One day, a jovial Kirby was strolling down a path near Whispy's Forest. He didn't enter for fear he would find himself lost.

Kirby sat down in the shade of a tree who seemed to be in a pleasant mood, though the midsummer heat was unusually warmer that day.

Kirby closed his sapphire eyes slowly, the way he would if he required concentration in the heat of battle. There was a slight rustling in the tree above, but Kirby paid it no mind until an apple fell on his head.

Kirby started to look up, but heard a quiet gasp and a sound like wind and a vacuum cleaner being turned on, then nothing. Nothing remained of the noise on the appendage-like branches above.

Kirby shrugged it off and started walking away, but then remembered the apple and turned to inhale it. Kirby heard the same odd noise and thought he heard something land behind him, and looked to it with a full mouth.

What Kirby saw appeared to be his cloaked mentor, Meta Knight, only with his cape over his entire front side. Meta Knight froze when Kirby turned, and after a tense moment, Meta Knight whirled around and his cape transformed into clawed bat wings.

Meta Knight leaped for the sky, but Kirby, being as young as he is, had more agility and speed and lunged for Meta Knight's foot and they both hit the ground. Kirby naturally assumed that his mentor was giving him a surprise training session, which was the opposite of what Meta Knight had in mind.

"Kirby," Meta Knight slurred. "This is not a game. I will have you get off me and get on your way."

Kirby tilted his head in a confused, childish way and complied, but did not leave. Meta Knight's cape replaced his wings and he inched a portion of it under his face until he held it there and slowly stood.

"Poyo... Hide?" Kirby babbled.

"Don't be silly, Kirby. I'm not hiding anything," Meta Knight responded just a bit too fast.

Kirby walked up to Meta Knight and tugged on his cape. Meta Knight held it in place to the best of his ability, and was succeeding, right until the magical glove on his hand popped off, revealing a paw exactly like Kirby's. Unfortunately, Kirby pulled a bit harder right then, and the cape unlocked itself from Meta Knight's armor.

Meta Knight did the only thing that seemed logical. He ran, thinking, "Dedede... he'll pay for this." That morning, King Dedede decided to prank Meta Knight by stealing his mask, not knowing what was underneath but wanting the knowledge. So, the king stalked Meta Knight at a distance to Cappy Town. Meta Knight was exiting the grocery store, the goods in his bottomless cape, when he felt a tug on his mask. The tug was King Dedede on the roof of the grocery store with a fishing rod.

Meta Knight would have gone to the castle, but the inhabitants were usually in the halls, so he went to the next best place via flying. Whispy's Forest. Meta Knight was regretting the decision, as he heard Kirby's nearing footsteps behind him.

Meta Knight veered into the forest, hoping to lose his pink follower in there, but Kirby puffed up and flew over the trees.

Once Meta Knight thought he was finally safe, he rested his bare paw against a nearby tree and took a bit of a breather. Kirby landed silently on a branch above Meta Knight. Kirby, as if experiencing the effects of inhaling a Biospark, leaped down faster than gravity normally allowed and tackled poor Meta Knight to the ground on his back.

Meta Knight's eyes turned orange in surprise then a self-conscious navy blue, almost matching the color of his skin.

Kirby, on the other hand, cooed happily that he had tagged his mentor and seen him for what he truly was; a ponyan, one of Kirby's race. Meta Knight had the exact same appearance as Kirby, only with glowing bright white eyes and cheeks like cherries. At that moment however, Meta Knight himself was looking like a cherry due to his most well kept secret being wrenched into the open.

Kirby poyoed and hugged Meta Knight, who cringed awkwardly.

"Kirby..." Meta Knight began with a serious tone that contradicted his appearance, "You are to never speak of this. You are to never mention you saw my face. Do you understand?"

Kirby nodded and helped Meta Knight up.

"Ma... Mask?" Kirby asked.

"Yes, Dedede took it from me." Meta Knight sighed. "We'll see if we can get it back once I get my cape and my glove."

