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In the forest of Whispy Woods, a great amount of inspiration and relaxation can come from here. Whether that be from the passive (if not provoked) wildlife or the wise and helpful tree of Whispy (also if not provoked), the forest was truly a place of peace and commerce in Dreamland. Because of this, the denizens of Dreamland visit the forest of Whispy Woods daily, a few of Dreamland’s Defenders and their friends can be seen there now. One of those friends is painting something on a canvas.
“A splash of red here, a dribble of green there…a-add some finishing touches…aaaaand…
Tada!”
The queen of Ripple Star steps away from her canvas, showing a hastily drawn, but still impressive painting of Adeleine. The girl in question has hair that looks a bit messy in the painting, and she’s missing her iconic red beret, but it’s accurate at the very least. Adeleine hops off of the tree stump she was sitting on, her bare feet touching the grass as she walks over to take a look at the art piece of herself, quite proud of Ripple’s skill.
“Ooh, very well done, Elaine! The painting is a bit messy in some spots, but it looks pretty darn good to me!”
Kirby, Bandana Dee, and Dedede also nod, the three boys sporting monocles on their dominant eyes. The King even adds a mustache to his costume for extra authenticity.
“I do say,” Dedede starts in a regal tone.
“The art here is quite majestic ‘f I do say so myself.”
“The curves on the painting,” Bandana Dee continues.
“They truly bring out the goal of the artist here. This gets a wanya, out of me.”
“I wove it, poyo!” Kirby yells, not caring at all for the tone the other two had planned.
“It wooks just like Adeleine too! I wike it a wot, poyo poyo!”
Queen RIpple giggles to herself, rubbing the back of her head with her oversized sleeve in embarrassment.
“Now now boys, it isn’t even that good…b-but I appreciate your critique. Truly, I-I do. I’d give you medals if I had any for your costumes alone…
…how did you get those on so quickly anyways?”
“Magic, wanya.”
The gang just giggles at this. Today was truly a great day for drawing. Mr. Bright was shining proudly in the sky, the breeze of spring had just rolled in to help flowers bloom and birds chirp, and the air was warm and pleasant. Someone could take a fluffy nap here if they wanted to. That’s not what the group of friends were doing however. Adeleine had the bright idea of taking everyone outside for a picnic and to do some drawing, and a good idea it certainly was. Kirby insisted that he bring Ribbon and her older sister and queen of Ripple Star, Queen Ripple, better known as Elaine, along for the picnic. It’s rather obvious that they happily accepted.
As Ripple starts to grab a paintbrush and starts painting again, she notices Ribbon flying to them with a basket. She seems to be struggling to hold it…
This makes Ripple set her brush down and fly over to her sister in order to give her a hand.
“W-Would you like some help, my dear sister?”
“Elaine! I-I’m alright, you don’t have to worry…I can carr–and you’re already taking it from my hands, okay.”
“I’m sorry, Ribbon, I just got w-worried…I hate s-seeing you hurt.”
Ribbon sighs. Her poor sister was such a worrywart, a small frown almost always on her face. How she wanted to help her…
“...Alright, alright, you can take it…just…try not to worry so much, alright?”
The two fairies start to fly back to everyone else, who are picking out a good spot to put the picnic blanket, Kirby, Adeleine, and Dedede picking out grass and weeds as Bandana Dee begs for them to stop ruining Whispy’s forest.
“Hey, boys,” calls Ripple.
“We brought the food! My sister stole it from me though…” RIbbon playfully scowls at Ripple.
“Oh, please, I h-helped! Your poor little wi-wings couldn’t get you over here if you tried.”
Kirby and Dedede giggle at the sisters’ debacle as Bandana Dee and Adeleine sigh and break up the fight.
“Relax, you two! We appreciate you bringing the food in the first place, Ribbon.” Adeleine hugs the small fairy as Bandana Dee talks to Queen Ripple.
“And thank you, Queen Ripple, for getting the basket over here! Simple as that.”
Ripple rests her wings, landing her feet onto the grass before she rubs the Waddle Dee’s noggin.
“You know y-you don’t have to address me like that…Ripple or Elaine is just fine.”
Bandana Dee closes his eyes in contentedness in response to the head rubs. The fairies chuckle at this.
“Okay, wanya…”
“Can we eat now?” whines Adeleine.
“I haven’t eaten breakfast…”
“Yeah, poyo. I want some watermelon already…”
“O-Of course!”
The gang digs in at this point. Adeleine is somehow managing to eat more than Kirby for the small amount of time she’s able to. As they munch on their lunch, conversation breaks out between the six friends.
“So,” Ripple starts.
“What exactly do you all do in Dreamland? It seems pretty peaceful from what I’ve seen…”
“Not much happens here, Rip’,” King Dedede replies.
“Occasional event here and there, but not much goes on around here.”
Kirby, Adeleine, Bandana Dee, and Ribbon all look at Dedede with bewildered and confused expressions.
“You’re just saying that because you can’t protect your kingdom and always get possessed,” Adeleine says smugly as she takes a satisfactory bite out of her sandwich. The self-proclaimed King takes offense to this statement.
