusted Smolder that Kirby was a hero, so why not you? You're the whole package: mask, cape, and sword. Even if you look kind of adorable behind the mask, you have the heart of a warrior, which leads me to ask you: back for more?"

"A warrior's training is never complete. Previously, I believed you were just another creature for me to defeat, but now, I see no reason to hold back this time, knowing that you are the Dragon Lord and not just an average dragon."

"It's about time you became a real threat!" Ember breathed a burst of flames. I used that to my advantage by holding my sword to it, infusing my sword with fire. "Impressive use of your opponent's attack, but you cannot infuse your sword with close-combat attacks that don't have an element!" Ember rushed in for a series of claw attacks, but I retaliated with Galactic Counter. "Do you really think that would hurt much? Dragons are resistant to fiery attacks!"

"Every dragon has its weakness. I know because of my experience with battling dragons." I thrust my sword into the ground, creating a blazing tornado between me and Ember. I then burst through it to strike with Meta Multislash, catching Ember off-guard.

"What a cowardly maneuver," Ember boasted, "hiding behind a tornado of flame. Let me show you how it's done!" Ember charged up for a fire attack, but I thrust my sword into her open mouth, causing her to take great damage.

"Not so fireproof on the inside, are you?" I quoted from a certain dragon movie.

Ember growled, "Enough fooling around! It's time to finish this!" She aimed her staff at me for a powerful beam attack, but something caught our attention. "Watch out for that meteor!"

I opened my cape. "Get in my cape. Trust me, or risk getting struck by that meteor." Ember hesitantly got under my Dimensional Cape as I wrapped it around us, causing us to teleport somewhere nearby. The ground shook as something crashed into the Dragon Lands.

I unwrapped my cape, revealing a very surprised Ember. "That... was quite impressive."

"Be impressed later. I'm going to find out what happened." I investigated the crash site, and I found a neon purple, stellar creature. "It's a Minior. If we don't act fast, it may lose its life in this atmosphere due to not having a protective outer shell."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to contain it so as to prevent it or anything around it from being harmed." I took out a Poke Ball and threw it at the Minior. It covered the Minior in a bright light, which got sucked back into the Ball. The Poke Ball rocked once, twice, three times... Click! I put the full Poke Ball in my pocket. "Now, I must take this creature to a colleague of mine, who might be able to take care of it."

"It was an honor to battle you, Meta Knight." Ember held out her claw.

I shook Ember's claw. "The honor is mine."

I turned to leave, only to look into the eyes of a small fairy that looked similar to a paintbrush. "Meta Knight, are you okay? That Minior could have hurt you."

"I am better than okay, thanks to my duel with Dragon Lord Ember. Elline, was it?" I handed Elline the Poke Ball. "Please take this Minior to my metal ally, Roborygon. He might be able to use it for something." Elline nodded and flew away. I turned to Ember. "I have to admit, that battle was somewhat exhausting, and it's getting dark. Would you mind if I slept here in the Dragon Lands for the night?"

"Of course. That's the least I can do for a warrior that gave me a good fight."

Author's Note

It's time to return to the Expedition Society and meet up with Susie once again.

Chapter 30: Status Unknown

I watched the screen turn to static as the fairies were entering the planet's atmosphere. "How curious. The planet seems to have some kind of magnetic field disrupting the footage."

Dedenne replied, "Either that, or someone let out a Magneton from its Poke Ball. Do any of the Star Allies have a Magneton?"

"That's possible, but a magnetic field is more likely. Another reason for the interference could be that Equestria has a magical field."

"True. If only we could contact the fairies to have them return. Perhaps we should send a search-and-rescue team?"

"That might work, if they had a means of transportation. Who do we know that has enough experience with piloting spacecraft?"

"I'm right here." We turned and saw a stout blue alien with catlike ears.

"Who's this guy?" asked Dedenne.

I explained, "This is Magolor. He's the one who stole the interdimensional spaceship known as the Lor Starcutter from draconic guardian Landia's home planet, Halcandra, and convinced Kirby to help him back to Halcandra to steal Landia's Master Crown so he could rule over Pop Star and its neighboring planets. During Pummel Fist's birthday battle, he foolishly chose to make contact with Parallel Landia's Master Crown and became possessed by it, but Pummel and his friends beat the influence out of him and destroyed the Parallel Master Crown for good."

Magolor sheepishly said, "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. Who knew the Parallel Master Crown was so corrupt, though?"

I accused, "Don't shift the blame, Magolor. Do we have any trustworthy candidates?"

"We'll give it a shot." A group of bipedal mice barged in. At the front was a gray mouse with a red fedora and cape. Following close behind him was a yellow mouse with shades. In a UFO was a small white mouse with glasses and a mustache. At the rear was an obese blue mouse wearing an eyepatch.

Dedenne beamed, "It's the Squeaks!"

"You got that right," the fedora mouse replied with a grin.

"I'm glad you know them," I said.

"Well, duh. I'm a mouse Pokemon, they're mice. The gray one with the fedora is Daroach, the leader. The yellow one is Spinni, and--"

"I know who they are," I deadpanned. "Anyway, you guys just might be the right ones for the job. You're properly reformed, one of you knows his way around machines, and you function as one."

Daroach said, "Indeed. Doc, what's the plan?"

The mouse in the UFO answered, "I suggest we take the Lor to this 'Equestria' and split up in order to maximize the surface area explored."

"I agree. This would also be a great way to learn about friendship, which we all could use, especially Magolor. Therefore, I command him to come with us. If he gets in trouble, Storo will teach him a lesson."

The fat mouse pounded its gargantuan fists together.

"Very well," I said. "I'll go ahead and input the coordinates for Equestria into the Lor's navigation systems. Good luck, Squeak Squad and Magolor!"

Chapter 31: Revenge of the Meta Knightmare

The clashing of sword and claws filled the otherwise silent air as I engaged Ember in a duel. This was the ultimate duel between us. No distractions, no rough terrain...

"...No holding back!" Ember roared at me. "It's time to finish this!"

When Ember aimed her staff at me, I knew what was going to happen. She fired a laser, and I held my sword up to defend against the beam. Would my sword be strong enough to deflect it? I never found out. Instead, the laser somehow curved around the sword and struck my mask.

Surely it couldn't have been strong enough to--oh, that's just great. My mask broke yet again. Luckily, the only dragon here is--ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Not only did I attract a horde of dragons that were laughing at my face, but Ember herself was laughing too. She was my best friend--no, my closest colleague. Well, there's only two things left to do: grab my mask--seriously? It disintegrated? *sigh* On to the next thing: teleport away with my Dimen--where's my cape? I felt behind me, but I only felt my back. No cape. No mask. ...No dignity. Was I destined to have my mask broken and be laughed at by a horde of dragons who only laughed harder as I got more humiliated? I was burning up at the thought. I was born to overwhelm my opponents with my might and intimidate them with my dark, grim appearance. I've been flattened, thrown at invisible walls, and launched over the horizon, but this... :twilightangry2:

"...THAT'S ENOUGH!" I didn't have to tolerate this. I unleashed my sword on the dragons with enough ferocity to show them why they shouldn't laugh at the second greatest warrior in the galaxy. There was something different about the dragons, though: When I slashed them, they disappeared. Turned to smoke. I saw no reason, therefore, to hold back against my colleague, Ember. I stabbed her right in the gut, causing her to disappear not unlike Obi-Wan Kenobi from A New Hope.

"Self-conscious?" I turned and pointed my sword at the source of the voice, then I lowered it. Princess Luna had appeared. "Let me fix that." Luna's horn glowed, and my mask, fully repaired, rested on my face once again. My cape also returned.

I sighed. "I want to be taken seriously. My mask makes me who I am. It strikes fear in the heart of evil. Without it... I am as low as Kirby in terms of intimidation: Round. Adorable. Useless when it comes to scaring evil away. As a Star Warrior, it is my duty to protect Pop Star from evil, and my mask warns villains who they're up against."

Luna chuckled. "And yet, you aren't the one who saved Equestria from Hyness and Queen Chrysalis. Kirby doesn't care what people think of him, but he still rises up to take down evil. Might I suggest using him as a role model?"

I glared at Luna. "You're talking about a pink puffball that lives a lazy lifestyle. That makes him oblivious to certain apocalyptic results of villainy that are happening around him."

"Well, heroes need the occasional break. Being too alert can be draining. I know this firsthoof, because my duty as princess of the night is to protect ponies everywhere from nightmares such as this... although it seems you didn't need my help."

I paused. "I'll consider your suggestion during my waking hours. Speaking of which, if it is time, could you wake me up from this dream?"

"Of course I will, Sir Meta Knight."

Author's Note

It's about time we turn to a more lighthearted chapter starring the Brothers Mario.

Chapter 32: A Fine Tune

"Mario Bros, look at this!" Mama mia! My bros and I woke with a start to Button Mash's voice. The little colt showed us a poster that had a gray Earth pony, a white unicorn with an electric blue mane and purple goggles, and--Meloetta? "There's this band called The Melody Three, and they're performing a song this morning! It's from one of your adventures!"

That got us up. "Oh, yeah, Mario time!" I exclaimed. Then my stomach interrupted me. "Actually, we should have breakfast first. That battle left us with empty stomachs."

The other bros rubbed their stomachs in agreement.

Button laughed. "That's Mario for you!" he said to himself.

After we ate the amazing waffles Cream Heart made for us, we made a beeline for the outdoors. Right in front of the fountain in the square were Meloetta and the other ponies, on some kind of handmade (but well-made) stage. The goggles pony was on the keyboard; Meloetta was using Double Team to fill the roles of the drummer, trombonist, trumpeter, saxophonist, and bassist; and the gray Earth pony had no instrument, instead opting to stand in front of a microphone.

"Thank you all for coming to listen to The Melody Three!" the gray pony said with a British accent. "I am Octavia Melody, that's the one and only DJ Pon-3, and this is one of our heroes from afar, Meloetta! Today, we welcome you with our debut song, a song Meloetta introduced. If the Brothers Mario are watching, this goes out to you! Jump Up, Super Star!"

Then they began to play the instruments as Octavia sang:

Here we go, off the rails
Don't you know it's time to raise our sails?
It's freedom like you never knew

My bros and I were the first to start grooving, followed quickly by the rest of the crowd. I jumped up super high, high up in the sky! "Wahoo! You go, Meloetta!" I said, to which Meloetta winked at me.

"You came too, Mario?" Seems like Sonic came as well.

"The whole gang must be here." Helix had a point; I could see Kirby, King Dedede, Pummel Fist, Heart Fist, Keldeo, Peach, Bandanna Dee, Tails, Amy, Lucario, and Roborygon.

"I don't detect Meta Knight, though," Roborygon replied.

"Shh, I want to listen!" Pinkie cut in.

We took Pinkie's suggestion and stopped talking.

You know that we're all superstars (We're all superstars)
We're the ones that made it this far
Put a smile on that face
There's no time to waste
So let's do the odyssey!

The crowd burst into cheers and applause as The Melody Three took a bow. "We hope to see you again!"

We began to leave, but I heard a small, female voice say, "Excuse me, Roborygon, but Meta Knight had me take this to you. It's a Minior."

Roborygon's eyes turned into exclamation marks for a moment. "Did you say Minior? Elline, thank you very much. This may very well be what Maud could use! Farewell!"

Hmm, I wonder what Maud needs a Minior for...

Author's Note

You know what that means: Back to Roborygon's point of view!

Chapter 33: R.O.C.K. O.N.

"Maud, I have retrieved a rock-based Pokemon for you. Its species is Minior." I pressed the button on the Poke Ball, causing a neon purple, asteroid-shaped Pokemon to emerge. "Be careful, for it cannot survive long outside a Poke Ball without its shell. I also suggest forming a strong bond with it. That will improve the efficiency of its devastating attack I mentioned yesterday. If you wish to use said attack, you must have the Rockium Z secured in the notch on the Z-Ring while you perform a specific pose. Shall I demonstrate the pose?"

"No, but thanks anyway. The Rockies have told me how to pose."

"Very well. In that case, I bid you good luck as you train with Minior." Transmitting Poke Ball to Maud.

Objective completed. Time to seek new--query? Unidentified object flying towards Ponyville Square.

Twilight rushed to the scene from her castle. "What is that?!"

"Identifying... It appears to be a flying boat, not unlike--*gasp* it's the Lor Starcutter!"

"You know about it?"

"Correct. The alien Magolor stole it from the guardian dragon Landia and escaped to Pop Star. Kirby and his friends found the Lor and Magolor, the ship missing parts. Kirby's team helped fix it, and together they went to the planet the Lor was excavated from. Magolor convinced Kirby and his friends to battle and defeat Landia, only for him to betray them, putting on Landia's Master Crown to rule the universe. It's a good thing Kirby was still able to stop Magolor's mad plan."

The Lor touched down in the square. The door on the side opened, and out came Magolor and a group of bipedal mice.

"Who are they?"

I explained, "That group of mice is known as the Squeaks. They are a group of treasure-hunting thieves who were reformed when Kirby saved their fedora-wearing leader, Daroach, from being possessed by Dark Nebula. The obese one is Storo, the one in the small spacecraft is Doc, and the yellow one is Spinni. On the other hoof, the stout blue thing is Magolor."

"That little dude is the one who betrayed Kirby?" Rainbow Dash had appeared. "I was expecting something bigger." Well, Magolor was bigger when he had the Master Crown. "Anyway, get ready for a beating!"

...! I tried to grab Rainbow by the tail, but to no avail. She sped to Magolor in a flash and struck him in the face with her front hooves. He was sent flying into the side of the Lor. "Ow, you're strong! We're not here for a fight! ...Then again, I haven't had a good fight since I was taken over by the Parallel Master Crown."

"As could we," Daroach added. "I haven't fought since Kirby rescued me from Dark Nebula's influence."

I sighed. "Very well, you can have your battle. I was going to say that Magolor is reformed, but since they said they could use a battle, fine. Go ahead." Engaging recording mode. This should be interesting.

Magolor opened with a volley of magic orbs, which Rainbow easily dodged with her speed. Magolor followed up with a dash attack, countered with Rainbow's dash. (I may be a robot, but I still have a sense of humor!) Daroach joined the fray with a swing of the Triple Star Cane. While Rainbow was distracted by the three stars bouncing around, Magolor poked her with Deadly Needles.

"Ouch, right in the flank!" Rainbow Dash used her wings to increase her altitude. "You won't get me with that when I'm up here! Hey Twilight, want to join the fight?"

"I might as well. It'll give me a chance to learn the fighting styles of the Squeaks and Magolor."

Twilight attacked Daroach with a laser, but he fought back with his ice laser. Ultimately, Daroach won the laser duel, and he put Twilight on ice. Rainbow cried, "Twilight, no!"

Daroach grinned. "Magolor, follow my lead. Storo, raise your hammer." Storo raised his wooden hammer in the air, and Magolor infused it with flame. "Now, attack Twilight while she's frozen!"

Storo bellowed, "Purple pony, eat fire hammer!"

"Oh, no you don't!" Rainbow flew into the sky and dove towards Storo at a breakneck pace.

Magolor floated between Rainbow and Storo before forming a star-shaped shield. "I'll hold him off."

Rainbow's anger levels elevated. Just before Rainbow Dash made contact, a circular rainbow that expanded outwards formed alongside an explosion sound. Her signature move. The Sonic Rainboom simultaneously shattered Magolor's barrier, broke Twilight free of her subzero prison, and knocked Storo's fire hammer out of his hand. "Listen, I may like cool stuff like Daring Do and sweet aerial tricks, but that doesn't mean you can call me a guy. I'm a GIRL!"

Sonic rushed to the scene, his shoes having a windy effect. "Awesome Sonic Rainboom, Rainbow Dash! Am I late to the party?"

"Oh, no, the party's just getting started." Magolor formed a massive, purple sword out of thin air and held it above his head. Wait, this was just supposed to be a sparring match, not a fight to the death! "Get a load of Ultra Sword!" Twilight formed a shield to protect her.

"We won't let you hurt Twilight." Maud had showed up alongside Minior, who was as radiant as ever. "No creature hurts Pinkie Pie's friends on my watch."

Magolor dramatically cowered in mock fear. "Oh, what are you going to do, kick me?"

"No." Maud flashed her Z-Ring, which was equipped with the Rockium Z. This was going to be--oh, I never told her how specifically to pose. Hopefully the Rockies gave her enough advice. "Do you see this? I can unleash Minior's full power at will. Minior, are you ready?"

Minior replied, "Mini Minior! (Translation: Ready as I'll ever be!)"

Meta Knight tapped Maud's shoulder. "I am the one who originally caught Minior, so it belongs to both of us. Therefore, I will assist you with my own Z-Power."

Maud nodded. "Then we will perform the Z-Move together. Let's go."

The pair crossed their arms/hooves in front of themselves before bringing them to the side, then in front of their body again, one arm/hoof on top of the other. As they struck two muscular poses, Maud said, "A stone heart meets a stellar body. The result is an astral bond feared by villainy." Energy formed around Maud and Meta Knight, and it rushed from them into and around Minior's body. Minior rocketed into the sky, where it formed a colossal boulder from the surrounding rocks. Maud's coolness and lack of expressed emotion only added to the air of sheer awe as she said, "...Use World's End Fall." Oh? She used the Japanese translation of Continental Crush, which I found quite appropriate, for World's End Fall sounds more dramatic spoken calmly than Continental Crush.

"Too slow, bud!" Magolor swung the Ultra Sword and broke Twilight's barrier, leaving her open to attack.

I warned, "Get away from the rock's blast zone, Twilight!"

But Twilight didn't have to; something had stopped the boulder from crashing into the ground, with feet to spare. I detected two black and red shoes with yellow lacing supporting a diminutive, grayish-green torso. The being appeared to be struggling greatly. I detected a male voice coming from the being: "I need help getting this away from the square. Otherwise, the explosion will decimate our only chances of getting back home safely!" It was Pummel Fist!

"Ah'll help ya out!" Applejack hurried beneath the rock and supported it with her hind legs. "Ah gotta admit, this here rock is mighty heavy! We'll need all the help we can get!"

"I'll help." Maud went under the rock and pushed up with her front hooves.

Even with three powerful characters lifting, the rock seemed to be too much. That is, until I noticed Pummel stomping the ground rhythmically. "Are you trying to summon Meloetta?" I asked.

"Yes. Her musical powers are unparalleled, even by a giant rock. She answers to rhythm, for the ponies' information."

Sure enough, Meloetta came to the rescue. "Trying to lift a massive boulder, huh? I've got just the song to overcome its burdening weight!" Meloetta played a fast-paced, upbeat tune that required little to no research for me to recognize.

Hearing the heroic song, the trio was able to lift the boulder with ease. Pummel exclaimed, "Aw, yeah! Gotta love that Rocky theme! ...Also, who knows of a barren place to crush a giant rock?"

Meta Knight stepped forward. "I just came from the Dragon Lands, which are to the far southeast. You'll have to fly or swim across Celestial Sea to get there, though. And I highly doubt that any of you could do that while carrying a large boulder."

Pummel was quiet for a moment. "...Maud, I have an idea. But first, I must know the extent of your rock-handling strength..."

He whispered something to Maud, who replied, "That might work. But how strong is Applejack?"

Applejack answered, "Don't y'all go doubtin' mah strength. Ah'm strong enough to launch a boulder a quarter the size of this one!"

His face wasn't visible from beneath the rock, but I'm certain Pummel grinned. "...Then this just might be able to do the trick. Meta Knight, lead us to the coastline separating us from the Dragon Lands."

"Of course, Pummel."

Magolor and the Squeaks came with us out of curiosity, although the latter were distracted by a jungle not long before we found ourselves at the coastline next to said jungle.

Pummel asked, "Is everypony ready?"

Maud answered, "I'm ready."

Applejack added, "So am I!"

"Then we're ready. On the count of three: One, two... THREE!" Pummel, Maud, and Applejack pulled off the amazing feat of launching the boulder into the air. They then pulled back their fist/hooves, ready to strike. The boulder began to fall back down. "...NOW!" The trio simultaneously punched the massive boulder, sending it clear across the Celestial Sea.

Without a second of delay, Pummel boarded Keldeo and sped across the sea himself, quickly followed by the others (who were holding on to Sonic), and they ended up on a volcanic island, the Dragon Lands.

Upon seeing Meta Knight, Dragon Lord Ember asked, "Might these be your acquaintances, Meta Knight?"

The Star Warrior replied, "Indeed. I'd be fine with staying to speak with you, but we've got a giant boulder heading this way. Before you ask, it was about to crash into and demolish our only way of returning home, so Pummel Fist, the muscular one, had the idea of launching it here to crash instead. Hope you don't mind."

"I suppose that's okay."

Pummel looked around at the barren landscape. "Say, Magolor, does this remind you of Halcandra?"

"Actually, yeah. There's volcanoes and lava everywhere, and there's even a dragon guardian! Man, this brings back memories..."

"How about Roborygon takes a commemorative picture of you here to remind you of Halcandra?"

Magolor nodded. "That sounds like a great idea! How should I pose? Like this? Or this?"

I caught on to what Pummel was thinking. I positioned myself so that Magolor was between me and Celestial Sea. "Okay, move a little over to the left. Now back up three feet. No, that's 2 3/4 feet! Move back three more inches. Good! Now hold your hands over your head, as if you're holding something. Bigger. A little bigger... Excellent! Finally, I want you to say, 'Minior used Rock Tomb!'"

"Minior used Rock--wait, what?" The giant boulder fell on Magolor, then it exploded, leaving behind Minior and a flattened Magolor. And I caught it all on tape.

Pummel put on a big smile. "Feeling depressed? You should visit Pinkie Pie for the cure."

We all burst into laughter, except for Magolor and Maud. Maud merely smiled at Minior's true potential. "That felt nice. Did you like it, Minior?"

"Mini mini Minior! (Boy, that sure was fun!)" Suddenly, Minior began to glow.

Meta Knight's eyes turned green, indicating thougtfulness. "Minior's about to return to outer space. You have to choose now: watch Minior return to its home in space, or keep it safe in its Poke Ball."

Maud looked at her Poke Ball, then back at Minior. At the Poke Ball, then at Minior. "...I'll take the third option." Maud returned Minior to its Poke Ball, but then she gave it to Meta Knight. "Take good care of Minior for me. It will always be in my heart, five-ever. That's even longer than forever."

"But without a Pokemon, you won't need your Rockium Z and Z-Ring. What will you do with them?"

"I'll keep them somewhere safe, as a memento of Minior and you, its original Trainer."

Meta Knight's eyes turned blue, signifying happiness at this remark. "Very well. I will take care of Minior as if it was a fellow Star Warrior."

Pummel took a breath and sighed. "Well, our work here is done. Should we return home?"

I replied, "It seems a bit too early to head home. Let's instead return to our activities before the battle happened."

Pummel returned Magolor to his original shape with a flick of his wrist, quite literally. (He was holding Magolor like a magician's sheet or a matador's cape.) "That's... what I meant," Pummel deadpanned.

Author's Note

Now it's time for us to meet my OC, Helix. If you're ready for his backstory, continue reading this Author's Note. If not, just head to the next chapter. Helix is the rival of Pummel, and he used a sample of the potion used on Pummel to transform himself into a Pokemon; Decidueye, in particular. He did battle with Pummel alongside Marx Soul and Soul of Sectonia to blow off steam, but he was still beaten. However, Pummel wasn't mad at Helix. In fact, Pummel and his friends went on a journey to teach Helix about being a friend.

Chapter 34: The Harmony Analysis

I am glad to have been allowed to rest in the impressive crystal castle that belonged to the one and only princess of friendship, Twilight Sparkle. As luck would have it, Pummel Fist also resided there. After the incredible performance by Octavia Melody, DJ Pon-3, and Meloetta, I returned to the castle for research. In particular, I wanted to learn how to be a better friend, so I scoured the bookshelves for the journal that belonged to the very Mane 6, knowing that they wrote the friendship lessons that they learned in that book. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the book on the bookshelves. It would have been very easy to spot, with the thick, purple and gold spine.

I was about to ask Twilight about it, but she had hurried out of the castle without a word. She seemed panicked, so I looked through the window to see what caught her attention. It was a blue, winged boat flying towards the square. I recognized it as the Lor Starcutter, and I supposed it had come here to rescue us. I had no reason to hurry, because there was no monster threatening Equestria, and besides, I wanted to learn more about this world. Therefore, I returned to the bookshelf. Perhaps there would be other--

"So, you like books?" I quickly turned and aimed an arrow quill at the source of the voice. "Whoa, hold your fire!"

I lowered my built-in weapon, which was aimed at young Spike. "I'm very sorry. This species, Decidueye, is normally calm and cautious, but when something surprises it, panic takes over. So try not to startle me, okay? And to answer your question, I have always loved books. I am on a constant journey to learn."

"That's cool. Twilight likes to learn things too. You should get to know her."

I smiled. "You've got a sharp eye to guess that I love books. Spike, could you help me find the Journal of Friendship?"

"Sure, I'll get it!"

I watched Spike search long and hard for the journal. Various thoughts began to sneak into my head, though. 'It's nice to have obtained some friends, but are they really true friends? Could there be more to them? That's what I want to know. I remember the ordeal with Marx, and I'm unsure if Magolor is really reformed. He almost killed Twilight Sparkle! As for Pummel Fist and his colleagues, on the other hand... They destroyed a destroyer with the power of friendship! And the Mane 6 defeated Discord with the Elements of Harmony after they remembered who they were, what they stood for...'

"Found it!" Spike handed me a large book with a purple star on the front.

"Thanks. It's just that I want to know how to be a better friend. I want to know the qualities of good friends."

"Then why don't you visit the School of Friendship?"

I looked away, sadly. "About that... The school's where I landed. When I awoke, this gray unicorn stallion in a red and black robe wrapped me up in glowing red chains, saying that I was an invader, and that I would disrupt the school while on its premises. Ugh, that was the worst Embargo I had ever experienced..."

Spike groaned, "Oh, Chancellor Neighsay is the worst. He doesn't believe that creatures besides ponies are able to be friends. It's a good thing that Twilight and the others wrote in this journal. They know a thing or two about friendship."

"It's also a good thing that Pummel and his friends were there to help me cope with my dark past and convert me to a friend. I feel like Starlight Glimmer, because we both have a sad past, were once evil, and now became friendship apprentices."

"Then you should go visit her."

"I will, as soon as I read some of this." I opened the journal to the first page and began reading.

However, I saw Spike point outside. "Uh, do you see that?"

I looked out the window and saw a massive boulder falling from the sky. "That's Continental Crush, one of many types of Z-Moves."

Spike raised an eyebrow. "A Z-Move can be a giant rock?"

I grinned. "It can be as bland as that, or as amazing as a multicolor lightning bolt that explodes upon impact!"

"You mean like the time we beat Lord Tirek?" Twa-a-a-ang! My arrow barely missed Pinkie Pie.

"Can you try not to startle me like that? This species panics when surprised, and you almost became a victim."

Pinkie's ears drooped. "Oh, sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it, Pinkie Pie. It's in your nature to surprise. (Especially since one of her previous incarnations was literally named Surprise.) Also, your analogy to defeating Lord Tirek was excellent. Speaking of Z-Moves, do you want to see something awesome?"

Spike and Pinkie Pie cheered up. "Boy, do we!"

"Okay, there's someone I want you to meet." A red, metal being flew out of my coat. "This is my partner, Rotom Dex. Rotom, these are my friends, Spike and Pinkie Pie."

"Greetings, Spike and Pinkie Pie," Rotom said ecstatically.

Spike shook Rotom's appendage. "Nice to meet you, Rotom!"

Pinkie followed suit. "Hi, Rotom!"

I continued, "Rotom, will you show these two creatures the time that Pummel Captured me and used my body to defeat Soul of Sectonia?"

"But of course!" Rotom's screen changed to show footage of Pummel throwing Cappy at my unconscious Dawn Wings Necrozma body. Cappy landed on my head, causing Pummel to soar into my body through Cappy and take control of me.

Spike exclaimed, "Whoa, so that's what a Capture is!"

I grinned. "It gets better."

And it did. Meta Knight took the Ultranecrozium Z that I/Pummel had tossed to him and put it in his Z-Power Ring. He then performed a psychic pose after initiating the Z-Move with his arms crossed in front of his body, reciting an appropriately-altered version of Green Lantern's chant. He quickly collapsed as energy flowed from him into our body. We then proceeded to steal light from all around and condense it into a massive energy sphere before throwing it at Soul of Sectonia at the same time as Mew had thrown a purple ball of energy at her. Soul of Sectonia died in an explosion of petals.

Spike said after a long pause, "That... was... AWESOME!"

Pinkie fit her jaw back into place. "You and Pummel make the best team ever!"

I replied, "No, we're not. In my opinion, the best team ever consists of Pummel and Keldeo. And for your information, that attack I used was Ultra Necrozma's signature Z-Move, Light That Burns the Sky, while the pink cat thing, Mew, used Genesis Supernova."

Spike was quick to point at the screen with a horrified look. "Uh, what is that thing?!"

The screen showed what appeared to be a vampire zombie jester with wings. "That is the enemy that Pummel hates most, Marx Soul. I made the poor decision to revive Marx--using the leftover pieces from Star Dream Soul OS--and Queen Sectonia--using four Miracle Fruits--to do battle against Pummel, but they tried to kill him and his friends. Watch as Pummel and his friends take down this fiend, but get ready to cover your ears."

The pair watched as Pummel, Heart, Sonic, Keldeo, and Kirby ended the Z-Move pose by forming a 'Z' with their arms. As an aura surrounded them, their metal ally Roborygon pointed out a brown platform with a banner; a Friend Platform. They got on the Platform before changing to a line formation, with Keldeo at the front wearing a conductor's hat with a smokestack on top. After Pummel's clever quip (which happened to coincide with the name of the train that goes through Equestria), they charged towards Marx Soul, who fired a massive laser from his mouth. They struggled, but they were able to defeat Marx Soul with help from Mario's Fire Tickle, Keldeo's Phenomenal Sword (Secret Sword during Bond Phenomenon), and Meloetta's music.

I warned, "Now, cover your ears, or else!"

"What did you--" Spike chose a poor time to not listen, for he was subject to Marx Soul's earsplitting death scream. He ran out of the room with surprising speed.

I muttered to myself, "Should've warned him earlier..."

"Shall I call Amy?" Rotom asked.

"Please do. Her Sylveon's ribbon-like feelers have a soothing property."

"I knew that..." Rotom's screen changed to an exasperated face.

Pinkie asked, "How do you do that with your light-up belly, Rotom?"

Rotom was about to answer, but I stopped him. "That would take a long time to explain, Pinkie Pie. Besides, I still need to read this journal. How about you go make someone's day a little brighter?"

Pinkie saluted. "Yes, sir!" Zip--SCREECH! "Ow! What happened?"

I glanced at Pinkie's shadow, which was immobile. "Oh, my arrow happened to pin down your shadow. Let me get it for you." I plucked my quill and put it in my pocket for safekeeping.

"Thanks!" Pinkie successfully zipped away.

I opened up the journal once again. "Now, where was I...?"

Chapter 35: Your Success is in Another Castle

I was somewhat confused when the princesses sent me back to Ponyville in order to make a new friend at about the same time as they had sent a letter requesting that Pummel Fist come to the castle to use his 'services,' as the letter had specifically said. Alice and I flew towards the town, and we saw something glowing red soar past. I would have guessed that it was a phoenix, but its body wasn't glowing. Instead, I assumed that it was Pummel in one of his fire bird Pokemon forms.

"...Ali, Altaria?"

"I think so too, Alice. They're probably hiding something from me that's already been in plain sight. But we'll just leave it at that until further evidence is revealed... Oh? What could that be?"

We touched down in the square, where we noticed Spike at some kind of stand. Before I could read the sign, Spike pressed a button on the stand, flipping the sign so it read 'Aromatherapy.' "Oh, hey, Princess Peach. Would you like to try some aromatherapy? Free samples!"

I gave it some thought. "That's really kind of you, Spike. I would be happy to try some, but I'm a little busy right now. Besides, you might want to restock your inventory. It seems lacking."

"Okay, maybe next--wait, what did you mean by inventory?" I knew that colorful vocabulary would confuse Spike.

"Oh!" I stumbled and fell, releasing my grip on the vegetable in my hand. "Oops!"

Spike rushed to my aid. "Are you okay, Princess?"

I got up and brushed myself off. "I'm okay, Spike. Sometimes, it can be tough walking in heels, especially on roads made of stone tiles such as here." I just happened to take a glance at the stand, with its original sign flipped into position due to my well-tossed vegetable. "Oh, what do we have here?"

Spike gasped with horror. "This was Discord's idea!"

I put my hands on my hips. "I should have known it was one of Discord's antics. He should really stop sticking his nose in other creatures' business. Especially Pummel's. Discord, show yourself if you know what's good for you!"

Spike asked me, "Do you really think he'd show himself? He's Discord!"

"Good point." Since Discord was the mastermind, I did what should be done to masterminds: I pulled back the curtains on his scheme (literally)! I discovered Discord behind invisible curtains, where he was playing the famous person who pretended to be Oz. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Discord then near-quoted the famous line: "Uh, do not pay attention to the draconequus behind the curtain!"

I giggled, "I was hoping you'd say that. But that's besides the point." I bashed him on the head with my frying pan. "You should know! All of Pummel's friends knew his secret ever since the MLP Roborygon incident a couple weeks ago!"

"First of all, the stuff that happened when you went into the TV world was non-canon to this Equestria. Second of all, of course I knew, because I'm familiar with parallel worlds, but the others in this world had no clue. I just left out the part about Pummel's friends knowing his secret in order to cause a little chaos. And third of all... who keeps a frying pan in hammerspace?!"

I answered with a smile, "What self-respecting heroine doesn't keep a strange but powerful close-combat weapon?"

"Touche."

Spike asked, "Where did you get that surprised turnip? Did Discord give it to you?"

I replied, "Good guess, but no. I learned how to pull turnips out of the ground ever since Mario, Luigi, Toad, and I adventured through Subcon in Mario's dream. It's a long story." I hopped on Alice, pulling Discord along by the ear. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go teach somepony a lesson."

Therefore, we made a return trip to Canterlot Castle. When we made it back, the guards stopped us, as I somewhat expected, not just because of Discord being with me and Alice. "The princesses are having a private meeting with Pummel Fist. We must ask you to come back later."

I'm used to dealing with guards by now, so I didn't let them stop me. "I have some valuable information that the princesses could use. This information cannot be bestowed to them if I cannot speak to them personally."

"We can relay the information to them. Do you not trust us?"

"I can deal with these guys," Discord boasted.

But I said, "Not now. I can handle this. I mean, Alice can. Discord, you might want to put your ears somewhere that noise can't reach them."

"If you say so." Discord took his ears and gobbled them up. My, what a pig he can be, and that's coming from someone who knows who Applejack is! "Mmm, tastes ear-y (eerie)!"

"Okay. Alice, would you please treat our noble guards to a song? This time, make sure that it doesn't do them harm."

As I had hoped, Alice used Sing rather than Perish Song. I knew so because, even though I had covered my ears, I was still able to hear the guards. "What a peaceful... song... *yawn* It's... soothing... *yawn* Good night, Luna... *thud*"

"Good job, Alice." I turned to Discord before pointing to my ears.

Discord nodded before forming new ears from his own skin. "That was pretty devious, Princess."

I grinned mischievously. "Not as devious as Alice's Perish Song. That move kills, hence the name. Anyway, let's go. Alice, please wait outside for us."

We walked down the hallway, ready for whatever we would have to face. Predicting what Pummel and the princesses were probably doing, I had plucked another turnip earlier.

I asked, "Ready, Discord?"

"Ready, Peach."

After I very slightly opened the double door, I blindly chucked the turnip in. Then I listened... Nothing. I risked taking a peek and saw... That's strange. The whole front side of Pummel's body was black. Ashen. As if it was hit by... a laser. If that was from Celestia, I hoped it wasn't at maximum power. I shut the door and thought about my next move. They seemed innocent, but to be sure... Snap!

Hearing my signal, the turnip transformed into Discord, surprising the trio. "I like your new look, Pummel. You look very... radishing.

Pummel stared at Discord. "Uh... I don't get it. Why use a radish pun?"

Discord deadpanned. "You mean you didn't notice me transform from a radish?"

"All we saw is you as you are right now."

Before Pummel had a chance to explain why, I made a dramatic entrance with my Peach Bomber. "You can drop the act, princesses. I knew what was up before you did!"

Pummel pleaded, "Please forgive them, Princess Peach. They thought only I knew my secret, and not my friends also."