Just then, Kirby spied a Birdon in a nest and inhaled it. Kirby became Wing Kirby and took off his feathery headdress and gave it to Meta Knight. Kirby inhaled another Birdon and became Wing Kirby again. Kirby helped Meta Knight adjust the fasteners on the ability hat before the two Wing ponyans took off for the edge of the forest where Meta Knight's cape and lone glove were.

Going back was more difficult due to an unfortunate flock of Bronto Burts coming back from migration.

Kirby and Meta Knight landed, and as Meta Knight was finishing securing the latch on his cape, a baby Bronto Burt fell from the sky and landed roughly on the ground next to Kirby. Kirby picked it up and the diminutive Bronto Burt gazed mournfully at the flock of its kin flying away in the distance. Kirby set the Bronto Burt on one of the tails of his hat and used his Wing ability to soar toward the shrinking cloud of pink.

"Kirby!" Meta Knight shouted. But Kirby was already too far away. Meta Knight sighed as he put the ability hat in his cape and flew back to Castle Dedede with his bat wings.

Meta Knight was around halfway to the castle when a random Blipper came out from nowhere and hit him in the face.

"Where did that fish come from?!"

Three minutes later, Meta Knight stepped from midair onto the closest windowsill to the throne room, where King Dedede usually watched television.

Meta Knight took a deep breath as he shoved open a door with one hand while the other secured his cape to his face.

King Dedede turned toward the sound of a door opening.

"Well, there you are, Mety. You looked a little rushed back in the town this morning... Did you lose something important?"

Meta Knight fought the urge to correct the king on his name.

"Yes, sire, you could say that."

Right then, King Dedede's snail servant, Escargoon, slithered into the room.

"Here it is, Heika, Meta Knight's mask. He'll never guess what I did to..." Escargoon cut himself off as he realized the ponyan in question was standing right next to him. "Uh... Hey Sir Meta Knight! Here's your mask!" Then Escargoon dropped the mask on the floor and raced out the doors and locked himself in his room down the hall.

"I'll be leaving now. Thank you, Your Majesty." Meta Knight bowed and retreated to his own room and locked the door.

Meta Knight placed his mask on his desk and studied the front carefully. nothing seemed out of place. He flipped it over and inspected it. Not a trace of anything was found on the inside. Meta Knight spent an hour taking precautions to make sure his mask was safe to wear. And it was.

Meta Knight locked the straps of his mask to his shoulder armor and let out a relieved sigh as he moved into the kitchen to unpack his groceries.

Meanwhile, Kirby returned the Bronto Burt back to its flock and flew toward Castle Dedede. He had a promise to keep for a king. When Kirby entered the throne room, King Dedede turned to him immediately.

"Kirby! You're back! What did you find out?" the king excitedly interrogated. "Yeah! What did you discover about him?" Escargoon echoed.

Kirby motioned for King Dedede to follow as they went to the kitchen of the castle. Kirby dug around in the fridge until he found a fruit native to Dreamland called bobble. Bobble was navy blue and perfectly round. Kirby searched through a drawer and found paint and paint brushes. Kirby painted Meta Knight's face on the spherical fruit. King Dedede took a picture, and after it developed, made copies. While the king was waiting for the copies to finish, he gave Kirby the contract giving him the entire watermelon field for ten years.

The following day, Everyone had heard the news. They had to have, the picture of the painted bobble was taped on every door in town and castle with a message that read:

The real face of the head of defense

Meta Knight awoke the next day with people taunting and laughing at him. Now that everyone knew what was under his mask, he would have to move to a new planet. Mecheye sounded like the best choice at that moment. All the inhabitants were mechanical, not able to possess feelings. If he stayed in Dreamland, he would be run out by Dedede's demon beasts who were trying to wipe out Kirby. Now Meta Knight was the one who was hunted as the two looked alike.

If Meta Knight was fighting his own battle at the same time Kirby was, the demon beast could kill Kirby, or worse, capture him and bring him back to Nightmare's base, where...

Meta Knight woke up in a cold sweat. He looked around his bedroom. He got out of bed and checked the doors in the hall. There were no posters anywhere! He had been dreaming the whole time! With a smile concealed beneath his mask, Meta Knight got back into bed and fell asleep, face down.

The End?