I just know whoever said, "although forgiving yourself is usually harder, as long as you are willing then others will surely follow suit, " has never had to apologize for almost ruining an entire world… Let alone start making amends with the help of a fellow ex-enemy, to them, and their planetary hero. Even if he was a literal puffball whose pure innocent nature astounded everyone, Mags' words not his. Despite helping them during the Jambandrain crisis⁠—even going as far as giving Kirby and other ground-bound allies a lift with his wings.

Most found him to still be untrustworthy no matter his present actions which, by the way, felt pretty demeaning afterward. He had connected with some of Kirby's past adversaries especially Magolor. Yet what mattered the most was getting everyone from the wish incident to finally forgive him. Popstar forgot that he actually gave them the advice necessary to stop the celestial beings' fighting. Even if he stole the wish just as Kirby was making it the problem still got resolved regardless. Everyone, his friends who actually got to know him personally, always thought his way of thinking and reasoning was odd.

The poor spherical creature with feet couldn't help that even if he wanted to change those parts, probably just my species natural logic… No matter how many times they forgot he would have to remind them he 'grew up' without daily social interactions. Before the whole incident, he just traveled Popstar for many years seeking types of food. He was a different species that he had never met another one of his kind before. Combined with his ravenous appetite that falls just an inch short of Kirby's then you have Marx.

And… this doesn't even scratch before the wish incident he could summon up his wings already no problem. Meta Knight brought it up with him after their recent crisis asking the mysterious entity one question. Are you the same species Kirby shares with me?

Marx learned the Copy Ability was a unique skill specific to Kirby's subclass with the elder Star Warrier own skill being his special wings, haunts me whenever I'm alone with my thoughts like this. I never used to question those things until I made friends who keep pointing it out… I DON'T KNOW WHAT I SPECIFICALLY AM! NOR DO I CARE ALL I KNOW IS THAT WHATEVER I AM IS POWERFUL ALL ON IT'S OWN. His frustration built to the point he vaporized a nearby meteor with his mouth power beam.

Another thing he knew was that his species could fly through space no problem even without their wings. He was doing that right now in fact just to take a break from Planet Popstar. Susie who still worked under Haltmann had told him about a planet with very forgiving yet powerful lifeforms. Since their organization now focused on planetary relations they had investigated it. Equus or as the general populace's region was called Equestria. While not making direct contact with the residents they did send a scout to learn more of its history.

Get this they think energy manipulation is… magic! Definitely, a challenging scientific mindset to be sure yet couldn't help falling in love with their simple lives. Marx volunteered to take photos of the environment using a normal digital camera. This would not only give him consistent breaks from Popstar but save the company money on fuel for a ship. From what they understood the main rulers could manipulate nearby stars and a moon. Susie suggested that maybe getting to know some locals could help the species advance.

Yet they had to be cautious about helping things change too quickly, as Susie put it so many times prior: "We wouldn't want to start a war of sorts with this generally peaceful equine-est race. So, we are trying to focus on becoming friends with these ponies and other species from Equus. Remember what happened with the Earth debacle centuries ago. We believe the ponies share a similar disdain or mistrust of extra life forms from the different galaxy reaches. To put it simply they may be scared by the idea we 'aliens' are generally depicted to do."

When she explained this the first time he grew hysterical with laughter at such a ludicrous idea. It only took one robotic slap from Susie's mech to snap him out of his laughter fit and she asked if would do that favor for him. Money had grown to be tight with them no longer conquering planets to use resources for their mechanical production. President Haltmann even compensated many planets who he had previously ordered takeovers on. Yeah, they were more than skeptical about his sudden change⁠—his mustache would never grow back to its complete former glory again.

He quickly tried focusing on something else as his destination was approaching in the distance a few hundred light-years away. A blue and green planet with speckled white patches. One yellow star, unlike Popstar, spun around the planet its moon following on the opposite side more closely to Equus. The land clusters were pretty confusing as what he assumed to be Equestria covered almost the entire visible side of this planet. Some smaller land clusters lacking vegetation seemed to surround it on the west and east sides.

Popstar's structure was much different since its atmosphere was filled to the brim with stardust from the two rings. You had to get really close to start seeing the vast land surrounded by ocean. In all honesty, Dreamland was actually one of the smaller continents on Popstar being the sixth-largest. What surprised him through a special goggle pair, courtesy of Haltmann Corps for testing was the moon had a thin atmosphere. Those were very rare considering it was made solely of rocks. Something else to note was its startling clear surface void from any impacts.

The goggle set recorded this information for later when he would have to return back to Popstar. Marx nearly let go of his special camera container when the goggles sent him an alert. Holding things with his feet made him envy his friends who at least had arms his wings were needed to fly through space. While both had special claws that could grab things they were not the best at writing so he often used his mouth to sign for things. Anyway, he had a job to do when he reached the Planet's surface which wouldn't be much longer.