Luna asked, "Is that so?"

"That is indeed so," Discord replied. "You see, Pummel's secret was previously revealed to you two, his friends, the Mane Six, and Spike in a parallel dimension, thanks to Roborygon. I know, because that dimension's counterpart of me told me all about it. He even showed me the whole adventure they had on tape! Although, while I interrogated Roborygon, he told me that they had learned more about Pummel's secret, which you read in the paper. Anyway, after the reveal, Lucario said that Pummel had recently quashed that secret recently."

I added, "Don't worry about punishing Discord, Pummel. I already took care of that."

"Did you slam him with your frying pan?" Pummel asked with a grin.

Celestia looked at me. "You have a frying pan?"

I nodded. "As I said to Discord, what self-respecting heroine doesn't carry a powerful--and sometimes strange--close-combat weapon?" I demonstrated by giving Discord a circular face with my frying pan.

Celestia chuckled, "You do make a good point."

"Now, let's get back to business." The princesses stiffened up at my remark. "That was very naughty of you to send me away while keeping the real reason why you did from me. But it was still a good thing that you did send me away, since the real reason happened to be private matters in my opinion."

"We understand. Our apologies for upsetting you."

I giggled. "The truth is, I'm not mad at you. Honestly, I thought that you would be mad at Pummel for having such a strange quirk."

Celestia relaxed upon hearing this. "Well, that's a relief. Next time, we'll be sure to tell you the truth."

"Well, duh," I replied as I poked Celestia on the snout.

Pummel looked so adorably shocked that I did that, like someone used Icy Wind directly on his spine. "Did... Did you really just boop the princess of the sun?"

"Why can't a princess have fun every once in a while?"

Discord sneaked closer to me. "You know, Peach, I'm starting to like you more and more."

"Don't push it. You still have that frying-pan face I gave you. If you're not careful, my tennis racket will turn your head into a discordant waffle."

"You might be good at visibly humiliating me, but you should've been there when Pummel Fist sent me packing."

"I could easily guess what happened. Only Pummel could punch you from Ponyville all the way here." Discord flinched and couldn't move! Tee hee, things sound much more dramatic and humorous when they're said in Pokemon form!

Celestia said, "Now we need to continue our previous activities with Pummel. Why don't you go back to Ponyville, this time to really make friends?"

"I certainly will. Pummel, can you please take care of Discord for me?"

Pummel grinned. "You bet. It's time to tango, 64-style!" He grabbed Discord by the tail and began to swing him around and around. "Let's-a go!" He let go, launching Discord into one of the stained-glass murals without leaving a scratch. "Before you ask, princesses, Roborygon will explain what I meant by 64-style later."

"I'd better go now. The guards are probably waking up now from Alice's Sing."

Celestia and Luna looked concerned. Luna asked, "I beg your pardon?"

"Alice is my Altaria, a bird Pokemon with cloud-like feathers. One of her moves is Sing, which can lull opponents to sleep. The guards wouldn't let me in, so I had Alice use Sing to get by."

The princesses looked at each other with wide eyes. Luna finally said, "We should get tougher guards."

As if on cue, the guards burst in. "Princess Peach, you directly disobeyed our command not to intrude on the princesses!"

Celestia replied, "At ease, guards. As it would happen, she and the rest of Pummel's friends already knew about his curious activities, due to a previous happening."

I began to go on my way. "Now I really do believe I should be going, so the princesses and Pummel will no longer be bothered. My return to Ponyville will also be a chance for me to make a new friend." Before I left the room, I turned to the guards. "Oh, and you might want to invest in some earplugs so you won't fall victim to slumber-inducing songs again."

The guards blushed for a moment. "We appreciate the suggestion. But don't think we'll forget what you did." Guards: they are tough on the outside, but they do have a soft side!

Chapter 36: Still Not a Rotten Egg

Bet you're wondering why my shoes were windy. Here's the deal: Rainbow was still upset that I won the near-land race, so the day after, she challenged me to a sky race. Roborygon suggested that Rainbow blow wind on my shoes, which gave them the 'Bluster' element. We began to do the sky race, but it came to a halt when Rainbow spotted the flying ship and took on the blue guy and mice that came out, who I recognized as Magolor and the Squeaks respectively. We retried the sky race after we saw Pummel and Roborygon put Magolor in the way of the giant boulder, which was hilarious and awesome at the same time.

Rainbow Dash declared, "First one to the Wonderbolts Arena and back to my place wins!"

"You're on!"

"On our marks, get set... GO!" And we were off.

"..."

"...Well, that kind of let me down," Rainbow said after the incredibly short (due to our speed) race. "It's a draw."

I replied, "But Pummel's Rotom recorded the race. Surely someone won!"

Pummel's Rotom sadly said, "My apologies, but Rainbow Dash is correct. It's a perfect tie, down to the nanosecond!"

I frowned. "So we're perfectly matched when it comes to speed. But I'm not gonna stop there. I won't stop until we've got ourselves a winner!"

Rainbow grinned. "How about an awesomeness competition?"

"My thoughts exactly."

Rotom looked surprised. "But I have not been programmed to judge for awesomeness!"

"Then it's a good thing that I have!" All right, Roborygon came! "I know that there aren't any rules for awesomeness competitions, but I shall judge how many points certain actions get. Since both of you can now fly, this shall take place in the skies above Equestria. The competition ends in the following conditions: I call it, or when one of the participants is sufficiently dumbfounded and in awe. If you desire, I can set a target number of points for you to reach."

I shook my head. "Nah, I'd rather this be a no-holds-barred competition. I'm gonna reach for the stars!"

"Very well. The awesomeness competition begins in T-minus 3, 2, 1..." Bang! "Oh, and since you mentioned it..."

Rainbow Dash gasped, "No way! Sonic, is that your theme song?!"

I replied, "Nah, but it's a famous song from one of my games."

"You have your own game series?! Aw man, if only I was that awesome..."

Roborygon said, "Don't worry, Rainbow. There's a couple of online games starring you. I'll explain later. And besides, you have your own theme tune, but you don't hear it because you're faster than sound itself. Anyway, the competition is now underway!"

I started by Spin-Dashing into a few clouds in a bowling pin formation.

"Cloud bowling gets twenty points!"

Rainbow shaped a cloud into a lightning bolt before using a storm cloud to strike it with real lightning.

"A lightning bolt cloud energized with real lightning gets fifty points!"

Man, that was smart. I countered by doing a windmill, kicking up a tornado. I then ran into the tornado before shooting out the top.

"A Sonic Adventure reference! That's one hundred points!"

Rainbow growled before flying away. I knew she wasn't throwing in the towel, because I saw her coming back at a really fast pace. Faster, faster... BOOM! Aw, yeah! She Sonic Rainboomed into the tornado!

"Incredible! A Rainboom Tornado! That's worth--wait, what's this?"

Yeah, unfortunately for Dash, while she was picking up speed, I shaped a bunch of clouds into my head and the seven Chaos Emeralds, and I also shaped a giant one into Eggman's head before destroying it. Rainbow was just shocked.

"And that's the game! A technical knockout!"

I couldn't help but feel bad for Dash. Not only was she shocked, but I could see tears well up in her eyes. I walked over to the cloud she was sitting on and patted her back. "Don't beat yourself up, Rainbow Dash. This was just a friendly competition, so everyone wins. Besides, that Rainboom Tornado was amazing, so I've got to hand the victory to you. Plus, while I'm the fastest interdimensional runner, you're the fastest local flier."

Rainbow stifled a tear. "Thanks, Sonic. That's pretty nice of you to give me the win. You're a pretty cool guy yourself."

"Hey, Rainbow! Get down here and lend me your help!" Sounds like a certain treasure-hunting pony needs Rainbow down on the ground.

Rainbow asked me, "Wanna come with me? That's the totally awesome Daring Do calling me!"

We found the mustard-yellow Pegasus mare in adventure gear near a forest close to the shore we crossed to reach the Dragon Lands. "Glad you could make it, Rainbow. Who's your friend?"

"This is Sonic the Hedgehog. He's one of a bunch of awesome heroes from another world! How he got here is kind of a long story, but I can easily tell you he's just as fast as me!"

"Nice to meet you, Sonic." Daring shook my hand with her wing. "The name's Daring Do. By any chance, do you know about these guys?" Daring showed us a group of mouse creatures tied up in a rope.

I answered, "Those are the Squeaks, a group of treasure-hunting thieves who recently fought against Rainbow Dash. Must've gotten distracted when my pal Pummel Fist stopped their transport from being destroyed."

"I knew they were trouble as soon as they tried to steal an artifact from me," Daring groaned. "But why would your friend keep their transport from being destroyed?"

The gray mouse with a fedora and cape, Daroach, said, "We came here with an alien named Magolor so we could take Pummel and his friends back to their home. They were stranded here after a victorious battle against a world-destroying monster ended in the battlefield crumbling, forcing them to try to escape."

I added, "We were knocked out by debris, but my landing was softened when I fell through Rainbow's cloud home by accident."

Daring raised an eyebrow. "They're thieves that came to rescue you guys? That doesn't make any sense."

"Well, they were reformed by a friend of mine, who rescued their leader, Daroach, from being possessed by a being of darkness, Dark Nebula. Isn't that right, Daroach?"

Daroach replied, "That is correct, Sonic. Young Kirby defeated Dark Nebula using my Triple Star Cane. I should have known better than to steal that priceless treasure from this Indiana Jones wannabe, after seeing what Kirby was able to do."

Daring's eyes went wide. "One of your friends is this legendary hero I have heard of, known as Kirby?! I've heard much about him, but I've yet to see him in action. Also, who's this Indiana Jones that Daroach speaks of?"

I explained, "Where we come from, Indiana Jones is a fictional adventurer who searches for artifacts to take to museums. He doesn't have an alter ego, unlike you."

"He sounds cool. Anyway, why should I trust these guys?"

"You may not be able to trust them, but you can sure trust Kirby. Let me get him for you." In the blink of an eye, I had the pink hero in front of Daring Do, who seemed really surprised.

"...This is the same Kirby that was rumored to defeat Queen Chrysalis and a wizard named Hyness? I was expecting something a little bigger and cooler. This puffball doesn't look like he'd hurt a fly."

Rainbow insisted, "Remember the water sword hat? He used that against Chrysalis!"

"Really? I thought it was just for cosplay. The sword looked more like a water toy than a weapon. Besides, from what I heard, Kirby used a fiery sword."

"I know, but he changed his water sword into a fire sword! I know because my friends and I fought alongside him!"

"Right..." Daring turned to Kirby. "Sonic says you know the Squeaks. Do you really think they came to take you and your friends home?"

Kirby smiled. "Poyo!"

"How can you trust these guys when they tried to steal an artifact from me?"

Kirby seemed really shocked. "Poy?!" He then kicked Daroach in the face. "Poyaaa!"

Daroach pleaded, "Okay, we're sorry! We just thought Daring Do was a fellow thief that hunts for treasure."

Rainbow frowned. "Listen up, Squeaks! Daring Do is not a thief. She's a treasure-hunting hero!"

I added, "Yeah, and I thought you guys were reformed. What got into you?"

Daroach replied, "We may be reformed, but we're still thieves. Is there any place that we can go to find treasure that we don't have to steal from creatures?"

"I have an idea." Meta Knight made another stealthy appearance. "There's a mine in Ponyville that contains plenty of gems. Why don't you go visit it and excavate some gems? That is, if Daring Do approves."

Daring glared at the Squeaks. "You promise you won't cause any trouble after I let you guys go?"

"We promise."

Daring released the rope, freeing the Squeaks. "Hey, swirly eyes, I'm guessing you want that little thing you were flying in?"

The tiny mouse with a green mustache and glasses with a swirly pattern replied, "That would be nice, Daring Do. After all, it is my main means of transportation. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get around when you don't have feet?"

"You sound kinda desperate. Fine, I'll get it for you." Daring Do flew away and returned with a small UFO. She lifted Doc inside. "Stay out of trouble, Squeaks." Daring turned back to me. "So, Sonic, was it?"

Chapter 37: A Remarkable Discovery

Author's Note

Hello, reader! My name is Twilight Sparkle, and Pummel Fist was kind enough to allow me to write a chapter in my own point of view. I hope you enjoy my chapter! Afterwards, I think I'll give Keldeo a chance.

Chapter 37: A Remarkable Discovery

I told myself after the incident with Magolor and the Squeaks that I wouldn't let myself be surprised by anything else involving Pummel, his team, and anything related to them. I'm glad I didn't Pinkie Promise, because I just had to explore the Lor Starcutter.

It was much bigger on the inside than I had anticipated; there were an incredible number of rooms, and there was even a basement floor. However, the thing that got most of my attention was a huge computer terminal near the entrance, in the main room. Instead of a traditional computer keyboard, there was a rounded, digital keypad with a star shape at each end. The screen showed what appeared to be Pop Star, and a line was connecting it to my home planet of Equus. The Lor was depicted traveling along the line from Pop Star to Equus, which must have been the path it took to get here. In a smaller window, there was only static and the words 'No Connection.' It must have been used to contact somepony or creature. Maybe someone who knows Pummel and his friends?

My curiosity was cured when I pressed a flashing button on the keypad. It opened up a window that showed a biped with large blue eyes and pink hair. "Greetings, being from Equestria, or so I assume you are, if the Lor Starcutter reached the correct destination. My name is Susanna Patrya Haltmann, but you can call me Susie. If you are watching this prerecorded message, them you must know that the Lor Starcutter has been piloted here to rescue Pummel Fist and his friends, and also to scout the area. The reason for scouting is because Ribbon and Elline had no means of communication with us back at the Expedition Society, due to some kind of interference when they entered Equestria's atmosphere. If you believe you have the answer as to why there is interference, please follow the onscreen instructions to send your response. If not, then you may feel free to explore the Lor while waiting for Pummel and his teammates to return to the Lor. This is Susie, signing out." Then the window disappeared.

Interference? What could have caused interference? I'd have to research the possible causes later, but for the time being, I decided to go into the hallway on my left. In the hallway were several doors, each with about five symbols above it. The second door I came to caught my interest; the symbols above it were a red parasol, green electricity, orange energy balls, an orange whip, and a dark brown rock. The rock reminded me of Rocky, so I chose to enter the room.

Inside the room were golden pedestals with figurines of strange creatures. One of the pedestals had a brown Rocky on it, except with a blue headband instead of a rock hat. Is it in memory of Rocky--?

"Do it again, Kirby! Do it again!"

"Poyo!" Bzzt!

Sounds like there's someone on the floor above. I climbed the ladder and was nearly shocked when I saw Kirby wearing a green electric hat as he played with Pinkie Pie. Kirby seemed fully charged with green electricity when Pinkie Pie touched him, causing her mane to stand on end. Apparently it didn't hurt Pinkie much.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Pinkie answered, "Oh, hi, Twilight! Kirby and I are playing Mane Zap!"

"But where'd Kirby get that hat?"

"Kirby got that Spark hat when he touched one of those statue thingies. Come on, give it a shot!"

"Okay." I climbed back down the ladder and looked at the various pedestals. I was already able to shoot lasers and the like, so that marks off the energy balls and green electricity. I now had a choice between the rock, whip, and parasol. Since Rocky could take on stone formations, I figured Kirby could do the same. I cautiously made contact with the stone figurine, and I gasped as a bright light surrounded me. When it dissipated, I was wearing a stone hat like the one Rocky wore. "So, these pedestals give us Copy Abilities? Does that mean...?" I concentrated hard, and I suddenly transformed into a stone statue of... my castle.

Pinkie exclaimed, "Wow, that's amazing, Twilight! You should try it on the training dummy!" Pinkie pointed towards the center of the top floor, where there was a dummy made of the same material as a punching bag.

I chose to use the same move that Rocky used on the giant orb of dark energy that Hyness threw: I punched the dummy with a stone fist, sending it clear across the room. I finished it off by jumping above it and smashing it as a stone Discord. I chuckled to myself as I realized who I just transformed into, and what I was made of. I was a petrified Discord.

Pinkie and Kirby also laughed. "I never knew you were so good at making jokes, Twilight!"

I returned to normal. "That was just a coincidence. And while I'd love to stay and test the different forms of this Stone Ability, I should go and try the abilities with more variety. See you later, Pinkie and Kirby!"

I left the room and continued down the hallway. Some of the symbols above the doors were quite interesting, such as an indigo web, a yellow bell, and a light blue group of shards. I entered the door with the shards above it, with the other symbols being a black wheel, a blue jet, a white pill capsule, and an orange staff.

Inside, I made contact with the pedestal holding a red-robed wizard figurine. I thought I would get a robe like it was wearing, but instead, I got a strange blue jester hat and a blue wand with a crystal at the end. I tried to test my wand on the dummy, but all that came out were shards of some translucent substance.

"Ooh, that one's really fun to use!" Pinkie appeared a short distance in front of me in a cloud of smoke, wearing a purple ninja outfit. She suddenly threw a kunai at me. Acting on instinct, I aimed the shards at the kunai, but something weird happened: Upon contact with the shards, the weapon was reflected back at Pinkie, who vanished, leaving a log in her place.

"So... do we get instant knowledge of the Ability or something by obtaining it?" I asked.

"Wanna find out?" Pinkie reappeared behind me, prompting me to guard against her katana with my wand, which acted as a blade itself.

"This ability certainly is intriguing. If only I knew what it was called..."

"Look, on the wall!" I was directed towards various digital signs on the wall adjacent to the door. Each one depicted one of the symbols above the door and a short description, as well as the apparent name of the respective Ability.

"So this is the Mirror Ability, huh? Thanks, Pinkie Pie!"

"Don't thank me, silly! Thank yourself!"

"What do you--" I turned to face Pinkie, only to look at myself. No, not me me. A clone of me.

My clone asked, "Why are you surprised? The sign did say that you could make mirror copies of yourself. And don't worry about your clones having different personalities than yourself like Pinkie's clones from the Mirror Pool. We actually work together, because you're in charge of us."

"Really? In that case..." I created ten clones of myself. "Okay, Twilights, I want you all to visit the various Copy Ability rooms and research the various Abilities. I will do the same."

My first clone replied, "That would be a good idea, but try not to obtain a new Ability. As soon as you drop the Mirror Ability, we disappear. Maybe you could watch Pinkie and Kirby use new Abilities instead."

"Thanks, Twilight 1. Team Twilight, it's time to move out!"

My clones and I stormed out of the room and searched the other ones. I, for one, entered a door that had a teal broom like the one Rarity mentioned, a purple eye, the indigo web I saw earlier, a gray missile, and a golden targeting reticle.

As I had somewhat expected, Rarity was inside, and she was wearing a white bandana with green stars, and holding a broom. "Hello, Twilight! What do you think of this Cleaning Ability I obtained? Does it look marvelous?"

"I think you should see for yourself. Here, I'll help." I used Reflect Force, using the shards from my wand to reflect Rarity's appearance.

Rarity never looked happier... except when she was temporarily crystallized. "Oh, my! No wonder Kirby seemed so happy cleaning my place with the Cleaning Ability! He must have really enjoyed the outfit, for so do I! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some cleaning to do back at Carousel Boutique!"

After I bid Rarity farewell, I glanced at the signs describing the Abilities. I learned that the ESP Ability offers powers similar to those of 'a certain boy with PSI'; the Cleaning Ability magically removes debris and waste; the Spider Ability can shoot webs to ensnare opponents; the Missile Ability lets its user turn into a rocket that explodes upon impact; and the Laser Ability can fire lasers that bounce off of angled surfaces. That's quite interesting. Normal unicorn lasers stop upon impact, and stronger unicorn lasers can blast through objects, but I never heard of a laser that ricochets off of surfaces!

I finished up with the room and decided to go further down the hallway. The doors closer to the end seemed more important, because one of them also had the words 'Limited Use' above the signs, which were a purple microphone, a purple explosion, an orange chef's pot, an orange boom cone, and a purple bed; the next one had 'In Case of Super Emergency' above it, with no symbols except for a large, glowing star; after that was a sign that read 'If You Need a Miracle'; then there was a large, mechanical door; and finally, a door with only the phrase 'Power Effects' above it. Since those rooms seemed important, I chose to save them for later.

Having covered the Copy Rooms, I moved on to the other side of the Lor. Rainbow Dash was there, in front of a door with the Wing symbol above it. "Hey, Twilight! Want to watch me rock this Wing course?"

I asked, "How do you know it's a course?"

"I thought you read the sign, egghead!" Sure enough, there was a sign outside of the room that we were in, and it read, 'Challenge Stages.'

"A Wing course? That sounds perfect for you, Rainbow Dash. Maybe I'll take it on after I watch you so I can test my flying skills."

"All right, prepare to be blown away!" Rainbow flew through the door, running into the Wing pedestal along the way, giving her the Wing Ability. "Really? This looks... actually kind of cool. It goes perfectly with my rainbow mane!" I'd have to agree with Rainbow. I may not be Rarity, but I am sure she'd think it looks great too. "Anyway, time to be awesome!"

I watched as Rainbow soared past spiky balls with eyes (which a hologram of Susie explained were Gordos), collecting every coin she saw. She powered through every enemy she saw, leaving no witnesses. Somehow, she once even sped through a squadron of Gordos! At least Susie explained that some attacks have 'invincibility frames,' so I wouldn't be as surprised. Rainbow finished up by flying past Gigatzos (giant cannons that shot flaming balls) and entering the goal door at the end before the timer even reached 30 seconds. That's Rainbow Dash for you, with her incredible speedruns.

Rainbow trotted out with swagger. "Look out, everypony, platinum flyer coming through! Seriously, nopony could top my perfect run!"

"That may be so, but can you top my perfect run of the Whip Challenge?" Daring Do walked out of a nearby door, to Rainbow's shock.

"You're Daring Do! Nopony could beat your Whip run! Besides, we've got more important things to do, such as check out the basement floor!"

"Okay, guys. I wish you two good luck. I'm going to go check on the Squeaks, see to it that they haven't gotten themselves in trouble."

Rainbow and I climbed down the ladder to the basement, where there were two big doors, each with their own, special motif: One had a ninja motif and had the sign 'Ninja Dojo,' while the other had a robot King Dedede motif and had the sign 'Scope Shot.'

"Dibs on Ninja Dojo!" Rainbow zipped into the ninja door, and I soon followed.

The instructions, which were on a large scroll, were simple: throw shurikens at moving targets, one at a time. Was it easier read than done? For Rainbow Dash, definitely, at least for the more difficult targets, such as ones in stampedes of wooden wheels, ones on parachutes, and ones hidden by Gordos. But for me, it was paradise. So much strategy, so much timing, and so much aim! I was at home in the Ninja Dojo! I hit bullseye after bullseye! When it was all over, I had the perfect score this time.

Needless to say, Rainbow Dash's jaw was dropped. "I... I lost!"

"Don't worry, Rainbow Dash. Maybe you'll do better on Scope Shot."

As we headed into Scope Shot, however, we learned that somepony beat us to it. Or rather, someponies. We tried to join, but some kind of force field prevented us from advancing further. We had no choice but to wait for Pinkie Pie and a brown colt with a propeller hat to finish destroying a robot that looked much like King Dedede. As they blasted away, we read the instructions on a monitor. Apparently, we're supposed to use these 'scopes,' which are long, silver rods, to blast giant robots and destroy them before time runs out. We have to watch out for their attacks and missiles from the background.

Oh, they just found the glowing weak point on the robot's belly. But wait, they're still destroying the rest of the armor. Maybe that's how they get more points. And... there's the last part of the armor, destroyed! All that's left is to blast the weak point. Wow, I was getting tense just--wait, the robot's getting back up! And it got its hammer out! Do Kirby bad guys ever quit?!

Suddenly, the brown colt shouted, "Go for the hammer!" The colt and Pinkie repeatedly blasted the hammer, until... Thunk! The hammer's head broke off and landed on the robot's head. A few seconds after, the two ponies turned around, facing us, as the robot exploded. "Aw, yeah! Bosses do not mess with the video game master!"

Pinkie ran over to us and said, "Hi, Twilight and Rainbow Dash! Did ya enjoy the show?"

Rainbow replied, "You bet, Pinkie! Destroying stuff is awesome, and destroying robots is double the awesomeness!"

I asked, "Who's your friend?"

Pinkie answered, "This is Button Mash. He's awesome at games, so he was super awesome at this!"

Rainbow asked, "Can we join?"

"Sure you can! Which level do you wanna play?"

"Which one's the toughest?"

"Well, we already beat Waddle Tank, Mecha Kawasaki, and Robo Dedede, so that leaves the extra-special, super-secret mega-tough level that neither of us have even heard of!"

The monitor changed to show various robots: a stout tank with eyes and a parasol on top, a robot chef, a robot Dedede, and--! "Is that... a robot Pummel Fist?" I asked.

"Let's find out!" Rainbow aimed her Scope at the image and pulled the trigger.

The screen switched to Susie. "If you are watching this, then that means you are about to engage in a dangerously tough battle against a prototype robot or two. You may know the Kelduo, but can you handle the Kelduo 2.0? There is only one way to find out. Don't blame me if you lose or are hurt. You have been warned."

Before we began the battle by re-calibrating our Scopes, I said, "Okay, here's the plan: Rainbow Dash, you are to hit the robots, and hit them hard. Pinkie Pie, take care of the attacks they throw at us. I'll blast the important and hard-to-reach parts. As for you, Button... mash."

We re-calibrated our Scopes, firing at our own image. Once we were finished, a giant robotic Pummel Fist marched in from the left, and the screen showed the following before lifting away: "3, 2, 1, GO!"

Robot Pummel began by throwing a sphere of energy into the sky before running towards the horizon. When the sphere came down, he punched it hard enough to send it flying at us.

"I got it!" Pinkie shot the energy ball, sending it back at robot Pummel, who launched it back at her. This continued for three more volleys.

"Let's send it back together this time!" I said. We all shot at the energy ball, sending it back with enough force to catch robot Pummel off-guard, hitting him in the chest. "Now, give it all you got!"

We didn't stop firing until robot Pummel got back up. A mechanized version of Pummel's voice came from it: "Whew, you guys are pretty good. But can you handle this?" Robot Pummel punched the ground, knocking us off-balance, before shooting a volley of spheres at us.

"These ones are mine!" Being in the air, Rainbow wasn't off-balance and was able to fire a large blast at the energy balls, sending them all back at robot Pummel.

"Ouch... Forgot about the Flying-type... Better change tactics!" Robot Pummel ran back and forth while shooting energy balls at us.

I warned, "Each of us should fire at the sphere closest to our plane."

Pinkie asked, "We have a plane? Why don't we ride it and shoot the robot with its weapons?"

"No, I mean the imaginary line connecting us to robot Pummel." I demonstrated by shooting at the sphere coming for me.

The others followed suit, knocking the rest of robot Pummel's armor off, revealing a glowing spot on his glasses. Knowing what to do, we fired at it, which was obviously the weak point. Upon getting blasted, robot Pummel toppled over.

Rainbow scoffed, "Easy peasy! I was expecting something tougher than that!"

I replied, "And your expectations are about to be met."

A robot Keldeo helped robot Pummel up, and Keldeo's voice said, "We're not even close to finished! You guys might want to put on some shades, or you might be blinded by sheer awesomeness! It's time for Bond Phenomenon!"

Just then, Pinkie started shuddering. "It's gonna be a doozy!" Pinkie hadn't had that kind of Pinkie Sense reaction since Harmony Kirby. This is bad...

The two robots glowed brightly, changing greatly in the process. When the light dissipated, robot Pummel had regained his armor, and he now had spikier hair and water covering his hands. Robot Keldeo, on the other hoof, had watery hooves, a blazing mane, four swords instead of one, a yellow, heart-shaped protrusion on his chest, and an infinity-shaped mark on his muzzle.

"Warned you," I said to Rainbow.

The screen reappeared. "3, 2, 1, GO!"

Robot Keldeo moved so fast that he made illusory copies of himself, and they each charged up an energy ball in their mouths.

I said, "Rather than search for the real deal, we should just shoot the spheres before they're even fired." This had better work.

We each shot one of the four spheres, sending them down their owners' throats.

"Choking robots?" asked Rainbow Dash. "That's new."

The robot Keldeo gagged before the sphere exploded in its throat, making the copies disappear and making the real one collapse. Robot Pummel also held its throat, as if...!

Back at Twilight's Castle, Pummel clutched his throat. He wondered, 'What's going on? Have the effects of the Bond Phenomenon extended past when it wasn't active?'

I exclaimed, "This prototype is really accurate. They even share each other's pain during the Bond Phenomenon!"

Rainbow said, "Save your Twilighting for after destroying these guys! Right now, we gotta attack!"

We whaled away on the Kelduo 2.0 before they got up. Robot Pummel aimed his spiky hair at us before shooting its needles.

"I'll handle this!" Button vigorously pulled his trigger, sending a storm of shots at the needles, knocking them away.

"That all you got?" Robot Keldeo fired electricity at the needles, making them stick together like magnets. The needles then soared right for us like a missile.

Taking my chances, I fired right at the center, making the needles come apart at the seams. They then rained down on the other side, making them slowly rack up damage.

"I think we wasted enough time going easy on you," robot Keldeo said.

Robot Pummel said, "We'll finish you off in one fell swoop."

Robot Kelduo shot a sphere of energy into the air before infusing it with water, fire, and electricity. They continued adding energy balls, water, fire, and electricity, increasing its size with each shot.

Rainbow panicked, "Can't these things charge up any more?!"

"No," I replied, "but we can do something better. We can follow their example."

Button seemed overjoyed. "Oh, yeah, this'll be just like the Fire Bros Attack!"

I would have to research this 'Fire Bros' attack later, but right now was the time to mimic it. We all fired our shots at a single point, where they combined into a massive sphere of energy. "Rainbow Dash, time to send this flying!"

Rainbow burst into a huge grin. "Time to show them just who the boss really is!" She flew away to pick up speed. A few seconds later, she Sonic Rainboomed into the sphere, sending both it and the Kelduo 2.0's sphere at the other side in a rainbow burst.

The Kelduo 2.0 watched their own medicine being force-fed to them, with double the dosage. Robot Keldeo said to robot Pummel, "These guys are really good. I underestimated them."

Robot Pummel replied, "So did I. Maybe we should've tried Phenomenal Sword?" He shrugged before the two looked at us. "You guys did awesome, using such teamwork against us."

"We never thought you'd beat us. There's just one thing left to do..."

The Kelduo 2.0 waved at us. "Congratulations on beating us. You are the true Champions." They went out with a huge, rainbow-colored bang.

"Who's ready for another round?" Rainbow asked.

"Actually, I have a better idea." Pinkie then fell asleep on the spot. I don't blame her, given how exhausting the battle was.

"Yeah, I could use a break too." Button followed suit.

I chuckled to myself as I telekinetically carried the two back to their homes.

Chapter 38: First Day

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 39: The Astral Transport Complication

This was it, the third day in Equestria. Now that I had read the Journal of Friendship, I figured it would be a good idea to return to my home, so I left Twilight's Castle and headed south.

As I approached the Lor Starcutter, however, I heard a shrill cry from inside: "MY BABY!"

I stormed inside and saw Magolor, who was on the floor sobbing. "You mean Landia's baby. It was never yours to begin with. Anyway, what's the problem? The Lor doesn't seem damaged, except for its mast. I can easily find it."

"You don't understand. Look over at the monitor!"

We went towards the monitor and saw a brown colt at the keypad. He was pressing several buttons, as if he was working the monitor. "Guys, this is bad. The Lor lost several Energy Spheres, as well as its mast."

"The kid's right. The Lor's down to seventy-five Energy Spheres and no mast, and the missing parts have fallen all over Equestria. We'll need to search far and wide to find them."

I said, "We'll need all the help we can get."

The colt turned towards us with a serious look. "I'll pitch in."

I became concerned. "Are you sure you're up to it, Button Mash?"

"I have to. You see, I believe I'm partially responsible for the loss of Energy Spheres and the mast. Magolor, do you know about Scope Shot?"

Magolor nodded. "Yeah, but why do you ask?"

"Are you familiar with the Kelduo level?"

"Susie built that level to teach those who aren't familiar with the Kelduo about them, as well as to be a nearly insurmountable obstacle for only the greatest few... :twilightoops: Wait, do you mean that you BEAT that level?!"

Button chuckled, "Well, I did get help from Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle. I guess our final blow was kind of overkill."

I smiled. "If you thought that was overkill, you should've seen me, Captured by Pummel, and his mother annihilate Soul of Sectonia with two giant balls of pure energy."

"Well, that's kind of what we did to the Kelduo 2.0. We used our own giant ball of energy to counter their own ball of energy, sending both at the opposing side. The explosion must have been strong enough to blow some Energy Spheres and the mast out of the Lor. Can you forgive us, Magolor?"

Magolor was quiet for a moment. "Of course I forgive you! That's an awesome feat! Susie will be stunned to hear that you beat her extremely difficult level!"

I patted Button on the head. "You and the others did great. I can see why you want to help us retrieve the parts. However, I must know: How will you be of assistance?"

"Listen, you're talking to a master gamer." Button reached into his beanie and pulled out what appeared to be a video game container. Along the spine were the words 'Pontendo Whinnii.' On the front were, in a flashy style, the words 'Kirbay's Back in Dream Land.' Button proudly proclaimed, "I've beaten this bad boy to 100%, so if the Lor Starcutter is anything like the Tael Starblade, then it has lost forty-five Energy Spheres. If this plays out like the game, then they flew towards a forest, some ruins, somewhere underwater, a frozen area, a cloudy place, somewhere technologically advanced, a volcanic island, and somewhere potentially lethal. Some might have even fallen into the claws of a villain. Be prepared for a boss battle or two."

I chuckled, "I've been a boss before, to Pummel and his team, so I know a thing or two about bosses. Pummel is a gamer like you, so he also knows about bosses."

Magolor added, "I've also been a boss when I was possessed by the Master Crown."

Button continued, "I may not have any special powers, but I have a bunch of knowledge about games, so I'll be like the Captain Paprika of the group."

I asked, "You mean General Pepper?"

"Sure, if that's a character from your version of Space Hound."

I smiled, supposing that he was referring to Star Fox. "I understand, sir. I'll gather the team and bring them all here, including those involved in the Energy Sphere mishap." I brought out Rotom Dex. "Calling Star Allies, calling Star Allies. We are to rendezvous at the Lor Starcutter. I repeat, rendezvous at the Lor Starcutter. If you can manage it, we also need Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie at the rendezvous point."

In little time, everyone was in the Lor. "What's the problem?" Twilight asked.

Magolor pointed towards the screen. "Forty-five Energy Spheres and the mast have been launched from the Lor Starcutter and flung all around Equestria. We need to gather them before we can return to our homeland."

Button Mash pressed a series of keys on the keyboard. "It seems like they've fallen towards Everfree Forest, Griffonstone, Seaquestria, Yakyakistan, Mount Aris, the Dragon Lands, and the Crystal Mountains. The mast in particular is somewhere out of reach of the Lor's sensors. We'll have to split up to find them all."

I nodded. "We'll need to split into groups whose members compensate for the weaknesses of other members, or whose powers coincide."

"Right. Rainbow Dash, you're familiar with Griffonstone, so I'll assign you and Meta Knight to go there. Lucario, you'll go with Tails so he can safely research poison joke in Everfree Forest. Mario will head with Keldeo and Kirby to Mount Aris. In order to lessen the burden on Keldeo's back, Mario can Capture Keldeo, who can shoot water from his hooves to help cross the sea, and Kirby can take his Warp Star. Luigi will team up with Pinkie Pie to visit the Dragon Lands. Twilight will take Bandana Dee over to Yakyakistan in her hot air balloon. Pummel, your Primarina can make a bubble shield for Sonic, so you, him, and Heart Fist can go to Seaquestria. I hear the queen tends to be hostile towards outsiders, so be sure to be friendly and approachable. Hammer users Amy, Paper Mario, and King Dedede will head into the Crystal Mountains. The king's coat is able to hold heat, so Amy and Paper Mario can stick close to him for warmth, not to mention that his thick fat--"

"Hey!"

"--holds body heat. Helix and Magolor are familiar with bosses, so they should go to a more dangerous place, where collectibles always happen to be in games."

Lucario's eyes glowed yellow, and he closed them. "Some creatures have gotten hold of the parts. One of them has three heads, each of a different animal."

Twilight gasped, "That sounds like a chimera! Applejack knows their weaknesses, so I'll go get her."

"Another of them is Discord. He seems to be having fun with them."

Roborygon proclaimed, "I'll take care of him, organized chaos versus chaotic chaos."

Lucario turned to Luigi and Pinkie. "The last one I can see is Dragon Lord Ember, and she does not want to part with it. There may be more creatures with parts, but I cannot detect them."

