Meta Knight woke up the morning after the night he had the mentally scarring dream. He had a strange feeling but couldn't quite place it. Oh well.

Meta Knight got out of bed and stretched his arms, morphing his cape into his wings so he could stretch them too. Sword and Blade were already awake, but considering those two, that wasn't really surprising.

Meta Knight folded his wings back up and lumbered to the kitchen in his living space; eyes still dulled a tired, dark yellow.

The knight opened the fridge to find his breakfast when his eyes rested on a bobble. His mind drifted back to the horrible image of the painted bobble from his dream, but he shrugged it off and got out the milk.

Meta Knight poured some milk into a glass put the milk back in the fridge, then put instant breakfast and a straw in the milk. He hesitated, fearing the removal of his mask after the dream, even the slightest tip now made him edgy. So, the 'fearless' Star Warrior just stuck the straw though the eyehole in his mask, wiggling the straw to find his mouth.

After Meta Knight finished breakfast, he scraped the leftover dried drool off the inside of his mask and headed out the door, going nowhere in particular but not wanting to just sit and watch the television all day.

As Meta Knight strolled around the castle, he couldn't get his mind off the dream.

Eventually, Meta Knight just perched himself on the rail of the balcony nearest Cappy Town. Maybe watching over the Cappies would help ease his mind of the stress of the dream?

He saw Hana meet up with Mabel, both women chatting as they went into the grocery store. Meta Knight couldn't quite tell, but he thought he saw the prisoner with a bag resembling a T.A.C.'s sneak past Chief Borun, fast asleep in his rocking chair outside the police station.

Meta Knight stifled a chuckle at that. No matter how many times Chief Borun caught the prisoner; he always seemed to escape until a Cappy saw him.

"Hey, Meta Knight!"

Meta Knight turned around to see Fumu standing behind him.

"Hello, Fumu. How is your day today?" Meta Knight asked politely.

"Same as usual, stopped Bun and Hohhe from using Kirby as a soccer ball again today, but that's not why I came. Everyone in the castle heard you yelling in your sleep last night, yelling something about Kirby, your mask and a Blipper. What was that all about?" Fumu edged a bit closer.

Meta Knight processed what Fumu had claimed and mentally kicked himself in the face. 'I was yelling in my sleep?!' he thought ashamedly, 'I thought I trained myself not to do that in the army!'

Concealing a bright blush, Meta Knight vaguely replied, "It was only a dream, no need to worry yourself over me, Fumu."

But Fumu probed further, "What was the dream about?"

'Keke!' Meta Knight shifted uneasily and improvised a bit too fast, "See, in the dream, Kirby was fishing for Blippers, and as I was walking past, Kirby was hauling in a big catch, so I stopped to watch, then the catch came up and it turned out to be a Squishy which attached itself to my mask."

Fumu, being a bit skeptical today, noticed the small bead of sweat that had formed on Meta Knight's arm and knew he was hiding something. "Oh really?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, "And tell me, just how did you remove the Squishy?"

"Uh…"

"I knew it!" Fumu exclaimed, "What was it you were really yelling about?! And don't lie this time!"

Meta Knight sensed his anger rise at Fumu. "Why would you want to know so much anyway?" Meta Knight cried out as he uncurled his wings and took off flying away from the balcony.

Meta Knight's relief of escaping the dreaded conversation was cancelled when he felt something latch onto his foot.

"Woah! Aah!" Fumu yelped as she dangled off Meta Knight's foot, making their flight pattern off balance and erratic.

At one point, Meta Knight was in an uncontrolled dive, giving Fumu the chance to grasp onto his armor, which greatly assisted Meta Knight.

"Well, now that that little skirmish is over…" Meta Knight calmly started, "WHAT THE GORDO WERE YOU THINKING, GRABBING ONTO ME AS I FLEW?! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!"

Fumu flinched fearlessly, but quietly claimed, "I think I understand what really happened. It wasn't mainly about neither fishing nor Kirby… But mainly focused on your mask, about what you look like."

Meta Knight liked Fumu as a friend whose knowledge he could compare to his own, but it was times like this that her brightness annoyed him. He sniffed, "Fine! Maybe it was! What of it? I won't tell anyone anytime soon."

