//------------------------------// // Chapter 41: To Face the Threats // Story: Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers // by Lucar //------------------------------// So much for "you need to process all this before you wake up." After her sudden awakening, Sweetie Belle couldn't go back to sleep, so she spent the rest of the night awake and thinking by herself about all that DD told her. A God of Light and a God of Darkness about to escape their prisons to spread their respective element and engulf countless universes in them. A mysterious army preparing to face said Gods but making many universes suffer in the process. And DD themself. A Devourer. An entity powerful beyond imagination, even above Gods, responsible of her ending up in Dream Land and waiting for her to fully ascend to devour her. All this adding to Team Rainbow Rocket, a group searching to enslave the Gods of a world and to corrupt them to become unrivaled, probably searching to spread their influence to multiple universes. It was... overwhelming, even for her. Four multiversal threats. Five if the two Gods were counted separately. Although DD could be debated. They were a threat, but right now, to nobody. They will be a threat only to her in a couple of centuries. Right now, they could be considered as an ally since they will help her. But still... Team Rainbow Rocket was actually the most direct threat, but the army could hit anytime. They had to start preparing to face it now, especially if it was as powerful and as dangerous as DD hinted it to be. And this meant that Sweetie Belle had to leave and search for allies to help her without waiting for Team RR to be dealt with. DD assured her anyway that the Pokémon League could fight them even without her. Still, she was feeling guilty of thinking of leaving them to face the Rockets after telling them that she would be here to help. But she couldn't wait for Team RR to show themselves again which could take days, or even weeks. She will, however, remain in contact with the Pokémon League in case they did end up needing her help. She wasn't sure how yet however. Maybe she will send Magolor to build a portal, either in prof. Oak's lab or in the Indigo Plateau. Speaking of, she will have to go warn her friends in the Dream Universe. Obviously, against these threats, they will assemble again, and for this, they will need to prepare, to know what they will be up against. But first, she had to talk with her friends here, in this world. Once they woke up. Sweetie Belle's news really worried everyone who heard them, ponies, humans, dragon, and Pokémon. Sweetie Belle had made sure to call Red, Blue, and Gold to tell them alongside Rarity and the others. As if Team Rainbow Rocket wasn't enough, there were now these new possible threats. "And that... DD couldn't tell you when that army would hit?" Blue asked in annoyance. "I was wondering the same thing," Sweetie Belle answered frustrated. "They just told me the bare minimum. The threats exist. They are serious. What they are. But not who they are, where they are, and when they will start. Well... time is complicated since it differs from universe to universe, so I guess it wouldn't have been that simple. Unless there's a measure unit to tell 'time' or whatever for the whole Omniverse? I will have to ask DD if they decide to contact me again." "You want to talk with them despite them wanting to devour you?" Rainbow asked in incomprehension. "Well, this problem won't come before a long time, so until then, I should as well try to get as much info about the Omniverse from them as I could. Anyway..." Sweetie Belle looked at the humans. "Because of this, I must go and prepare to face this army, and I won't be able to remain in this world to help against Team Rainbow Rocket. If you want, I can send a friend to build a portal to my world wherever you want so you can contact me." "And my friends and I will be able to remain a few days," Twilight said. "But not long, sadly. Time passes faster in Equestria, and we have our own duties. Already a little over four days passed in Equestria since we entered this world. We can be absent for a week or two, but not more." Gold let out a sigh. "We understand. Don't worry, with all its resources, the League should be able to face Team Rainbow Rocket. But we will gladly accept this portal for a worst case scenario." Sweetie Belle nodded before she looked at Twilight. "By the way, if you remain here, I should turn you back into your normal-selves so you can use your magic and all to directly fight the Rockets if they appear." "Right." "And we will train our Pokémon as much as possible so they will be strong enough to face them!" Rainbow Dash added. "Yeah!" Pinkie Pie shouted. "After my Pinkie Special