Princess Peach asked, "What can I do?"

Button replied, "You are to tell the princesses about our current situation. Afterwards, return here for further instructions."

"Okay, Button Mash."

I asked Button, "Is there anything else we need to know?"

"No, you all have your assignments. Good luck!"

I began to leave, then I turned back to Button. "That was an excellent Captain Paprika impression, Button Mash."

Chapter 40: The Leaves of Blue

Everfree Forest. I have watched episodes of My Little Pony (on Kirby's insistence), some of them involving Everfree, and it seemed quite eerie. Now that Tails and I were at its entrance, I could tell just how eerie it was. It was mysterious and dark. All kinds of dark auras were emanating from it, auras of dangerous creatures.

"Are you ready, Tails?" I asked.

"Actually, I'm kind of nervous. I mean, I've had experience with going through forests and the like, but it's kind of... dark."

I chuckled. "I completely understand. That is something that you have no need to worry about." I showed Tails my paws, which were giving off an indigo flame of sorts. "Look, my Aura glows. It will act as a torch and light the way."

"That's so kind of you, Lucario!"

I smiled. "I'm used to assisting others. Don't mention it. And if any monster ever threatens to harm you..." I formed a glowing blue bone out of thin air. "...then they will face my wrath."

"I can take care of myself when it comes to battling monsters, but thanks."

"Then let us proceed."

Hand in paw, we entered the dark forest. There were plant species neither of us were familiar with, unnerving noises, and the many auras gave the feeling that anything could jump out and attack. However, using my Aura and Tails' Energy Sphere-finding gadget, we made sure to steer away from trouble and to head right for the parts.

Tails looked around. "Why is it that dark and scary forests always seem to have eyes staring out of the shadows at travelers?"

I noticed several pairs of frightening eyes in the shadows. "They're probably monsters that are too afraid to show themselves. I can prove it." I glared at the eyes, causing them to widen and disappear. "You're safe with me."

We continued forward, but I stopped Tails from advancing using my bone. "Remember the episode Bridle Gossip? It introduces us to poison joke." I motioned towards the leaves that were in our path. "Those blue leaves cause absurd side effects to those who make direct contact with them, the effects always having to do with the victim's personality and traits. For instance, it ruined Rarity's mane, and it turned Rainbow Dash's wings upside down."

Tails replied, "I remember. We had Rainbow Crash, Spitty Pie, Hairity, Appletini, Flutterguy, and Twilight Flopple. Personally, I don't like the name Twilight Flopple. It doesn't sound right. A much better name would be Twilight Wobble."

Normally, I'm a calm and cool Pokemon, but this epiphany... it was just too much! :rainbowlaugh: "What are you trying to do, murder me with laughter?! I have never had a belly laugh like this before!" It took me a full thirty seconds to pull myself together. "Whew, that was exhausting... Okay, let's go onward, without making contact with poison joke."

Tails flew over, using his namesake as propellers to fly, and I made my way over using Extreme Speed. However...

"Ugh, was that you, Lucario?" Tails asked while holding his nose.

I followed suit. "So... this is what timberwolf breath smells like. It's as horrendous as Just For Sidekicks made it out to be."

"Did you just say timberwolf?"

As if on cue, a trio of canine monsters made of branches and twigs leapt into our path. I stared them in the eye. "Yes, those are timberwolves. Their weakness seems to be stones, but I presume fire also works, given that they're made of wood."

Tails frowned. "Stones are their weakness? If only Sticks was here. She'd go all out with her slingshot. I guess I'll have to settle for fire." He took out what seemed to be a laser rifle. He switched the setting to one with a flame symbol on it. "I learned this from Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice."

He fired an orange, heat-infused laser at the timberwolf at the front of the pack, and it burned to ashes. Seeing this, the other timberwolves panicked and ran away. They didn't get far, though; Tails grabbed a nearby rock with his Enerbeam (an energy tether) and hurled it at them, turning them into a pile of wood.

"I never knew you were so good at hammer throwing," I said.

Tails smiled. "I'm not that good at hammer throwing. The rock was just lighter, that's all."

We began to continue, but Tails' gadget alerted us to something in the timberwolf rubble. We brushed away the ashes, revealing a blue, glowing sphere with a gear inside. Tails picked it up. "This must be an Energy Sphere!" He then feigned disgust. "Ugh, it's covered in splinters and sawdust!"

We both chuckled as Tails put the Energy Sphere in his utility belt.

1/45 Energy Spheres obtained

We continued through Everfree Forest until we heard something rustling in a nearby bush. I held my paws in a fighting stance, and Tails aimed his blaster at the bush. But that was when my Aura warned me of the creature that was in the bush. "Tails, get away, now!"

Something poked out of the bush before Tails could react. It was... a chicken's head. Tails asked, "Why should I be afraid of a chicken?"

I covered Tails' eyes with my paws as I closed my own. "You should be afraid because it's not a chicken..." My Aura told me that the creature jumped out of the bush and screeched. "It's a cockatrice! Their stare will turn you to stone, like Medusa. Whatever you do, keep your eyes shut. I'll take care of this cockatrice."

The cockatrice flew right at me, but I dodged and used Force Palm, slamming it into the trunk of a tree. Judging from its awkward movement patterns, I concluded that it was left paralyzed from my attack. I took the chance to strike, unleashing Close Combat to send it miles away. "Tails, you can open your eyes now--"

I opened my eyes to a disturbing sight: Tails was petrified. Luckily, since I defeated the cockatrice, he returned to normal. "I'm sorry for not following your orders, Lucario. My Energy Sphere detector found one right at the cockatrice's location." Tails smiled as he showed me an Energy Sphere. "That's why I stole it from the creature."

I grinned. "That was dangerous, but worth the risk."

2/45 Energy Spheres obtained

Some more adventuring later, and we came across more poison joke. It would not have been important, except that there was an Energy Sphere stuck in it. I looked at Tails. "Do you have your Enerbeam ready?"

Tails smiled. "I never go anywhere without it." He twisted his belt buckle, and the energy whip formed in his right hand. He lashed out at the Energy Sphere, but something grabbed it. "A snake monster? My friends and I have dealt with one before."

I shook my head. "Look at the big picture. It isn't a snake monster." The beast that had grabbed the Energy Sphere had three heads: a tiger, a snake, and a goat head. "That's a chimera! Get your Enerbeam ready for battle, for it is the tiger head's weakness!"

Tails quickly struck the tiger head, making it roar in agony. "I think we only made it even angrier."

"That's because we still need to target its other weaknesses. Do you have a flute or ricotta cheese on you?"

Tails looked at me in confusion. "Do I look like I have a flute or ricotta cheese?"

Before I could answer, the snake hissed and lunged at me. I used my bone to keep it from snapping shut, but my bone began to crack. SNAP! The snake crushed my bone with its powerful jaws, and I was knocked off my feet by the force. I awaited the inevitable, but it never came. My Aura told me why; mysterious music was being played by a friend of mine, pulling the snake into a trance.

Meloetta was playing her Poke Flute to tame the snake head. "And you didn't invite me!"

"We still got one thing left ta do!" Applejack had also come, and she chucked ricotta cheese into the goat's mouth. It seemed quite satisfied.

"Now to get the Energy Sphere out of its grasp. I'll finish the chimera with my best move." I held my paws behind my back, concentrating my Aura between them. It slowly formed into a great ball of pure Aura power, at which point I forced my paws at the chimera. "HADOUKEN! Ah, I've been wanting to say that for quite some time. But really, this Aura Sphere should be super effective."

The Aura Sphere struck the chimera in the chest, sending it into the distance. Our prize landed away from the poison joke, allowing us to safely obtain it. Tails proclaimed, "We have obtained the Energy Sphere!"

3/45 Energy Spheres obtained

I asked, "Where's the next Energy Sphere?"

Tails checked his Energy Sphere detector, but the screen went black. "Huh, that's strange. My devices don't normally spontaneously go out like that."

My Aura alerted me yet again. "Tails, is there a chance that you accidentally stepped in poison joke?"

Tails gave me a confused look. "Poison joke can make my gadgets useless in my hands? Now that's pretty personality-specific. And you're right. I was so busy fighting the chimera that I forgot about the poison joke. Is there an antidote for it?"

"There certainly is. Meloetta and Applejack, I need you to go and let the spa pony know to prepare the antidote. Tails, you're coming with me to the humble abode of the first Equestrian I met."

Tails and I made our way to a small house made of natural materials such as plants. I knocked on the door, and my zebra friend answered. "Welcome back, my blue vulpine friend. Have you come back to tie up loose ends?"

"Actually, there is a creature I wish to introduce you to. This is a fox named Miles Prower, but he prefers to be called Tails. Tails, this is the zebra Zecora."

Tails shook Zecora's hoof. "Nice to meet you, Zecora."

"It is my pleasure to meet you, Tails. Tell me why you've come, you can spare the details."

I told her, "Tails accidentally stepped in some poison joke, and we could use the cure. Do you have the recipe?"

"Lucario, I do indeed." Zecora took a book off a bookshelf and gave it to us. It was opened to a page concerning poison joke. "Follow the directions, and you'll get what you need."

Tails looked over the page. "Apparently, this says I have to take a bath in the ingredients. I have to admit, Equestria is a pretty strange place."

We turned to leave, but my Aura told me that Zecora wasn't finished. "Is there something wrong?"

"I happened to find two glowing blue spheres. Within each floated a simple gear." Zecora showed us an Energy Sphere.

"I appreciate your telling us about this. We need to gather these to repair something." I took the Energy Spheres and left with Tails. "We'll be sure to come again."

5/45 Energy Spheres obtained

I received a notification on my Expedition Gadget as we went back to Ponyville. It was from Button Mash.

All Energy Spheres in Everfree Forest found! Return to the Lor Starcutter for further instructions!

Author's Note

Stage 1 complete. Next stage: Griffonstone!

Chapter 41: My Element

I should have known that Rainbow Dash would have the nerve to challenge me to a race while we were on our mission. While I was upset by her carelessness, I must admit that the race was good flight training for when another threat attacks Pop Star. The thrill of it was also nice. It gave the feeling that I was actually doing an important race that would determine the fate of the planet. Besides, the destination was the same for both the race and the mission: Griffonstone. Therefore, I chose to accept. As I had expected, Rainbow was much faster than me. I did my best to keep up so I could analyze her strategy and how she used her wings to propel herself. That information would help me to become a better flier myself.

Rainbow touched down with grace. "Ha! You lose, Meta Knight! I made it to Griffonstone first!"

I landed and shook Rainbow's wing. "I lost indeed. I congratulate you on your victory." I looked at my surroundings, which were barren and solemn, as if struck by extreme drought. "So, this is Griffonstone? It appears to be dark and lonely."

"You'll get used to it."

I glanced at Rainbow Dash. "I don't have to... Personally, I prefer places such as this. They remind me of myself."

"You like Griffonstone because you're dark, lonely, and serious?"

"That is correct. I am always prepared for what comes at me, because if one is caught off-guard during times of crisis, then something dire could happen. I work hard to become stronger whenever I can, for it is my duty as a Star Warrior to protect planet Pop Star from evil's influence."

"That's pretty sweet! I love beating monsters up too! Do you think there will be any monsters here that need to get whooped?"

"There is only one way to find out. But first, we must search for the Energy Spheres. Be on the look out for glowing blue orbs with a single gear inside."

"That should be easy, because Griffonstone is super dull, and the only shiny things in Griffonstone are bits, which is Equestrian currency. C'mon, let's go!"

We split up to cover more ground. I searched the higher areas while Rainbow searched the lower ones. However, I didn't find even a hint of Energy Spheres. Apparently, Rainbow wasn't having any luck either.

"Aw, come on! Button Mash said some flew here, but I'm not seeing a single one! Just where are they?!"

A nearby door swung open, and out came a creature with an eagle's head and upper body and a lion's lower body. She was a griffon. "What's the deal, Rainbow Dash? Griffons have better things to do than listen to you complain."

Rainbow flew over to her. "Sorry, Gilda. You see, Meta Knight and I are looking for these things called Energy Spheres. They're these glowing blue orbs that have a gear inside. You seen any?"

The griffon, Gilda, replied, "I didn't, but Gabby kept on yapping about something like that. I don't know if that's what you're looking for, but I'd ask her about it."

I asked, "Where is Gabby?"

"She's right inside."

We went inside the small home from which Gilda came, and we were greeted heartily by a bluish-gray griffon who had a personality very different from the griffons I had learned about: optimistic, energetic, happy to help without wanting bits in return. "Hi there, Rainbow Dash! You would NEVER believe what I found! Ooh, who's your friend?"

Rainbow introduced us to each other. "Gabby, this is Meta Knight. Meta Knight, this is Gabby."

I shook Gabby's claw. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Gabby. We are searching for these spherical blue objects with gears inside. They are called Energy Spheres. Have you seen any?"

"Ohmygosh that's exactly what I found!" The griffon showed us two such orbs. "Here, take them!"

I put the Energy Spheres in my cape. "Thank you for giving us the Energy Spheres. Please be sure to let us know if you find any more of them."

"Well, I did see one fall into the chasm where the idol fell. And I think Grandpa Gruff might have found a couple."

"Very well. Farewell, Gabby."

7/45 Energy Spheres obtained

We turned to leave. "WAIT!" Gabby pulled us back inside. "Hey, Meta Knight... do you know Kirby?"

I smiled. "I trained him to become a powerful Star Warrior such as myself. Did somecreature tell you of his adventure in Equestria?"

"Yep, Gallus told me all about him! He sounds so awesome! I'd love to meet him!"

"I'm sure you will, Gabby."

Rainbow and I found ourselves at the top of a chasm where strong winds were blowing everywhere. Rainbow asked, "Sure you're up to this, Meta Knight?"

I chuckled. "Strong winds are nothing new to me. Watch this." I flew over the chasm before aiming my sword straight down. I should've shot downwards at an incredibly fast pace, but instead, I only fell a few yards before getting thrown around. Disappointed, I flew back to the cliff. "My Down Thrust didn't stand a chance against those strong winds. It's my fastest move! I need to be faster..."

"Faster, huh?" Rainbow thought for a moment. "...I got it! Remember when Sonic had windy shoes? I gave his shoes that windy effect, and he seemed faster than ever! Maybe I can do the same thing with your sword!"

"Excellent idea, Rainbow Dash." I held my sword in the air, and Rainbow used her wings to blow wind on them, giving them the Bluster power effect. "Let's try this again." I used Down Thrust again, but this time, I only advanced a few more yards than last time. "Seems like we need a concrete plan," I groaned as I swung my sword in anger.

Rainbow perked up. "Hey, do that again."

I swung my sword, and wind came from it.

"What if we used that wind against the other wind?"

My eyes widened. "...You're a genius, Rainbow Dash. We can counteract the wind with stronger wind coming from another direction!"

Third time is the charm. I spun around with my sword facing outwards, and my Meta Spin Slash created a whirlwind that fell downwards, pushing the other winds down as well. I soared downwards with Shuttle Loop, successfully overcoming the draft. Near the very bottom was an Energy Sphere, teetering on the edge of a small cliff. Rather than take my chances, I thrust my sword into the ground near it, causing a tornado that lifted it up to Rainbow Dash.

"Nice work, Meta Knight!" Rainbow Dash bumped my fist with her hoof.

8/45 Energy Spheres obtained

I summarized, "That's three Energy Spheres. Since forty-five Energy Spheres have been scattered around Equestria, and there are nine places they could have been launched, I assume there's about five Spheres per area. There must be two Energy Spheres left in Griffonstone."

Suddenly, Gabby popped up. "Guys, I'll let you in on a little secret: I think Grandpa Gruff got his claws on an Energy Sphere or two. You can try to get them from him, but it'll be super duper tough. He wouldn't part with them for a million bits!"

I sighed. "Taking something valuable from griffons is tougher than taking on Marx Soul, Soul of Sectonia, and Helix without taking damage... Does Grandpa Gruff have sharp hearing?"

"So sharp he could hear a pin drop. You'd never sneak up on him, even if he was asleep."

"...How strong-willed is he? How much does it take to get him to fall asleep?"

"Well, he is a grandpa. But still, it may take a lot to get him to fall asleep."

I rubbed my chin. "Hmm..."

Gabby, Rainbow and I stood outside Grandpa Gruff's home. I told the others, "Now remember, no matter what you see, do not panic. Do you understand?"

Gabby and Rainbow saluted. "Yes, sir!"

I peeked inside to check that the coast was clear. An elderly griffon, blind in his right eye, was sitting in a chair, grasping two Energy Spheres very firmly and looking around for thieves... Perfect.

I reached into my pocket and took out a spherical device split into two hemispheres by an orange line with a small orange circle at the front. The device was otherwise black with large green circles covering it. A Dusk Ball. I pressed the small circle, causing the Dusk Ball to grow from the size of a tennis ball to that of a baseball. I separated the two hemispheres, which were connected by a mere hinge on the back, causing a blue energy to burst from inside. The energy changed form until it solidified into a more concrete form. It became black, like a shadow. Its small head had a white fog-like plume billowing from it, covering the right of its bright blue eyes. A red, spiky growth was around its neck, almost like a jaw. Its skinny arms had claws for hands, and long, black tatters hung from its shoulders. It had no legs to speak of, and it overall looked like an hourglass figure, appearing to wear an old, torn cloak.

I reassured the others, who were cowering in fear. "Do not worry. This is my trustworthy partner, Darkrai. Its name is Dark Fright. Darkrai has a special power that should prove to be useful to our cause." I turned to Dark Fright. "Dark Fright, your mission is to retrieve the two glowing blue orbs with gears inside from the elderly griffon."

"Dark... rai..." Dark Fright slowly floated into Grandpa Gruff's home, causing the griffon to tighten his grip as he stared at the Pitch-Black Pokemon.

"Don't you know better than to barge into houses without asking?" Grandpa Gruff attempted to be courageous, but I noticed some fear in his eyes and tone of voice.

Dark Fright pointed at the Energy Spheres. "Give... Energy..."

"You're not getting your claws on my precious treasures! Why should I give them to you?"

I nodded at Dark Fright, who began to form a purple and black orb in its hands. "Dark... Void..."

Grandpa Gruff's eyes opened wide. "Wait, do you mean...?" Dark Fright fired its orb. "NO, DON'T TAKE MEEEEEEE!"

The others wailed in fear as the orb hit Grandpa Gruff, encasing him in a crimson bubble. Once the bubble disappeared, he was lying on the ground, motionless. Dark Fright took the Energy Spheres and brought them to me.

Gabby and Rainbow were horrified. "He... he killed Grandpa Gruff! How could you?!"

I calmly replied, "Wait for it..."

After a few seconds... "Zzz..."

The two let out the breath they were holding in. Rainbow sighed, "Oh, thank Celestia you didn't kill him."

Gabby asked, "But what happened? What did he do?!"

I explained, "Dark Void. It's a non-damaging Dark-type move that induces sleep. It's Darkrai's signature move. While Darkrai can cause nightmares by doing that, it's normally out of self-defense. But this was a special case. Grandpa Gruff will wake up thinking he just had a bad dream about finding the Energy Spheres, only to be killed. I'll take the Energy Spheres back to the Lor Starcutter." I gave Rainbow a light green, crescent-shaped feather. "When I get far enough away, I want you to use this Lunar Wing to end his nightmare. Tell him that it was all just a bad dream. That way, if he ever finds another Energy Sphere, he'll immediately give it to Dark Fright just because he's skeptical that it was all a dream." I chuckled to myself at the idea.

10/45 Energy Spheres obtained

Chapter 42: W.A.L.L.O.P.

Normally I do not reveal the breakdown of the adventure codenames. However, this is a special occasion. Therefore, I will reveal it to you, but just this once:

Wacky
Assault:
Ludicrous
Lizard,
Overpowered
Porygon

My destination is Discord's dimension. However, Discord won't just let someone enter his dimension, because he's Discord. He's chaotic. He would only let the most chaotic of creatures (or Fluttershy) enter his dimension. I was to find a way to be chaotic enough to be allowed access. Accessing television database... Searching for chaotic schematics... Aha!

Warning: Selecting these schematics may lead to unexpected chaos and irrationality. Will you activate these schematics anyway?

Yes
No

Of course I'm going to activate it anyway. I need the chaos.

=>Yes

Transformation engaged. Stomach section becoming more oblong, longer lengthwise. Pouch forming on midsection. Small, skinny legs forming from tail. Arms becoming skinnier and forming elbow joints, as well as hands. Head becoming larger and rougher. Chin jutting out. Beak shortening and becoming more spherical. Alolan Dugtrio-style copper wires forming underneath beak. Top of head rising up, forming a bump with antenna at the top, acting as a propeller. Center of optical lens lights deactivated, acting as pupils. Activating jolly, yet slightly elder, voice module: "Good morning!" Transformation into U-G Mk. 2 mode complete.

I placed myself on the fountain for all to see before engaging chaotic activities. Level 1: Beak juggling. I removed my beak from my head before splitting it into three small balls. I tossed the balls into the air while humming circus music. The crowd's reaction: Surprised and amazed. After a few rounds, I spiced things up by forming a blazing hoop to toss them through. However, the hoop seemed to be too small; the balls came ablaze after going through the hoop. So, this was what it was like for creatures in winter with a bad fever.

"Ah, ah... Achoo!" The balls shot all over the place, away from my reach. "Excuse me!" Rather than run to pick the balls up, I separated my head in two, where a new beak formed and replaced the old one. "I don't like to pick my nose. Instead, I just make a new one to replace lost noses. Saves me a trip to the store." The audience burst into laughter. "Besides, the only nuggets I like are nuggets of knowledge, which cannot be found in nostrils." More laughter came from the crowd.

Hmm... No sign of Discord. He's attracted to chaos, so I must not have been chaotic enough. Proceeding to level 2: A partner. Engaging hard-light formation: mechanical version of a carnivorous member of the feline family that is approximately twice as large as others of its kind.

I placed myself upon the creature's back. "Hi ho, GR-FT! Away!"

GR-FT let out a mechanical roar as it flew away, firing stars from its rear end to propel itself. The crowd's reaction: flabbergasted.

Searching for signs of Discord... No sign detected. Just how chaotic must I be for Discord to grant me access to his dimension? Perhaps I should ask a good friend of his for advice. My next destination: Fluttershy's cottage.

I dismounted my ride and dissolved the hard-light illusion to nothing. I walked up to the door and knocked three times. "*Knock knock knock* Fluttershy? *knock knock knock* Fluttershy? *knock knock knock* Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy opened the door slowly, only to quickly shut it when she saw me. "Um... W-who are you?"

Oh, she didn't recognize me in my U-G Mk. 2 mode. I reverted to my normal form. "Sorry about the misunderstanding, Fluttershy. It's me, Roborygon. I'm trying to find a way to Discord so--"

"Discord? He's right inside."

I deadpanned. "You mean to tell me that all this time I've been trying to be chaotic enough for Discord to bring me to his dimension so I can take back the Energy Spheres from him, only to find that he's been here the whole time?"

"Oh, my! I'm very sorry that we made you go through all that. I'll make you some tea to make up for that."

"I would accept, but I am artificial. I have no need for food or drink. I prefer to satisfy my craving for knowledge. May I see Discord now?"

"Of course you can. Come on in."

I went inside the cottage, only to find Discord reading a newspaper. "It's about time you showed up, Roborygon. I was growing bored of watching you try to be chaotic."

I emitted steam from my beak out of rage. "You did this just to humiliate me! You cowardly draconequus!"

"No, you've got it all wrong." Discord showed me the newspaper, which had a video clip of me doing the things I thought were necessary to attract Discord. "I did it so I could laugh at your chaotic activities. Loved the references, by the way."

I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for getting angry at you. And I'm glad you enjoyed the references. Now, can you hand over the Energy Spheres?"

"I thought you'd never ask! And my answer is... Do you really think I'd just give you the Energy Spheres needed to repair the Lor Starcutter? I won't give them to you without a little chaotic one-on-one!" Discord snapped his fingers, creating a large painting of Discord. "Enter if you're ready to endure my chaotic powers." He snapped again, creating a television screen depicting his home in his dimension. "Oh, and Fluttershy, you can watch us duke it out with this."

With that, the two of us entered the painting, Discord first.

I re-emerged in Discord's home. At the far end was a mustached Discord sitting in a chair, stroking a small Discord in his lap. "Well, what do we have here? If it isn't the pesky Porygon that's here to mess up my plans."

I replied with equal seriousness, "Cut the act, Discord. You know that there's nowhere left to hide. Fork over the Energy Spheres, and just maybe you won't get hurt."

Discord threw away his smaller Discord and ripped off his mustache before putting the Energy Spheres that were floating around him into a jar. "I don't do things the easy way. I do them the crazy way. Besides, do you really think you're capable of battling against my chaotic prowess?"

"Nope... I know I am! I will prove it for you in a duel of chaos versus chaos. Engaging Mechupanization modules." Tail forming legs. Arms forming hands and bending at the elbows. Head shaping into hemisphere, bottom half. Antenna bending ninety degrees and shifting towards back of head (and for good measure, forming a barrier around itself). Bouncing legs, active. Fingers, weaponized. "Let us see who will win: Mechamug or Discord the draconequus! I insist that you do the honors!"

"But of course!" Discord snapped his fingers, and words formed in the foreground: 'Ready? WALLOP!!'

Energy-firing finger guns, activate! The projectiles made direct contact with Discord, but he did not appear to be harmed. Of course, there's no health meter to show how much damage he has taken, so I had to just keep firing. After taking about ten shots, Discord began his counterattack. He threw five red, bouncing fireballs, two green, floating fireballs, and one pink, erratic fireball at me. I leapt over the red fireballs, ducked the green ones, and then I slapped the pink one with my hand, giving myself the boost needed to reach the ceiling and shoot from there.

Discord rubbed two defibrillators together. "Clear!" He then pressed them on the ceiling, sending an electrical current through it. I couldn't get off the ceiling in time, so I was zapped by the surge.

Activating self-evaluation...

Power capacity now at 300%.

Well, how about that? I've always wanted to say this... "IMMA FIRIN' MAH LAZERRR!!!!!" I fired my new power in the form of a great laser from both of my hands and antenna.

However, Discord somehow inhaled the laser, akin to Hypernova Kirby inhaling Flowered Queen Sectonia's... oh, no. "AND IMMA SEND IT RIGHT BACK AT YAAAA!!!"

Welp, I'm done for. Power levels 80%, 50%, 2.5%... Finally, the laser finished firing, but it was too late. My power levels fell victim to the laser, and I did not have the strength required to defeat the near-unbeatable Discord. Shutting down...

Discord laughed as he held my lifeless body in his lion paw. "Did you really think you could beat me? Look at yourself now! You're dead! Deactivated! Obliterated! Scrap metal!"

Discord then gagged as something grasped his throat. What was that something? The next thing spoken will explain what it was: "I can put up with being called smashed, busted, defeated, and devastated. But you do NOT call me scrap metal!" Yes, I had not been defeated. Those power levels? I made them up.

"What?! B-but how? I thought you shut down!"

I grinned. "I did. But that was merely to fool you. You cannot harm me unless you strike my antenna, as shown when you interrogated me."

"Well played, but I, on the other hand, just plain cannot be harmed, except by the Elements of Harmony, and they can only be used by their respective wearers. As far as I know, they're still on the Tree of Harmony!"

"Then we're at a stalemate. Do you agree?"

"I agree. I'd try to continue attacking you, but you're much too fun for me to deactivate. Since we can't hurt each other, what shall we do?"

"How about you give me the Energy Spheres?"

"Once again, I cannot just do that. Rather, I propose a truce. I will only give you the Energy Spheres on one condition."

My eyes narrowed. "Name it."

Discord grinned. "The condition is that you allow me to perform one chaotic act on one of your partners."

"And what would that be?"

"I'm feeling generous, so I'll let you decide. But I will still judge whether it is chaotic enough for me." Discord gave me a treaty of sorts. "I'll give you one chance, so make it count."

It read:

This treaty proposes that the mighty lord of chaos will give Roborygon the Energy Spheres if he is allowed to perform a chaotic act of Roborygon's choice. Roborygon's act of choice for yours truly to perform is ____________________________________.
Discord's signature: ________________________________

Oh, dear. What to have Discord do...?

15/45 Energy Spheres obtained

Author's Note

Who will be affected by Discord's latest chaotic activities? Only the next chapter will tell.

Also, did you spot the references?

Chapter 43: Under the Sea

"Nope, not getting in there," Sonic protested for the tenth time.

"Yes, you will," I answered for the tenth time. "Besides, it's not that bad. It's just a bubble."

Sonic was staring at the bubble that my Primarina, named Solo Sonata, made with his nose. "...You're not gonna stop until I get in, are you?"

"Yep. Now, get in!" I grabbed Sonic and chucked him into the balloon. "See? It's just fine. It's a Bubble Shield!"

"You sure it won't pop on me underwater?"

"Solo Sonata's species can make balloons with different amounts of durability. He made sure this one wouldn't pop even from an Ice Fang!"

"...Alright, let's go."

Before Heart Fist, Solo Sonata, Sonic, and I dove into the water, I waved goodbye to Keldeo one last time. "Good luck with your new partners, Keldeo!"

"Same goes to you, Pummel Fist!" Keldeo was then Captured by Mario, and they followed Kirby over the sea.

As we watched them head to Mount Aris, Heart and I began to put on our Devon Scuba Gear. However, I had a thought. "Say, do you have any fast water Pokemon, Mom?"

"I do have a Water-type Pokemon, but I'm not sure how fast it is."

"Close enough. Since said Pokemon is registered in your Pokedex, you can transform into that Pokemon. When you jump in the water, I want you to transform into that Pokemon. That way, we can swim faster."

"That's a good idea. Should we put on our Scuba Gear anyway, just in case?"

"We should. After all, we may need to transform into a non-water Pokemon while underwater."

"Okay. Are you ready?"

"Ready whenever you are." We put on our Devon Scuba Gear.

Solo joined the conversation. "I am a loyal fan of My Little Pony, especially of Seaquestria, so I can lead you there. Follow me." He then pushed Sonic into the water before diving in himself. He popped back up shortly after. "Oh, and I must offer you my thanks, Pummel Fist. Starting the swim off the coast of the Forbidden Forest is a much faster way to Seaquestria than going through the hot, barren Bone Dry Desert and Klugetown just to get to the closest edge of the water to Seaquestria."

Heart and I followed his lead and dove in. My Pokemon of choice was a torpedo-shaped shark, Sharpedo. They call it the Bully of the Sea, but I am no bully. Rather, bullies are the ones who fear me. My sharp teeth are not used for carnivorous reasons, but to attack villains and just plain bad people/creatures. I glanced over at Heart Fist, only to be awestruck. She was a serpentine Pokemon with a cream-colored body, and a tail with blue and pink, diamond-shaped scales that seemed to change color as light reflected off of them from different angles. Long, pinkish, hair-like fins above her eyes extended to nearly half her body length. In short, she was the species that was said to be the most beautiful of all Pokemon: Milotic.

She chuckled, "What do you think?"

I blushed until my dark blue cheeks turned violet. "I think... we need to catch up with Solo Sonata! Oh, and you look immeasurably stunning, the graceful Milotic you are."

"Thanks. I'll race you there!" Heart Fist took off without delay.

"Oh, no you don't!" I took in water and blasted it out my rear, shooting myself after her. She didn't have a clue how fast Sharpedo can be. Plus, my training with Speed Masters Rapidash and Zebstrika, as well as with Water Master Samurott, improved my underwater speed greatly.

A few minutes later, though, I was exhausted. "Getting... tired... Energy... low... Why?"

Heart Fist giggled. "Don't you check the Pokedex entry of the Pokemon you transform into? Sharpedo may be really fast, but it can't go long distances. Milotic has the endurance needed to easily swim to Seaquestria."

Solo slowed to a halt, holding onto Sonic to prevent him from rolling onward. "Speaking of, we're here." We found ourselves idling before a brilliant underwater city populated by pony mermaids. It seemed so peaceful. "And Pummel, you might want to lose the Sharpedo guise, lest the seaponies fear you and distrust you." I switched back to my Machop form. "As for Heart Fist, your beautiful Milotic form may upset the vain Queen Novo." Heart complied by going back to her Machop form.

Sonic said, "It really is a good thing that the Storm King didn't strike Seaquestria. This place looks amazing! Where's our first stop, Solo?"

"That would be Queen Novo. She should know if any Energy Spheres fell in Seaquestria." Solo pointed towards a shell throne in the distance. I could see a royal-looking 'seapony,' as they were supposedly called, sitting on the throne in an arrogant position. "Again, remember to be polite and kind to her. If you see a glowing pearl, whatever you do, you must never try and take it. That was what the Storm King was after, and if someone were to take it, Novo would become furious and vengeful. You saw what she did to Twilight and her friends! Your best bet is to appeal to Queen Novo's vanity. Also be wary of her sarcasm."

Sonic asked, "But what makes you think she'll trust us? We're like nothing anycreature's seen in Equestria!"

"That may be so, but we have Meloetta on our side. Queen Novo should trust a hero who protected Equestria from not only Chrysalis, but also a villain from another planet. Besides, Meloetta could treat Novo to a 'Novo is amazing' song."

"Good point. Let's go!"

As we approached the throne, the royal seapony groaned, "Oh, that's just great. More outsiders? Hopefully they haven't come to steal the pearl or to attack Seaquestria."

"Fear not, for we come in peace." We bowed as Solo introduced us. "My name is Solo Sonata, and these are my friends Heart Fist, Pummel Fist, and Sonic. At your service, Your Majesty."

"And what business do you have here? Surely there's an urgent reason why you outsiders have chosen to come here."

"We are traveling heroes who got stranded on this planet. We are looking for parts to fix our transport, and our hunt for them led us here. Queen Novo, have you seen any glowing, blue orbs?"

"Do they look like these?" The queen showed us two such orbs.

I pled, "We will do anything for them, Your Majesty."

Queen Novo replied, "I would love to give my newly-found treasures to you, except I see no reason to help you out with your little dilemma."

"We promise not to bother you anymore after we get them all."

"Hmm... Well, I just might give them to you, but you must earn them."

"That would be--"

My Rotom Dex interrupted me. "Kirby wants to talk to you!"

Novo raised an eyebrow. "Kirby? The same one Silverstream told me about?"

"The very same!"

Rotom's screen changed to a mountain populated with what appeared to be a cross between ponies and griffons. In the foreground was my good friend Kirby, who was holding his phone, where the footage was being broadcast from. "Hiiiii!"

"I know Silverstream described Kirby as just that, but I do not believe such an innocent creature could defeat two dangerous threats to Equestria."

Keldeo showed up on the screen. "I know he looks innocent, but looks can be deceiving. Kirby has a special power that allowed him to defeat those villains." He looked towards the background, where Mario was waving to us at a ring toss booth. "Oh, there's a chance to show you Kirby's power! Kirby, go do your thing!"

"Poyo!" Kirby ran over to the rings before inhaling one. When his transformation sequence was complete, he was wearing a hat that looked like a circus tent. He then tossed a few pins in the air and juggled them before throwing them right-side up alongside the targets of the ring toss game. He then grabbed some rings and threw them around the pins. "Ta-da!" The hippogriff attending the game gave Kirby an Energy Sphere as a prize.

"Okay, maybe that wasn't a good Ability to show off. Any more powerful Abilities?"

A blue hippogriff exclaimed, "The screeching competition is about to begin!"

Kirby spotted a microphone near the hippogriff, causing us to gasp. I panicked, "Uh oh! Hang up, hang up, hang up before he starts singing!"

"Already on it!" Rotom's screen switched back to his mouth. He turned to Queen Novo. "Kirby's Microphone Ability is dangerous to all who hear it. He is a horrible singer. While that may seem strange, that wasn't what he used; he used the Sizzle Sword Ability and the ESP Ability to defeat Chrysalis and Hyness, as well as the newly-discovered Harmony Ability. It makes sense, given that Kirby is the embodiment of Heart, Soul, and Dream."

Queen Novo asked, "The embodiment of harmony? With a Harmony Ability? He seems worthy enough for these orbs."

I replied, "That's great. Can we take them to him?"

"What? Oh, no. He'll have to come to me himself to get them. I cannot trust his lowly sidekicks with them."

Wait, sidekicks? I'm nobody's--hold on, deep breaths. Deep breaths... okay, I don't normally get enraged at being called a sidekick, but I'm still a hero who gathered my awesome team of fellow heroes together. I had to swallow my pride, and... "Ack!" Oof, something went down the wrong pipe. Let's try that again... "I'm okay! I don't remember eating anything before swimming, but I'm okay. Better hope this doesn't mess up my--Ow! Stomach cramp!"