"No, you won't…" Fumu muttered darkly. Then she sprang up on top of Meta Knight's head using the technique he had taught her so long ago.

"Fumu!" Meta Knight yelped in shock as they passed over Whispy's Forest, "You wouldn't!"

He felt her thumbs slip under the top half of his mask.

Meta Knight felt helpless as he couldn't see what she was doing, so he took a chance and reached up to pry her fingers away from his mask, only to have them pinned down against his head.

"Oh, Gordo, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this, Fumu, but you leave me no other choice."

Before any word left her mouth, Meta Knight made a complete nosedive toward a lake in the forest, hoping to make her let go before they hit the water.

Fumu screamed. "OH MY GORDO WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

"Keeping what is mine safe. I suggest you let go, unless you want to end up soaked."

"Never!"

Fumu tried to wrench his mask off, which was hard to do with one hand, as the other was holding captive two more struggling hands, vying for freedom.

Just as Fumu managed to loosen the straps enough to take off his mask, they hit the water, really hard. Meta Knight actually was knocked unconscious for a few seconds, waking up fifteen feet under the water.

As Meta Knight swam for the surface, Fumu treaded water, and realized what was in her hand.

A shining, silver disc.

"Aha! I did it! But where is he?" Fumu questioned herself aloud.

Just before Meta Knight broke the surface next to Fumu, a Blipper brushed against his exposed face, and he realized just the fix he was in. Meta Knight changed course and swam toward shore, not needing a breath of air as most ponyans can go up to two days nonstop swimming underwater.

Fumu was starting to worry about Meta Knight, but then she saw his form crawl out of the lake.

Meta Knight merely covered his face with his cape and turned to look at Fumu, who by this time was crawl stroking as fast as she could to him. Now that Meta Knight didn't have to worry about flying at the same time as grappling, he knew he could best Fumu in strength.

But he still worried.

Fumu crawled onto the shore, obviously still miffed about Meta Knight dumping her into a cold lake. She stood, breathing heavily, before she snapped her head up and rushed at the knight, who merely put out a hand which hit Fumu in the face, effectively stopping her from coming any closer to remove his cape.

Meta Knight plucked his mask from the writhing girl, turned around, and flew up into the nearest tree to put his mask back on.

Fumu, who wasn't done yet, used her training again to wall jump off the tree nearest to Meta Knight's.

Unfortunately, Meta Knight had, in his haste, chosen a low branch, and his mask was just on his face by the time he turned around to have Fumu slam into him, pinning him against the tree.

Meta Knight writhed, his eyes pleading for her to let go as he had underestimated her strength compared to his fatigue. Meta Knight's eyes glinted as Fumu removed one of her hands for a split second to tear his mask off. That was all the time he needed.

Meta Knight kicked off the tree and Fumu fell off, landing on her stomach as she watched Meta Knight flee.

Fumu forced herself to a standing position and ran after Meta Knight, gaining on him inch by slow inch.

Meta Knight, at this point, didn't want to use his wings lest he needed his cape for cover from the relentless girl. Meta Knight thought about the dream, he avoided Kirby to an extent by teleporting, but that was just him wanting to be at a certain level where he could learn that trick.

Both ponyan and ebbrian were soon out of the forest and racing up the hill to Castle Dedede, where Meta Knight hoped to lose Fumu in the spacious halls possibly by hiding in one of the supports and where Fumu hoped to get some help.

The drawbridge was up and Meta Knight had no choice but to temporarily get rid of his cape and fly above the wall.

Just as Meta Knight was uncurling his wings, ready for flight, Fumu grabbed his hand, only to be swatted away and left alone.

Fumu growled in frustration. The more Meta Knight hid his face, the more she wanted to know what he looked like which led to him hiding his face even more.

The drawbridge lowered, and Fumu ran as fast as she could, making the Waddle Dee that had lowered the drawbridge fall. Fumu called an apology before darting into the courtyard where the fountain was.

Kirby, Bun and Hohhe looked up from their game as Fumu sprinted past them, yelling over her shoulder, "Follow me!"

The three boys forgot their game and joined Fumu.

"What's goin' on, sis?" Bun asked his sister.

"I'm trying to find out what's under Meta Knight's mask. Did you see which way he went?"