“Hey, I do kingly stuff all the darn time!”
“Liiiiike~?”
“I have to feed all those Waddle Dees for one! Them alone got me paying millions in Point Staws!”
“How many are there anyways?” asks a curious Ripple.
“Oh, not that many, just 4,271,992.”
The two fairies (and by extension, the only human) stare at Bandana Dee in shock.
“H-How are there that many?!”
“And those are only for the ones who live at the castle???”
Bandana Dee nods nonchalantly, nibbling on his rice ball (jelly-filled donut if you're strange) as if this wasn’t news or at all surprising to him. Ripple’s jaw is agape.
“N-Nova Christ…that’s…that’s just…
W o w.”
“A lot of ‘em commit meiosis and just create new ones,” Dedede chimes again.
“Those dees are weird, but they’re mah children.”
“...Wat’s meiosis, poyo?”
Dedede pats Kirby’s head in response.
“Dontcha worry your round head ‘bout it, Kirbeh.”
“Otay…” The pink puffball simply returns to nibbling on his slice of strawberry shortcake (not mouse infested this time luckily enough), not a care in the world in his head. Ripple smiles. How she wished she could be as carefree as Kirby and his friends were.
Speaking of which, she hadn’t checked on Adeleine yet.
“O-Oh, before I forget, h-how are you, Adeleine? How goes painting?”
The Earthly Artist looks up from her sketchbook, doing her best to draw Ripple with her trusty box of crayons. Despite her diligent work ethic, she makes conversation as she draws.
“Drawing is going great, actually, thanks for asking! Trying to perfect the craft of the one I’m on right now…hey, how many freckles do you have on your face?”
Ripple confusingly counts how many freckles she has.
“...Six? Three on each cheek. Why?”
“Good, thank you.”
She pulls out a black crayon and adds the finishing touches to the main piece before she grabs her eraser and gets rid of the outline around her drawing.
“Aaaaand, viola (pronounced ve-ola for comedic purposes)! Another masterpiece.
It’s you, Ripple!”
Ripple looks at the drawing in amazement, smiling at the picture.
“Awwww, thank you, Adeleine! It looks so accurate and sweet…”
Adeleine giggles at this compliment. She tears the page off of her sketchbook and hands it to Queen Ripple.
“Here,” Adeleine cheerfully proclaims.
“I want you to keep it, alright?”
Ripple is astonished by this action.
“Y-You want me to keep this? Really?? I-I can’t accept this, Adeleine…”
“Pleaaaaaaaase?” Adeleine makes a cute expression at Ripple. The Fairy Queen sighs as she rolls her sleeves, reluctantly taking the drawing.
“Alright…thank you so much, Adeleine. I truly do appreciate your craftsmanship.”
Adeleine suddenly yawns not too long after her giggling departs.
“I’m sleepy…”
A yawn from Kirby follows soon after.
“Me too, poyo…”
Ribbon, feeling the drowsiness wash over her as well, takes out some pillows and blankets for everyone to share. She sets them up right above the sunlight peeking out through the trees, wishing to get the best possible space for everyone to rest at.
“Everyone,” Ribbon sleepily calls.
“Over here…”
In a few quick moments after, everyone was bundled up under the blankets and had fallen asleep, warmed by the sun’s rays and the blows of the cool wind. Kirby had always been a fan of sleep at this hour, but he never knew his friends partook in them too. He smiles happily as he drifts off to sleep, holding Ribbon as he does so.
A few hours later…
The sun was starting to set upon Dreamland. The skies were beginning to darken from its burning orange color as the radiant moon began to shine overhead.
Queen Ripple regained consciousness, the first out of the group of pals. She looks over everyone, seeing them all still sleeping soundly, not a single care in the world to be found in their peace-ridden expressions. Ripple smiles at this sight. Seeing her friends so content…they simply put her at peace for the first time in a while.
She locates her glasses, not putting them on for no apparent reason, instead holding them as she flies away with her fairy wings, a small trail of fairy dust following her and touching the grass, blossoming new flowers in Whispy Woods.
Ripple couldn’t exactly see where she was going, but she had enough sight to where she could see enough in front of her to make sure she didn’t hit anything or anyone. She eventually comes across a lovely patch of flowers, letting herself fall next to it. She rests on her knees, admiring the flowers closely.
“Wow…they’re beautiful.”
She gently plucks one out of the ground, taking in the flower’s sweet scent.
“Ahh…”
Ripple’s smile grows wider. She truly felt at peace here. She puts her glasses back on to admire the flower even more, noticing Kirby sitting next to the patch of flowers next to her.
“Oh!”
Ripple jumps in surprise at the new visitor.
“H-Hello, Kirby! When did you wake up…?”
“Not too wong ago, poyo!” Kirby seems just as cheerful and happy as ever.
“Everyone else is stiww snoozing away.”
“I-I see…”
Ripple calms herself as she folds her glasses again, staring into the sky as her braids flow into the air. Kirby looks up as well.
“Are you wooking for somting, poyo?”
“Oh…not at all. Just staring up at the sky.”
“Oooh, you wanna make a with? I wike making withes.”
Ripple giggles at the puffball’s childlike dialect.