Training Montage, my Pokémon will blast Team Rocket off until they're just little twinkle stars in the sky!" "Well said, Pinkie," Applejack said. Sweetie Belle then looked at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. "You can remain too if you want. You still have a whole day to spend here before you have to come back for school. And with the grown ups around and your Pokémon, you should be okay." "Ya won't mind?" Apple Bloom asked. "Not at all. Why should my absence deprive you from having fun in another world? I won't be jealous, I get my dose every weeks when I go adventuring." "It's just... At the origin, this vacation was for the three of us... Together..." Scootaloo said. "I know..." Sweetie Belle replied sadly. "I'm sure that we will get more occasions to explore worlds together. Once Team Rainbow Rocket, the army, and the two Gods are gone." Once everything was said, Sweetie Belle turned the ponies and Spike back to normal before she hugged her friends, opened a rift, and passed it, returning to Equestria. There... "Discord! I need to talk to you!" she yelled. And the draconequus appeared. "Just in time, I was starting to get bored! What is it?" "I was contacted by a Devourer." Discord's expression turned into horror. "I presume you know what it is," the filly said upon seeing this. "Of course I know about THE GREATEST THREATS THAT COULD ENTER OUR LITTLE SECTION OF THE OMNIVERSE!!! I guess it's time to change universe before this one gets devoured." "Don't worry! The Devourer won't devour anything! They told me!" Discord cocked an eyebrow. "Excuse me if I have a hard time believing it." "Well, they intend to devour something but... it's me once I fully ascend into godhood. until then, they aren't a threat." "Oh, they're one of these Devourer. Oh thank goodness... Mmh... I will miss you." The filly rolled her eyes. "I don't intend to let myself being devoured, but that's for later. Right now, the Devourer warned me of a couple of threats, and they advised me to warn you as quickly as possible so you could help me." "What kind of threats are we talking about?" "Multiversal ones. Two Gods and an army. The army should be the first threat." "Mmhmmh... Battling an army across the Omniverse by yourself... Nope. You will need help." "I know. I'm planning to start right away by warning Kirby and the others in the Dream Universe, but they may not be enough so I will go explore more universes in search of more allies." "And you can count on me to help you!" Discord said with a salute. "Give me a day or two." Sweetie Belle hugged him. "Thank you Discord. Now I must go. Good luck." She then opened a rift and flew through it to the Dream Universe. Once the rift was closed, Discord returned to his home in his chaotic dimension and opened a computer to enter the Chaosnet. Discord: Search OP partners for an OP Sweetie Belle to save universes. Best chaotic combinations are preferred. Discord: You really need to precise this? We all know that an OP Sweetie Belle must go with an OP Apple Bloom and an OP Scootaloo for the best chaotic effect. Discord: Of course I know. But it's always good to precise. And there may be other surprisingly good combinations. Eris: Like what? Twilight Sparkle: Two words: Pinkie Pie. Everything is 1000% more chaotic with her in the team, no matter who she's with. Eris: True enough. Pinkie Pie: I can attest to this! Celestia: A Celestia mode Trollestia also works. But I know nobody OP enough. Sorry. Discord: How OP are we talking about? Discord: My OP Sweetie Belle can blow up planets. THAT OP. Or close enough. Discord: Oh, it shouldn't be hard. OP Ponies that can blow up planets aren't rare in the Multiverse. Discord: I know. That's why I ask. So, anybody? It's urgent. "So, I can count on you?" Sweetie Belle asked. Everybody in the room either enthusiastically cheered or simply nodded more calmly. Sweetie Belle had gathered everyone who had been in the hero team that faced Void plus Void himself in a room inside Dedede's castle and she told them everything. By the end, everyone was determined to face this army and these two Gods; to help their friend, save the universe(s), or just to FINALLY have some action (Dark Meta Knight). "You can be certain that if that army decides to try its luck with Pop Star, it will quickly learn why all attempts of invasion failed!" Dedede shouted, and many agreed with him. "Thank you everyone! Now, Magolor, can you and a few others from New Halcandra go to the Pokémon World to build a portal?" "We will need to prepare the materials first. Give us a few hours," the egg-shaped alien said. "And we will also prepare materials to build portals in other worlds." Meta Knight nodded. "Thanks to them, we will be able to intervene into other worlds