"Uh… To the throne room, I think." Hohhe suggested.

All four sprinted toward the throne room as fast as they could.

Sure enough, Meta Knight was hiding in one of the support pillars.

Kirby flew up to him while Fumu climbed the wall using the cracks between the bricks footholds.

Meta Knight couldn't run as he was cornered on either side by Kirby and Fumu, the latter's excitement rising immensely.

Both slammed into the now scared knight. Fumu pinched Meta Knight's cape together so he couldn't spread his wings and Kirby inflated himself to cushion the trio's landing.

Due to Kirby acting like a pillow, Fumu, Meta Knight and Kirby hit the ground with a soft thud as Bun and Hohhe dashed over to help.

Kirby crawled out from underneath Meta Knight and held down his feet while Bun and Hohhe pinned both of the thrashing knight's hands to the floor.

Fumu, who had been watching, towered over Meta Knight, who stopped his thrashing, seeing at this point there was no hope.

Fumu reached down and first unclasped Meta Knight's mask to make it easier to remove.

Meta Knight felt his mask go slack and slide off his face to the side slightly.

Just as Fumu was about to slide her fingers under the metal, Meta Knight whispered, "After all I've done for you, and this is how you repay me?"

Fumu hesitated, not answering for a good long few minutes of internal conflict when she replied, "You were there when we needed you, yes, but who was it that was there?"

Her hands slid under his mask, slowly, deliberately, as if bracing herself for the surprise of what Meta Knight had to hide.

Everyone in the room recoiled in shock when the mask slid off, revealing Meta Knight's horrid secret and his worst nightmare; himself as he truly was.

A ponyan, like Kirby.

"Woah!" just about everyone in the room screamed simultaneously.

"Meta Knight, you're…" Fumu covered a side of her face with one hand as she pointed at Meta Knight and looked between him and Kirby.

Hohhe let out a snicker but held fast to Meta Knight's arm.

Kirby put on a questioning face.

Bun was laughing so hard he rolled off of Meta Knight's hand and lay on the floor laughing hysterically.

Meta Knight's face was entirely red with anger and embarrassment. He quickly rolled out of Hohhe's and Fumu's grasps on his hand and cape, snatched the mask out of Fumu's hand, giving her a blue and red eyed glare that would haunt her with guilt and terror forever.

Meta Knight dashed out of the room in shame, shoving forcefully past King Dedede who was just walking in with Escargoon in tow.

King Dedede took a moment to realize who just passed him and asked with wide eyes, "Was that Meta Knight?"

All the kids in the room nodded as King Dedede shot his cannon, the action he refers to as laughing.

Meanwhile, Meta Knight fumbled to put on his mask while sprinting down the abandoned hall. How dare that Fumu to get her friends to gang up on him like that! After guarding her since before she was even born, and Fumu repays him by uncovering him in front of a crowd? Disgraceful!

These thoughts went through his head as he swung open the door to his room, slipped inside and slammed it.

Meta Knight locked his door, now knowing one lock would never be enough for him, then collapsed on his bed.

Suddenly, Meta Knight heard a knock on his door.

Meta Knight groaned, fell off the bed, lumbered over to the door and opened it after unlocking it.

Outside stood Fumu with a curious face, "Meta Knight, are you okay? I just saw you run in and slam the door. What happened?"

"You should know," Meta Knight replied bitterly, "You never had to snoop, but you did and now my secret is revealed for the world to learn and laugh at."

Fumu tilted her head, "I didn't uncover a secret. I was having a sleepover with Honey at her house in Cappy Town. I just got back two minutes ago."

"What?" Meta Knight exclaimed, "But you were just in the throne room!"

"Nope, wasn't me."

Meta Knight brushed past Fumu in a hurried walk to the throne room. Fumu followed behind, unsure whether Meta Knight had cracked or not.

Meta Knight burst through the doors of the throne room to find King Dedede in the middle of praising Escargoon on his work today.

"… And I like how you made her so she wouldn't fizz out in water, too!"

King Dedede saw the expression of shock written on Escargoon's face and turned around to see Meta Knight, his eyes glowing red, standing in the doorway.

"I'm too young to die!" Escargoon shouted as he fled the room.

"Uh… Hi there, Mety. How has your day been?" King Dedede asked quietly.

