Interdimensional Academy

The Castle of the Star Spirits

"Please, call me Piko," the beautiful prince smiled. "You are friends of Celestia, and it's my duty to take care of you while you're here. You don't have to be formal!"

"Thank you, Piko," Selene smiled back. "That's very kind of you!"

"You're welcome! Now, allow me to welcome you into my home," Piko smiled as he opened the palace doors and led everyone inside.

Inside the palace, everything was decorated in white and blue, with star patterns and white flowers adorning everything from tapestries to tablecloths. In the large dining hall, which was even bigger than the one back at school, there was already another group of people bustling about and chattering as they grabbed food and sat down at the table.

A blue-haired boy in a black outfit and a purple-haired boy in a white outfit and black-and-white checkered scarf sat together, apparently deep in conversation, and two blonde girls, one dressed in pink and the other in a violet sweater vest over a white t-shirt and a purple skirt, seemed to be arguing over something or other, the one dressed in pink swearing loudly and frequently.

A tall boy with long, dark hair who was wearing an almost military-looking dark green outfit and a black mask that covered the lower half of his face sat alone, reading a book and picking at his food. A few seats away, there was a girl with white hair and tan skin conversing with a short redheaded girl wearing an oversized witch's hat.

A boy in a green jacket was babbling on at a frantic pace to a disinterested audience of a pink-haired girl in a green hoodie who was tapping on some sort of tablet and an exasperated brown-haired boy with one red eye and one green eye. Selene wasn't sure what he was talking about, but she could pick up the words "hope" and "despair", and she furrowed her brow. What was going on? Who were these people?

Even more people were in various parts of the room, from a girl with long green hair tied in braids to a petite girl with blonde pigtails who wore an orange kimono.

"Uh, Piko?" Susie spoke up. "Who exactly are these people? What do they have to do with Celestia? Are they star spirits or something?"

Piko shook his head. "They're from another world...apparently, there was a truly evil woman from their world...she was known as the 'Ultimate Despair', and she was resurrected by Cozy Glow and Jevil using Lucoa's goddess magic, and now she's back to wreaking havoc. They've all had to take refuge here until she's defeated again..."

"I thought they used my magic for Fukase," said Lucoa.

"Mayu and Gaster realized there was still some left over, and Gaster manipulated the void so they could travel to this other dimension and resurrect her...with this Ultimate Despair lady on their side, they're more powerful than ever...that's why the princesses didn't want you joining in the fight," Piko explained. "It could be too dangerous."

"So what's this Ultimate Despair lady's deal?" asked Kris.

"I don't know too much about her, but it seems like she and her associates used highly advanced technology to trick people into killing one another, and even hijacked virtual-reality simulations," Piko said. "That boy with the pink hair, and the girl in the hoodie and the boy in the green jacket and the one with the brown hair, and the girl with the pigtails...they're called Ultimates. Them and some others were trapped in a virtual reality simulation that the Ultimate Despair had hijacked, but luckily, none of them died for real...except the pink-haired girl...she was an AI, but Twilight found a way to give her a physical form."

Susie blinked. "Oh-kay."

"Are those people Ultimates, too?" asked Kanna, pointing to the two blonde girls and then to the purple-haired boy and his blue-haired friend.