without needing Sweetie Belle, Void, or Galacta Knight to open rifts. The more worlds have portals, the better." "The problem is that as long as we don't exactly know what we're up against, we won't be able to prepare correctly," Daroach said. "That can't be helped. We will just have to prepare as best as we can and wait for them to show themselves," Sweetie Belle said. Later, as everyone began to leave, the filly approached Taranza, calling his name. "Yes?" the spider asked as he stopped to look at Sweetie Belle after her call. "I have something for you," Sweetie Belle said before she showed a small paper. "I thought that it was time for Floralia to have a new emblem." Curious, Taranza took the paper and looked at the drawing. The drawing was of the Dreamstalk. However, the flowers were rainbow-colored, and the roots were coming out of a black heart. Or was it a heart-shaped hole? Hard to say. "What do you think? I was inspired for the heart by my last adventure. It's my SOUL." "Your soul?" "Yeah, it had this form and this color in this world. A SOUL of void." Taranza looked back at the drawing before he smiled at Sweetie Belle. "I think that it's perfect. I can't wait to have it displayed on the walls of the castle." "Yay!" Sweetie Belle spent the following hours doing various activities. She spent some time with Kirby and the others, she sparred with the knights to train, she did a small friendly fight with Void, and once Magolor and the ones he selected were ready, she sent them to the Pokémon World to build the portal. Finally, she opened a rift to start her search of new allies. And she arrived inside some building. A very ancient, dilapidated, partially destroyed building. The part where she appeared seemed mostly intact, but further, the room was entirely destroyed to the point that it looked more the inside of a cavern than of a building, any sculpted part having left their place to simple walls, ground, and ceiling of rock. She could see a door beside her with some blue shield on it for some reason. The futuristic kind of shield, transparent and all, which looked really out of place in these ancient ruins. Some round plants that looked very solid were growing on the stone walls and ceiling of the destroyed part of the room, and at the end of said part, there was a circular passage, the cracked stones around it making it look like it had been forcefully placed here. And on a wall, there was some creature trapped in ice. Sweetie Belle could feel that it was still alive. However, it didn't look very friendly... But deciding to not judge a book by its cover, Sweetie Belle quickly freed the creature from the ice. It took it some time to recover its senses, but when it did and it spotted Sweetie Belle, it immediately attempted to attack her with a feral savagery. Sweetie Belle promptly beheaded it with one of her beam swords. "Should have left you in your ice, ugly," she said out loud before she began to think. So... What do I do now? I probably haven't entered this universe by hazard. DD told me that they will guide me, so they probably made it so my rift led me to this universe, and this means that I will find someone who will become an ally. So, I guess that I have to search. But first..." Using a similar method that she used with the Pokémon Universe, she determined that time in this new universe was faster than in Equestria. Some quick calculation later, and she found out that it was by six days to one, give or take a few hours. Perfect. It meant that she could take her time without worrying about being in time to take Apple Bloom and Scootaloo from the Pokémon World for school. But now, she was wondering what kind of person she will find in these ruins. If she appeared in these ruins, it meant that the person she was searching wasn't far, right? And right on cue, she heard the door with the blue shield opening, and she quickly looked in its direction to see someone approaching. An humanoid being. Whoever they were, they were inside some kind of futuristic armor entirely covering their body, leaving no way for her to see who they were under it. Part of it was orange, mainly on the arms and legs. The rest was a blue-grey color, excepted the top, the chest and the head, which were red with a deep green visor. There was also some kind of device in the center of the chestplate that was glowing blue, and the parts between the plates of armor was traversed by lights of the same color as the visor. Finally, the right arm, starting from the elbow, was replaced by an arm cannon. Arm cannon that the being immediately pointed at her when they spotted her still beside the beheaded corpse of the creature she killed earlier. Yeah... Standing beside a fresh kill wasn't giving a good first impression...