"Why did you do it, King Dedede?" Fumu yelled at the king.

"Do what? I'm innocent!" King Dedede raised his hands and backed up.

"You've lied before! Why did you do it to Meta Knight, your best guard?"

"You don't even know what happened!" King Dedede raged at Fumu.

The king was met with silence as Fumu murmured something to Meta Knight. Meta Knight supposedly whispered back and Fumu's eyes widened.

"It's worse than I thought! How could you just tear off his mask like it was nothing?! Don't your guards have privacy policies?"

"Nope. And besides, it was Escargoon's robot that did all the work! Escargoon built it himself, only under my command. What's happened happened, and there's nothing you can do to get rid of these." King Dedede held up a bundle of pictures all with the same picture of Meta Knight rushing out of the throne room in the state he was in a mere ten minutes ago.

Fumu stared at Meta Knight in shock. "Meta Knight… Is that really you?"

Meta Knight silently nodded, eyes a darker blue than his cape.

"How can you even trust him? He made you help with a problem but didn't even tell you what the problem was," King Dedede sneered at Fumu.

Fumu clenched her fists and stepped forward, "I trust Meta Knight because he has protected me before I was even born. There's a possibility I wouldn't even be alive right now had it not been for Meta Knight, there's a chance you might not even be alive right now because of your demon beasts usually turning on you!"

"True…" King Dedede started, "But first, I need something to put on the news besides the prisoner escaping again and second, I'm the king around here and there's no reason why I can't because I'm in charge of this castle!"

"No you're not!" Fumu shouted, her temper breaking, "You're just an idiotic, obese, lying, lethargic, jerkish, self-proclaimed king that only causes problems wherever those shockingly intact feet take you! All you do is abuse your own subjects like they were dirt and stuff your fat mouth with anything you can find! What do you have to say for your snobbish, temperamental self?!"

Meta Knight stared in disbelief at Fumu. She just yelled at King Dedede with everything she had just for Meta Knight. That took guts.

King Dedede seemed to be in deep thought. Then the king asked, "Can you repeat that in English please?"

Fumu facepalmed and sighed. "That's my point." Fumu muttered.

"What's your point? Oh, well. Outta the way, worthless flesh! I gotta get stuff copied!"

King Dedede sprinted to the best of his ability out the door, and before Fumu or even Meta Knight could react, a shout and a few thumping noises were heard.

Fumu and Meta Knight rushed outside and saw Bun, Hohhe and Kirby all piled on top of King Dedede, Kirby eating the remains of a paper near King Dedede's hand.

"Kirby no!" King Dedede whined, "Those were going to make the rest of my life exciting! Wait, my robe camera!" King Dedede got up and looked down at the right side of his robe where the camera was presumably hidden and exclaimed, "No! Where is it?!"

Bun clenched his fist and when he reopened it, a few tiny metal shards fell to the ground.

"Yeah! Nice going Bun!" Fumu praised.

"I can be low, but not that low." Bun stated shortly.

King Dedede glared at the group. "You will pay… All of you, especially YOU!" King Dedede jabbed a finger at Meta Knight. Then he just ran off.

Hohhe whispered to Fumu, "Do you think he'll tell anyone?"

Fumu whispered back, "If Dedede has the brains to figure it out, but considering he lies all the time no one will believe him or even question him about it."

Meta Knight walked over to Bun. "Bun."

Bun looked at Meta Knight.

"Thank you. I hope there is something I can do in return for your favor."

Bun put his hands behind his head and thought for a moment. "Well, you could-"

Hohhe jabbed Bun in the ribs and Bun stuttered, "You could continue being yourself in all your ways."

Hohhe nodded as Meta Knight's eyes turned a happy blue.

"Thank you all, and with that, I must patrol."

"Not without us," Fumu recommended, "After all, who knows when King Dedede could strike again!"

Meta Knight nodded and the group of himself, Bun, Fumu, Kirby and Hohhe left the entrance to the throne room as Bun recommended lunch at his place, Meta Knight politely declining.

Edit: I have a question for my audience. Yes, I am working on chapter three because a Guest mentioned it. Awright! Here's the trivia:

Name a COUNTRY without the letter "A" in it.

That is all.