Man, I began to feel weird. Not 'crazy' weird, but 'strange' weird. Whatever went into my stomach must have been tainted with some kind of potion. Not the kind that gives you superpowers like the power to breathe underwater. The kind that curses you, like poison joke. And compared to the size of the thing I swallowed, it was potent.

I dared to take a look at myself to see what ill effects happened to me... Nothing. That's awfully suspicious. Maybe I wasn't physically affected, but could use new powers. One thing was for sure; I felt a bit lighter. Oh, it was because I wasn't wearing my backpack anymore. Why would I just take off my backpack for no--oh, my Celestia. No wonder I wasn't wearing my backpack. It was HUGE! As in I-could-fit-in-the-TM-Case huge! ...Not that it mattered, because I didn't need it that bad to accomplish my--Uh oh, it wasn't just the bag. Everything around me was about a hundred times bigger than I remembered them to be! Well, either that, or whatever I ate made me tiny. As far as I know, the only thing that can make its consumer very small is a Mini Mushroom. It was like it just appeared in my throat. It isn't like someone just made it... oh, right. Discord. But why make me tiny?

I didn't have time to think about it, because my friends began to frantically search for me. I needed a way to get their attention. I couldn't yell loud enough for them to hear, and I didn't want to become an Exploud, so I needed another form of communication. One that was visible, and large enough to be seen. Something like the Unown writings in the Ruins of Alph, or the Regi riddles--that's it! Helix taught me how to read and write Braille writing after I befriended him, so I could use something like that. Rotom Dex knows many kinds of languages and forms of communication, so I just had to form some large enough Braille for him to read. There was only one kind of move I could use that would be able to create large spheres: Focus Blast! I fired volleys of them into the water in front of Rotom, hoping he'd notice.

He did. "What's this? It appears to be Focus Blasts in various sequences... Pummel must be trying to talk to us through Braille! 'Don't worry, I'm okay. You can go on without me. Rotom, please have Kirby come down here to meet Queen Novo in order to obtain the Energy Spheres from her.' I'm glad to know that Pummel is okay. I just hope he doesn't run into any big problems..."

Of course! Discord must have made me tiny in order to have me venture through the massive playground known as Equestria. I began to think about where I should go when I noticed an orange star big enough for me to enter the star-shaped hole in it. A Launch Star.

Chapter 44: The Blizzard Gauntlet

I knew the Crystal Mountains would be windy, given that they're covered in snow, so I kept Paper Mario in my pocket to protect him from being blown away. "How's it going, King Dedede?" I asked.

The king replied, "Why'd the Crystal Mountains have ta be so steep and tall? Mah feet are killin' me! And mah hammer done froze! ...Oh, wait, it's just a Blizzard Hammer now. Ah guess that ain't too bad."

"Maybe you should have gotten more exercise."

"Course I got exercise! Tons of it! Ah came all the way out here to the mountains!"

"But not on foot. Your Incineroar carried you 7/8 of the way to the Crystal Mountains, and you walked the rest. Then you had Crabominable carry you 3/4 of the way up the mountain before it fainted, and that brings us to now. I, on the other hand, walked the whole time, and I still am."

"SHADDAP WILL YA?!"

"Sure I will, if you'll stop complaining about my advice."

"Bah, fine..." The king huffed.

I turned to my left, where my Delphox was holding a flaming stick for warmth and clarity. "Are you alright, Delphie?"

"Delphox..." Delphie sighed.

"I know. But don't worry, we'll be out of here as soon as we find the Energy Spheres. Can you see anything?"

Delphie held the stick in front of herself and gazed into the flame. Hopefully the wind wouldn't cause the flame to falter, because staring into the flame gives Delphie's species a focused state of mind. "...Delphox! Del!" Delphie pointed towards the highest mountain of the range.

I replied, "Good job, Delphie. Guys, that's our destination!"

King Dedede looked where Delphie was pointing, and his jaw dropped nearly to the ground. "Oh, ya gotta be kidding me..." Then he fainted.

I groaned, "Delphie... use Ember."

Delphie crouched near the king. She then took her stick and held the flaming end to the king's gluteus maximus.

The king jumped up in record time. "GAH! Hothothothothothothothothot!" It's amazing how a fire-heated butt can make someone run so fast.

"Delphie, hang onto me." Delphie did so, and I pressed some buttons on my wrist-mounted Communicator, generating an Enerbeam that I used to latch onto King Dedede, pulling us along for the ride.

We stopped a few feet from the peak of the mountain, because the king sat down to extinguish his flaming rear. "Never. Do that. Again."

"Only if you won't faint again."

"Can't promise ya that."

"Fox Delphox!" Delphie stopped our argument and pointed at the very peak.

The king asked, "If that's where the Energy Sphere is, then why can't Ah see it?"

Delphie shook her head in annoyance. "Del..." She took her stick and stuck the end into the peak.

I nodded. "It's buried, huh? I'll take care of that. Nobody make any sudden movements or noises. This requires patience and silence."

I carefully stepped towards the peak and tightened my focus. As I excavated, I could see some blue shining through. I began to reach for the Energy Sphere, but...

"Ehhh... Ahh... Ah-CHOO!" The clumsy king caused the ground to rumble. The snow began to shift.

I glared at Dedede. "You really need to cover your sneezes, King Dedede. You caused an avalanche."

"Ah can't help it if mah nose is itchy."

The snow began to slide quickly down the mountain. I yelled, "Run!"

"Delphox. Del!" Delphie alerted us to the direction of the avalanche. Instead of towards us, it fell down the north side of the mountain range.

Dedede groaned, "Great, more running?"

I answered, "Nope. After you!" I pushed the king down the slope, belly first.

Suddenly, Paper Mario came out of my pocket. He folded himself into a pair of thin strips and positioned himself under my feet. Then some kind of paper samurai came out of my other pocket and thrust itself into my hands.

"Great idea, Paper Mario! I've skied many times before, when Team Mario and Team Sonic competed at the Olympic Games." I returned Delphie to her Poke Ball before pushing myself forward with my Kartana ski poles. "Follow that penguin!"

This was a breeze, and it was really fun, too. I even got to jump over ramps a few times!

When we finally reached the end of the avalanche, the king was lying on his side smugly, with an Energy Sphere in his hand. "Heh heh heh! Ah am a Supahstar Warrior!"

I smiled. "Well, you sure got the finishing pose down. And you got the Energy Sphere. I'll give you those."

16/45 Energy Spheres obtained

I looked around and saw that I was no longer in the Crystal Mountains anymore. I was about to tell the others where we were, but my Communicator rang. "This is Team Amy, reporting from the Crystal Empire. What's going on, Button Mash?"

"You're at the Crystal Empire? Great, because the Energy Spheres changed their location from the Crystal Mountains to the Crystal Empire somehow."

"Yeah, that's because the king caused an avalanche by sneezing."

"Really? So he really does sneeze as an idle animation... Okay, now that the Energy Spheres are now in the Crystal Empire, you have the advantage. There's no strong winds or cold temperatures there, and you may get help from the townsponies."

"Thanks for the help. This is Amy, signing out." Click! I turned to the others. "Since we're at the Crystal Empire, our first objective is to visit Cadance at her castle. Follow me."

I led the king and Paper Mario to a large castle, with a huge crystal tower at the top. The guards at the front stopped us, but a friendly voice said, "Don't worry about them, guards. Let them in."

The guards moved aside, and we proceeded. While Canterlot Castle looked amazing, the interior of the Crystal Castle was beyond amazing. Everything was made of crystal, and it looked like it would perfectly suit Diancie, the mythical Jewel Pokemon.

A pink alicorn met us in the hallway. "Greetings, newcomers to the Crystal Empire. I am Princess Cadance, and... oh?" Cadance looked the king over. "You seem familiar to me. Please wait for me one moment." Cadance teleported away, and she came back with a paper in her hand. "Excuse me, but might you be King Dedede, the same one portrayed in this drawing?"

King Dedede looked over the drawing. "Huh, looks like that little pink rascal Kirby drew this! But Ah gotta admit, he did a pretty good job. He got mah symbol perfectly drawn! And mah hammer looks its best! It looks ready ta clobbah da toughest of monstahs!"

"Ah, so you do know Kirby, the hero of Equestria! Are you his friend?"

"Eh, Ah'm not exactly his friend, but Ah've helped him beat up some really bad dudes every once in a while."

I added, "We once worked together with more of his friends to defeat this world-destroying monster named Void Termina. However, we were knocked out by debris, and we ended up here."

"Void Termina? Would it happen to look like this?" Cadance showed us another hand-drawn picture. "Kirby had Flurry Heart destroy this one with a laser beam as a demonstration of what he and his friends did to it, but I used a reconstruction spell to put it back together."

"That's Void Termina! And a laser beam is pretty accurate, although we didn't finish it with a laser. That was the penultimate attack. The final attack was sending all the friends we'd made to directly attack the fiend."

"Loyal friends who will always be there for you? You must be excellent friends indeed! Anyway, what brings you three here to my castle? Might it have anything to do with strange blue orbs falling out of the sky?"

"You've seen some Energy Spheres?"

"If they glow and have a single gear inside, then I most likely have. Princess Celestia told me about them, and that they were to be given to Kirby and his friends. I had the guards search for nearby Spheres, and they found four in the Crystal Mountains, only for them to be caught in an avalanche. They brought the Spheres to me, and I put them in my throne room. Are you here for them?"

"That's right. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being here in Equestria, but I don't want to be trapped here. Sticks must be worried sick. She's probably thinking that I was abducted by something crazy like alien spiders or psychic dragons."

"Well, whatever the case, as long as it's for a good cause, it appears you need them more than I do." Cadance warped away and returned with four Energy Spheres. "Promise me you will use these for a good cause."

"I Pinkie Promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. And I never go back on Pinkie Promises. I wouldn't want to upset Pinkie Pie."

"Very well, then." Cadance gave me the Energy Spheres. "Good luck searching for Energy Spheres, miss."

"Oh, right. I'm Amy Rose, and this is Paper Mario. It was an honor to meet you, Princess Cadance."

"The honor was mine."

20/45 Energy Spheres obtained

Chapter 45: A Smashing Bash

Twilight and I hung on for our lives as the hot air balloon endured the strong winds. "You all right, Bandana Waddle Dee?"

I kept holding on to my spear, which I'd stuck into the basket of the balloon as a personal anchor. "I've dealt with strong winds before, Twilight. This isn't too different. Also, you can just call me Bandana Dee. It'll save you two syllables."

"Okay. We're almost there."

The balloon landed just outside of a large wooden gate. I could hear plenty of destruction and smashing going on behind the gate, so I walked up to the gate with caution. "Uh, Twilight, are you sure that the yaks will be okay with us visiting them? Sounds like a lot of roughhousing going on."

"They made a peace treaty with us ponies, and they will surely be fine with a friend of Kirby. And according to my research, they smash things for fun, not necessarily out of anger. I'll go first if you're scared."

I followed Twilight into a small village where several yaks were stomping on branches and logs. I began to hide behind Twilight, but to no avail; a large yak noticed her. "Ah, a pony!" He ran over and... hugged Twilight? Well, at least he didn't stampede over me. "What bring purple pony to Yakyakistan?"

Twilight struggled out of the yak's grip before saying, "First of all, I would like to introduce you to a friend of mine. This is Bandana Waddle Dee. Bandana Dee, meet Prince Rutherford."

The yak eyed me, lifting up his shaggy fur over his eyes to do so before letting go of Twilight. "Orange thing look familiar... Orange thing know pink ball that smash bug pony and weird thing?"

I gathered up my courage and replied, "Yeah, I know Kirby. He's my best friend! We've gone on all sorts of adventures, beating up bad guys and saving the world."

"Yak want know one thing about orange thing: Orange thing like smashing?"

Like every other Waddle Dee, I didn't always like battling. But when the Great King trained me to become head of the army and when I befriended Kirby... "Yeah. It's pretty fun!"

Rutherford paused for a long time. "...Yak welcome orange thing to Yakyakistan! And great timing! Yickslurbertfest now underway!"

Twilight explained, "Yickslurbertfest is a Yakyakistani holiday celebrated by smashing, eating, sleeping, and listening to music, but mainly smashing things. I hope it isn't too rough for you."

I replied, "Don't worry about it, Twilight. I live with King Dedede. That should be enough proof that I'm fit to do this."

"Okay, have fun, Bandana Dee!"

First up, smashing things. I'll admit, my spear isn't all that good at smashing things as it is at stabbing and cutting. But I still tried my best. As I was poking things, I noticed a large log that hadn't been smashed yet. "Here I come! Spear Copter!" I twirled my spear above my head faster and faster until I began to lift off the ground. I then charged at the log until my spear made contact with it, actually cutting it to shreds! "Whoa, I didn't know my spear could do that!"

Next, eating. I went into a mud hut with some yaks, where they laid out several multi-layered cakes, each one apparently for one being to eat. The yaks all ate by shoving their mouths over it and eating it in one bite, but I chose to take my time.

Prince Rutherford was intrigued. "Cake disappear! Or orange thing eat without mouth?"

"This isn't the first time I've been asked that. I never really thought about it."

Next, sleeping. Well, that was easy. It wasn't quite like the King's bed for me, but it still felt nice.

After that came listening to music. We gathered around and swayed to the beat of the classical tunes. I would've commented on how nice it was, but I knew from experience not to do that; King Dedede never liked being interrupted while doing stuff, especially listening to his theme tune and eating.

Last, we went outside to sit around a fire pit to tell stories. Rutherford said, "Orange thing know pink ball, and pink ball is hero, so orange thing tell story!" The other yaks chattered in agreement.

"A story? Okay, I'll tell you about the time Kirby and I defeated the evil Dark Crafter!"

The yaks all laughed in response. "Dark Crafter sound weak and dumb! Tell better story!"

I had to agree. All Kirby really had to do was bash Dark Crafter three times as the Kirby Rocket. "If you insist. Very well, I will tell the story of how I worked with Kirby and two of his friends to conquer the mighty four-headed dragon Landia, guardian of the Master Crown!"

The yaks were in awe as they listened to my every word. "And then, with one last thrust of my spear, I struck Landia right in the chest, bringing the dragons down for the count! But... we were betrayed. The one who sent us to defeat Landia, known as Magolor, came and took the Master Crown. As he put it on his head, he transformed into a ghastly warlock and announced his plans to take over the universe, starting with our homeland. That was when Landia woke up and tossed each of us onto his back, and we took off to defeat Magolor once and for all!"

The yaks stomped their hooves in applause. Rutherford said, "Orange thing really is mighty warrior! Tell yaks about battle with evil warlock!"

I checked the sky to see where the sun was. "It's getting late. Sorry, but I'll have to tell you about that another day. Right now, I need to get back to my hunt for Energy Spheres!"

"Look like blue balls with flat circle inside?"

"Yeah, have you seen one?"

"Yak not see one... Yak see FIVE!" Prince Rutherford showed me five Energy Spheres. "Yaks don't need blue balls. Hard to smash, and not good decoration. Take blue balls!"

I put the Energy Spheres in my bandana. "Thanks, Prince Rutherford! I'll be back to tell you about Magolor!"

25/45 Energy Spheres obtained

"Wait!" I turned back to the prince. "Orange thing sound strong! Yak want fight orange thing!"

"Uh... Okay." I guess I had no choice.

Chapter 46: Luigi's Guide to Winning

Usually, there's more to a victory than just winning. You have to have a strategy and go for the opponent's weak spot. That's why they call me a god. They say I don't need a strategy. They say I don't have to do a thing. They say my thing is not doing a thing. I've been turned into a stereotype. I'm not a stereotype. I'm Luigi, number one sidekick to Mario!

"You've been turned into a stereotype?" Pinkie jolted me out of my interior monologue, which she must have heard. "What do you mean?"

I sighed. "Well, Pinkie Pie, a few years ago, someone posted a video of me winning without doing anything in the game Mario Party. Many more videos like it followed. Now I'm being either laughed at or praised due to the phenomenon known as Luigi Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing."

"At least it isn't about you losing by doing absolutely everything, right? Besides, it's just a video. It isn't real."

"You've got a point, Pinkie. But still, I've always been the number two. I just want to be the real number one at something."

"Maybe you will! You might be able to get the Energy Spheres from Ember without any help at all! Ooh, we're here!" Pinkie stopped twirling her tail like a helicopter rotor and set me down on a volcanic island. "Ready to find those Energy Spheres?"

"Oh, yeah! Let's-a go!" I was scared at first when I learned that I wouldn't be with Mario, but with a pony like Pinkie Pie, I couldn't help but feel like my bro was still with me. Pinkie's optimistic, adventurous, and always ready to help, just like my bro.

We walked around the Dragon Lands, searching for Ember, when we heard someone groan. "*yawn* Ugh... Who would be crazy enough to wander around at this time of evening?" A young orange dragon was waking up. "Professor Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here?"

Pinkie replied, "Hi, Smolder! Sorry if we woke you. Luigi and I are looking for these neat blue orbs that glow super bright!"

The dragon girl, Smolder, said, "Don't mean to disappoint you, but Ember found some. I can't let you have any of them, because she told me to guard them as she slept."

I said, "But we need them so my pals and I can return to our home planet!"

"Hold on. Home planet? Is one of your friends Kirby?"

"The pink ball that eats stuff to get powers? That's him."

"I told Ember about him, and she seems to kinda respect Kirby. How about I make you a deal on Ember's behalf? If you can somehow beat Ember or wake her up, then you could ask her yourself about the orbs."

I scratched my head in thought. "Hmm... Maybe we can do both at the same time!"

"You're gonna attack her while she's asleep? Not a good idea."

"While she's asleep? I was thinking in her sleep." I turned to Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, can you find a way to my homeland, the Mushroom Kingdom? When you make it there, I need you to find someone named Prince Dreambert. He looks like he has a pillow with a red pillowcase for a head."

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie took off, as if she knew exactly what she was doing.

After what seemed like forever (but was actually about fifteen minutes), I began to nod off, but something woke me up. I heard Pinkie Pie ask, "Uh, how do you land this thing?"

A male voice replied, "It's a missile, not a rocket! You can't land it!"

"Then hang on! We're coming down with a bang!"

"Wha--?" I turned towards the voices and... "Mama mia!" I watched in horror as a pink missile with Pinkie Pie's face came right for me, with Prince Dreambert hanging on for his life.

"Dive, Pinkie! Dive!"

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The Pinkie Pie missile exploded just feet away from me. "Sorry! The Missile Ability is super hard to control! Anyway, why did you need Prince Dreambert?"

I began to answer, but Dreambert stopped me. "I'm getting a dreamy vibe from this place... It's a Dreampoint! Luigi, do you need to become one with your dreams?"

I nodded. "That's right. Smolder was told by Ember not to let us have the Energy Spheres, but since Kirby is our friend, she made us a deal: If we can wake up Ember or defeat her in battle, then we can ask Ember herself."

"So it appears you do need my help. Pinkie Pie, have you ever entered the Dream World before?"

"I've had lots of dreams before, but I've never actually went into a dream. It sounds fun, though."

"Then I believe you will find this a most interesting experience. When Luigi falls asleep on me, you will see something quite strange. You should know what to do. If not, then one of Luigi's partners can assist you. Luigi, get yourself situated."

Dreambert transformed into a pillow, and I laid my head on him before sending out a blue mouse Pokemon with minus signs all over it. "Negation, if I talk in my sleep, then do as I tell you. It will help Pinkie Pie in the Dream World."

Negation was confused for a moment. "Mi? Mi... Minun." He eventually agreed to do so.

"Okay. Good night, Negation..." I slowly drifted off to sleep...

I appeared in front of Pinkie Pie. "What do you think of the Dream World, Pinkie?"

"It looks so much like the Dragon Lands! Except, it looks like Discord had a little fun here."

Prince Dreambert appeared in pillow form. "That's because it is the Dream World. There are endless possibilities! As for it looking like the Dragon Lands, Luigi's dreams are affected by his surroundings. When at rest, his brainwaves are the exact same wavelength as those of the Pi'illo people, whom I am one of. That allows him to open up a portal to the Dream World when he sleeps on a Pi'illo. Furthermore, Luigi is sleeping on a Dreampoint, where the sleeper becomes one with their dreams, thus making a visit to the Dream World very easy."

"That was a little confusing, but I think I understand. Since Luigi's sleep patterns are the same as the Pi'illo people, he can open up dream portals, and this is even easier in a Dreampoint, where the sleeper and their dreams are one. But since Luigi is in the real world, dreaming, why is he here? Is this like how Luigi looks in his dreams?"

"That is correct. Meet Dreamy Luigi. He has many tricks up his sleeve, as you may soon see. Now, let us search for Ember!"

"Okay. Let's-a go!"

I said, "Hey, that's Mario's line!"

"I know, that's why I said it! Since you two work together all the time, and now you're separated, I figured I'd fill the role, if that's okay with you."

"Well, Pinkie, you do kind of remind me of my bro... Okie dokie!"

Dreambert warned, "Look out behind you, Pinkie!"

Pinkie turned around. "Oh, hi, dragon!" Oh boy, here it comes... "Oops, I mean, 'Hi, dragons!' ...Wait, 'dragons'?! Uh oh..." Yep, it wasn't one dragon; it was thirty of them. That's how the Dream World works. "Um, hey, dragons. Can we go by?"

They looked nearly identical, except for one thing: There were twenty-nine orange dragons and one red one, which was likely the leader of the pack. He said, "There's no way we're letting you wimps go by! That is, unless you actually think you're awesome enough to beat me, Garble, and my awesome team of super cool dragons!"

Pinkie panicked, "How are we gonna beat all of them?!"

Dreambert grinned. "With the power of Luigination. Dreamy Luigi, become one with Pinkie Pie!"

"Oh, yeah!" I jumped high into the air before zooming into Pinkie Pie's body, giving her a Luiginary glow.

Pinkie asked, "Whoa, what happened?"

Dreambert replied, "As I said, Dreamy Luigi became one with you. He entered your body, increasing your abilities. You are now much stronger, and enemy attacks are less effective against you. You can also perform special moves known as Luiginary Attacks."

"Luiginary? That sounds super fun! I wanna try one!"

"Very well. Dreamy Luigi, you know what to do."

I concentrated, and some blocks appeared over Pinkie's head. "Ooh, what are these?"

"Those are Command Blocks. Hitting one of them allows you to perform an action of some sort. The orange block with the mushroom is the Item Block. The blue one with the Luigi constellation is the Luiginary Attack block. Since you want to use a Luiginary Attack, then hit that block."

Pinkie hit the Luiginary Attack block. "Now what do I do?"

I sent my thoughts to Pinkie: "You've got a bunch of options. What form do you want me to take?"

"What form? Gee, that's tricky. Hmm... How about a ball? Everything's better with balls!"

"All right. Head far away so we can prepare the attack."

We ran about a thousand yards from the dragons. "What now--whoa!" Pinkie jumped in surprise as I jumped out of her and landed in her outstretched front hooves, curled into a ball shape. "Huh, I was expecting something more..."

"...Surprising? Your expectations are about to be met. Throw me."

"Whatever you say!" Pinkie threw me away, in the direction of the dragons, and I multiplied into a small ball made of Luiginoids, my clones. "Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!"

"You ever balance on a ball before? Roll us towards the dragons, running over any Luiginoids you see. They'll be added to the size of the Luiginary Ball."

"Sure thing, Dreamy Luigi!" Pinkie rolled us towards the enemy group, picking up any Luiginoids she saw. Good thing I didn't have to tell her what Luiginoids were.

As we got near, I said, "Now, kick us towards them!"

"Got it!" Pinkie Pie did as she was instructed, and we rolled right over the dragons. "Yippee! Steeeerrrrrike!"

"You missed me, so it isn't a strike!" Garble was still standing. "You want a strike, I'll show you a strike!" He shot a huge fireball into the air before catching it with his claw. "Get a load of the burning bowl!" He then tossed the fireball at us.

I warned, "Hit it back!"

"But I don't have a hammer!"

"You have hooves! With my aid, you can do it!"

Pinkie began to protest, but she stopped herself. "...Good point." She bucked the fireball right back at Garble, who was burned to ashes. "Uh... did I overdo it?"

Dreambert shook his head. "That was merely his dream incarnation. You only woke Garble from his dream. That being said, you can unleash all your might on Ember's dreamy variant! At worst, Ember will only have had a nightmare about being defeated by a heroic duo, that duo being you and Dreamy Luigi."

"Whew, that's good to know. I thought that was the real Garble who'd entered the Dream World somehow."

"A very unlikely story, unless Garble has a friend who can create a dream portal like Luigi can. Now, let us continue our journey!"

We found a figure standing atop a cliff. Its face was hidden, for its back was toward us. "Humph. So what if you beat Garble and his group of lowly dragons? They're not even strong enough to be mid-bosses! Your real challenge lies before you. But first, you must reach it."

Pinkie turned to me. "Not that I don't trust you, but will this be as easy as beating Garble?"

I glanced above the figure, towards the sky. Then I looked back at myself. "I have a feeling that she has something special planned for us, but reaching the challenge won't be a problem." I pointed at the sky. "See that whirlwind?"

"Yeah, but why does it look like it has a face?"

"See how both it and I are glowing?"

"What about that?"

Dreambert explained, "Remember how Dreamy Luigi entered your body and powered you up?"

"...Does that mean I'm not the only thing he can enter?"

"Yes. To be precise, he can possess certain objects known as Luiginary Works."

I nodded. "Pinkie, watch me go into that whirlwind!" I quickly whooshed into the whirlwind, so it had my face. I was also given a clear view of the figure's face. It was Ember, the one we were looking for.

She frowned. "A whirlwind with a mustached face? Not my thing."

"Prince Dreambert, you know what to do."

The Pi'illo nodded and flew away.

"Negation... help..."

"Mi?"

"Scratch... nose..."

"Mi Minun? Minun, mi mi."

Oh boy, I feel a big one coming on... "Ehh... Uhh... Achoo!" I launched a blast of wind that should have blown Ember off her perch. However, she hung on by shoving her staff into the ground.

Ember grimaced. "Bless you, green one. Did you really try to bring the challenge to you in order to save yourself the effort? You'll have to try harder."

I sighed. "Pinkie, do you see anything around here that looks like my face?"

"Well, what about that constellation like on the block?" Pinkie pointed to the sky, this time towards the left.

"Great job, Pinkie. Watch this." I zoomed from the whirlwind into the constellation, and... I just came back out.

This made Pinkie, of all ponies, deadpan. "So, you went in, only to come back out?"

"Nope. Wait for it..." Suddenly, more Luiginoids came from the constellation's stars. "I'm as numerous as there are stars in the constellations. Or should I say, Consteluigis?" I almost said 'Waka waka waka,' but that would've made it more corny.

Pinkie burst into laughter. "Ha ha ha ha! Consteluigi! That's a good one!" After Pinkie calmed down, she asked, "Anyway, what are you all gonna do?"

"Seeing the situation that we're in..." I noticed that the cliff seemed a little thin and likely to crumble if enough weight was put on it. I turned to my clones. "Luiginoids, it's time for the stack formation!"

"Okey-dokie!" "Oh, yeah!" "Let's-a go!" "Come on, bros!" The Luiginoids chattered as they climbed on top of each other, until they had formed a tall stack.

From within the stack, I called out, "Get on top of us, Pinkie!"

"You got it!" It didn't take too long, because Pinkie bounced up to one of the higher Luiginoids before climbing. "What's next? I don't think we can reach Ember from here."

"Again, anything is possible in the Dream World! Anyway, we need to get under the ledge she's standing on."

"All right. Luiginoids, onward!" Pinkie directed the clones where I told her. "You sure we can still reach Ember? Not even a jump with this could reach her."

"Careful what you say, Pinkie! I need you to squash us down." Pinkie did so, until the stack was half its original height. "Now, let go!"

"Okay, here we go!" Pinkie released the stack, and... BOI-OI-OING! "Wheeeeeeee!"

We bounced incredibly high, like a spring. Meanwhile, Ember was patiently waiting for us, whatever she thought we were doing... "Wha--?!" We blasted through the weak ledge, slamming into Ember in the process. "So, you finally made it. But do you really think lots of you will be able to beat one me? Think again! This is MY dream, and now, I dream of crushing you! Beware my true power!"

Ember raised her staff in the air, and it began to glow brightly. I returned the Luiginoids to the Consteluigi before warning Pinkie Pie, "Something big is about to happen!"

"You don't have to tell me!" Pinkie Pie was violently shaking all over. Her Pinkie Sense was tingling, and it was tingling wildly.

We braced ourselves as the staff glowed brighter and brighter, until its light completely consumed Ember... and it kept growing brighter. We had to shield our eyes from the ever-growing light. Then suddenly, something knocked us away. We looked back at what had struck us, and Pinkie was dumbfounded. "My Pinkie Sense never fails me, but I still can't believe this!"

Ember was now towering over us, easily fifty times her original height. "You have no chance of defeating me. I am the master of my dreams!"

I grinned. "But you forgot one thing: I am the master of Luigination!"

"Luigination? Is that what allowed you to possess the whirlwind and the constellation? I'm not impressed. If you can't even threaten me with something intimidating, then don't even bother fighting me."

"Whatever you say, Ember." I turned to Pinkie. "This isn't a first for me in my dreams. It's a good thing that Luigination can do more than let me possess stuff. This may not make sense, but the truth is, I can also possess myself!" I twirled around and struck an optimistic pose. "This is for my big bro!"

"Negation... hold L..."

"Minun! Miiiiiiiiii..."

Pinkie watched in awe as a whole bunch of Luiginoids zoomed into me. "Mario!" "Big bro!" "My bro!" "This is for my bro!" "Oh, yeah!" "I've got to make my bro proud!" "I'll do my best!" At first, it seemed like nothing was happening to me, but I quickly began to change in size.

Ember raised an eyebrow. "So you're that willing to battle me, huh? You just might be worth fighting."

When the Luiginoids stopped increasing my size, I was the same height as Ember. "I'm here for one thing, and one thing only: The Energy Spheres. If you won't give me them, then I'll have to use force!"

"I prefer force, so you are in for a beatdown!"

I turned to Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie Pie, climb your way to my hat."

"On it!" Pinkie bounced from my shoe to my shoulder and finally to my hat, which I promptly adjusted.

I turned to Ember with a determined face. "Let's-a go!"

Dreambert said, "First, we need to find a weakness. How can we exploit her skills and our environment?"

I said, "There's a volcano nearby. Maybe lava could hurt her?"

Pinkie protested, "No way! Dragons bathe in lava! They're pretty much fireproof!"

Dreambert replied, "True, but every dragon has its weakness."

"Enough talking! Let's get this over with!" Ember suddenly dashed forward and grabbed me. "I think you should take a bath in some lava, you cowardly, mustached monkey!"

"Uh oh!" I tried to wiggle free like when Giant Dreamy Bowser grabbed me, but Ember's grip was much stronger. Before I knew it, Ember had thrown me high into the sky. "Whaaaaaa-ha-ha-ha-haaaaah!" I wailed. My landing wasn't any better; I fell into a live volcano. "Yeeooooow! Hot, hot, hot!" The burning lava on my rear launched me back to where I was before being grabbed.

I tried to get up, but a sharp claw/foot pinned me down. "I'm going to make you wake up so terrified that you run away without even thinking and therefore hit a solid wall of stone!"

I gasped, "No... It can't end like this... We must get... the Energy Spheres..."

"Oh, you mean the precious orbs that I was going to have as a royal snack? Well, too bad!"

"Wait, you're going to eat them? They're made of metal and pure energy. They should taste awful to dragons."

The tip of Ember's staff was inches (or feet, to the regular-sized onlookers) from the back of my neck. "Pure energy? All the better for me to consume it, so I can become so strong that no dragon can overtake my status as Dragon Lord!"

Before Ember could blast me, Dreambert spoke up. "What's that? It appears to be a very small shooting star!" Said object flew right by the prince. "Whoa! Even if it had made contact with me, I probably would not have been hurt by such a minuscule object."

Ember followed the object with her eyes. "Ugh, it's a flash bee... I'll exterminate it!" She then crushed it in her hands.

I could swear I heard a high-pitched squeal. "Pinkie, can you get a closer look?" I asked.

"Already on it!" Pinkie bounced from the ground up to Ember's closed claw, using her knee as a footstool. She took a magnifying glass out of her mane before she pried open Ember's claw to take a look. She gasped. "Oh no... Ember, you monster! That's no flash bee, it's..."

"Let me see." Ember stole the magnifying glass from Pinkie and used it like one of those special magnifying glasses that people use to study gems. "...Oh, it's that gray thing who claimed to be super strong."

I gasped, "Wait, do you mean... Hold on, is it a male?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with you?"

"If I had to guess, with all the clues... then you just crushed Pummel Fist, my good friend!"

Pinkie stayed in Ember's claw for a while before bouncing back down to me. "He says he's okay, and that he just flew by in the real world for some reason. That just influenced this dream. Oh, hang on for a minute." Pinkie bounced back up to Pummel for a while before bouncing back down. "Good news: Dreamy Pummel's gonna help us!"

Ember laughed boisterously. "You think something the naked giant eye cannot see can help you? Ha! You're a bunch of--Ow!" Ember grabbed her left eye in pain. "Oh, I hate it when something gets in my eye, but this is just unbearable!" Ember cringed so much it seemed like her eye was impaled by a pointed, burning log, like in The Odyssey. Yeah, I know famous literature. Got a problem with that?

Ember backed off of me, allowing me to get up. "Whew, thought I was going to be knocked out for a moment there."

Dreambert said, "How odd. Unless the dreamy vibes deceive me, Dreamy Ember is already weakened and ripe for defeat. Dreamy Luigi, you know what to do! It's time for Finishing Bros! ...Or in this case, Finishing Bronies."

"Okie-dokie!" Pinkie on my cap, I planted my feet firmly on the ground, ready to leap. "Ho... HAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" I jumped incredibly high, to the point that I could grab one of the stars in the sky. "Pinkie, time to go sky surfing!"

"Woo hoo!" Pinkie took the hint and jumped on the star that I grabbed, taking on a surfer pose. "Surf's up... WAY up!"

"Let's-a go!" I flung the star like a Frisbee at Ember before spinning out of control due to lack of gravity. "Go for the weak spot, Pinkie!"

I pushed myself through space to get back down to the ground, and I slowed my descent by spinning around. Green Cyclone! When I got to the ground, I waited for Pinkie Pie to ride the Super Star into its target. Closer, closer... "Here comes the wipeout!" Pinkie rocketed right through Dreamy Ember's chest, causing the dreamy Dragon Lord to erupt into a starry explosion.

"Oh, yeah!" I jumped up and winked at Pinkie as she soared away. "Oh, here I go!" I emitted a green light before all of the Luiginoids made their way out of my body.

"Wahoo!" "Yeah!" "Let's-a go!" "Ya!" "Oh, yeah!" "Come on!" "Oh!" "Ha!" "Yes!" "Let's-a go!"

When I returned to my normal size, Dreamy Ember was nowhere to be found, and Pinkie was bouncing with glee. "Oh my gosh, that was so fun! Dreamy Ember was all, 'Roooooaaaar!!!' and you were like, 'Let's-a go!' And I rode the star like, 'Here I come! Whoosh!' making Dreamy Ember go, 'NOOOOO! BOOOOOOM!' And the best thing was that you actually won by doing absolutely nothing! I mean except for throwing the star, but still!"

I looked down in sadness. "That's why I don't like the stereotype. I actually want to do something helpful to win a fight. Because I didn't do much, the only one who won the fight was you, Pinkie. I want to make my big bro proud of me. I want him to see me as a true hero. Heroes actually do something, so I wasn't a hero."

Pinkie pulled me closer. "What do you mean? Of course you're a hero! You stood up to Ember, who had our Energy Spheres! Even if you didn't hurt her, you tried to attack her. So you didn't do nothing! And even if you did win by doing nothing, just know that sometimes heroes don't need to do anything to win! Better yet, sometimes they may need to do nothing!"

I smiled. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks for the revelation, Pinkie."

"No problem! Besides, doing nothing is fun! We get to watch as the bad guys defeat themselves, or see the rival completely blow a spell! Plus, we had an awesome adventure together! We've got to do that again sometime!"

I nodded. "Maybe we will, if we ever go into the Dream World again and find another giant boss. Right now, though, we've got to get back to reality."

"Okay. See you later, Dreamy Luigi!" Pinkie bounced into the Dream Portal.

I waved my cap as Pinkie left. "Be sure to come back again sometime!"