He did have an alternate motive as soon as he landed the company didn't have all the historical facts so Marx wanted to learn more. There will be a few issues he encounters on his knowledge quest: one the scouts had revealed that Equestrian writing was close to English yet different with symbols mixed in, they could understand what ponies said so most info would be by word of mouth, two was that ponies had a special marking that they earned when discovering their purpose, essentially, magic tattoos appeared on their flanks.

He couldn't help snickering at this idea yet it did make the species seem pretty special in personality regard. In their lives, they had some unique force that helped them choose their career paths. Hobby's became so much more when they finally received this marking one day. It seemed to be perfect compared to the ongoing dilemma his friends had unintentionally brought upon him… Anyway! He grew excited, this is going to be so much fun! For once I'm going to be the smarter one when with Mags about a different planet since I'm visiting it personally. Watch out Equestria here I come~

"Watch out Equestria, I'm back!" excitedly shouts a lone unicorn clad in her old armor. When her (platonic) partner in heroics taps her neck while munching on some leftover cupcakes⁠—she gets the idea. "With Grubber in tow." The unusual duo burst into laughter as Tempest Shadow, who preferred this to her real name after so long, continued walking. While Grubber rode on her back they laughed for a good five minutes until the current issue spring up.

"So you think the Princess's gonna be surprised or super mega surprised?" asked the hedgehog. He then proceeded to scarf down another frosted cupcake, his appetite is always a challenge to deal with… I really hope Pinkie Pie can help me try to tame it soon.

Tempest quickly responded, "the latter definitely, although, I have no idea how you would define that to any creature else. It's been nearly two years, Grubber…" Almost immediately did he offer her a cupcake to cheer her up.

"TS, you know ya can't travel round the world in just a month or somethin'. Sure… we took a really long time but what we did was and is important right?" he refutes. Tempest accepted his offered treat and gives him a genuine smile in return. Over the course of their journey, she had learned to smile more with the little guy. They weren't perfect friends by any means yet he helped her overcome a really sore spot from her past.

"Of course, but… I-"

"No buts bout it! You may have joined you know who as a second in command and helped with some of those raids. But, you kept helping those guys we messed up plus I finally got to see my cuz again, " reassured Grubber. Being in the small group who properly got to know Tempest better personally he knew she worked hard toward her amends. Captain Celaeno and Capper themselves called her a close friend whenever they met during the trip. Klugetown seriously needed more than the sweet-talking feline to change for the better he reached out to them months ago.

Together with four different species' viewpoints, they managed to work out a plan to help the town. Nothing changed overnight mind them but Celaeno generously donated a few gemstones to their budget. Capper in return always kept an ear out for any treasures in rumors. Tempest and Grubber managed to get a temporary base out of the agreement. She had decided to visit Twilight when they received news of Sombra's return later defeat. The physical elements had been destroyed which she figured must have rocked the six hard.

From what Tempest had gathered, they relied on the gems for many years since becoming the Element Bearers. While the technical elements lived on through the Bearers it was a heavy lose nonetheless. Grubber currently watched the stars as his close friend thought over what they had heard. He was more than used to her silently focusing on something which lasted a good few minutes. Both had never really got used to being in a normal civilian lifestyle. Believe it or not, the Storm King's training regimen for his army was super strict lasting more than a full year.

Never thought I would get through the first month when Temp got recruited, he thought to himself when… a strange thing appears in the sky. "Um, TS?"

"..."

"TS."

"..."

"Tempest?!"

"...Sorry! What is it, Grubber?"

"Does the sky normally fall?"

"...what are you talking about?"

"Do pieces of the sky start falling on a regular basis?" he asks while pointing toward an ever-growing bright streak.

"That's either a comet, a falling star or a meteorite, " clarifies Tempest who started breaking into a gallop. She knew what laid further down the road and where that could possibly hit: Ponyville. Most likely somepony would hear it, but if they didn't she wanted to make sure no one got hurt. Princess Twilight could have easily deflected whatever this was with a magic shield. Yet… something about this descending object felt very wrong to the unusual unicorn. Grubber had stuffed the last cupcake into his mouth while grabbing hold of her mane so he didn't fall off!

Tempest was clearly concerned about this falling thing so he kept his mouth shut voicing any complaints mentally. Still, the sudden motion wasn't exactly pleasant to the poor hedgehog who just ate… His stomach protested by clenching up while they made the distance rather quickly. Whatever this was had started glowing brighter as it fell closer to the ground. Strangely enough, it traveled silently which didn't make any sense to Tempest who had watched all three listed options years ago. Her horn started to fizzle to life as several scenarios filled her worried mind about the possible damage.

She had learned better control while on their journey even being able to use levitation once again. Only objects she floated usually required being enveloped in a magic blue sphere. With any luck, she could have used her magic to blow this thing up before it even got within a mile of Ponyville.

Author's Notes:

It's perfectly fine if some do not know about the Kirby franchise.