The next day, as everyone was sitting in the dining hall, eating their breakfast, they heard the sound of hooves clopping frantically, and the doors burst open.
"Luna! Celestia! Twilight!" exclaimed Cadence. "You're back!"
Twilight sighed. "But we have some bad news..."
Cadence frowned. "What kind of bad news?"
"It's hard to explain," said Luna. "But what you need to know is that Len and his followers are planning to raid the school, and we'll need to teleport all of you to a safe place that we've prepared while we fight them off on our own."
"We can fight them alongside you, your highness!" exclaimed Sandbar.
"We've fought them off before," agreed Susie.
"It's different this time..." Luna sighed.
"What do you mean?" Kanna piped up.
"Like I said...it's hard to explain," Luna answered. "We'll get you there and then an ally of ours will explain for you...right now, you need to get to safety."
"But princess!" shouted Ocellus.
Just then, there was a loud pounding noise, as if the front doors of the school were being broken down.
Luna extinguished the lights throughout the school and Celestia quickly created a portal, which Twilight cast a shield around to protect the students and teachers as they entered, with the friendship students going first.
"Cadence, you go with them," she said, turning to the pink alicorn.
"I want to fight too!" Cadence replied. "These monsters killed my Shining Armor!"
"You can come back after you've taken everyone to safety," Celestia answered. "Lucoa no longer has her goddess powers. You must go! Hurry!"
Cadence led the rest of the students and teachers through the portal, and as it closed and they heard the sounds of Len and his associates entering the school, they all wondered what would happen next.
When they emerged from the portal, the group noticed that they were in some sort of clearing in a forest, although one they were unfamiliar with. There was a beautiful palace made of white crystal a short way from where they had landed, and the path was paved with round white stones reminiscent of the moon. Flowers bloomed all around them, the white blossoms shining against the dark foliage surrounding the clearing like stars.
As they got closer to the palace, a boy walked out of the giant double doors and greeted the group with a friendly wave. He was dressed in a white tunic, a blue cape the color of the night sky that was decorated with glittering stars, black leggings and white shoes, and an almost halo-like circlet of blue gemstones that matched the exact shade of the cape. He had chin-length white hair, with a single unruly strand at the top pointing up like a question mark. His eyes were mismatched, one leaf green and one sky blue.
"Are you a friend of the princesses?" asked Ocellus.
The boy nodded. "I am Prince Utatane Piko of the star spirits. Celestia had reached out to me and my people for guidance on how to join the dimensions together in peace and harmony, and now that Cozy Glow and the others have formed an alliance, we shall help you defeat them, as since Lucoa has lost her goddess powers, it will be an even more difficult task than it was previously. Even though Cozy Glow has ended up in Tartarus, Len is still a draemon prince. You guys need all the help you can get."
"It's nice to meet you, your majesty," Selene said, curtsying. "And thank you for offering to help us defeat Cozy Glow and for giving us a safe place to stay."
"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.
"They are. It seems like another woman from their universe was inspired by the Ultimate Despair, and decided to create a simulation of her own, wiping people's memories and setting up her twisted little game..." Piko said solemnly. "She's still on the run, and we suspect that she's joined up with Len and his gang as well."
"That's awful..." Selene gasped.
"We can only hope that we're able to provide some sanctuary for everyone..." Piko sighed. "These people and their dimension has some highly advanced technology, and we need to figure out how to use our magic to combat it."
"This is all so scary and new..." Noelle said. "I knew there were other dimensions and that Len's forces were becoming stronger, but this is really scary..."
"All we can do is try and keep each other safe," Piko said. "You should eat...and then get some rest, okay? I know that things are probably really stressful for you all right now..."
"Thank you, Piko," Selene said, smiling. "I hope we can fight off Cozy Glow and her forces together and save everyone's dimensions."
"I hope so too," Piko said, smiling back.
As the group ate their dinner, Maika looked around the room. She didn't recognize any of these people, and many of them looked very strange to her. She listened to them talk, trying to learn their names, even though there were over thirty of them, and nearly choked on her ramen noodles as she heard a familiar one.
"Maki?" she gasped.
"Maki?!" IA exclaimed as well.
"IA? Maika?" a girl with long black pigtails and red eyes said, running over to them. "Is it really you? You look so different...I remember the day you guys left the orphanage and were recruited as Vocaloids...I wanted to go with you..."
"We wanted you to come with us too..." IA said. "I can't believe they did that to you..."
"You had to kill draemons to get money to survive," Maki said solemnly. "It's not too different...you went through a lot, too."
"How do you know that?" asked Maika.
"I heard Sachiko talking about draemons with the other adults who were in charge of the orphanage...I used to eavesdrop on them when I couldn't sleep," explained Maki. "By the way, why isn't she here with you...? I thought she would be..."
"She's...gone..." Maika sighed.
"We think that it might've been the Draemon King...or one of his servants," added IA.
"She was strict but...I miss her a lot," Maki said, tears welling up in her crimson eyes. "She was the closest thing to a mother we had..."
IA and Maika nodded in agreement.
"Wait, Maki, who are these two?" asked a tall purple-haired man with a goatee. "Do you know them?"
"Kaito, this is Maika, and this is IA," Maki said. "They were my friends at the orphanage when I was a kid."
"Kaito? We have a friend named Kaito too," said Megami Raito. She and Selene had both overheard the conversation that was going on, seeing as they were sitting right next to Maika and IA. "Well...had...one of Cozy Glow and Jevil's followers got him..."
"Cozy Glow? Who's that?" said Kaito. "Sounds like a kind of candle or something."
"Cozy Glow was the one in charge of the draemon forces before Len found out he was the draemon prince," explained IA. "She got put in Tartarus. Jevil's still there but Len and his boyfriend Oliver basically took over, and they're commanding the others now."
"Tartarus? I thought that was merely a myth...but then again, I thought draemons did not exist until quite recently," said the masked boy as he walked over to the group.
"Who are you?" asked Megami Raito.
"My apologies...it was quite rude of me to interrupt your conversation and not even introduce myself," he said. "My name is Korekiyo, although you may call me Kiyo for short."
"It's nice to meet you," said Selene, shaking his hand. "I'm Selene, and this is Megami Raito."
"I guess I should introduce myself too..." said a boy with light green hair. He had many earrings in his ears and also wore many rings on his fingers. "I'm Rantaro, and this is Shuichi." He pointed to the blue-haired boy, who waved shyly.
"I'm Kokichi!" the purple-haired boy grinned. "I'm Shuichi's boyfriend!"
"I'm Kaede, and this is Miu!" said the blonde girl in the violet sweater-vest. "It's really nice to meet you guys! We're all in this together, so I hope we can be friends!"
"I hope so too," Selene said. "I'm Selene!"
Everyone else introduced themselves, and after dinner, they were all quite tired after the journey to the palace from their different dimensions.
"You can all go pick out your rooms and go up to bed if you want," Piko smiled. "We have plenty of room for you all!"
"Shuichi, you're coming with me!" Kokichi declared, grabbing Shuichi's sleeve. "I can't sleep without my beloved there to hold me!"
"Let's go, lil sis!" Ilulu said to Selene, who nodded. "Us sisters gotta stick together, especially since we're in a new place."
Everyone headed off to bed, and while the Ultimates fell asleep relatively quickly, being rather used to strange and dangerous situations by now, it took a while for the adventurers to do so, as even though they'd fought evil many times before, they were worried about what could happen to the princesses , and when they eventually drifted off, they were plagued by nightmares, waking up in a cold sweat and terrified that the horrifying things they dreamed might indeed come to pass.