I felt something small land on my shoulder. "Pinkie wasn't the only one who beat Ember. Your friendly neighborhood Dreamy Pummel Fist also had a role! A Focus Blast-boosted punch to the eye was what Ember got for not only squashing me, but also insulting my strength!"

I woke up to Ember gasping. "That was the worst nightmare I ever had!" She turned her sights to me. "You! You were the one who ruined my dream by waking me with a start! I would've killed your dream incarnation had that pesky friend of yours not been around! I'm gonna burn you alive, and your little pony too!"

Smolder stopped her, saying, "Hold on! All they want is the Energy Spheres, and you're threatening to burn Luigi alive? Just because his dream incarnation defeated dreamy you? That's kind of a cruel and unusual punishment."

"You don't know the half of it. I am the master of my dreams, and I was defeated by a cowardly plumber, a pink pony riding a star, and a microscopic midget! Do you know how humiliating that is?! I'm the Dragon Lord! I won't stand for that! These fools must be punished!" Mama mia, another boss fight? And so soon? Good thing real world me is healthy and at full power...

"This time, you're the one who's gonna be punished!" Cue the record scratch as Pinkie stomped on Ember before launching her out of a party cannon and into a wall. She followed through by bashing Ember with my hammer. "I'm sorry, but we didn't come all the way out here just to leave empty-hooved and roasted! We won't let up until you hand over the Energy Spheres!"

Ember pulled her head out of the rock wall. "In that case, you'll never let up! I will not yield!" Ember breathed a stream of fire at Pinkie, who blocked it with a stone slab.

Smolder exclaimed, "Whoa! You almost killed Professor Pinkie! I can't put up with one of my teachers nearly being killed!" Smolder turned to us. "You know what? Just take the Energy Spheres and leave. I don't want to see my professor being hurt."

Ember glared at Smolder. "I am not giving up my gems! As the Dragon Lord, I deserve to enjoy them!"

"How can you enjoy them if they taste terrible? Believe me, I don't think it's worth it."

"Oh, yeah? I'll prove that it's worth it!" Ember took out an Energy Sphere. "Now, down the hatch!" Ember chomped on the Energy Sphere, and her eyes opened wide. "...AAAARRRGH! I broke my teeth on this morsel! If it's that hard, then I don't want it." Ember shoved some Energy Spheres into my hands. "Here! Take them and get out of here! You're not worth the hassle."

Well, it felt kind of nice to win by doing absolutely nothing this time.

30/45 Energy Spheres obtained

Chapter 47: Sizing Up the Situation

There's something you should know if you ever choose to visit the Starship Mario and explore the galaxies: If you find a Launch Star, don't be afraid of using it; they're actually really fun! It's like flying without wings! You're probably wondering where the Launch Star took me. I'd be happy to tell you.

First, I blasted out of Seaquestria's waters and soared around Mount Aris, where I could see Wing Kirby taking Mario for a ride. Next, I flew towards the Dragon Lands, where I saw Luigi sleeping, with a dream portal above his head. I saluted to him as I flew past, wishing him good luck in the Dream World. For some reason, though, I felt as if I had been emotionally punched as I left the Dragon Lands. Not the blow that makes you sad. The kind that makes you angry for being underestimated. Finally, my flight became smoother and straighter, as if it had made up its mind when it comes to the destination.

I squinted my eyes to get a better look at where I was flying. I was able to make out something bright blue and shaped like a bottom hemisphere. The Lor Starcutter, still without its mast. However, that wasn't my destination. Instead, I flew right past it, towards a tall, gray, tower-like object. Each level was filled with water, which was flowing from the top. I was about to make a splash, so it was a good thing that I was still wearing my Devon Scuba Gear... Splash!

Good thing I was so light from being small, because I almost dove hard enough to hit the floor of what must have been the fountain in Ponyville Square. Rather than transform into a water Pokemon this time, I chose to just swim my way to the surface. It wasn't hard, given my strength, which let me push the water away somewhat easily. When I burst through the surface of the water, I was looking right at the Lor, which seemed titanic to me and my small stature. I got out of the water and took off my Devon Scuba Gear, only to remember that I had no place to put it. In annoyance, I put the gear back on before jumping off the edge of the fountain. I landed hard on my feet, sending a tingling sensation throughout my entire body. I probably should have bent my legs...

Your average pony would see a road made of stone slabs, with several ponies crossing it, but at my size, it was an obstacle course straight from Equestrian Ninja Warrior! In other words, a great place to train! However, training will have to wait. Reaching the Lor and finding a way to contact someone was my priority. That's why I vaulted over the stone slabs and made a beeline for the Lor's mighty side entrance. However, a massive shadow loomed over me as I was running. I risked a glance upwards, and I saw a huge cylindrical thing coming straight for me. I glanced over in the direction it came from, and I saw that it was connected to an entire pony. It didn't even seem to know that it was about to stomp on me.

I muttered to myself, "I don't really like to use my maximum strength due to forgetting to be smart, but it looks like I have no choice. Bulk Up!" I flexed my muscles, making them stronger and bulkier. "Bring it on, giant hoof. I know Counter!" I raised my hands to prepare a counterattack, but I didn't get the chance to. That's because something big, white, and made of cloth scooped me up off the ground.

A familiar voice caught every fiber of my attention: "Careful, Lyra! You about stepped on my tiny pal, yo!" Could it be? I looked to the source of the voice, and I was staring into a blue optical lens. That blue glow, the reckless teenage voice... "Did I surprise you, bro?"

I answered, "You got me big time, Gim. I thought you were destroyed!"

"Yep, I was. I thought it was game over for me! But my optical lens did not lie. It activated to reveal to me, of all ponies, Twilight Sparkle! She seemed pretty happy about me being fixed. From what she told me, she was the one who rebuilt me from my remains. But she did more than just rebuild me." Gim showed me... another hand? "Bam! Check it! I'm got myself TWO arms, yo! Now I can finally do a cat's cradle! And another thing..." Gim moved to his left, revealing another blue lens. "...I've got myself another optical lens, so I have a way better view of stuff! Thanks to these upgrades, I ain't plain old Gim no more: Now, I'm Gim-E!"

I smiled. "That's great to know, my robo-bro! How did you find me when I was so small, though? I mean, you just told me about your second eye, but still!"

"Dude, I'm a robot. All awesome robots can scan for things such as lifeforms, no matter the size. You should know that with Roborygon as your partner. Plus, Button Mash enlisted me to help him with the Lor Starcutter, which alerted me to your location. We were confused, given the fact that you were supposed to be in Seaquestria looking for Energy Spheres, and now you're here, and you're tiny!"

I chuckled. "I think Discord pulled this prank on me. I don't know why, maybe to turn Equestria into a huge obstacle course for me to conquer. As for me getting here, I found a tiny Launch Star and used it to soar somewhere predetermined. Since I'm here, you think you can take me into the Lor so I can contact someone? Discord somehow made a Mini Mushroom appear in my throat, and consuming it made me small. However, it did not affect my bag or its contents at all, so I had to leave them with my group. Without my bag, I don't have an Xtransceiver or a Pokegear to call someone."

"You got it!" Gim-E turned to Lyra. "I know you really like hands and all, but Pummel and I are busy. We'll see you later." The two of us went into the Lor's side door and entered the room.

Inside, Button was working the computer. "You sure someone hasn't hacked into your radar or something? I'm sure Pummel should be in Seaquestria."

The computer replied, "I am 100% certain that Pummel Fist is in Ponyville, and my radar has not been hacked into."

Gim-E set me down on the left star on the keyboard. I called out to Button, saying, "The computer's right! I'm right down here! Can you hear me?!"

Button's ears twitched. "That's weird. I thought I heard some squeaking. Maybe Fluttershy's in here with some small animals and I don't know it?"

As if in response, a camera emerged from the keyboard and aimed at me, with a small microphone attached to it. The footage from the camera displayed on the monitor. "Hey, can you hear me now?"

"Yeah, but where exactly are you?"

"I'm down here, on the keyboard." Button looked towards the center of the keyboard. "No, on your left." His eyes shot left a few inches. "I'm on the left star shape, with the tiny camera."

"Oh, how did I miss that? Didn't see you there. But why are you here? And why are you so small?"

"The short answer? Discord. The simple one? Discord, Mini Mushroom, Launch Star. The detailed one? Discord made a Mini Mushroom appear in my mouth. I swallowed, making it take its toll and shrink me, but not my bag. I found a way to tell my group that I was okay, and I found a small Launch Star that sent me into the fountain outside. I came here to find a way to contact my friends to see how they're doing, and hopefully to return to my normal size. Not that I don't like being small, because now the world is an obstacle course for me to tackle, which is good training."

Button laughed. "Well, I'm glad to know you're okay. I'll send messages to the others to notify them of your situation. We'll let you know when they reply. While we try to find a solution to your problem, you'll have to get used to your size."

Suddenly, Gim-E jumped in shock, rocking my world. "Aw, snap! It's already 7:00 p.m., yo!"

Button gasped, almost inhaling me. "Yikes! That means it's almost bedtime for me!" Button took off his beanie and scooped me up with it before putting it back on. "Pummel, we're going to my home to sleep so I don't miss school."

Gim-E said, "See you tomorrow, bros!"

I hung onto one of Button's mane hairs so as to keep from bouncing around as he ran. It was like both an earthquake and a tornado at the same time, but I wasn't too flustered; I had dealt with Earthquake, and I had dealt with Hurricane. This wasn't too different. In reality, it was just a few seconds, but to a small guy like me, it was about a minute long.

Button stopped. "If you need to use the bathroom, tell me now."

I chuckled nervously, "Nah, I'm good. Do you know about a shark Pokemon that's shaped like a torpedo?"

"You mean Torpedorsal?" I guess that's the Equestrian version of Sharpedo.

"Apparently. I had to take on that form to increase my speed when I went to Seaquestria... Do you know how it goes so fast?"

"Of course I do! Torpedorsal takes in water before shooting it out of its--oh. Ohhhhh. So you mean that you already... Okay, I cannot get that image out of my head."

"Need me to become a Psychic-type so I can remove that memory from your mind?"

"That would be nice, but can it wait until I'm asleep? I don't want to feel weird stuff, and being unconscious will make me immune to what's going on around me."

"No problem, Button. Have a good night's rest."

Button took off his hat, me inside of it, and put it on the floor, upside-down. "Here, use my hat as a bed. It's just your size."

I rolled onto my back. "Thanks. Good night, Button Mash."

"Good night, Pummel..."

Ant Troopers. The unstoppable marching ants in purple. They were walking all around me. They were led by an Ant Trooper with a spike hat. "Ten, hut! Forward, march!" We marched to and fro, doing whatever the leader ordered. "About face!" We stopped and turned around. The leader looked at every single one of us... until he stopped and looked me over fiercely. "And what are you doing in our ranks?"

I replied, "Me? I don't have anything to do, so I decided to join the troop."

"You ain't got what it takes to be an Ant Trooper. You gotta have strength! Endurance! And the ability to adhere to any surface, including upside-down surfaces!"

"You don't know me, do you?" I grabbed the leader by the legs before throwing him up into the air. I followed through by doing the same with the other troopers. I continued to throw them into the air until every single one was tossed. Pretty soon, I was juggling Ant Troopers twice my size. I finished up by setting them down on the ceiling, one by one. "Now do I have what it takes?"

The leader stared at me. "You... you do got what it takes. You're worthy of being one of us Ant Troopers! Heck, you're even worthy of taking over as the leader!"

I grinned. "You're kidding! I don't deserve to be the leader!"

The leader laughed. "...'Course I'm kidding! And you're right; you DON'T deserve to be the leader! You outright attacked the leader and the troops!" The leader turned to the other Ant Troopers. "Ant Troopers, we got a rogue on our antennae! Attack!"

All right, time to take my training to the next--

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Whoa!" The oversized alarm clock almost threw me out of my beanie bed with its sounding. "I'll get it!" I threw a Focus Blast at the off button, hitting it hard enough to turn the alarm clock off.

Button yawned as he got out of bed. "Morning, Pummel!"

"Good morning, Button! Ready to save the world?"

"Not yet, pal. I still have to eat breakfast, brush my teeth, and wash my face before heading off to school." I got out of Button's beanie as he put it on. "You can just chill out here or do whatever. It doesn't matter to me, as long as you have fun!" With that, Button left his room.

I took the chance to look around his room. The blue door to his room was pretty neat, and the blue treasure chest with the yellow lining was cool. Not that I'm into home decor or anything like that, but I must admit that he's got good taste. I mean, I had no idea Button liked stuff such as Space Battles (Equestrian version of Star Wars?). I thought he was just into video games, but that's about all I knew about him. He even had a TV set in his room! Wonder what's on TV... I leapt off of a video game controller to reach the--wait, video game controller?

I observed the controller to see what console it was for, but I didn't see a brand. However, it did have a red bar and a green bar inserted into a Gamecube-style controller accessory. Maybe the console would have the brand name. The console read 'Pontendo Swap.' Nice, an Equestrian Nintendo Switch player! I knew I was really small, but maybe I could still play it. First, I tested the controller... I couldn't reach both edges of the two sides, even if my arms were on one side while my legs were going for the other. Not even Tangrowth's vine-like appendages could reach all the buttons and joysticks.

I would need a clever approach to this problem. When I think of clever, I think of Psychic-type. When I think of Psychic-type and Machop, I think of Meditate. When I Meditate, I find a way to solve problems... Bingo! I needed people to bounce ideas off of. And those people... were all me, thanks to Double Team! With that move, I can create illusory copies of myself, each one with the original's strength, intelligence, and all the other capabilities, as well as the inability to be hurt; instead of taking damage, they disappear! For this scenario, I created 6 clones.

I told the clones, "All right, guys. Here's the game plan: Mach 1, go for the power button. Mach 2, 3, and 4, you're in charge of the left side. Mach 5 and 6 and I will get the other side. Got that?"

My clones nodded. "Yes, Pummel!"

"Alright, game on!" Mach 1 promptly jumped up to the console and hit the power button before turning on the television screen. Mach 2 got the right and down buttons, as well as the left joystick. Mach 3 got the up and left buttons, and Mach 4 got the L and Shoulder L buttons. Mach 5 took care of the X and Y buttons, and Mach 6 got the R and Shoulder R buttons, and I got A and B and the right joystick.

The TV screen lit up to show a home page with three games: First, a game with someone similar to Kirby, but with red lines for blush and smaller eyes. In the background were several creatures, including a peach-colored Earth pony holding a parasol, and a cerulean dragon with a watery hat. The game was called Kirbay's Stellar Friends. Next, there was a game that depicted a stocky, red Earth pony with a brown mane and tail and a star with eyes for a cutie mark. He was walking alongside a red hat with eyes. The background was made of pictures of different places. The name was Super Mare-io Globetrotter. Last was a colorful game that depicted pony creatures firing at each other with paint guns, some of the ponies looking like octopi. The game was called Octopaint 2.

"Which one should we play?" asked Mach 2.

I replied, "Let's do Kirbay's Stellar Friends. After all, I only adventured through the final boss portion of the Kirby Star Allies arc. Besides, there's a pony Gim! The Yo-Yo Ability is back!"

"Alright, Kirbay's Stellar Friends are coming right back at ya!" Mach 2 pressed a button to activate the left bar, and I followed suit to activate the right. I hit the A button to confirm the game I wanted to play.

The intro was pretty neat. It showed Kirbay (as he was supposedly called in Equestria) encountering several enemy characters before throwing Friend Hearts to befriend them. Next, it showed some cool powers, like a pony with a fiery mane lighting Sword Kirbay's sword, making it a Sizzle Sword, or a living snowpony breathing ice on Stone Kirbay, turning him into a curling stone. At the end, many of the Helpers tossed Kirbay up into the air while cheering him on, before the screen went to the title screen.

I hit A, and I learned that Button already had a save file. Wow, he's already finished it to 90%! This colt is either really good or plays video games a whole bunch. I asked my clones, "What do you think? Should we load Button's save file?"

Mach 2 replied, "Sure. I want to see just how good this kid is."

We opened the save file and were brought to a menu with several modes: Story Mode; Starring ???, Taking the Spotlight!; League of Loggers; Super Swing Stars; and The Daring Decision. Of those modes, two had stars: Story Mode and Starring ???, Taking the Spotlight! That meant he beat both of those modes to 100%! But I wondered about The Daring Decision. How much of it did he--?

"BUTTON MASH!" a female voice boomed. "YOUR ROOM'S INFESTED!" To the normal ear, she was just yelling at a normal scared volume, but to me and my small size, it was like a Tyrantrum using Roar. We turned and saw a huge female Earth pony with a cream-colored coat and a tan mane and tail. Her mane was neatly bound at the end by a red hairband. If I wasn't about to be the victim of being smacked by a flyswatter and wasn't immune to infatuation, then I would have been affected by her Cute Charm Ability.

I turned to my clones. "Guys, abort the mission!" My clones dissipated in response.

"OH, NEVER MIND. IT'S JUST ONE. I'LL TAKE CARE OF IT." Flyswatter in her teeth, the mare brought it up high, ready to slam it down upon me.

I deftly dodged the swings, thanks to my training with the Evasion Master Pokemon, Greninja. However, I saw the consequences of the swatting on the television screen. Button Mash would be in tears if this kept up, and I did not want that! I leapt off the controller and ran to an open space. The next time she tried to smack me, I jumped backwards before pulling off a trick I learned from a certain cartoon about a cat and mouse: I held the flyswatter down with one hand. Of course, I knew what would happen next, but it wasn't what you would expect. Rather than me letting go of the flyswatter and causing it to hit the mare in the face, she was the first to react. She brought her right hoof down and tried to squash me, and I attempted to endure it with Bulk Up and Counter. However...

"Wait, Mom!" Button Mash rushed into the room before the pony could crush me, and he pointed straight at me. "That isn't a pest! It's a friend of mine who accidentally got shrunk!"

I took off my Scuba Gear and waved. The mare leaned in close and squinted her cyan eyes. "...Oh, sorry," she lowered her voice to a more tolerable volume. "What's your name, little one?"

Since the mare was close enough to hear me better than when I was underwater with my friends, I was sure she would at least be able to hear my voice, so I said, "My name is Pummel Fist!"

The mare shook my hand. "I am Cream Heart, Button Mash's mother. Nice to meet you, Pummel. Say, weren't there more of you just a little while ago?"

I nodded. "That was a special technique where I move fast enough to make clones of myself. It's called Double Team! And I didn't mean to scare you into thinking there was an infestation."

"And I'm sorry for almost squishing you."

"It's in the past, and besides, I know that several ponies will come close to squishing me, accidental or otherwise. Just one of the downsides of being tiny. But I'm sure there are many more upsides! For instance, I can crawl into hard-to-reach areas to find things, and that might even help me find Energy Spheres!"

Cream Heart raised an eyebrow. "What's an Energy Sphere?"

Button explained, "Energy Spheres are these glowing blue orbs with a gear inside. Some of them were ejected from that cool ship outside, and now my friends are searching for them so they can return home! Oh, and the mast was also ejected. Basically, it's Kirbay's Back in Dream Land all over--OH NO!"

Button's gaze turned to the TV screen, and ours soon followed. It displayed a bomb, as well as the words 'Warning! This data cannot be restored once you delete it. Are you sure you want to delete the data?' Under the warning were the phrases 'Yes already!' and 'Oh, maybe not.' 'Yes already!' was highlighted. "I got it!" I ran over and hit the B button, cancelling the deletion.

Button sighed with relief. "You're a lifesaver, Pummel. Or in this case, a game saver."

I smiled. "I'd be upset if someone accidentally deleted my own save data. I probably shouldn't have been playing the game with my Double Team clones, because we did kind of look like bugs."

"Maybe you should visit Fluttershy," suggested Cream Heart. "She wouldn't hurt a fly."

"That's a good idea. I'll head there right away. Button Mash, you're heading to school, right? Think you can give me a boost while you're at it?"

"Sure, hop in!" I jumped under Button's hat once again, and we set off. Some more bouncing later, and Button took off his hat. "Ever ride the spinning cups before?"

I replied, "Yep, am I going to do something similar to that?"

"That's right! See the propeller on my hat? I want you to hang on to it with your life!" I set my eyes on the propeller, which was light green and looked like a windmill pointing skywards from my small point of view. I grabbed onto one of the wings, enhancing my grip with electricity from Thunder Punch. Button put his hat back on. "Be sure to get the timing just right, or you'll fly the wrong way! Now, get ready!" Before I knew it, the propeller was spinning at great speeds.

My destination showed itself at specific intervals, so I tried to get the timing down. One... two... three! I let go, launching myself into the distance.

I landed in a small bush. For me, it was really uncomfortable, because shrubs tend to be itchy. I hastily made my way out of the bush, and I found myself in front of a bridge next to a tree that had several birdhouses in it. Rather than speed across the bridge with Agility, I tested my endurance by walking up its steep incline. It was a good workout for my legs, that's for sure. When I reached the top, I saw a grassy cottage, not unlike those in the Hobbit trilogy. Yeah, I was in the right place. I ran down the other side of the bridge, allowing gravity to increase my speed. I went along the winding path before ending up at the gargantuan door to the home of the shy Pegasus. I used Power-Up Punch three times on the door, hoping it would create a loud enough knock.

Fluttershy opened the top half of the door before looking to her left and her right. "Hello? Did somepony knock?"

I exclaimed, "Down here! Can you hear me?!"

To my surprise, she seemed to hear me, for she looked downwards. "Oh, dear. What happened to you?"

I replied, "Discord happened to me. Made me small by making a Mini Mushroom appear in my throat, prompting me to swallow it. I made it back to Ponyville from Seaquestria using a small Launch Star. Button Mash let me sleep at his place, but this morning, I got mistaken for a bug and almost got squashed. When Button warned his mother that I wasn't a bug, his mom suggested I come here to your place. She knew you wouldn't hurt a fly. Not only that, but maybe you could find a way to return me to my normal size."

"Okay, I'll do my best. While I myself don't know the cure for a Mini Mushroom, maybe Zecora knows. I mean, unless a Mini Mushroom is from your world."

"Sadly, they are from my world. Normally, the best way to recover from the effects of a Mini Mushroom is to use another power-up, such as a Fire Flower or a Super Mushroom. Mario and Luigi are the only ones who have any."

"Well, Zecora told me that Tails offered her some items. I'm not sure if those are what you're talking about, but we can go and see. If you'd like, I can give you a lift."

"That would be really nice. However, I'm still feeling a bit dizzy after riding on Button Mash's head and using the propeller on his hat to fling myself here. Is there a place you can put me that won't be a bumpy ride?"

"Oh, gee, that may be a little tricky... I could get my bag, but it may wobble on the way to Zecora's... Um, I don't really know of any good places I could put you."

"Is there anyplace on your body that I won't get thrown around as you walk or fly?"

"There is, but I'm not sure if you'd like it." Fluttershy lifted me up to her head, where I could see every hair on her coat. "I hope this isn't too icky or anything, but... maybe you could ride in my ear?"

I jumped up to her left (from my point of view) ear, which was incredibly fuzzy and over ten times my height. "Hmm, this sure feels nice and soft, which is good. But I'm not really a fan of..." I risked a glance down into the depths of the ear canal. "...earwax? Oh, your ears are pretty clean. I'm still unsure, though. It's a long way down if I lose my grip, and I don't want to damage your delicate eardrums. I know I have a strong grip with this species, but I would tone it down so as to avoid pulling too hard on the hairs inside your ear. After all, you're my friend. And before you offer an alternative, I will most definitely not ride in your mouth! I hate saliva and the very idea of being eaten and digested, accidental or not."

"Oh! I would never do such a dreadful thing to you! I understand what you mean, but I'm afraid that leaves the worst place to ride in..." Fluttershy brought me back in front of her face, and she looked sad. She closed her eyes in fear as she brought me even closer to her face. "Please, don't hate me for this..."

The poor gentle giant was a nervous wreck. I couldn't stand to see Fluttershy in such a state. Besides, her fearfully quivering nostrils were really distracting, especially for someone that's tiny like me. Due to experience, I figured I knew what to do. "Now, there..." I reached forward and carefully rubbed the soft interior of the cavernous right nostril. Yeah, I found out (the somewhat hard way) that ponies seem to be soothed and calmed when I scratched the inside of their nose.

Just as I had hoped, Fluttershy immediately calmed down. "Oh, my Celestia, that feels so nice!" I guess they like it so much because they can't pick their nose themselves. The Green Isn't Your Color incident would be an exception, if it wasn't by magical means. And I'm sure it wouldn't have felt as good as a finger. "But... why are you doing this for me? I thought you didn't like this."

Continuing to caress the nostril, I replied, "Don't worry, Flutters. I've changed a lot, thanks to some celestial advice and training."

Fluttershy giggled, "It makes me so happy to know that! You know, to be honest, I thought this would feel terrible. But you really proved me wrong!"

I smiled. "I'm glad that I proved you wrong, my little pony. Also, I'm happy to see that you have a really clean nose. This way, I won't be drenched in mucus as I reside in your snout."

"I guess that makes it a win-win. Now, do you want the left nostril or the right?"

"I'll take the one I didn't pick." I leapt off of Fluttershy's hoof and crawled into the left (from my point of view) nostril.

Whoever is reading this is likely green right now. The reason why I'm not green (okay, so my body's natural color is grayish-green, but you know what I mean) was because mucus is the only Gooey bodily material that I am comfortable with making direct contact with, but only in very minuscule amounts, like in a clean nose. I am completely disgusted by anything else, such as waste material, earwax, and vomit. I'll Mega Punch you if you get me started on the material that I refuse to apply the appropriate adjective to out of fear of increasing the rating of this story beyond E for Everyone. And don't even think about it, Ghost-types! I know Foresight, so you spectral bullies won't be untouchable anymore!

Luckily, the nostril wasn't very wet. Far from it. It was more like crawling on velvet.

I was staring right into a furry abyss. "Uh, no offense to your nose, but can you flare your nostrils a bit? I need a little more room to turn." The Pegasus obliged, giving me the foot or two of extra space needed to be able to turn around so I was looking outside from my nasal window. I would have had to use the move Defense Curl (somehow) if the nasal cavity was any smaller. "Whew, now I can see. Alright, let's get going."

Apparently, I had picked (pardon the pun) a good place to stay in, because the walls of the nostril kept me cushioned and safe from bouncing around. Not that I didn't like bouncing in Button's hat; it was kind of like a miniature roller coaster. The nostril, on the other hand, was like riding in a small airplane with no lights and only one window: the front, and permanently open. Did I mention that it kind of wrapped around me like a sleeping bag of sorts?

"Okay, we're here. You might want to get out."

"Alright." I shimmied my way out of Fluttershy's nostril and onto her upheld hoof, which she used to put me on her head.

We were standing in front of a hut made from natural materials. Fluttershy knocked on the door. "Zecora, are you there?"

Fluttershy's zebra friend opened the door. "Hello, Fluttershy, and welcome back. What compelled you to return to my shack?"

"Um, we have a problem." Fluttershy took me off my perch on her head and showed me to Zecora. "This is Pummel Fist, and we think Discord shrunk him with something called a Mini Mushroom."

"A Mini Mushroom? Of that I have not heard, but Tails gave me an object with the same last word." Zecora picked up a red mushroom with white spots from the table and brought it before me.

I smiled. "A Super Mushroom! That just might work!" I used my Machop strength to lift the Super Mushroom. "With my size, just a mouthful should do the trick. Oh, and you two should stand back. Maybe you could put me down on the table, Fluttershy." After she obliged, I took a bite out of the Super Mushroom and chewed it up, remembering what happened with the Mini Mushroom. I've honestly never eaten a mushroom before, or any kind of fungus for that matter. I expected the Super Mushroom to taste awful, but in fact, it actually kind of tasted good. After I swallowed the last bite, I waited for the results... and waited... and waited... "Something tells me that Discord messed with the Mini Mushroom so its effects wouldn't be reversed except by his will. Also, just so you know, the Super Mushroom is supposed to increase one's size slightly, making them less susceptible to being harmed."

Fluttershy replied, "Oh, dear, what could have gotten into Discord?"

As if on cue, Roborygon came in. "We both knew we couldn't harm each other, so I made a deal with the draconequus: He would give me his Energy Spheres, but only if he was allowed to do a single chaotic thing to one of my friends, said thing being of my choice. You having fun so far, Pummel?" I gave him a thumbs-up.

"Energy Spheres? What are those again?" Fluttershy asked.

"Forty-five of the 120 Energy Spheres were accidentally launched from the Lor Starcutter--that's the ship that landed in Ponyville Square--as well as the mast, and we cannot go back to our home planet without finding them all. Pummel and his friends, including me, set off to find them, and so did Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, because they happened to be involved in the incident. The journey was certainly difficult; for instance, Tails accidentally stepped in some poison joke while he and Lucario fought a chimera for an Energy Sphere, and Rainbow Dash and Meta Knight had to bargain one out of Grandpa Gruff's claws."

I asked, "Have you heard anything from the others?"

"Luckily, I have. Heart Fist and Sonic picked up what you had metaphorically put down, and Queen Novo gave them her five Energy Spheres after they satisfied her ego enough with some seaweed wrap and a massage, as well as other amenities. As for Mario, Keldeo, and Kirby, the hippogriffs were more than happy to give them Energy Spheres, if they would participate in the festival. There's only one group left to find the last Energy Spheres."

40/45 Energy Spheres obtained

Roborygon sadly looked at me. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid that Discord will only return you to your normal size for one of two reasons: Either when we find all the Energy Spheres and the mast so we can get home, or when there's a--" Suddenly, music came from his antenna. "Oh, Helix is calling." Roborygon brought up footage of Helix, who was in some kind of underworld.

Helix said, "We've got a big problem. There's a magi--"

Roborygon interrupted, "That's the kind of thing Discord needs to know about. I'll be right there, as soon as I find Discord once again." He soared away, with an audible Zip-POW!

I looked at Fluttershy and Zecora with a determined face. "I think it's almost time for me to return to my normal size so I can join my colleague and help him beat the Energy Spheres out of whatever dark fiend has them. Until that comes, though, I would be more than happy to tell you about the items given to Zecora. Who knows, they might even prove to be useful."

Author's Note

The reasons why some words are capitalized are because they are Pokemon, moves, Abilities, or items. If you need clarification, ask me in the comments. But I'll answer one question prematurely: Gooey isn't just an Ability; it's also the name of a friendly Dark Matter that helped Kirby defeat unfriendly Dark Matters and their boss, Zero, in Kirby's Dream Land 3. Unlike Kirby, Gooey attacks by licking his enemies rather than eating them. But if you're not careful, he might still eat you!

Chapter 48: The Absorbent Monstrosity Showdown

While I was told to go to a dangerous place due to collectibles often being found in such places, I first chose to visit a stallion who I believed would make a good friend. It turned out that he had a little problem, so I happily obliged to assist him. Even though it took a day to solve the problem, I knew it would be worth it. As I left after finishing our project, the stallion said, "Your help has been essential in the building of my experimental prototype, Helix! We have finally completed... the Exceptionally Potent Official Chronological Hijacker, or EPOCH! I must offer you my heartfelt gratitude! I can't wait to test this!"

I turned back to him and smiled. "Considering the situation my friends and I are in, I may very well need to test it in the near future." Without further ado, I took flight and set off to the most dangerous place in Equestria that I knew of...

I finally reached a mighty black and purple gate, a double door, where Magolor was looking at his left glove as if there was a watch on it. "About time you got here, Helix. What was the holdup?"

I simply smirked. "A technology problem has been solved by yours truly."

His eyes opened wide. "Why didn't you tell me there was a technology problem?! You know that I could've solved it in the blink of an eye! The Lor Starcutter I renovated made the Halcandra run in less than ten seconds!"

My smirk grew bigger. "I counted, and it made the run in twelve seconds. Besides, you aren't one of the two who built an EPOCH from scratch."

"You can't build a period of time, dummy."

"I'm talking about a different kind of EPOCH."

"Right... Anyway, how do we open this thing?" Magolor pointed at the gate.

I examined the gate carefully, my smirk immediately disappearing. "This is difficult. The gate hasn't made any appearance in the show yet, so I honestly don't have a clue. I'm no thief, but if there was a lock, I'd use one of my feathers to pick it. I can't slide a feather into any slits, because it's that tightly shut. Knowing how Equestria works, this ominous gate probably has to be opened by magical purposes..." Of course, why didn't I think of that earlier? I turned to Magolor. "How powerful is your magic?"

He closed his eyes in thought. "Well, I can make spikes come out of the ground, and I can summon an Ultra Sword, not to mention the fact that I can summon several creatures and create powerful energy balls. Will that work?"

"There is only one way to find out." I pointed at a metallic lock towards the bottom of the gate. "Focus your magic on that lock. It might open the gate, but I'm certain it will take a lot of magic."

There was no way to tell, but I was sure that Magolor was grinning behind his face cover. "Magic is my middle name. This shouldn't be too tough." He aimed his hands at the lock before unleashing a large volley of magical orbs at it. However, there was no significant impact on the lock. "What? Nothing?! Seems like this will require a whole lot of power!" He held his hands back, charging up a powerful move. He then thrust his hands forward, a great laser coming from them. "Kamehameha!!!" The laser charged up the lock, causing the door to slowly open in a dramatic fashion.

Magolor began to float in, but I stopped him. "Wait here, in case the door must be opened from the outside. Only a powerful sorcerer can open the gate, so I'm the one going in."

I slowly walked into the dungeon known as Tartarus. I felt as if I was in the underworld, what with the dark coloring, stalactites, and creepy noises. But the first thing that my eyes noticed that was dangerous? A large black creature in the distance. I began to tiptoe closer to see what it was, only for it to wake from its slumber. A mighty howl came from the beast. The trio of canine heads led me to conclude that it was a Cerberus. The three-headed hound from the underworld. My Ghost-type Decidueye form would be next to useless against this dark monster, so I thought of a species that may be able to stand a chance... An idea formed. It was a good thing that I took acting classes when I was younger.

My body morphed, and I took on a rather humorous Pokemon's form. I became a species that would be an excellent entertainer in the Medieval Age. Its clown-like blue growths from its pale head and white hands with magenta fingertips should give away the fact that it is excellent at pantomiming, but if it doesn't, all you have to know is its name: Mr. Mime. Using Mr. Mime's incredible ability to solidify air molecules by vibrating its fingertips, I created something round that could be held in my hand. This confused the Cerberus, until I held the object up in the air. Yes, I had created a ball out of thin air, literally. I moved it around, and the Cerberus followed its every move. When I was certain that I had captured its interest, I threw the ball behind me, causing the foolish beast to chase it. Monsters from the underworld may be big and fierce, but they're idiots for sure. When the coast was clear, I pulled a rope to get myself further into Tartarus.

I saw something in the distance, but I couldn't make it out even with a mime telescope. I switched back to Decidueye to identify it. It was definitely in a cage, trying to reach for... some Energy Spheres that were almost out of its reach. Four, to be precise. And the mast as well! I didn't want to think about what happened to the fifth Energy Sphere. I whispered to Rotom Dex, "Call Roborygon, now!"

When Roborygon answered, I told him, "We have a big problem. There's a magi--"

I was cut off, though. "That's the kind of thing Discord needs to know about! I'll be right there, as soon as I find Discord once again." Apparently, Roborygon got the message. I didn't even get the chance to tell him that it was big, hairy, and pink... minus white, which meant it was red. He would have loved that reference.

I pulled on one of the two green vines on my chest using my left wing, stretching the vine above my head, before plucking a quill with my right wing. I held the quill and the center of the vine together with my right wing before pulling back. I set my sights in the space between the closest Energy Sphere to the monster and the monster itself before I let my arrow quill fly. I listened closely for the result... "Ow!" Bullseye. I struck the beast right on the hand that was reaching for the Energy Sphere.

I swooped towards the caged beast and looked him in the eye. "Trying to escape from your prison again, eh?"

He answered in a gravelly voice, "What are you gonna do about it? It isn't like you could beat me!" He showed me his strong muscles and his horns with similar length and diameter to those of longhorn cattle. "And besides, I'm not intent on escaping yet. Those blue orbs are very intriguing to me."

"So you want the Energy Spheres, do you? Well, too bad, you magic thief!" I kicked the Energy Spheres and mast away from the quadrupedal monster with humanoid arms.

He growled, "How dare you! I could just punch you right now... Oh, right, I can!" He then pulled the bars apart with his brute strength and stomped out. He pulled back his right fist for a devastating punch.

The opposing ??? used Dynamic Punch!

The punch went right through me. And I mean that literally.

It doesn't affect Helix...

I smirked. "Would you like some salt with that?"