“I haven’t made any wishes in a long time, Kirby…besides, there aren’t any–”
Kirby interrupts Ripple as he jumps, pointing his stubs into the air.
“Staw! Staw! With Staw!!”
The fairy looks up at the sky, a shining and majestic Sparkling Star flying through the atmosphere. Ripple read about the Sparkling Stars of yore, the magical artifacts having the tradition of wishing upon them whenever they zoomed past Dreamlanders. With this in mind, she closes her eyes, thinking of her wish. Kirby is still bouncing around as happy as can be when she opens her eyes again.
“Did you make a wish, Kirby?” Ripple asks the boy, to which he nods.
“I made a with fo–”
Ripple closes Kirby’s mouth before he can speak his mind.
“K-Kirby! You know y-you can’t say your wish out loud! It won’t come true at that point!
…I would know…”
Kirby tilts his head, puzzled at this response. He sits next to Ripple yet again.
“Wen was youwore wast wish, Wipple…?”
Ripple sighs sadly before she responds.
“It was quite a long time ago. I used to always wish for things, wish on anything really. A star, a bright shining heart, so on, so forth. It was the same thing each time…but I never got it.
I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you, would it?”
Kirby tilts his head as he listens intently.
“…I wish I didn’t have all of this…anxiety. I mean, look at me, Kirby. I’m jittery, I’m easily scared, I worry 24/7, Ribbon tells me she sees me more sad than she sees me happy…a-and that’s the only other thing that truly scares me.
The fact that my little sister notices my paranoia…it’s strange and takes me aback, y’know?
I-I don’t want to think and feel this way, I-I really don’t…but I just can’t help it.”
Kirby looks out to the sky again.
“...Is being queen hawd, Wipple?” Kirby asks.
“I-It’s not even that hard, Kirby! The fairies are kind, they keep themselves in order, i-it shouldn’t be as hard as I’m making it out to be!
…But it is hard. A-At least for me…”
Ripple looks down at the flower patch once again.
“If I want to be a proud and strong ruler for my people…then I need to get over this. No queen can be this nervous, have THIS much anxiety…I don’t want this, Kirby. I just don’t.”
The queen suddenly feels a hug at her side. She looks down and finds Kirby giving her the best hug he could provide with his small, round stature. Truthfully, the puffball is just hugging her leg…but it’s more than enough for Ripple, as she crouches down and hugs Kirby back, starting to weep a little as she hugs her friend.
“Is otay, Wipple…tings wiww get beteww…I pwomise.”
Kirby continues hugging Queen Ripple as the monarch cries and cries…she must’ve really needed this. Oh, the poor queen of Ripple Star…
The fairy eventually lets go of the puffball, still crying and weeping. Her face is red and hot and she isn’t sure when she’d stop. She surely couldn’t go back to everyone else in this state. Ripple just crosses her legs and lets her tears fall onto the flower patch. At the very least, she would be watering the flowers. The overworked and anxiety-filled fairy queen shuts her eyes, not wanting to confront anyone who could potentially see her like this.
That wouldn’t last for long, however…
“...Elaine?”
Ripple slowly opens her fuzzy, wet eyes, finding Ribbon, Adeleine, Bandana Dee, Dedede, and Kirby in front of her blurry vision. She covers her face.
“Please, all of you…leave…y-you can’t see me like this…”
Ribbon is the first to comfort the queen, hugging her tightly. Ripple is thoroughly confused.
“Wh-What? Ri-Ribbon, what’re y–”
“Elaine.
Just let me comfort my sister. Please.”
Adeleine hugs her now.
“It’s okay, Ripple…it’s okay. I promise it’s okay…you’re not the only one who experiences this.”
Then Bandana.
“Anxiety is tough…I can understand why you feel like you can’t handle anything. I feel that way sometimes too…”
Dedede.
“...Look, I’m not the best in d’ sappy department, but folks care about you, Rip’. Believe me, bein’ a monarch to y’ people can be taxin’ at times, but it’s well worth it.”
Finally.
There was Kirby.
The puffball doesn’t say anything, simply giving Ripple a quick drawing he made with Adeleine’s crayons. It’s a very sloppy drawing of Kirby, Bandana Dee, Adeleine, Dedede, Ribbon, Ripple being at the very center of it. Hearts are plastered all over the drawing, specifically around Ripple. Other fairies fly around the queen, flowers being thrown into the air by them, seemingly showing appreciation to their long-sleeved monarch.
Queen Ripple puts her glasses back on to fully admire what Kirby has given her. She smiles happily, putting the drawing onto the ground and hugging everyone back.
“Thank you,” the fairy quietly speaks.
“Thank you, so so much…”
The gang stayed in that position for a long while, Ribbon chiming once more during this moment.
“...Elaine?”
“Yes, Ribbon…?”
“I hope that you know you’re the perfect queen in my heart. Your people care about you, Elaine.
I care about you.
Don’t ever forget that, okay?”
“...Okay, Ribbon. I promise.”
Ripple eventually shuts her eyes in the hug, starting to weep again as she holds her dear friends.
Maybe her wish would indeed come true in the future.