Helix used Taunt! The opposing ??? fell for the taunt!

In a manner that suggested he knew the definition that I was intending to use, he retorted, "I don't, you archer-elbowed owl. I'm on a non-additive diet!" The monster charged up energy between his horns.

The opposing ??? used Psybeam!

I created a dark portal beneath my talons, and I sunk into it to dodge the laser.

Helix used Phantom Force! Helix vanished instantly!

I reappeared behind the fiend and slashed with an arrow quill.

Helix used Phantom Force! It's not very effective...

He laughed. "Did you really think you could hurt me with that, or were you just trying to scratch an itch on my back? If you don't have any attacks that can potentially destroy your surroundings, then just sit back, hand me the orbs, watch me consume them, and watch Equestria be controlled by yours truly, the mighty Lord Tirek!"

"That, or I can just do this..." I shot an arrow just past Tirek. "...giving me time to leave and come back even stronger." I then walked away with a smirk.

"Hey, you missed! Now, get back here!" Tirek stomped after me, but to no avail. "What the--? Whoever is holding onto my tail, you better let go!"

I turned towards him. "You're talking about me. And I didn't miss."

Tirek turned his head, and his eyes opened wide when he saw that the only thing stopping him was my arrow stuck in his shadow. He reached for the arrow, straining hard. "Ugh, if only... I could reach... your darned arrow..."

I hurried back to my new friend's place and knocked on the door. When he opened the door, I quickly said, "It's time to put our creation to the test, Doctor Hooves. You ready?"

"Of course, Helix." The brown stallion flashed his cutie mark, an hourglass. "I've been waiting forever to put my talent to good use. What's the destination?"

I thought for a moment as I entered his home. "Considering the situation I'm in, a good destination might be the world of Pokemon, perhaps one year and eight months ahead to be safe. I am using such precision because new places to explore in the Pokemon world tend to be discovered towards the end of the year."

"The world of Pokemon? That sounds intriguing."

"It is very intriguing. But enough talk, I don't have much time. We must hurry before it's too late to stop a monster that might roam Equestria within minutes from now! The EPOCH must be--"

Doctor Hooves' eyes opened wide. "Wait, a monster?! What good will traveling to the future be if there's a monster in the present?! It isn't like we'll be able to return on time!"

"You know about that big red and black monster who eats magic? He got his hands on an Energy Sphere, and feeding on its energy gave him the strength to break out of his cage in Tartarus. And don't worry about him destroying Equestria or anything while we're in the future; I intend for us to return only twenty seconds or so after leaving. As for where in the world of Pokemon we will go, input the following coordinates..." I told him the coordinates for the Alola region, but I cannot reveal them to you. That is top-secret data that is classified to all but the closest of my friends.

Doctor Hooves entered the EPOCH via a door on the side, and I followed. Have you ever heard of something being bigger on the inside? Well, this machine takes that phrase to a whole new level. As I closed the door behind me, though...

"Hold on!" Meloetta put her quarter note-shaped foot in the door.

I turned towards her. "You came to see the future of music, didn't you?"

"That's right!"

"Understandable, Meloetta, but I'm afraid you cannot. If you saw your future self, or vice versa... then it would be Alice Through the Looking Glass all over again."

"Oh my! You're quite right." Meloetta began to leave before waving to me. "Say hi to future me!"

I smiled. "I can assure you that I will say hi to future you for present you, Meloetta."

The Doctor inputted the coordinates before asking, "...Okay! Helix, will your floating red partner come along?"

I nodded. "Rotom is an expert at identifying Pokemon, so he will be a valuable ally."

"Very well." The Doctor pressed a red, flashing button. "If you feel a bit distorted during the trip, don't panic. Traveling through time and space simultaneously may have some dizzying side effects. So sit back and hang on as we make the quantum leap to save the day!"

Impressive, even the time card didn't get the reference. And before you say anything about my breaking the fourth wall, that's because I've been hanging around Pinkie Pie too much. Since I'm a fan of comics, I also ran into Deadpool during my life... Needless to say, I've been taught a lot about becoming aware of the medium. Blame them for my ability to break the fourth wall. Anyway...

Doctor Hooves and I returned to Ponyville twenty seconds after our week-long trip, only to learn that twenty seconds was too long of an interval. I was surprised that twenty seconds was enough time for Tirek to escape from my arrow pinning down his shadow and steal energy from some source, as well as get into some kind of fight somewhere far from Ponyville. How did I know, you ask? I could see the tips of his horns.

Suddenly, Magolor fell from the sky. He panted, "Ow... You didn't tell me that he could steal magical energy..."

I asked, "Did anyone tell you?"

"Roborygon told me, but he seemed in a panic and crazed, so I dismissed it as being somewhat insane. I should've known that robots never lie."

Something buzzed in my pocket. I took out my phone and checked the notifications. Someone had texted me.

🙄 seriously? only now he figured that out? u would think Lor would b proof that Magolor trusts robots, but apparently not 😑

I put my phone back in my pocket, but not before replying:

true dat 🤣

Magolor continued, "And there's something else you should know..."

Button rushed to our location. "Bad news! Energy Spheres! Mast! Not where you are! Not in Tartarus! Bad guy on the loose!"

I frowned. "The Energy Spheres and Mast are missing, and Tirek is on the loose and very powerful? That can only mean one thing: Energy Spheres contain some kind of magical energy. I came to that conclusion because of Tirek's tendencies to consume magic to increase his strength."

Magolor's eyes widened. "So you're saying he literally eats magic? Now I know why he ate some weird kind of energy from my body and why I feel so drained... We're doomed."

I shook my head. "We're only doomed if he learns that the Lor has more Energy Spheres. We still have a chance to beat him. Magolor, you go find somewhere to rest and keep away from the centaur. Button, warn Rarity and all other nearby unicorns to stay indoors. Rotom, go and analyze Lord Tirek for his type and other stats. Doctor Hooves, you're coming with me to help my friends teach that fiend a lesson!"

Everyone did as instructed, but Button said, "But I want to help battle the bad guy!"

"Understandable." I put a wing to my chin in thought. "Let's see... How about you try and find Roborygon and Spike after warning the unicorns to stay indoors? I'm sure Spike will want to battle bad guys too, and I am certain Roborygon will prepare you for battle."

"Got it." Button galloped away, leaving me and Doctor Hooves to search for the centaur.

The Doctor said, "The GPS says that Lord Tirek is in San Palomino Desert, to the west of Ponyville."

"Okay. Hold still, and I'll carry you there. This may hurt a little, though." The Doctor obliged, and I flew above him before gripping his back with my talons.

We landed a safe distance of about one hundred yards away from the mighty centaur, who was now the size he became when he stole all the magic in Equestria in the season 4 finale. That's good to know. I'd have to remember how much magic the Energy Spheres, mast, and Magolor collectively have. All of my non-magic-using allies were already trying to take down Lord Tirek, except Pummel, Button, Spike, and Roborygon, who were nowhere to be found. They were putting up a good fight, but they still seemed to be on the receiving end.

Rotom returned to me. "I've finished analyzing Lord Tirek's stats. My prediction is that he is a Dark- and Fighting-type with the Huge Power Ability. Therefore, his physical attacks are much stronger than normal. It's unfortunate that you don't have Mimiketchum by your side to take down the centaur and resist his attacks."

I replied, "True, but I was going to give Mimiketchum a break anyway. A Mimikyu would easily beat someone like Tirek, a Dark- and Fighting-type. This is the time for my new partners to shine. But I'm not ready to let them be revealed. Let's first see how the others are doing without some timely assistance."

Sonic tried using his Spin Dash on the beast's forelegs, but that did virtually nothing. Tirek kicked Sonic away with enough force to send him into a large rock nearby. Next came Amy, who used her hammer to pole-vault up to Tirek's back with Heart Fist's aid. He tried to shake her off, but the pink hedgehog was able to hang on. She provided the distraction necessary for Mario to throw a hundred fireballs to Luigi, who then hammered them towards Tirek. However, Tirek blasted the fireballs with energy from his horns, and the fireballs rained down on the plumbers.

Meta Knight set his sights on Tirek's horns, which must have been where the energy rests after being absorbed. He flew around him at dizzying speeds while dodging the large, powerful energy blasts. When he got close enough, Meta Knight dove for Tirek's left horn and unleashed a dozen slashes on it. Upon finishing his onslaught, he was met with a punch directly to the face, his blade having not even left a scratch on the near-invincible Tirek.

"Poyo, poyo!" Kirby exclaimed.

Lucario translated, "Without the Rainbow Power granted by the Chest of Harmony, the odds of us defeating this fiend are slim." He dodged two punches and a stomp before adding his own opinion of the situation: "Even with a type advantage, our attacks are next to useless, and I would never forgive myself if I watched one of you sacrifice yourself with Destiny Bond. Moves like Mega Drain and Horn Leech will only sap health, not energy or magic, so forget using offensive moves like those. At this point, we can only stall and hope for a blessing from the heavens..."

"Poy... Poyo!" Kirby tried to flee after hearing what Lucario had to add. If Kirby flees from an Equestrian villain, you know it's dangerous. He knows them like he knows Pinkie Pie.

However, before the pink puffball could get far, Tirek grabbed him by the foot. "There's no running from me, the king of awesome! I know you're just a stubby little pink thing, but I don't like to let eyewitnesses go scot-free. You've got a choice: get crushed, or see just what I can do."

Kirby pointed to Tirek, then to his own mouth. "Magic thief!"

The centaur laughed. "So you do know what I can do!"

Lucario replied, "That's because he's been to Equestria before."

Tirek eyed Kirby closely with a raised eyebrow. "Wait a minute... are you this Kirby I've heard of that defeated Queen Chrysalis and a strange sorcerer?" Kirby nodded. "I'm not buying it. The one I heard of could eat laser beams and was stupid enough to eat the Elements of Harmony. If you're that Kirby, then I dare you to eat this!" Tirek fired a full-power laser beam directly at Kirby's face, leaving the pink demon with an ashen look. "See? You aren't that powerful! But I'm gonna steal all your magic anyway." The menace opened his mouth in anticipation of consuming magic, but nothing entered it. "What the--no magic? No wonder you're weak. Here, I'll just put you out of your miserable life of weakness."

Tirek then punched Kirby far over the horizon. "YAAAAAAAaaaaaaahhhhhhh..."

"Now, who's next?"

"Hold it right there!" A blazing Rapidash and a charged-up Zebstrika galloped forth. The Rapidash continued, "You, with the horns that're longer than a Tangrowth's vines! Are you the one who done sent Equestria's savior flyin'?"

"Well, yeah. Do any of these idiots look like they could do that?"

The Zebstrika's white mane glowed yellow as he replied, "First of all, only Ah can call others idiots! And second of all, ya done goofed. Kirby's a good friend of ours, so we won't put up with a monster clobberin' that there Kirby!"

Rapidash added, "Not to mention that yer rampagin' interrupted me when Ah was singin' a good ol' country song! Ah'm burnin' up here!"

"Literally," Lord Tirek noted as he looked at Rapidash's flaming mane. From what I saw, she had some blue flames in her mane, which would signify that she's very angry. "Not that it matters, because if you're Kirby's friends, then you must be pushovers as well. You couldn't hurt me if you tried!"

Zebstrika and Rapidash replied with a grin, "Is that a challenge we hear? Then yer on!"

"You're all a bunch of--hey, where'd you go?" The two equine Pokemon were gone from Tirek's sight. "Show yourself, you chickens, or I'll--Gah!" His hind legs slipped out from beneath him, and he fell forward, having lost his balance. "What happened?"

Rapidash laughed, "Ah'll tell ya what happened: Ya blinked. Ya called us chickens. And ya dropped yer guard. We're faster, stronger, and tougher than the average pony. And do ya even know the equation for force?"

"Now isn't the time for a science test, dummy!"

"Fine, ya asked fer it: We're way fast, so we're strong anyway! Size ain't the only thing that--D'oh!"

Tirek got back up and buried the blazing mare into the ground with his hind hoof. "Just because I'm big and bulky doesn't mean I'm not fast!"

Zebstrika growled, "Listen up, ya brute! Ah may be a meanie who picks on weaklings and gets angry over the tiniest stuff, but Ah do have a heart! And this here heart's sayin' that ya do NOT stomp mah wife!" He then cloaked himself in electricity and unleashed an onslaught of Wild Charge attacks on Tirek at lightning-fast speeds. "Rapidash is the apple of mah eye, and Ah love apples. Especially zap apples, but Ah'd still love Rapidash even if she didn't know Wild Charge. Not that it matters, because when apples become applesauce, they're basically murdered. And Ah hate murder! You 'bout applesauce'd mah soulmate, and Ah ain't standin' around to watch her get pounded!"

Unfortunately for the electric zebra, Tirek stomped the ground hard, knocking Zebstrika out of his attack. Zebstrika was left unconscious, considering the fact that Wild Charge does recoil damage equal to one fourth of the damage given. Tirek menaced, "Anyone else want to risk getting beat up by yours truly?"

"...I think we are doing it all wrong," Meta Knight spoke up. He turned to my Rotom. "You said he had the Huge Power Ability, yes?"

"That's correct."

"Good. That makes this much easier." Meta Knight sent out a Pokemon that looked like an upside-down squid whose tentacles acted as its hair. "Flipside, use Topsy-Turvy."

"How devilishly clever," the revolving squid Pokemon said in a cruel voice. It then turned on its head, releasing some kind of dark energy.

"I can't believe you think turning upside-down will be very--huh?" Suddenly, Lord Tirek began to shrink in size, his strength slowly going away. "Hey, what's happening? What did you do?!"

Meta Knight chuckled. "So, it worked. Malamar are able to use Topsy-Turvy, which can reverse stat changes. You absorbed much energy, giving you the Huge Power Ability, and with it's attack-doubling effects reversed rather than merely negated, you have been drained of much energy."

Tirek had been reduced to about twelve and a half feet tall, horns included. "So now my power is halved?"

"And you can't even do math right. Typical for a buff villain. Your strength is now one quarter of what it was. One divided by two is one half, and that divided by two is one quarter." Meta Knight turned to the rest of us. "Hurry and attack before he figures out what to do!"

I turned to Doctor Hooves and nodded. We stepped forward, and I said, "Our turn." I pressed the button on a Poke Ball in my wing/hand, and it grew to the size of a baseball before I threw it. "Here we go, partner. I know you can do it!"

The Doctor threw his Poke Ball as well. "Likewise for my own partner. Show them the power of friendship!"

When the energies dissipated, in their place stood two creatures: The creature from my own Poke Ball was a very dark, navy blue bird with glowing red eyes. Its wings were hard as steel. Now, before you jump to the conclusion of it being a Skarmory, remember the coloring of a Skarmory. It's silver, not navy blue, and its eyes don't glow. This was an entirely new Pokemon. The same goes for the Doctor's Pokemon: a yellow mouse Pokemon with red cheeks. Unlike Pikachu, though, the left third of its body was brown, and the right third was black. In addition, it seemed to have pouches where a Trainer's jean pockets would be.

I boldly declared, "Tremble before the might of Knightwing!"

Pummel finally arrived on the scene, and he was quite impressed with our new partners. "That's a pretty neat-looking Skarmory. It looks kind of like an iron raven to me. And what's up with that cross between Pikachu and Dedenne?"

Suddenly, Spike and Button Mash raced to the scene of the battle, the former riding the latter. For some reason, they appeared to be clad in full body armor.

"Okay, the two of you are in position. We're almost ready for battle, but there's one thing left to do. Before we do that, though, I have a request of you two. This request isn't mandatory, but I enjoy a good reference. Now, what I want you two to do is say, 'Mechanize me!'"

"Whatever you say. Mechanize me!" I promptly attached myself to Spike, my mechanical body morphing to fit the young dragon and extending past him to also cover Button Mash. My antenna planted itself on the top protrusion on Spike's head. Each one of my eyes attached themselves in front of one eye on each creature, becoming translucent to act as a stat-identifying heads-up display, although since it's from my point of view, it was less of a HUD and more of a cybernetic camera. I focused my main offensive tools to Spike's right hand, forming something akin to an energy cannon.

"Actually, make that two things left to do. I feel uneasy about this typing, for our enemy is likely to have a type advantage over Normal- and Steel-types. That is why I ask you to--"

Button interrupted, "Activate Torch Mane schematics! ...Sorry. I got a little ahead of myself."

"Uh... that might actually be a good mode. Its temperature-increasing qualities might cripple the enemy due to heat exhaustion. Alright, I'm on it!" I shifted my energy production core's coding to Fire Mode, and my exterior changed color to red with brown highlights. My eyes became neon orange. "Before we go, I would like to say something myself: Button Mash, I appreciate the fact that you noticed the reference."

"Well, I am a video game master. Of course I would spot a Mecha Mane reference."

Roborygon, who was acting as the exoskeleton for the dragon-colt duo, exclaimed, "I knew my sensors detected new species of Pokemon! You must provide me with their data!"

I held Rotom sideways, showing off his new vessel: a cell phone with a touch screen. Rotom showed a picture of my partner. "This is Corviknight, the Raven Pokemon. A Steel- and Flying-type, Corviknight are exceptionally intelligent and aerial masters. The black luster of their steel body could drive terror into any foe." It then switched to the Doctor's partner. "And that is Morpeko, the Two-Sided Pokemon. An Electric- and Dark-type, Morpeko constantly produces electricity, which leaves it hungry all the time, so it always carries Berry seeds as a snack. Both Pokemon are from the Galar region, which required some time-turning skills for our heroes to reach."

Doctor Hooves turned to his Morpeko. "Now would be a really bad time to get hangry."

Morpeko, who was named Evermore, finished eating the Berry seed that was in its left paw. "It's about time you knew my secret, Doc--I'm always both full and hangry. When I eat, I'm just less hangry, and when I don't, I'm just less full. It just depends on the situation. But, uh..." Evermore rummaged through its pouches. "...I ran out of snacks! I won't be able to stay full enough for long!"

I nodded. "I had expected this to happen. That's why I came prepared with..." I pulled a container out of the Doctor's backpack and opened it. The container held a stew of some sort. "...curry to go! Head's up--this one's super spicy!"

"Down the hatch!" Evermore gobbled down the curry before you could say Pokedex. "Yum, that tastes so...!" Evermore's face turned red. Then he breathed fire. "Hothothothothotbutitsworthit!" His fire breath caught Tirek by surprise, having roasted the centaur's face.

Tirek deadpanned. "So you're going to come at me with a steel bird and a weird mouse that you caused to breathe fire by feeding him spicy curry? Piece of cake." He then fired a laser at Knightwing.

I exclaimed, "Protect!"

Knightwing brought up a barrier that completely blocked the attack. However, he was propelled backwards by the blast. "Not bad, Lord Tirek. Not bad at all. But you must remember that we are heroes of justice. We won't back down just because our enemy is strong."

"Exactly. Now, use Brave Bird!"

"Nothing less than the strongest moves for the strongest opponent!" Covered in an orange, bird-shaped aura, Knightwing soared at a low altitude towards Tirek. However, Tirek grabbed Knightwing in an attempt to block the attack.

"Now it's my turn!" Keldeo launched a Focus Blast on Tirek's arms, causing Tirek to let go and get struck by Brave Bird. Unfortunately, Knightwing took some serious recoil damage from the attack. "You okay, Knightwing?"

Knightwing replied, "I can still go on. As long as Tirek's strength has been restrained, we won't have to unleash our ultimate power."

"Well, in that case, I'd love to see your ultimate power!" Tirek exclaimed before throwing a punch at Flipside.

"Foul Play!" Meta Knight said.

"Your power will prove to be your downfall!" Flipside grabbed Tirek's fist and threw him onto the ground.

"Now use Superpower!"

"Time to finish him!" Flipside jumped into the air, outlined in a light blue aura, before preparing to slam down on Tirek.

"I'm not through with you!" Tirek countered Flipside by kicking him straight in the gut, launching Flipside up where all the residents of Cloudsdale could see him. Soon after, Tirek began to glow in a dark aura, and he started to grow back to his previous size. "Oh, yeah, now we're talking!"

Meta Knight's pupils shrank. "Tirek found out the way to reverse the effects of Topsy-Turvy... Helix! Doctor Hooves! Trainers can have up to six Pokemon on their team at once. It is time for us to meet the rest of your team!"

Knightwing grimaced. "The Star Warrior is right. We need more help."

I nodded. "True. Doctor, it is time to introduce everyone to our other teammates." I threw five more Poke Balls into the air, all of them opening at the same time. The Doctor followed suit.

My team consisted of a rabbit that looked like a pro soccer player; a white duck with a leek sword and a leaf shield; a cybernetic, bipedal beetle with a ladybug's shell, which was connected to its head rather than covering the back of the beetle; a canine wielding a sword; and a tan snake Pokemon whose body was coiled up in such a way that the head was partially hidden by the camouflage green, ring-shaped sac around its neck.

Doctor Hooves' team consisted of a brown gorilla with grass-like hair, wielding two sticks and a drum; a canine with a shield around its head; a pair of black balls of gas with light green beards and top hat-shaped smokestacks; a bipedal monster made of coal, with a red-hot pile of coal behind its head; and a chalk-white unicorn with a smooth purple and pink mane and a black horn with white stripes.

Upon seeing the latter of the Doctor's Pokemon, Galarian Rapidash, Pummel and Keldeo watched it in awe. They were speechless.

After a long pause, Keldeo quickly said, "Oh! Uh, I'll be right back!" Then he raced away at high speed, leaving no trace of him except for a puddle.

I thrust my right wing forward in a dramatic fashion. "Everyone, it's time to unleash a maximum raid on this dynamically devious destroyer!" I turned to my beetle partner, whose species is Orbeetle. "Cranium, analyze Lord Tirek's strategic preferences!"

"Of course, Helix. Preparing mind-entering mental waves of energy." Cranium emitted psychic waves towards Tirek. "...It seems that he prefers to use brute force, as well as using the magic he's stolen to propel heavy objects towards his opponents and fire beams of light amplified by systematic emission of radiation."

"Excellent!" I turned to the Doctor. "Think you could keep Tirek occupied while I prepare a trick?"

"Certainly!" He looked at Evermore and gave a determined smile. "Now, use Aura Wheel and run around Tirek!"

"On it!" Evermore generated a hamster wheel of pure energy, the wheel changing color to red to match Evermore's immensely... spiced-up mood. He then ran in it and made it roll towards the monster, only to have it swerve to Tirek's right and roll counter-clockwise around him.

"Hey, stop it, you little rat!" Tirek yelled as he tried to grab the wheel. However, when the wheel grazed him, his fingers were left scorched. "This little burn is just a flesh wound. You'll have to actually impale me with something or other if you wanna do some real--"

"Here I go! Leaf Blade!" My duck Pokemon, a Sirfetch'd called Leeksalot, swept Tirek's front legs out from under him with his very long leek. "Ha ha! As they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall!"

"Grr..." Lord Tirek charged up a laser aimed right at Leeksalot.

"Use Brutal Swing, and aim at the ground!"

"I shall pole-vault out of this sticky situation!" Leeksalot proclaimed before swinging his leek at the ground, launching himself into the air to avoid Tirek's laser. "He's in a prime position for my most powerful move! Shall I use it now?"

I smirked. "You shall."

"Very well. Meteor Assault!" Leeksalot repeatedly jabbed Tirek with his leek spear, only for that spear to be grabbed out of his wing. "Wha--you cheat! My colleagues shall punish you for that!"

"We'll see about that!" Tirek hurled Leeksalot's spear at the gorilla's drum.

"Attempting to destroy my most prized instrument? You must abhor harmony, and for that, I abhor you." The gorilla, a Rillaboom named Jungle Beat, stood in front of the drum and grabbed the spear with both his hands, stopping it in its tracks. "I call on the power of rhythm!" He then took out two sticks and beat the drum with them.

The drum attached itself to the ground via roots, and the roots burst out of the ground to knock Tirek's back legs out from beneath him. "Just because I can't stand doesn't mean I'm defenseless!" Tirek then used his magic to toss a boulder at my rabbit soccer player, a Cinderace.

"Hotshot, strike it with Double Kick!" I said.

"If this works, that centaur's in big trouble!" Hotshot proceeded to jump into the air and kick the boulder twice, shattering it into over a hundred small pebbles. "Nice! Looks like I don't have to worry about running out of PP to collect more ammo!"

I grinned. "In that case, hit him with as many Pyro Balls as you want!"

Hotshot juggled several pebbles with his feet, turning them into burning soccer balls. Then he shot them towards Tirek as if the latter was a goal net. However, Tirek used his magic to send them all back at Hotshot. "Uh oh, this is gonna turn out way differently than with Pummel's flaming Focus Blasts!" Hotshot was then hailed on by the onslaught of fiery rocks.

"Our turn!" The Doctor looked at his Galarian Rapidash. "Forest Horn, use Dazzling Gleam!"

"Anything for you, Doctor!" Forest Horn glowed brightly as she charged at Tirek. He fired a laser at Forest Horn. "Not this time! Agility!" She ran even faster, dodging the laser as it swept the ground. Tirek put his hand up to block, but Forest Horn burst through the blockade and rammed into Tirek's face.

Tirek finally broke through the roots holding him down, and he punched Forest Horn diagonally into the ground. He then looked fiercely at Jungle Beat. "You! You're the one that let your friends be a nuisance to me! I'm gonna laser beam you so hard that--"

I leapt up into the air while aiming my snake Pokemon, a Sandaconda named Sandacane, at Tirek. "Sand Attack!" Sandacane unleashed a blast of sand from its cannon-like nostrils into Tirek's eyes, temporarily blinding him.

"That's disgusting!" Tirek exclaimed. "You could at least cover your nose when you sneeze! Ever heard of something called a tissue?" Unfortunately, his blindness led to him randomly firing laser beams and throwing things around in a desparate attempt to attack us.

"Use Behemoth Blade!" I warned my sword-wielding canine, Zacian.

"Use Behemoth Bash!" the Doctor warned his shield canine, Zamazenta.

The two canines used their respective weapons to protect us as well as they could before some well-aimed punches knocked Zamazenta's shield out of his body and left him unconscious. "Brother!" Zacian exclaimed. Unfortunately, her lack of self-worry caused her to be struck by a large rock while trying to protect her brother. This knocked the sword out of her mouth and left her unconscious as well.

I looked at my Zacian and the Doctor's Zamazenta, both of the most powerful Pokemon on our teams no longer reacting to stimulus. "Unbelievable... Even the legendary sword and shield could not stand up to a mere magic thief... Tirek's much stronger than I had previously anticipated!"

Keldeo glanced at me. "Hey, Helix! Knightwing said something about your ultimate power. I don't know about you, but I think this would be the right time to unleash it!"

I grimaced. "You're right, Keldeo. It's time for you all to discover just what we can do." I held my right wrist up, where the Doctor could see a white band that had a sliver of red on one end and a sliver of blue on the other. On the top was a digital screen. "It is time to unleash our maximum strength."

The Doctor nodded as he looked at his own wristband. "I like the way you think! Maximizing our strength will be most potent when we've been pushed to our breaking point like this. But hold on a moment. We aren't sure if this will work here."

"Against a giant overpowered Tirek? In San Palomino Desert? This is as close to a Max Raid Battle as we can get."

Rotom said, "Actually, that couldn't be more true; my sensors are detecting that the entirety of Equestria is in itself abundant with the particles that also exist in Pokemon Dens and Pokemon Gyms!"

Our eyes widened with delight. "You're saying that Equestria... is essentially a single, planet-sized Power Spot? That's brilliant news to hear!"

I turned to my colleague. "Doctor Hooves, choose whose maximized power you use wisely."

"I have made my decision. Are you ready, Helix?"

"Yes. Here we go, with the power of Equestria!" I returned one of my Pokemon to his Poke Ball in my wing and thrust my wing outwards, as did Doctor Hooves. Our bands glowed purple, and the energy burst outward and into our Poke Balls, giving them a Premier Ball's coloration of completely white with a red midsection, except with a digital skin. That was not all, though; these special wristbands give the wearer a devastating skill, shown by the drastic increase in our Poke Balls' volume and surface area. "I declare that friendship is a sizable trait. The mightiest foes fear us when we unleash this futuristic ability..." Oh, and did I mention that the Poke Ball isn't the only thing that increases in size? "...Dynamax!" The Doctor and I threw our oversized Poke Balls behind us. Upon opening, it was like the release of our Pokemon from their Dynamax Balls caused the weather to change into a red and purple color scheme.

From my Dynamax Ball, a fifty-foot-tall Corviknight with magenta highlights emerged. His wings were stretched out, and behind his back were bird-shaped projectiles. "Or in my case, Gigantamax!"

From the Doctor's Dynamax Ball came a forty-five-foot Galarian Rapidash. "You will pay for your crimes, Lord Tirek! Your brute force will not stand a chance against our powerful bond!"

I exclaimed, "Use G-Max Wind Rage!"

Knightwing unleashed a massive burst of wind that hit Tirek with explosive force. "RRRRAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! Dang, that hurt! Still, it's about time you did some real damage to me. I was getting pretty bored by your pathetic attempts to wipe the floor with me."

The Doctor said, "Forest Horn, use Max Starfall!"

Forest Horn neighed to the sky, and several stars fell to strike Tirek. However, Tirek dodged each of the trio of stars. "There's some move names that make it really easy to tell what they do, and Max Starfall--" The stars created an explosion in the center of the triangle created by the three stars, which also happened to be where Tirek was. "--is one of them... But really, do you ever come up with good names that won't give away the functions of moves?"

I shook my head. "We don't make up the names of the attacks. Those are the actual names of moves. But relax, there are more clever names than those, such as Court Change and Spectral Thief."

But not even our Dynamaxed Pokemon could defeat Tirek, even though we switched up the Max and G-Max Moves. After first seeing G-Max Wind Rage, Max Starfall, and Max Steelspike, Tirek figured out how to dodge them. Because of the energy exhausted by their three turns of maximized attacks, Knightwing and Forest Horn were forced to return to normal. "We have failed you," Knightwing said. "Please forgive us..."

The evil centaur laughed. "Ha ha ha! You're still weak, even when you grow huge! Seriously, don't even bother trying to hurt me at this point. You'll only embarrass yourselves."

Just then, Paper Mario ran forward and struck a battle pose alongside his Kartana.

"Aww, are a couple of paper wads gonna try to beat me up? Good luck with that!"

"Don't forget this, paper bro!" Luigi threw an orange block with an image of a sheet of paper on it towards Paper Mario, and the samurai-plumber duo struck it. Nine clones of each came out and merged with the originals. "You can't let up against this guy! You're a Mario Bro!"

Paper Mario gave a thumbs-up before nodding towards Kartana.

"All right, paperweights, you asked for it." Tirek proceeded to stomp on Paper Mario and Kartana, much to Doctor Hooves' horror.

"No, Kartana!" The Doctor tried to rush over to check on them, but I used Spirit Shackle to stop him.

"Doctor, relax. This isn't a first for Paper Mario or his partner. Besides, they're paper. They can just unfold."

A few seconds later, a paper form slid out from under the mighty black hoof. It was Paper Mario, except he was wearing a samurai helmet... made of Kartana. He was also wielding a sword with a yellow hilt and a white blade. And as I had assured the Doctor, the duo merely had a couple of creases that could quickly be flattened out.

Tirek scoffed, "So what if you like to cosplay? The best you'll do is just give me a papercut, which is nothing!" He picked up Paper Mario by the foot as he did with Kirby. "I mean, you're like a hundredth of my size, and you're flat! You can't do hardly anything to me!"

It was unfortunate for Tirek that he had never been papercut before; Paper Mario's clones broke away from himself and proceeded to use their swords to slash all over Tirek's hands, especially between his fingers.

Tears welled up in the monster's eyes. "...OWWWW!!! Waaaahhhh! That hurts so much!" I couldn't help but chuckle as the mighty centaur became a big baby who cried for his mommy. It's amazing how a papercut can cripple even a colossal centaur. "Make it go away, make it go away!" His childish crying quickly shifted to furious angry speak. "Arrgh! Dagnabbit, you blasted pieces of recycled tree, I oughta burn you alive and pour your ashes into the deepest pit in Tartarus! Then I'll--I'll force the royal alicorns to bring you back to life so I can repeat the process! If that gets too boring, I'll, uh... I'll crumple you up into wads of paper and stomp on you..."

As Tirek continued to rant, Meloetta spoke up. "Paper Mario made a perfect distraction, so now it's my turn."

I warned, "No, he'll just eat up your magic. Besides, your magic is your songs, and without songs or music, you're... weak, no offense."

"None taken. And no offense to the offender, but you're wrong. About the songs and magic part, I mean." She walked over to Tirek before I could ask anything more. She then cleared her throat. Was she going to... sing?

Rhythm gleam and glow, magic's what it is,
Make the clock reverse, restore what health was his...

She was singing... for Tirek?

Heal what has been hurt, let my music fizz,
Save that which was lost, restore what health was his, what health was his...

"Oh, the agony, oh, the...? Huh? I'm... not hurting anymore. My cuts... are gone?" Tirek stopped what he was doing, and so did Paper Mario. "I thought you good guys were supposed to battle bad guys, not heal their wounds! In Celestia's name, are you a rogue or something?"

Meloetta giggled. "Music is a friend to all. I'm not afraid to cleanse your many wounds, even if they were caused by a hero or two like Paper Mario and Kartana."

Of course, Tirek didn't understand what she said, but he seemed to know what she meant. "Okay, first of all, thank you for that. Second of all, why did you heal me? And third of all..." Before she could react, the centaur stole her magic energy, and Meloetta almost collapsed. "...thanks for that."

Meloetta answered, and I translated, "First of all, you're welcome. Second of all, I have two reasons for healing you: one, to make this a fair fight against yours truly; and two, hope. As a group of hopeful heroes recites..." Her eyes brightened up. "...'In fearful day, in raging night, with strong hearts full, our souls ignite. When all seems lost in the War of Light, look to the stars, for hope burns bright!' And third of all, you're welcome again. I don't need magic to do battle with you."

"...That's literally the dumbest thing I ever heard, that you don't need magic to beat me up."

Meloetta grinned. "I don't necessarily intend to beat you up, and besides, magic isn't my main weapon... Music and songs are, and I create them naturally!" She took a deep breath to sing another song, a bright blue light consuming her and growing as she sung:

Melody weaves a great spire of flame,
Sparks of truth call to a glorious name!

"Hey, I can understand you now!" exclaimed Tirek.

I explained, "Music and song are a universal language. She sings so that all can understand her."

We wield this torch against the cold of the night,
And cause our soul to reawaken the undying light!

Suddenly, the great ball of light dispersed, revealing Meloetta's incredible new form: She was now almost the size of the great centaur, and her body was colored the same sky blue that had surrounded her. In addition, she no longer had her treble clef of a hairpiece, allowing her hair to flow freely, its unburdened nature reminding me of a cartoon about a certain 13-year-old boy who adventured with his elastic canine. Meloetta's beautiful new appearance brought down Tirek's guard, and he was subject to a charming onslaught of melodic acrobatics. He quickly pulled himself together and fought back, so fists and feet/hooves danced throughout the battle.

On this day, if the sky fell away,
And our world came to an end,
In our eyes, the shining Sun would rise in the dark,
Glimmering shadows!

Just then, a pale purple unicorn wandered onto the scene. "Did somepony say my name?"

I turned to her. "No, Starlight. We're having an intense battle with Lord Tirek, and Meloetta's song happened to include the word 'glimmering.' Get out of here before he steals your magic!"

"Oh, okay. In that case, never mind, I'll leave you alone." Starlight teleported away so we could continue our battle.

Rhythm grows, in the spaces between,
Grooving on beyond time.
Rising up, as a choir of souls find a voice
Whispering through the void!

Of this I am certain: Ponies, dragons, and other creatures all around Equestria were able to hear the song, and they couldn't help but join in. From the fierce Yakyakistan...

Yak's little sparks cling on to life,
every yak caught in struggle!
Then storms of change, storms fan flames,
scattering ashes to wind!

...to the royal Crystal Empire...

All our souls contain a whisper of light,
singing faintly if they dwindle from sight.
There's no escape or greater fate to be made,
We won't allow our chains of time to break!

...everycreature made up the choir of lifelight. This in turn boosted Meloetta's abilities to the point that her sword-like Rhythm Baton could make lasting impressions on the centaur's horn, even though that did not seem to take away his energy, and that a kick from her could launch Tirek a few hundred meters.

"Lord Tirek's health is actually starting to go down!" my Rotom Phone exclaimed. "It may only be going down sliver by sliver, but it's still progress!"

I nodded. "That's good to know. And besides, Meloetta is doing what Lucario said to do: stall. For what specifically? We will have to wait to find out. Not even the Master of Aura himself knows what to wait for."

The Light will guide you on your way to the ultimate fiiiiiiight!

At that point, Meloetta performed a backflip as she returned to her Aria Forme, making way for a returning hero. I would identify him as one of his famous nicknames, but his appearance would go against that nickname. Therefore, I will reintroduce you to... the rainbow demon.

"...aaaaaaaAAAAHHHHH--Whoa!" I would have landed face-first in front of the Crystal Castle had the princess of love not caught me with her magic. I looked at her with determination in my eyes and hope in my heart. "Poyo!"

"Are you okay?!" she asked. "What happened this time?"

After Cadance put me down, I pointed where I came from. "Tirek!"

"He escaped from Tartarus?! But how?"

"Spheres!"

"He absorbed some Energy Spheres and is now trying to take over Equestria again?" Cadance turned solemn. "This is serious. The bearers of harmony do not have access to the power of the Chest of Harmony anymore to defeat him, and if he gets his claws on any more magic, there may be no hope left for Equestria..."

I shook my head with a bold scowl. "No." I pointed towards myself. "Tough hero!"

Cadance nodded. "True, but are you sure you can do it? If Tirek launched you this far..."

I grinned as I pointed towards where Tirek was. "Briar patch!"

Cadance tilted her head in confusion. "You... secretly wanted to escape from him, and he unwillingly obliged?"

I nodded. "Prepare. Need power."

"You needed to prepare and find something that can give you a power? Where can something like that be found?"

"Ponyville."

"Very well. I will teleport you there to speed up the process." Cadance's horn glowed in a light blue aura. The last things she said before teleporting me were, "Good luck, Kirby of the Stars..."

Once in Ponyville, I rushed straight for the Lor Starcutter and went down the hallway with the Copy Room doors. I stopped at the third door from the end. Please, I need this miracle badly...

"Poyo!" Kirby's rainbow of colors swirled around as he glared at the mighty Tirek.

"Back for more?" the centaur boasted. "Guess I'd better give it my very best this time to make sure you don't come back. If I happen to evaporate you, then that's that. I mean, villains destroy heroes. That's what they're supposed to do." He emphasized his next comment by stomping his front right hoof and fiercely pointing his finger downwards. "You're going DOWN!"

The fiend charged energy between his great horns, prompting the puffball to plant his feet firmly on the ground. Dedede cheered on Kirby, saying, "You gotta suck him up and blow him on outta here!"

"Here... I... COME!" Tirek fired an unnaturally massive laser beam from his horns. Kirby's reaction... using the amplifying power of the Miracle Fruit to Hypernova Inhale the laser beam.

Button lifted his visor up. "Did Kirby just... Big Bang Inhale?"

I replied, "Yes. Also, I noticed that you pronounced Kirby the correct way. Why is that?"

Button laughed softly. "Well, after the Hyness incident, I figured that Kirby was definitely different than Kirbay. I mean, that wizard guy was totally not Roiall. Hyness didn't have clearly visible nostrils, and he spoke kind of differently than Roiall, who rescued Blizzard Axe, Sizzle Blade, and Zap Barrage, and built all those Zebastilles. Plus, Hyness didn't even have a tail! I also noticed that everypony was pronouncing the hero's name Kirby instead of Kirbay, so I just made that guess."

I smiled. "Nice job, little guy. But that doesn't change the fact that Kirby seems to be losing the duel between him and Tirek!"

The rainbow puffball seemed to be sweating as he attempted to suck up the laser beam, which was convincingly more powerful than Flowered Queen Sectonia's laser.

Button panicked, "This doesn't make sense. If Kirbay could eat Fleur Arachnia's beam, then Kirby should be able to take Tirek's beam. But why is he having so much trouble? Did the Energy Spheres and Mast that Tirek ate really make him that much stronger than Fleur Arachnia? This isn't good..."

Meloetta exclaimed, "Less whys, more whats. And I'm not talking about electricity. Let's give this Big Bang hero an appetizing boost of energy with a native song!" She played a familiar, upbeat tune as she sang.

We're not flawless; we're a work in progress!
We've got dents and we've got quirks, but it's our flaws that make us work,
Yeah!

Three songs in a row? The melodic heroine's going all out. Kirby immediately showed signs of being strengthened, his inhaling increasing in power and becoming higher in pitch. We were able to see a small gust of blue wind traveling from Kirby's mouth along the laser beam.

We're not flawless; we're a work in progress!
So tell me what flaws you've got too, 'cause I still like what's flawed about you!

The gust quickly reached the other end of the laser. This meant doom for Flowered Queen Sectonia, so you can be sure Tirek was in trouble. Hypernova Kirby completely inhaled the entire laser... and a health bar that appeared out of nowhere. Probably Discord's doing. But that wasn't all... You do know that the Rainbow Power laser removed all the stolen energy from Tirek's body, right? Well, imagine that, except that the magic was stolen by means of inhalation, kind of like how the fire was stolen from the little green dragon by the charm in that one medieval movie with the cat and mouse who share a friendly rivalry.

The drained Tirek looked at the bloated rainbow hero in despair. "...You're going to send that right back at me, aren't you?"

Literally everyone in the vicinity deadpanned. Even Kirby. Lucario summarized what everyone was thinking in two sentences: "Do you think he's an idiot, you magic thief? All he'd do is give you back the magic."

"Mm-hmm..." Kirby waddled away.

Amy's Delphox suddenly came out of its Poke Ball and twirled around its flaming stick. "Ha ha! The heroes reign victorious yet again! Face it, you fiend--the light of justice always disperses darkness!"

Tirek looked at Delphox in wonder. "What a strange stick you have there. How do you keep the entire thing from going up in flames?"

Delphox snickered. "All the better to see into the future with! Don't you know? I'm both a Fire- and a Psychic-type!"

My eyes opened wide. "Delphox, you idiotic vulpine! Now he--"

Too late. Tirek stole her magic, extinguishing the flame. "My flame... is gone?" She tried to use friction to light the stick, but it failed. "That beast stole my fire magic!"

I grimaced. "At least he only got a very small fraction of the power he got from absorbing the Energy Spheres, the Mast, and Magolor's magic." Tirek was brought down to about eight feet tall now.

Tirek looked at us. "So, who's ready for more?"

Lucario turned to Pummel, who had temporarily fled for some reason after Dynamax Forest Horn initiated Max Starfall. "I request permission to unleash all my rage on Lord Tirek."

Pummel nodded. "Permission granted. After all, he both blasted Kirby in the face and punched him incredibly far. Kirby's your best friend and the one you were assigned to protect. This will be an excellent outlet for us. Feel free to unleash all heck on this guy."

I turned towards Tirek. "You do know what this means, right?"

"Uh... You're more evenly matched and will actually do me some real damage?"

"That too, but there's one other thing. Since you were evil enough to insult the hero of Equestria and launch him all the way to the Crystal Empire..." I closed my eyes in tranquil fury as I held a cerulean blue Waterium Z in front of my left eye. "...you're gonna have a bad time."

Button groaned. "Are you kidding me? Skelegrin's the only reason why I wanted to play Understory and the reason why I hated it; I waited forever to see if he was going to do anything."

I replied, "You should've gone pacifist on the enemies you encountered instead of beating everyone up."

"But I did go pacifist in my first run, and I beat it! And that Bloomy gave me quite a scare... I wanted to see what would happen if I beat everyone up for my second run, but I couldn't even touch Skelegrin. Is there some kind of secret that I don't know about?"

"That's right, Button Mash. I'll help you out after we take this guy down."

Roborygon chimed in, "So, what's the plan?"

I grinned. "Attack him with as many references as you can. We've got to make this interesting."

"On it!" Sonic spun around with a leg outward, repeatedly kicking Tirek with it... "Tatsumaki Senpukyak--oh!" (There's one. Or almost one.) ...only to be grabbed by that same leg.

But this left Tirek open to Mega Lucario tripping him with Bone Rush and using Close Combat on his face. "AURAURAURAURAURAURA!" Two. He then followed up with an Aura-powered Sky Uppercut that launched the centaur into the air. "Aurayuken!" Three (I suppose?). Several balls of aura appeared around him, which he threw at Tirek before holding his paws close together, forming an incredible amount of aura between them. He cupped them behind him before thrusting the energy forward in the form of a massive laser. "Aura... BLAAAAAAST!!!" Four.

Sonic asked, "Aren't you going to do anything, Helix?"

"I am. I'm just standing here... menacingly." Four and a half...

Sonic turned to the centaur. "Oh man, you better get out of there, Tirek!" Five.

Tirek crossed his arms. "I literally can't. Helix already pinned my shadow down with his arrow. Not that it matters, because I'm still strong enough to clobber you!"

"Only I can clobbah, ya big moron! That's right, we're gonna show ya some REAL star power!" King Dedede sent out Incineroar. "C'mon, show 'em the reason why you've got yer nickname! Darkest Lariat!"

"You don't scare me none!" Incineroar spun around with his arms out and struck Tirek with them before striking a pose. "This is what happens when you let the tiger outta his cage!"

Button beamed. "He just went Bash Cratesmash on Tirek!"

The king chuckled. "That's why Ah named 'im Burndicoot!" Six.

"Enough fooling around with references! Time for someone to show you how to REALLY beat someone up!" Tirek pulled back his fist, ready to throw a powerful punch. However, as he shot it forward...

"And that someone is me!" A very muscular, purple biped countered with his own fist, creating a glass-shattering shockwave. You don't need to know the Avengers to know that was the seventh reference.

During the shockwave... CRACK! "...I think that broke every single bone in my arm. Just who is this purple biped whose muscles are as big as mine?"

"Going giant against us seems a little unnecessary, Bowser!" I exclaimed.

"You're the one who used a giant boulder covered in magic to try to beat me after I countered the regular, slightly smaller boulder!" the Koopa King shot back. "And look where that got you!"

I glanced upward. "Good point. But I see no reason to give up!" I dug up a fair-sized hole from the ground after removing the stone slabs. "Cannonball!" I quickly jumped i--THUD!

Everyone gasped. The magic-covered boulder had crushed me. Bowser had defeated me, and not even the Mane 6 could stop him from winning our battle. My mind said, 'No, it's useless to fight. He won. We lost. You're too weak to defeat him.'

...But I didn't listen! It could've been my pounding headache from the boulder hitting my head as I jumped in the hole, but it was more likely my determination. No boulder can stop a Machop, even if it's covered in magic.

I would normally use a strategic approach to this, but I remembered some advice from the most powerful Machamp I know: "If something isn't doing what you want it to do, punch it. If that doesn't work, punch it some more. If that still doesn't work, punch it HARDER." I readied my fist for a Power-Up Punch after using Bulk Up, then... Pow! "...That rock's stronger than I thought." I tried again. Pow! Still nothing. Pow! And again. Pow! Soon, I was attacking at one punch per second. Pow! Pow! POW *Suddenly, a blue light overtook my entire body, and I felt a new power within me.* At the same time, I was getting growth pains, but I was sure they'd be worth it.

My muscles became much larger, and my mouth became more carnivorous in shape. I think I even got a bodybuilder's bulky stature!

POW!

...POOOOOOWWWWW!!! My mighty fist, strengthened by both Power-Up Punch and my new form, burst through the rock. Something materialized in my hand, and I began to grasp it... Bonk! A chunk of rock landed on my hand, making me lose grip of the object. Some feeling around later, and I finally grasped my belt and put it on. My evolution into Machoke complete, I rocketed out of the debris and faced Bowser. "Kept you waiting, huh?"

Pummel had evolved into Machoke, likely by rhythmically punching thin air. "You mean I broke all your arm bones with a single punch? Incredible! Not that it matters, because I'll show you who's the real powerhouse! And I'll make a reference to boot! Here's Saddle Rager for you!" He jumped up to Tirek's height before pulling back his fist and... extending his index and middle fingers as he thrust his hand forward? Yikes, he was right. He both made a (very grotesque) reference and was mean to Tirek. Still making the eighth reference, he made the ninth reference by slamming Tirek once on his right and twice on his left before looking at him. Then he slammed him left and right, once on each side. "You're pretty puny for a lord. I'll make this next part quick so you can be sent to Tartarus faster." The eighth reference? You wouldn't understand.

Returning to his Machop form, Pummel noticed Keldeo was back. "How are you feeling?"

Keldeo replied, "Better. I'd say it was embarrassing, but you're my best friend, and we know each other very well. I guess Galarian Rapidash just really surprised me, and first times always have the most potent reactions."

"Same."

Without any more discussion, they performed the Bond Phenomenon. Then Pummel said, "You know, we don't need references to be awesome. Let's pull the Keldeo Special on this guy, okay?"

Keldeo looked confused, but smiled. "Only the strongest moves for this fiend! Let's do it!"

Pummel held Keldeo like a fire hose, hooves aimed at the centaur. "Hydro Pump!" Keldeo doused Tirek in a thick layer of water. "It's showtime, partner... Use Forecast Change!"

Keldeo gasped as if remembering something. In addition, his flank glowed. "...!"

The water molecules on Tirek's body slowed to the point that they became solid, freezing the centaur. Not bad for a magic trainee, wouldn't you agree? Especially since that's his first time after the Super Bowser incident.

Suddenly, Twilight teleported to the scene. "I sensed a burst of magic over here! What happened?"

Keldeo smirked. "That was me. I froze him."

Twilight became suspicious. "You used magic? That means you lied to me at the School of Friendship!"

"No, I just forgot. It's a funny story, really. It all began when I happened to discover my special talent by mistake about a month ago..."

My friends watched in awe as my mighty Machoke form burst out of the rubble. "Kept you waiting, huh?"

Bowser laughed. "Man, you don't give up! Well, guess what: neither do I! Seriously, I've been kidnapping the princess for over thirty years! Plus, that boulder was way lighter and weaker than the king of awesome. You have no chance of beating me, so just sit back and watch as I show you my true--hey, where'd Peach go?"

"Don't change the subject!" my best friend suddenly yelled. "You almost killed Pummel! It was thanks to him that I became a Sword of Justice, and if someone were to end him..." Keldeo's eyes narrowed. "...I would make sure they paid for their crime."

A group of Discords in cheerleader uniforms appeared in the background, chanting, "Go, go, Keldeo! You are the star of the show!"

Keldeo glanced at them. "Nah, you got it all wrong. Pummel is the star. I'm just making sure his show doesn't get cancelled except by natural processes; in other words, aging."

The Discords looked at each other. "Go, go, Keldeo! Protect the star of the show!"

"That's more like it."

Bowser growled, "Would you creeps cut it out? We've got a serious battle going on that I'm gonna win!" He raised his right foot above Keldeo, ready to stomp.

"How about no!" I expected my buddy to run from the giant foot, but he didn't. Instead, he did something that wowed all of us: his horn glowed, but not bright orange as it normally did when he used Secret Sword, or rainbow for Phenomenal Sword. Rather, it glowed... light blue. At the same time, the rest of his body glowed. He seemed to physically change, but I couldn't tell how, because--*BAMF*

"Hey, where are you?" I asked. "We may be in sync, but not completely!"

*BAMF* "Up here!" Keldeo was now on Bowser's face. "Hey, big guy, time for you to face every swimmer's worst nightmare... besides drowning and sharks." He then unleashed a Hydro Pump straight into Bowser's nasal cavities.

"Gah! Watuh ub by dose!" Bowser threw Keldeo off his face as he bent forward in pain.

Keldeo landed in front of the fountain. "Now we're talking!" Keldeo aimed his horn at the fountain's water, and both glowed light blue. Suddenly, the water from the fountain shot towards Bowser's right foot, which was back on the ground.

"...Was that supposed to hurt?"

"It will soon." Keldeo's horn fired a cyan beam, and the next instant, Bowser's foot was stuck to the ground, covered in ice. Keldeo turned to me and my mom. "Now you guys get to punch him in the gut as hard as you can!"

I looked at my mom, who was now a Machoke herself. "Righteous anger over me getting crushed?"

She nodded. "Punching?"

I nodded. "Let's do this." We high-fived, and I felt energy within me once again. This time, I actually felt real pain. You would think I would be more used to it this time, but you try growing another pair of arms just above your original ones! That's right, we became Machamp. "We'll finish him with one punch!"

Keldeo showed Twilight his flank, which had a symbol of a blue water drop, with a star like Twilight's cutie mark inside it. The background of the cutie mark was a pink heart. "So now, I can control water molecules! However, I kind of lost consciousness after using so much energy, so I forgot that I could change the form of water, a move we called Forecast Change. This just reminded me of that time, and I remembered how to perform that skill."

Twilight beamed, "That's amazing, Keldeo!"

"And I'm not done yet!" Keldeo soaked Pummel in water, then... *BAMF*

"Wait, you can teleport?!"

Keldeo and Pummel had bamfed away from Tirek a short distance. "Not necessarily. Since I can control water molecules, I can speed them up or slow them down. When fast enough, they become steam. Because Pummel and I were covered in water molecules, they took our own molecules along for the ride, making both become steam-like. So we merely appeared to teleport when in reality we were only going really fast as steam and returned to normal at a different location."

"Wow, I can't believe I didn't consider that aspect of teleportation! I'll have to jot that down when I get back to the castle."

Pummel said, "Now to finish him off!" He held Keldeo on his shoulder, like a bazooka. "Here comes the Cynthia Reversal!" He glanced at the confused faces. "Guess it's time for another story."

"Keldeo, no!" During our battle outside the former Sinnoh Champion's villa in the Unova region, Cynthia's Mega Garchomp had lured Keldeo into the air with Earthquake before striking him head-on with Fire Blast. "Come on, buddy, get up!"

Keldeo tried to get back on his feet, but to no avail. "I... can't... give up..."

Cynthia laughed. "So you're still standing, huh? I would show you mercy, but you have beat me before and claimed the title of Champion of the Sinnoh region. Garchomp, finish him with Dragon Rush!"

"Garharhar!" the Mach Pokemon guffawed, its entire being becoming cloaked in blue energy.

I watched in horror as Mega Garchomp began charging towards my best friend. "It wasn't supposed to come to this... No! I won't let it!" I sped over to Keldeo and tried to help him up. I'd forgotten how heavy a colt was until now; the first time I learned just how heavy my partner was happened back when we first worked together to beat Team Rocket, their Inkay's Psybeam having launched Keldeo towards me.

"Garchomp, stop! There's an innocent Trainer in your path!" Cynthia exclaimed, but her command was useless; Mega Evolved Pokemon only think about battling, with no regard to the safety of others.

Keldeo and I were about to meet our end, and by way of Dragon Rush... "Keldeo! You've helped me throughout this whole adventure, so it's my turn to return the favor. Follow my lead!"

I immediately took hold of Keldeo's water-like tail, causing him to gasp. "Wha... Oh, I think I get it. I just hope I can gather up the strength necessary..."

"I believe in you, buddy. That's all the strength you need." With that, I made my muscles work their hardest, and I was able to lift Keldeo off the ground. I began to swing my partner round and round, at which point he drew his Secret Sword. With the centripetal force created by my swinging Keldeo around, we were able to completely deflect Mega Garchomp's Dragon Rush. Yep, a Mega Dragon-type's Dragon Rush, deflected by a speed-powered Secret Sword.

"What?!" Cynthia exclaimed. "But how?!"

I stopped swinging my partner and held him in both my arms. "If I had to guess, it was our friendship. I will do anything to help my best friend. It's true: Friendship really is magic. Keldeo..." I hoisted Keldeo up onto my right shoulder, facing him towards the offending Dragon-type. "...fire at will."

Keldeo charged up a ball of energy in his mouth. "Haaaaaa..."

"...AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Powered by the Bond Phenomenon, Keldeo's Focus Blast was now infused with fire, water, and electricity: a Phenomenal Blast. And it was twenty times larger than normal.

Tirek frowned as the giant energy ball soared right at him. "I feel like you genuinely hate me."

Pummel replied, "We do. That's why I unleashed the Keldeo Cannon."

Covered in ash, water, and a tingly feeling all over, the mighty centaur collapsed.

After a long pause, Pummel asked, "Lucario?"

Having returned to his regular form, Lucario replied, "He's still alive. Badly hurt, but alive."

The rest of the Mane 6 (except for Fluttershy) arrived on the scene. Applejack asked, "Are y'all okay?"

We nodded. "Pummel and Keldeo just hit Tirek with an oversized Phenomenal Blast," I explained. "That's the move that Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Button Mash countered in the Lor Starcutter, causing it to lose several Energy Spheres."

"That's mighty good to know, but why does Lord Tirek still seem to have a lil' magic in him? Ah know Ah saw Kirby bring Magolor into the Lor and release somethin' bright inside of it."

Amy sighed, "Delphie celebrated too early, and Tirek stole her magic, so now she can't use pyrokinesis."

"I'll get Kirby." Rainbow soared away before bringing Kirby back a few moments later, the hero back to his normal form. "Kirby, we got a little magic problem, and now Tirek has this fire fox's magic. Do her a solid and get her energy back from Tirek, okay?"

"Poyo?"

Lucario replied, "It appears that Kirby can only do that with the Hypernova Ability. We need an alternative."

"We'll give it a shot!" Cappy said.

Rarity said, "It's all yours, my fashion friend!"

"Oh, yeah! Let's-a go!" Mario threw Cappy at Tirek's head, and Mario Captured the centaur. "Here you go!" Mario/Tirek opened his mouth, returning the magic to Delphie.

Delphie laughed. "The fire mage is back!"

"Now to take care of business." I turned to Twilight. "Could you help us bring Tirek back to his cage in Tartarus?"

"Of course, Helix. Let's go. But first..." Twilight glanced at the puddle. "...what's up with that puddle of water? Was it just left over from Keldeo's spell?"

Keldeo glanced around nervously. "Heh heh, well... It wasn't left over from my spell. Let's just say I kind of, uh... lost control."

"Lost control?" Twilight walked over to the puddle, as did the other ponies and Spike.

Lucario warned, "No! You're walking towards a puddle of liquid waste!"

Hearing that was enough to make Rarity faint upon the realization of what she was so near to. Twilight turned back to Lucario with a suspicious look. "I'm sorry, did you just say...?"

"In other words, Keldeo... had an accident. To make it worse, it happened due to intense admiration."

"But don't look at me, everypony, it wasn't my fault!" Keldeo washed away the mess with his water-ejecting hooves. "I bet you'd soil yourself too if you discovered that the Doctor obtained a Pokemon that looked very similar to your royal sun princess!"

"A Pokemon that looks somewhat like Celestia?" Twilight asked.

I turned to Rotom. "Did you get a picture of Galarian Rapidash?"

"Better yet, I got two video clips: one of her first being sent out, and another of her being Dynamaxed!" Rotom rolled the clips for the ponies and Spike.

"You've got to admit, Keldeo has a point," Spike said. "But I heard Pummel after Galarian Rapidash did that Dynamax thing. What's up with that?"

Pummel rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Yeah, well, it's pretty tough to get me to lose face, but when Galarian Rapidash went Dynamax... Not even my training with Celestia and Luna prepared me for that, so I just bailed out on the gang. I'd better go and ask the princesses for more guidance."

As he left, I called to him, "Meet us over in Tartarus!"

Twilight asked, "Why would you have him meet us back there?"

I replied, "Not just him. All of you. I want you all to meet me in Tartarus so you can witness me making amends for a friend. And Twilight, be sure to bring some ink."

Bandana Dee's eyes opened wide as he quickly dashed away. "I almost forgot to tell the yaks about how Kirby and the gang beat Magolor and rescued him from the crown!"

Taking Tirek to his cage was easier than I perceived; Mario held on to Tirek's body and went inside the cage before un-Capturing him. Mario then tossed Cappy between the bars to Capture me, who was outside of the cage, before leaving my own body. "Wahoo!"

"Now for the amends. Bandana, Twilight, and Pummel should be here soon." I took out what was in my pocket: a folded-up piece of paper. "Tirek, you did something completely terrible. Because you almost destroyed some of our friends, we punched you, slammed you around, soaked you, put you on ice, and blasted you. You did something bad to us, we did something bad to you. That's how karma works."

Tirek snorted, "Yeah, so?"

"So it's time for you to discover good karma." I unfolded the paper and showed it to the centaur, causing him to raise an eyebrow. It was a doodle of various villains of Equestria, including Tirek and Queen Chrysalis. "This was created by the cause of your downfall, Kirby. Sure, he beat up Queen Chrysalis so hard that he launched her over the horizon, and sure, he took back all the energy you stole, but he holds no grudges. He was just being a hero, saving the day. If he held grudges, he would eat each and every one of the villains he met."

The centaur was growing impatient. "Would you hurry up and cut to the chase? If I die down here, I'd rather do it without being lectured about my bad deeds and about that pink abomination."

I put on an innocent face. "Really? What if I told you..."

At that moment, the Mane 6, Spike, Kirby, and everyone else who took part in the battle (except for Pummel and Bandana Dee) also came. Twilight asked, "What did you need this for?"

I dipped the end of my quill into the ink. "...that it would make Kirby's day if you signed this for him?"

My friends exclaimed, "Whaaaaaaaat?!" (Except for Roborygon; he prefers to follow social media trends and memes. "NANI?!")

Lucario turned to Kirby. "Is that so?!"

Eyes wide, Kirby nodded. "Poyo!"

Tirek asked, "You mean, like an autograph?"

I smiled. "Of course. You're the least likely out of all of Equestria's villains to annihilate us at your weakest, no offense. And I know you can't overcome your arrogant nature."

"Those are very good reasons for you to offer me such an opportunity..." He suddenly crossed his arms in defiance. "But I'm not gonna do it! I won't help you after you all kicked my butt!"

I said, "Final offer."

"...No!"

I walked away with a frown, quickly followed by the others. "You're no fun."

While walking away, I heard Tirek mutter, "Says the friend of a pink marshmallow who is an omnivorous genocidal maniac that has no magic whatsoever."

I swear I saw Kirby's eyes turn into fire as he looked back. "...Poyo?!"

We all rushed back to Tirek's cage. Surprisingly, the King was the one who supported Kirby first. "Listen up, you nasty monster! This here Kirby's the greatest hero around. He goes here and there clobberin' dark monsters that invade his home turf such as Dark Matter and Zero, but don't you go thinkin' he got no mercy on the ones who aren't all bad, like Taranza and Daroach. Ah may be Kirby's former enemy and current rival, but even Ah don't insult him as badly as you did! You're no better than the Nightmare!"

Tirek laughed, "Of course I'm not! Nightmare Moon used to be the princess of the moon but turned bad, and now she's good again. I've always been bad!"

King Dedede looked at Kirby. "Uh... should I tell him about the Nightmare Wizard?"

Kirby shook his head. "Poyo, poyo."

Lucario translated, "None of us know the true origin of the Nightmare, so we can't tell the full story." He stepped towards Tirek. "What he means to say is that you are the lowest of the low. Your heart is toxic, corrupted by darkness. Not even Necrodeus is as bad as you."

Tirek became nervous. "I have no idea who that is, but he sounds absolutely horrible. Did I really insult Kirby that badly?"

"Yes. To put things lightly, Kirby now wants to remove you from the show, but he knows that would drastically change its course."

Meta Knight replied, "Things can be arranged so that we won't have to worry about that. My Dialga can turn back the clock."

I glared at the fiend. "Tirek, you now have a choice: sign Kirby's autograph, apologize to him profusely, or lose your life over and over and over again. I'm warning you, we're incredibly powerful and can be brutal if needed. If we were evil, we would most definitely conquer Uranus."

Tirek whimpered while covering himself. "Eep! You monster..."

Suddenly, a tiny Discord teleported to my ear. "Hey! This is a family story! Do you want it to be removed?!"

I replied, "Relax, the little ones won't get the pun."

"What pun?"

"I was speaking of the seventh planet from the sun in our universe's solar system."

Discord took out a book and read it with classic 3-D glasses. "Hmm, let's see... Pokeverse, Kirbyverse, Sonicverse, Bizarroverse... Here it is! Hahaha, it's laying on its side just chilling out, without a care in the multiverse! I've got to come over to your universe sometime!"

Lucario looked back at Tirek. "Once again, you can apologize sincerely, sign the autograph, or repeatedly lose all your health."

Tirek began to sweat. "I don't think I'll ever be able to apologize enough to him, but--"

"But! There's always a but!" King Dedede growled. He then pounded Kirby flat before thrusting Kartana onto the flattened puffball's head. "Kirby, go clobbah dat dere monstah!"

"Poyo!/Lliw ylniatrec tsom ew." As Kartana finished speaking, Rotom notified me that they speak human, but in reverse. In other words, Kartana said, "We most certainly will."

Kirby brought Kartana's arms together, forming a sword, before taking on a serious pose.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry for saying you don't have any magic! Before you slash me, though, can you at least tell me what your magic is?"

Lucario sneered. "Do it, Kirby. Not only does he not even know the source of your magic, but he isn't being sincere; he's only apologizing to avoid your wrath. If the Rainbow Power Beam couldn't teach him a lesson, then perhaps losing his life will."

SLASH

Kirby and Kartana were now on the other side of the cage, behind Tirek. "Friendship./Daed ydaerla era uoy (You are already dead)." Kirby moved the blade to his side, as if sheathing it. Need I even tell you what happened to Tirek?

Meta Knight said, "Dialga, use Roar of Time."

The diamond-studded temporal Pokemon bellowed to the sky. "ROOOOAAAAR!"

We had gone back to one minute before Tirek's demise. He said, "Wow, that was... weird."

Lucario exclaimed, "He doesn't seem to have learned his lesson, even by dying."

"That's because we brought him back by turning back the clock," I said. "Since we have to keep the show's timeline from changing, we'll have to turn back the clock every time we finish him. Maybe beating him up isn't the right way to take care of this problem..."

Kirby seemed taken by surprise. "Poyo?!" He then looked at his drawing. "...Oh!"

I looked at Kirby with a smile. "You've figured out what you've been doing wrong, haven't you?"

Kirby nodded. "Uh-huh!" He took his drawing and gave it to Tirek. "Here!"

Tirek looked the doodle over. "You're seriously going to let me keep this?"

"Yeah!"

"Hmm..." Tirek paused for a long moment before acting...

...

RIIIIIP! We watched in shock as he tore the picture in two.

RIIIIIP! And again.

RIIIIIP! And again. "This isn't worthy enough for me. You're a terrible artist, you lousy pink marshmallow from Tartarus!"

"...!" Kirby's mouth was agape. He could not believe what just happened. He thought that any villain could be turned into a friend with the power of harmony and friendship. Having witnessed his own act of friendship failing on a villain, Kirby suddenly pouted. "...Poy!"

"Gee, I'm sorry it didn't go quite as--whoa, what are you doing?!" Spike exclaimed in surprise as Kirby suddenly picked him up. The enraged pink demon squeezed the young dragon tightly, causing him to breath a stream of fire that completely incinerated the drawing, as well as leaving Tirek covered in ash. "...Did you really just burn your own drawing, Kirby?"

"Humph!" Kirby scoffed, refusing to answer Spike. After putting Spike down, Kirby stormed off in a fit of rage and frustration, leaving all of us dumbfounded.

Lucario turned to us. "It is very unlike Kirby to do something like this. As we all should know, when someone does something that's out of character for them, it's serious. When Kirby is headstrong on something, there is no stopping him. We can only wait for the phase to pass, until he's more amiable and ready to talk." We all agreed on that.

Pinkie Pie suggested, "Hey, since we beat Tirek again, how about we celebrate with a feast at the Hay Burger joint?"

Cappy looked at Pinkie in surprise before giving the rest of us a confused look. "She's kidding, right?"

I shook my head. "Leave it to Pinkie to lighten the mood. Besides, I think it's a good idea. It will give Kirby time to come to his senses."

"Okay, let's go!"

As the others left, I stayed behind to speak with the one who had offended Kirby. "Tirek, there's something you should know."

Tirek raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What's that?"

I closed my eyes in disappointment as I turned my back to the centaur. "It's a beautiful day outside; the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming... On days like these, there's something that creatures like you should know..." Craning my head one hundred and eighty degrees back to him without moving my body, I opened my eyes, and they were as black as evil itself. "...There's a very special place here in Tartarus for you to be burning in."

I then shot the terrified Tirek with Sandacane at gunpoint before I turned my head back to where I was walking. I loosened my grip on the Reaper Cloth I held in my right pocket, my eyes returning to their normal color. If you really want to scare someone, do as I did: say something menacing and scary as you tightly grip a Reaper Cloth (which apparently not only increases the power of Ghost-type moves but also makes your eyes glow an eerie black).

Author's Note

For an amazing MLP song such as Flawless, one that everybrony should know, I felt it unnecessary to provide a link to the song. Still want a link to the song? Here you go!

Also, I made up the thing with the Reaper Cloth, just for the rule of cool.

Epilogue: The Satisfying Resolution

My late evening walk to The Hay Burger was uneventful. The only thing that broke the silence was my conversation with Knightwing, about his sorrow for Kirby's failed attempt to bring joy to his enemy. "Helix, I know this must be terrible in your eyes. Kirby is the greatest hero in all of Equestria and beyond, yet he failed to befriend the vicious Lord Tirek. I suppose not everyone can be turned into an ally."

I sympathized with Knightwing, sighing as we exited the boundary of the desert on our way back. "Alas, I believe your assumption to be true. Kirby must have been heartbroken upon learning that harsh lesson, because he just wants to make friends. Kirby knows that the joy of turning an enemy into a friend is very hard to parallel. Sadly, not only did Tirek completely reject Kirby's act of friendship, but he also vandalized the art that the pink puffball had worked so hard on."

"It is no wonder why Kirby was so outraged. He tried so very hard to put that piece of art together, only for that centaur to decimate it, thinking that he was too good for it."

"I know Tirek was a bad guy, but I didn't expect him to be that bad. The creatures of Equestria are very misleading, even in comparison to the humans on Earth." I paused. "...The writers most certainly went all out to make sure the show was as relatable as possible. I've got to give them that."

When I entered the Hay Burger joint, I had discovered that there were barely enough seats for all of us Elite Allies, the Mane 6 and Spike, and Doctor Hooves. I sat down in a booth that also housed the Doctor, Spike, and Button Mash, all of whom seemed sorrowful. I said, "Waiter, what is on the menu?"

The waiter replied, "I'm happy to say that we decided to make some additions to the menu in honor of your truly incredible victory over Lord Tirek. We now have Triple Deluxe hay burgers, Star Warrior Cookies, Hypernova Smoothies, Gigantamusic Donuts, and Pop Star Lollipops for the little foals."

"Gigantamusic?"

Meloetta leaned out of her booth--which was behind mine--and she waved to me. "Remember when I became giant and took on another form? I called it Intense Crescendo at first, but when the waiter had the idea of calling their new donuts Gigantamusic Donuts, I thought, 'Gigantamusic! A brilliant name for such a powerfully melodic transformation, and yet I wasn't the one to coin that term?' It was music to my ears!"

"I see. In that case, waiter, I will take a Hypernova Smoothie."

The waiter replied, "Sure. But for some reason, though, our top customer didn't want any of our new items. I thought for sure that he'd enjoy them. All he wanted was a doughnut with nothing but glazed frosting on it."

Spike said, "That's because he got let down big time. Kirby just wanted to make a friend, but apparently you can't befriend every bad guy. We've got the villains who want to take over the world... and then there's Tirek. He took rude to a whole new level with Kirby."

In the booth in front of me, Pummel turned and faced the waiter. "Tirek is just messed up in the head. His big dumb brain can't comprehend friendship. That is one advantage we have over him: we understand and can fully utilize the magic of friendship!"

"Hmm..." I heard someone sigh from a booth in the corner. I had a feeling he would be here, because that's how story logic works.

The waiter returned with a large smoothie that contained a swirl of colors. "Here's your Hypernova Smoothie, Helix. Is there anything else you want?"

While taking my smoothie, I glanced back at the almost-empty booth. "...Actually, I would also like a Pop Star Lollipop. How much will that come to?"

The waiter laughed. "This was the tenth time one of you new heroes asked that today! As thanks for saving Equestria, our new items are on the house! That's the best we can repay you all!"

"Thanks for the kind offer." As the waiter went back to prepare the lollipop, I took a sip of my Hypernova Smoothie. My pupils dilated. "I may not be a food connoisseur, but... this smoothie really lives up to its name! What ingredients were used to make this delightful concoction?"

Roborygon flew over to the smoothie. "Analyzing molecular makeup... The ingredients include but are not limited to the following: Citrus juices, limeade, fruit punch, pink lemonade, and pineapple juice, as well as Oran, Sitrus, Leppa, and Lum Berries donated to the Hay Burger by some of the Elite Allies. That isn't all, though; if you feel a small burst of energy, that is because there is a very special ingredient... rinds from the Miracle Fruit!"

Luckily, I somewhat expected such a twist, so I did not fall victim to a spit take. Rather, when the waiter came back carrying the lollipop with rainbow swirls, I merely asked, "How did you obtain rinds of the Miracle Fruit?"

From another booth, Twilight answered, "As a last resort, I brought them to the Hay Burger joint for later, because I anticipated a trip here after such an adventure as this. When I saw the rainbow-colored Kirby leave the Lor Starcutter, I just had to investigate to figure out what gave him the coloring. After I went in the door that had the sign 'In case you need a miracle' above it, I found a few leaves and some orange and blue strips on the ground. That suggested that there was a plant nearby, but I didn't find any. It was like it had disintegrated, but with no traces of disintegration! Out of curiosity, I took the leaves and strips to Zecora, but even she didn't know what they were from. But then I thought back to the sign. The plant must have produced some kind of miracle fruit that gave Kirby that power before spontaneously disappearing!"

"Exactly. Watch this video clip, and you will see what happens." Roborygon's antenna produced a video clip from Kirby: Triple Deluxe. The titular hero walked along a grassy path before encountering a small sprout. When he got close, the sprout quickly matured into a vine that produced a crimson fruit surrounded by the strips that Twilight mentioned. "The Miracle Fruit is named so because it vastly enhances the powers of the one who consumes it." Kirby inhaled it, and his pink skin literally burst off of him, revealing a new, rainbow-colored skin underneath. The vine disintegrated soon after, leaving no trace. "No one is certain why the Miracle Fruit or the Dreamstalk that produces it acts as they do, but it seems as if the Dreamstalk has a mind of its own; the vine didn't grow and produce the fruit until Kirby came near, suggesting that it was actively trying to help Kirby save the day. The vine also seems to be smart enough to know when the Miracle Fruit has been consumed, as seen when it disintegrated right after Kirby ingested the fruit."

Twilight asked in wonder, "Are all plants from Pop Star that intelligent?"

"No. The Dreamstalk is actually from Floralia, and it was produced when the People of the Sky put all their wishes and hopes into a seed and sent it to Pop Star in hopes of bringing a hero to conquer Queen Sectonia, thus explaining its sentience."

The waiter returned with the Pop Star Lollipop, and I was quick to take it. I got up and walked towards the Star Warrior's booth. From the booth connected to his, Lucario stopped me. His Aura emanated from his paws. "...Good luck, Helix. As of now, he's a tough nut to crack."

I nodded before continuing to Kirby's booth. The pink ball didn't say anything in response to my presence, only taking another small bite of his glazed doughnut and turning away from me. It was time for me to take action. I placed the Pop Star Lollipop in front of Kirby. "...Poyo?!" Kirby looked at me in surprise.

I sat down next to him. "You didn't deserve to be treated so poorly by that big bad Tirek. I know, because I was in your place once, trying to be a friend only to be rejected."

Everyone came over in curiosity. "What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked. "Could you please tell us? That way, we would be better able to understand you."

I sighed. "It all started when I was just a schoolboy. I was unlike everyone else in the school I went to. Now, don't jump to conclusions. I didn't have unstable psychic powers. I wasn't limited to a wheelchair. And I wasn't bald. Not that it matters, because Professor Xavier isn't my idol nor a person whom I abhor. You see..." I put on a small smile. "...I was the kindest, most gifted, and most intelligent student in the entire school. I got straight A's, I was in the Honor Roll, and I even got my master's degree in science, technology, engineering, and math. Was I living the good life? Not exactly. On the contrary, I encountered various metaphorical stumbling blocks, some larger than others. The small things didn't faze me: if someone called me Four Eyes due to having glasses, I would always take it in stride and make the snarky comeback that I had better eyesight--and look at me now, I'm an owl Pokemon!--and whenever I got locked in a locker by a bully, I would always pick the lock from the inside to escape--good for skill training! I thought of those less as problems and more as practice and extra credit.

"The real problem, however, came in high school. During lunch, I noticed a boy sitting by himself, with no lunch to speak of. He seemed quite sad and frustrated, so I chose to sit next to him. I asked if he was okay, but he didn't answer. I asked what was wrong, and he still didn't answer. I supposed he could use a friend, so I offered him some of my lunch. And then... he snapped. He slapped my lunch out of my hands, hit me with a barrage of insults and profanity, and told me that he didn't need any friends. That onslaught of personal insults and denial of my friendship stabbed my heart directly. Never before had I ever encountered anyone who didn't want a friend. As he stormed off, I stood in horror as I felt something I had never felt before...Hatred. Fear. Vengeance. Lust for power. They were too much for me to handle, so I utilized the repression defense mechanism and put those emotions deep down inside me so I wouldn't have to worry about them. But as I continued through life, the emotions began to corrupt me from their hiding place. Their toxic side really showed as I matured and passed college, when I was in the laboratory/home I had built for myself.

"I was doing research when I came across something very unusual: my computer had picked up a strange signal not far from my lab. Further investigation revealed that the signal was coming from a mysterious ring, which was actually a two-way portal to the world of Pokemon. My newfound dark side rose up and convinced me to catch fiercely strong Pokemon to aid with my revenge--I also set off to catch every species, and rare color variations of species known as Shiny Pokemon, because of my natural desire to go above and beyond." I looked at Pummel. "Not long after, I learned about you and your amazing expeditions through the world of Pokemon and your transformation into one yourself."

Pummel continued the story. "So Helix used his partners--which for some reason he treated kindly--to kidnap me and obtain a small sample of the potion Archie and Maxie used on me and my mom. He analyzed its chemical makeup to concoct another potion in order to transform himself into a Pokemon--Shiny Decidueye, to be precise. Then he gave me and my friends time to train before the big battle with him. Except, he wasn't alone; he was so corrupted by his negative emotions that he chose to fight us on Pop Star, where he revived Soul of Sectonia with Miracle Fruits and powered up Marx to Marx Soul--with the power of the remnants of Star Dream Soul OS--to fight alongside him. Unfortunately, Soul of Sectonia betrayed him and directly attacked him, rendering Helix unable to fight. In an attempt to bring down the two villains, he suggested that I Capture him. I took his advice and brought down the reincarnated insect queen, but we had to use a music-powered Friend Train to take down Marx Soul."

I finished, "That took a lot of energy, so we lost consciousness. As we healed in the Expedition Society, Pummel and I shared a dream. I told him why I did such irrational things and poured out my heart to him, and he forgave me. Forgiving me wasn't the only kind thing he did; Pummel even offered me a chance to join the Expedition Society to redeem myself! Knowing that I had to repay him in some way, I gladly accepted the offer. Thanks to that boy who didn't want a friend, I had forgotten what it was like to be a good friend. But now, I am once again a valuable ally learning to be a good friend to those I encounter. I just had to forget about the past and look forward to what's next for me in life. I also learned to understand that not everyone can, or wants to, be befriended."

"..." Kirby was silent with disbelief. Then he suddenly hugged me, tears of gratitude in his eyes. "Poyo!"

I smiled. "That's the Kirby I know. I just had to remind you of a friendship lesson or two, using my own friendship lessons as a guide."

Amy happily said, "And this concludes yet another amazing friendship adventure in Equestria. I think it's time for us to go home, everyone!"

But Meloetta was hesitant. "For some reason, I think we're forgetting something... By show of hands or hooves, who here can tell me what they think is missing from our adventure?"

Pinkie wildly waved her hoof in the air. "Ooh, me! I do! Pick me! Pick me!" Pinkie's usually right. And when she's right, she's right. And since she says she knows what's missing at the end of the adventure, she really knows. Because at the end of every adventure...

"Hit it, DJ Pon-3!" ...is a celebration of some sort. In the case of this adventure, we had an outdoors dance party, hosted by none other than Pinkie Pie. "This is the biggest, bestest party I ever planned, all for the new heroes of Equestria!"

King Dedede laughed. "Oh, come on now, lil' ol' me a hero? Surely you jestin'!"

"Nope! I don't jest around when it comes to parties! Wanna go first in this dance party?"

"Whatever you say, Kirby wannabe. Time for some De-De-Deluxe dancing!" And by "dancing", the king must have meant "pretend clobbering," because he looked more like he was letting his hammer do the dancing for him using the power of inertia.

As we watched the great king show off his clobbering weapon, Lucario walked up to me. "Helix, you are curious about something. It might help if you were to share your curiosity with me."

I nodded. "I am quite sure that you will be able to help cure my curiosity. I must know something: Back when you battled Tirek, you exclaimed the name of an attack that quite surprised me... How did you know you did an Ora Ora Ora?!"

The master of Aura smiled. "I am an Expedition Society Member. We don't go out on expeditions all the time. Using our leisure time, we like to relax and do things like watch television and play video games. I, for one, like to try my luck at fighting games with combo attacks. I called out 'Aurayuken' when I hit the monstrous Tirek with an uppercut that transitioned into Aura Blast from Pokken Tournament, because I am exceptional at Parkway Puncher. Out of all the other players I have faced, only a player was able to defeat me: R. Bygon. He used Busk, the Combusken, to conquer Rio, my favorite fighter and one of my own species."

I raised an eyebrow. "R. Bygon? Doesn't that sound a little suspicious to you?" I plucked an arrow and gave it to Lucario.

With a confused expression, he accepted it... then he realized the origin of the name. "...I have been beaten by a literal computer player! This is an outrage!"

Although his auditory senses detected Lucario's outburst, Roborygon payed him no attention, muttering to himself, "Ryu is excellent at using energy attacks. Lucien is French for light. Light is good. MP must be an abbreviation for something. The only being I know that enjoys using energy attacks, is a hero of light, and is affiliated with the abbreviation MP is... wait a minute." He turned towards the Aura vulpine before a red exclamation point appeared over the robot's head. "RyucienMP?!"

Roborygon's visual monitors shrank. "Oh, for--" He had no time to finish his thought, for Lucario tossed the quill right at the exclamation point, turning it into white bubbles as Roborygon's visual sensors turned into swirls. "Visual monitors... distorting..."

Lucario winked at me. "Greninja taught me how to play Iron Gear. It's a really good series to me."

I winked back. "It must remind you of the Subspace Emissary."

"It certainly does, Helix. As for the Ora Ora Ora, I would have made a Dragon Ball reference, but there's no name for that close-combat rush attack; therefore, I settled for Jojo. Personally, I try to avoid mature media, but I know about the Ora Ora Ora from memes and social media."

"Sorry to let y'all down, but that's the end of mah mallet mayhem!" Dedede said as he got down from the makeshift stage. He glanced at the judges--Pinkie Pie, Meloetta, and Discord--who held up their score cards: Pinkie gave the king a 7; Meloetta gave him an 8.5; and Discord gave him the scene from Cartoon Buffoon ("Hehehe I am a superstar warrior!") that likely spawned a meme or two. "Hey, Aura guy, it's your turn!"

Lucario looked at me one last time. "I'm ready to get up there and let my creative Aura run free, so tell Pummel about any other questions you have." He then jumped onto the stage and began to perform various Japanese warrior maneuvers, using Bone Rush as inspiration for several of his movements.

I began to walk towards Pummel, but Twilight and Keldeo caught my eye. "What's going on?" I asked them.

Twilight replied, "I'm teaching Keldeo a little about magic during the party."

Keldeo said, "Turns out that using magic works kind of the same way as using my sword. I just have to concentrate my energy into my horn. But every time I tried doing that, I only ended up unsheathing my Secret Sword. What am I doing wrong? I need to know what to improve!"

I looked at the Colt Pokemon's jagged blue horn. "Keldeo, I believe you might only be focusing your willpower into your horn. You must be too used to using sheer determination. You were determined to become a Sword of Justice. You were determined to defeat Kyurem. You were determined to befriend Pummel to save the day and have fun together. But when you fought Super Bowser... there was something different about you."

Lucario got down from the stage, using his Aura to know what the judges gave him: Pinkie gave him an 8; Meloetta gave him a 9; and Discord gave him a lightsaber emoji. Lucario turned to Keldeo. "Helix is correct. When you engaged in battle with Super Bowser and used your magic, I did not sense determination. Rather, I sensed... your bond. With Pummel. When Super Bowser seemingly crushed your best friend, that was when your aura changed from the orange of determination... to the pink of friendship. It happened again versus Tirek. Pummel reminded you of Forecast Change, the first move you used when you truly tapped into your friendship."

Keldeo exclaimed, "But the Bond Phenomenon..."

"That represented your bond of trust. The bond of trust and the bond of friendship are two different things. When you trust someone, you know that they will be there by your side. When you are friends with someone, you have even more than mere trust. Meta Knight assists Kirby occasionally throughout his adventures. That is Meta Knight putting his trust in Kirby, and vice versa; Kirby knows that Meta Knight would never harm him unless it was for a good cause. When Pummel was nearly killed, you openly expressed that you were to do anything possible to prevent him from losing his life, and that if he did lose his life due to some outside cause, then you would surely avenge him. That is true friendship, true love."

Keldeo seemed downtrodden. "Oh. So you're saying that the Bond Phenomenon is just--"

"The first stage of friendship. With that came your Phenomenal Sword, Hydro Hoof, Magnetic Heart, and Maneferno attacks. It's a big leap, but true friendship is even greater a leap than a bond of trust. Look at the Mane Six. They became the Bearers of Harmony, and all because Celestia sent Twilight to make a few friends. You should be honored to be such a good friend that you have obtained your cutie mark, a symbol of your true friendship."

Keldeo was suddenly ambushed by Pummel, who hugged him. "And I thought I was the one who initiated the friendship. Nice work, buddy!"

Lucario nodded. "Pummel, you are correct. You were indeed the one who initiated the friendship, but Keldeo openly expressed his bond of friendship with you. That forced open the pathway to him unleashing his friendship. But Pummel, you weren't quite prepared for such a revelation, causing the heroic colt to exhaust his energy supply quickly."

"Wait a minute. You're saying I was self-conscious of what my favorite Pokemon thought of me, and my self-doubt was what caused him to faint?"

"Precisely. You should never doubt yourself or your friendship. That only causes you to drift apart and weaken your bond of friendship. All you have to do is know that you're the best friend you'll ever be, and let the magic of friendship do the rest of the work."

"...I understand now! Back then, I still had doubts about what Keldeo thought of me. But as we fought Tirek, I wasn't afraid of anything, not even what others thought of me. Twilight and Celestia taught me to be myself, and that's what I chose to do. Man, this whole adventure is full of friendship lessons!"

I said, "And full of references. Pummel, I need you to tell me: You referenced Jojo. How did you know you referenced Jojo?!"

"I did? I know I referenced The Avengers, but who's Jojo?"

I glanced at Lucario. "Go ahead and tell them what I mean."

The Aura Master obliged. "Apparently you don't follow social media and memes. You made one of the most famous Jojo references when you fiercely stuck your fingers in Lord Tirek's nose."

Pummel laughed. "Oh, that! That wasn't meant to be a reference. First of all, it was a better place to grip him for slamming him around Hulk-style. Second of all, I was actually trying to insult him. And I'm sure it worked. There are two different groups on this planet: those who love getting their nose picked and those who hate it. Tirek's a big bad villain; you know he's with the 'hate it' crowd."

"I got it on video!" Discord suddenly screamed. He was holding a camcorder. "I got it on video! This is going straight to whatever social media sites you have on your world!"

Roborygon deadpanned. "Access denied. Look behind you, and say hello to my little friend. As for everyone else, only the strongest-willed may be allowed to look."

The unfortunate draconequus obliged, and he was staring into the heartless eyes of a vicious animatronic bear with a top hat. Discord immediately dropped his camera, which broke upon contact with the ground. "...Mommy."

Roborygon disengaged the hologram. "See, I can be scary when I want to. I don't joke around when it comes to disturbing sights that will induce nightmares of sheer horror, but be glad Darkrai didn't scare the chaos out of you."

Discord created two suitcases and grabbed them. "Right, well... I'm gonna go wash my brain out. Don't want that jumpscare bear infecting it!" He then transformed into a bus and took off into his own dimension.

I laughed. "The party's not over until the draconequus has had too much chaos!"

"And even then, the party's not over!" Pinkie replied. "It isn't over until the pink puffball does his thing!" She put on a pink hat with Kirby's face on it and waved a foam finger with #1 on the sides. "Go, Kirby! Show us just how awesome everyone's favorite Star Warrior is!"

"Not yet, because there's still one thing left I'd like to do before the grand finale." With that, Pummel rushed over to Doctor Hooves and confronted him. "Doctor, next time you better warn me before you unleash something with such incredible nostrils. That could have seriously damaged my reputation."

The Doctor replied, "First of all, why didn't you flee when you saw Helix's Sandaconda? He had very large nasal openings, even though he wasn't Gigantamaxed. And second of all, it wasn't my fault that Forest Horn triumphantly neighed as it used Max Starfall! Is there any way that I can make up for that?"

"First of all, that was a snake with double-barrel sand cannons. That's different than a unicorn's... heavenly nostrils."

I high-fived Pummel. "Nice reference."

"Thanks. Gotta love references. Anyway, second of all..." Pummel sighed. "...you can't make me forget about the Galarian Rapidash, so there's no way to make up for it..."

"But I can." I took on the form of a cybernetic alien with a brown body. I aimed my three-fingered hand at Pummel's eyes and flashed the red, green, and yellow lights on my fingertips.

He stared at them as if in a trance. "..."

"...Memory erasing completed."

Pummel shook himself out of the trance. "Huh? Whoa, that was weird. Thanks, Helix!"

I returned to my Decidueye form. "No problem. Now it's time for the grand finale. Kirby, do your thing!"

"Poyo!" Kirby held his hand up. "Party cannon!"

"I was hoping you would say that!" Pinkie Pie pulled a blue cannon with tan wheels out of her mane. She aimed it at Equestria's pink savior. "Whenever you're ready!"

Kirby did not hesitate. "Fire!" Ka-BOOM! Pinkie unleashed a blast of confetti, and Kirby inhaled every single strip of it.

He flipped up into the air, where he was oblivious to what was behind him: a large, colorful, extravagant tank aimed right at the pink hero. Only when Kirby turned to see what was behind him did the tank fire a massive blast of confetti, which launched Kirby down onto a float with a star motif. After recovering from the blast, Kirby was revealed to have gotten a hat like that of a conductor of a band. The hat had a pink star with white wings towards the top. Kirby was then subject to streamers, which formed seven feathers--one of each main color of the rainbow--on the back of his hat, resembling a male peafowl's feathers. What's that? ...Oh, did I neglect to mention that the animal everyone refers to as a peacock is actually called a peafowl? The name of a male peafowl is a peacock, and females are known as peahens. Anyway, back to the event at hand.

Kirby and Pinkie turned and looked at the pilot of the tank. They simultaneously beamed. "Cheese Sandwich!"

The yellow Earth pony with a puffy brown mane got out of the cockpit. "Hey, Pinkie Pie! Looks like I came right on time! Did you really think I'd miss a party like this, one that celebrates a real doozy of a victory?"

"...So, it appears you have seen the battle between us and Lord Tirek," Lucario said after a pause.

"You couldn't be more right! I was journeying to find ponies in need of parties when I stopped in San Palomino Desert. I just had to see what was going on with the explosions and giant creatures, but I kept my distance. Didn't want to get caught in the heat of the fight. Say, aren't you the guy who hit Tirek with a bunch of glowing blue attacks?"

"Indeed. I am Lucario, master of Aura, and a friend to Kirby, the pink ball you see before you."

Just like everyone else who had heard of Kirby's exploits when he first came to Equestria, Cheese was taken by surprise. "Wow! So this is the hero of the stars that I've heard of!" Cheese bowed before Kirby. "Cheese Sandwich, traveling party extraordinaire."

I replied, "I would introduce each of us, but that would take too long. Right now, it's time for Kirby to take the stage in this dance party!"

"Poyo!" Kirby raised his hand in the air. "Ready?"

Pinkie replied, "Of course we're ready for you to dance, silly! You're the real star!"

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't believe that is the message he is trying to convey. He must want us to join him in the grand finale of this performance!"

Twilight asked, "Wait, you mean like a... festival dance?"

Meta Knight nodded. "Precisely. The potential of the Festival Ability--"

"Increases with each additional performer! I'm really glad my Mirror clones gathered information about the various Abilities during our exploration of the Lor Starcutter. So, are we all ready to perform the Festival Dance?"

Everyone in the vicinity replied "Yes!" and got onto or next to the float. As they performed a festive dance, Meloetta played a tune as she sang:

Kirby sucked Lord Tirek's strength away
Now we can have some fun and play
It's finally time for us to say,
"The Star Allies saved the day!"

We all waved as the judges held up their cards: Meloetta held up an 11; Pinkie held up a 100; and Discord had a video of a bunch of fans (the paper kind) on a couch while watching a sport, the fans then bursting into celebration upon seeing their team win.

Roborygon asked, "Has everyone prepared to leave this planet and go home?"

I shook my head. "Not yet. I have some unfinished business to take care of." I turned to Button Mash. "Ready to do a number on Skelegrin?"

Button grinned widely. "You bet I do!"

"Aw man, you said I'd be able to hurt him! Since he won't let me have my turn now, I'll never get to attack him!"

"No, just follow my instructions. Remember the incident with Skelebone?"

"Yeah, I had to jump higher than--oh. You mean..."

"That's right. Just sneak over to the left... more... a little more..."

"Now I just gotta drop down some..."

SLASH

"...Helix... Did I really just do 9,999,999 damage to Skelegrin?"

"Yep. Watch this."

"Hey, he's still alive! How did that not kill him?! And where's he going? He's going off-screen!"

"Wait for it..."

<...Skelebone, you want anything?>

"There it is."

"B-but you said that you'd help me defeat him!"

"Not really. I said that I'd help show you the secret to damaging him. It's seemingly impossible to defeat Skelegrin."

"So beating everyone up..."

"Pretty much ensures a game over. You made the right move by completing the pacifist run first. Besides, failing to defeat Skelegrin isn't as bad as getting trolled by a flower."

"Good point. But if I can't even beat both of the polar opposite runs of a game... then Understory isn't the game for me. Is this the end of my career as a video game master?"

"On the contrary, really. I honestly do think you killed Skelegrin. You had to kill Skelebone to fight Skelegrin, and since he asked if Skelebone wanted anything, that implies that he died too, off-screen. Besides, the reign of video games will never end, and new games come out all the time. Here's an idea: in about two years, there will be a new game where you get to capture unique creatures and train them to become the greatest warriors ever. I highly suggest you look forward to that game, for I will be more than able to help you beat it to one hundred percent."

I returned to the Lor, where everyone was waiting for me. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's go home."

Magolor floated over to the keyboard, where he quickly began pressing buttons. "Setting coordinates for Pop Star, and... we're off!"

The mighty Lor Starcutter lifted into the air, and just like that, we were flying through the cosmos at very high speeds. I would describe the speed as warp speed, but if that were the case, we would be back in Pop Star in the blink of an eye; remember that we free-falled into Equestria from the final battle not far from Kirby's home planet.

Sonic said, "It's really fun to beat up bad guys, but it's no fun to do all the time. After I beat a big villain like one of Dr. Eggman's creations, I always like to chill out and look at the amazing world I saved."

Bandana Dee nodded. "Back in Pop Star, Kirby would always have a nice nap after he defeated some super tough bad guy, like Magolor, Marx, Queen Sectonia... the list goes on for a long time!"

"Wow, Kirby must work SUPER hard to beat up that many bad guys! He must have made a ton of friends from saving his home planet so many times!" Are you kidding me? That could only mean one thing. We cautiously turned to the source of the voice...

I frowned. "Kirby, go get the Missile Ability. Time to send somepony on a crash course to her home planet."

"Poyo..." Kirby was already getting the Ability. He came back holding a red and yellow cap, and he put it on the pink party pony's head.

"But I just wanted to see what Pop Star looked like!" Pinkie whined.

Pummel carried Pinkie to the exit. "I know, but your friends need you back in Equestria. Besides, you can always come over to Pop Star if you ask the Dream Rod for permission."

Kirby looked down, shaking his head in sorrow. "Poyo poyo..."

"I'm sorry, Kirby," I replied, sensing his sad aura. "I know you want them to see how amazing Pop Star is, but we both understand they need to be in Equestria to fulfill their roles in the show. If only there was a way to allow them to travel freely between the two planets..."

"Lucario, I believe there is," Roborygon said. "This is only a hypothesis, but I believe the Cutie Map is the key to travel between here and Pop Star. The map sends the ponies on friendship quests, so what if we infuse it with the power of the Friend Hearts?"

"That is a curious hypothesis. Kirby, it is time for you to use your friendship heart."

"Poyo!" Kirby concentrated his positive aura into a pink heart, which he aimed at the map. But the puffball seemed to have different plans. "...Oh!" He changed the trajectory of his heart, and threw it... at me.

As soon as the heart made contact with me, I felt my entire being cleansed of bad auras. "Kirby... I thank you for using your friendship heart to remove all negative auras from my body. Did you want me... to infuse the map with friendship?"

Kirby smiled. "Poyo!"

"Very well. Behold the power of friendship!" I prepared my friendship heart and hurled it at the map. The map became imbued with a pink glow. Suddenly, a white rod with a gold handle and a pink heart at its tip emerged from the map. "Excellent! Because the ponies have befriended Kirby with the power of the hearts, they should feel the energy from the Dream Rod if we need their help, or vice versa."

Pinkie thought about Pummel's remark as he held her in his right hand. "Oh, right! I forgot about that! In that case, see ya!" She freed herself from his grip and took on her missile form--which I almost mistook for a Pinkie Banzai Bill--before blasting off to Equestria.

"So... all's well that ends well," Pummel said. "But I can't help but think we've got something big in the future waiting for us."

I asked, "You mean next year, or this year?"

"I'm talking about this year. I mean, we've already encountered a lot of big things so far, but I just have a feeling that there's going to be a real doozy of an ordeal we'll have to face."

I grinned. "Even tougher than the ordeals Doctor Hooves and I encountered?"

"We won't know unless you tell us."

"So, you're ready for a story about our Galarian adventures?"

"Yes!" all my friends shouted.

"Okay. I'll tell you our story as soon as we set down in Pop Star."

Author's Note

Thus begins a new story, one of how Helix and Hooves obtained their new Pokemon and new powers, as their journey continues!

Prologue: Star Allies--Whoa!

"He's weak, but still ready to fight," I told the rest of the Star Allies. "It's time to give it our all!"

Our enemy, Void Termina, had been reduced from a mighty giant to merely its innocent-looking core, a purple ball that looked similar to the pink hero of planet Pop Star, Kirby. It quickly turned angry and transformed into a one-eyed being with weird tentacle-like protrusions around it.

I pressed the Mega Stone that was attached to my Z-Ring. "Lucario, answer the pleas of my heart! Unleash your Mega Evolution!"

"MAXIMUM AURA!" Lucario, my blue, bipedal fox Pokemon, was surrounded by a pink aura that condensed into a solid sphere. The sphere then shattered, revealing a more powerful-looking Lucario... Mega Lucario. "Let's finish this!"

The fastest thing alive, Sonic the Hedgehog, asked, "What'll it be? We doing a laser beam duel or something?"

Void Termina charged up, as if in response.

I grinned. "Exactly. Team Star Allies, go!"

Void Termina shot a laser, and we all responded with our own laser. Helix, my human-turned-Pokemon rival (prefers his Decidueye form), said, "We've got this. Our friendship will definitely pull through. Look, he's already showing signs of--oh. We need more power. Fast!"

"I will supply the power. This is my Helping Hand!" Meloetta, the Melody Pokemon (you probably remember her from Kirby Star Allies: Friend Hearts are Magic), materialized a violin out of air and played a fierce tune on it. Her melody gave us the strength to fire our laser with even more intensity.

Our massive laser finally outdid Void Termina's laser and blasted him right in the face. He looked at us in despair as I equipped my Z-Ring with a Fairium Z. My colleagues did the same. We all crossed our arms in front of us, swung them to our sides, then brought them in front of us. We then performed a pose like a fairy. During the pose, several of the friends we had made joined the fight. I exclaimed in the process of the pose, "We call upon all of our friends to unleash our full power." Energy which had formed from within us surrounded our friends, power radiating from them. "Void Termina, mark my words: Friendship is magic! Feel the full brunt of a torrent of Twinkle Tackles!"

All of our friends promptly rammed into Void Termina, who panicked as it exploded in a bright light.

The battlefield began to crumble, leaving us to escape in a dramatic--CRASH!

Author's Note

Here's the group of heroes that fought Void Termina, separated into teams: my character, Pummel Fist (aka Pummeler), Keldeo, Meloetta, and my mother (Heart Fist); Helix, the Mario Bros, Paper Mario (in Mario's pocket, folded up), and Princess Peach; Roborygon (my mechanical partner from this story's prequel); Sonic, Tails, Amy Rose, and Lucario; and Kirby, King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana Waddle Dee.

As for the point of view, the prologue and the first chapter are from Pummel's point of view.

Chapter 3: Peachy Pony Princesses~

This must have been my lucky day. You see, I woke up before I even hit the ground! Good thing I never go anywhere without my parasol, because it slowed me down enough to have a nice landing. What's more, I landed in front of an amazing castle.

"That was a close one," I sighed. "Where am I?"

Did I mention the pair of Pegasus guards at the front doors? One of them said to me, "Miss, you are at Canterlot Castle. State your business here."

I answered, "The truth is, I somehow got here after my friends and I defeated a monster and escaped the battlefield. The last thing I remember seeing was a big piece of debris."

"Very well. Follow us to the princesses. They should be able to sort things out."

The day kept getting more and more amazing. I was led to a massive room with two thrones, each with a unicorn/Pegasus hybrid in it. The taller one had a stunning white coat and flowing rainbow mane. The shorter one was like the taller one, but dark blue.

The guards told them, "Celestia and Luna, this creature claims to have stumbled upon Canterlot after she and her friends escaped some battlefield following the defeat of a monster."

"I see," said the white princess, who I supposed was Celestia. "What is your name?"

I replied, "My name is Princess Peach Toadstool, but everyone calls me Peach. I hail from the Mushroom Kingdom, where I am constantly saved by the heroic plumber Mario from this mutant turtle monster known as Bowser. While he wasn't the one my friends and I defeated, he is still dangerous. I hope he can't kidnap me from here."

"Don't worry, Peach, for we know a group of ponies that will stop at nothing to protect Equestria from evil."

Suddenly, a cloud of green smoke flew in and turned into a scroll. Celestia read it out loud: "'Dear Princess Celestia, a strange creature just crashed in front of my castle, claiming to have landed here after he and his friends defeated a monster called Void Termina. This may seem like a coincidence, but he said that he defeated it alongside Kirby, the same Kirby that helped defeat Hyness and Queen Chrysalis. I request your advice on how to approach this. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.' Peach, do you know of this Kirby?"

I smiled. "I sure do, Celestia. He's a pink ball that can copy powers by eating things. I worked with him to help defeat Void Termina. Did I hear right that he defeated Hyness and Chrysalis together?"

"You most certainly did." Celestia returned the smile. She then got another scroll and wrote in it. "Dear Twilight Sparkle, I feel it would be most appropriate for those who know Kirby to regroup here at Canterlot Castle. Take the creature that crashed near your castle and bring it here. If you find any others, please bring them here as well. Sincerely, Princess Celestia." Celestia turned to me. "You should wait here until all the others who have beaten Void Termina alongside Kirby come. I will send help to find them."

"Thank you Celestia. I wonder how the others are doing, or where they even are?"

Author's Note

Now we'll go over to the star of Kirby Star Allies: Friend Hearts are Magic! :pinkiesmile:

Chapter 8: The Story Unfolds

Why did I wake up in a bathtub? As soon as I got out, I wrung myself out, because I don't want to be weakened by water. When I got outside, I froze. Was I in a world of ponies?

"There you are, paper bro!" I recognized that voice. I turned to my right and saw Luigi with a shy-looking Pegasus. "Paper Mario, meet Fluttershy. She went and got you treated for poison joke, which, according to her, must have crumpled you up."

I looked back at the bathtub I was in. "Poison joke" crumpled me up? And the cure for it was a bath? What kind of place is this?

"I know, bro. Equestria is weird. But now's not the time to wonder. We need to go to this place called Canterlot Castle. Follow Fluttershy, because she seems to know the way there. Maybe we'll find Mario on the way."

Here we go!

Author's Note

Told you we'd meet shortly with Paper Mario! :ajsmug:

Guess who we're meeting next! Hint: He's blue and fast. So is she.

Chapter 15: Justified Friendship

I woke to a gray hoof held in front of me. "Young unicorn, are you well?"

I took the hoof and got up. "I most certainly am, sir. However, I do feel kind of shaken up. You have no idea what it's like to battle alongside your friends to defeat a destroyer of worlds." I took a moment to stretch and noticed who I was talking to: an old, gray unicorn stallion with a long beard and wizard hat. "...Or do you? Might you be the legendary Star Swirl the Bearded?"

The unicorn smiled. "Why yes, I am. As for a destroyer of worlds, that intrigues me. You see, Princesses Celestia and Luna have informed me of a pink hero who defeated a wizard that intended to bring about the awakening of such a monster. Might you be an acquaintance of such a pink thing?"

I smiled back. "We're friends who fought together many times. Most recently, we worked together to beat that destroyer of worlds, who is known as Void Termina. ...You do speak of Kirby when you mentioned the pink thing, right?"

"Correct. What is your name, fellow hero?"

"I am more than a hero. I am Keldeo, a Sword of Justice! We Swords of Justice come from an interdimensional land where we fight to stop the influence of evil."

"An interdimensional hero who knows Kirby? I suggest you visit the princesses, for they might want to meet you."

"I will gladly do so. Besides, these mountains are freezing. ...But they do remind me of when my partner Pummel Fist and I fought together to defeat this ice dragon known as Kyurem. Our bond pulled us through, and the other three Swords of Justice were so proud of us."

"Your bond? It must have been quite powerful to defeat an ice dragon. Just how strong is your bond?"

"Strong enough..." I felt something. It was calling out to me. Wait, not it. Him. "...for us to practically know where each of us is without looking."

"Is that so? Then tell me, where is your partner?"

I concentrated. "He's... on a train, heading... northeast. From a town."

"Why, he's heading right for Canterlot! That is where the princesses reside!"

"That's great to hear, Star Swirl. If the layout of Equestria is anything like that of the setting of a work of fiction based off of it, or Pokequestria, then I must head south." As I headed in that direction, I waved to Star Swirl. "Until we meet again, Star Swirl, of the Pillars of Old Equestria!"

"Until we meet again, Keldeo of the Swords of Justice."

Chapter 22: Target Acquired

I'd worked so hard to predict the trajectory of the Star Allies' crash, but there were many variables: the gravitational pull of any surrounding planets, the weight of each ally, and the mass of the debris, just to name a few. The results seemed to be inconclusive, because I dared not risk journeying to where I predicted the Star Allies had fallen.

I contacted Dedenne using my mech's built-in communication device. "I'm afraid I could not locate the destination of the Star Allies. I found out the trajectory, but I was unsure about the identity of the location. I calculated the risks of going to an unknown location and decided not to take my chances. I need more information about the destination of the trajectory. I am sending you the coordinates of the trajectory now."

Dedenne inputted the coordinates into the computer. "I have some data collected from Roborygon that would prove to be quite useful for this scenario. I am forwarding it to you right now."

I analyzed the data, which was a video clip of Kirby with a very unique Ability launching Hyness far from Equestria. Afterwards, Kirby and his friends took off to the same destination as they had blasted Hyness to: The Divine Terminus. She was right; this data most certainly was useful! "What's this? It appears that the original location of Hyness was in the path of the trajectory of the Star Allies...!" Then it clicked. "The Star Allies are in Equestria!"

"I'd high-five you, but we physically can't due to us being separated. Anyway, now that we've determined their location, what is our next step?"

"Maybe we should send somebody to scout the area."

"Great idea. While Equestria is peaceful for the most part, some of its inhabitants may be distrustful of the Star Allies. For instance, what if someone fell into the Dragon Lands?"

"My thoughts exactly. I suggest that we send someone who is approachable due to her innocence and heroic acts. She and her friends were able to take down a great evil with a legendary weapon. Her name... Ribbon."

Dedenne gasped. "What?! But she's just a little fairy! How will she defend herself from creatures such as timberwolves?"

"Relax, she has the Crystal Gun. If you're still worried, I'll also send Elline to escort her."

"...Very well. Just be sure Ribbon borrows Adeline's portable canvas first, and wish Elline and Ribbon two good luck for me!"