Equestria. Canterlot. Canterlot Castle. Day.
Currently, Celestia was still working hard. With Chrysalis' injury, she would pour more of her heart and soul into this. Hearing that her good friend took such a hit and might potentially perish was rather hard to take in. However, something was on Celestia's mind. Days ago, she spoke about how she wished Starswirl were here, believing he could do something about this. That was when she and Luna thought about trying to find anything that Starswirl could've written about Magehold.
After all, his knowledge of the magical world was gigantic, even studying unknown magical forces that hadn't been discovered before. An example was the Boundless Cutie Mark that Celestia possessed. Knowing this, Celestia started digging to see if Starswirl left something behind that had to do with Magehold. And the one place to look at was the same place where knowledge of the Boundless Cutie Mark was found. And that was deep within Canterlot and its library. A place that Starswirl abandoned along with the objects and words within. Here, Starswirl's abandoned books and spells that he was working on could be found.
"Perhaps Starswirl does know something about it," Celestia spoke, having Passion and Alcremie with her, entering a rugged and rough area of the library.
The array of books that were scattered everywhere along with notes all contained forms of magic Starswirl never completed. Whether it was by creating new ones or studying ones that already existed. The only thing that was seemingly close to completion was the Boundless Cutie Mark and yet, he never revealed it to the rest of the world.
It has certainly been a while since Celestia has been down here and this abandoned part of the library was somehow the safest place in all of Equestria after everything that has happened. Everything Starswirl abandoned was still here and the only ones who knew about this area were Celestia, Luna and some of the guards.
"Even though he taught Luna and I so much, he never did reveal everything. When he left, we had to learn everything else ourselves but there was still so much he never showed. He must have something about Magehold here. Let's get looking."
Celestia and her Pokemon would start searching, going through every book and note that could be found in this dark room. It barely had any light, having rather close walls and a lack of windows that shielded it from anything bright. But with Celestia's magic, light was brought into this room.
"Alcremie?" Alcremie picked up some notes, finding leftover spells that were never finished. One of them was called the Arc of Rhythm while the other unfinished spell was the Archive Eye. Alas, nothing here mentioned Magehold and Alcremie already soiled the notes with her vanilla body before she soon dropped it.
"Gardevoir..." Gardevoir found some unfinished magic of her own as well as magic that was still being studied. One of them was known as the Aria of the Highest Order. Gardevoir read it for whatever information she could gather, hoping it was useful.
It read that it was a powerful healing spell that did not come from Equestria. Starswirl seemed to have found something beyond Equestria which caught Passion's attention, hoping it was from Magehold. Alas, it was not. Instead, Starswirl's notes stated that it comes from a higher plane, belonging to Angels. There was even an artistic sketch of an Angel Pony, made by Starswirl, of course.
"Voir." Gardevoir sighed, putting the book aside as she would try and search for another.
"The best thing to do is to find the ones that are rather dark. That can lead us somewhere." Celestia already had a category in mind. Dark. If she could find something rather ominous and eerie, then Magehold's knowledge could be gathered. "Let's see..."
She would hold up as many books and notes as she could, viewing their contents. With how abandoned these were, it was likely that most were either too hard to understand, too long to complete and continue working or even too dangerous to go into. Celestia was hoping for the latter in this case.
"Let's see...Noblesse Authority...Phenomena Deconstruction...Karmic Elesis, Cursed Grail. Empty Vessel and...hmmm" She said their names out, finding no interest in these spells when reading about them. Even if she did find interest in them there wasn't much she could do as they were unfinished and hard to master, even for Starswirl the Bearded.
With her magic moving everything, Celestia would uncover more hidden books and notes that were covered up by the piles, surrounded by cobwebs. The words on those notes would light up thanks to Celestia's magic, becoming clearer. More spells that didn't seem to do much for her were dismissed as she was making a new pile. At least this one was organized instead of randomly scattered. And when moving all of them, that's when Celestia paused to eye one of them down.
"Maybe...this one will help. The Study of Malebolge. This looks interesting." She found something rather interesting, seeing if it had something to do with Magehold. During my travels, I came across what appeared to be a bubble that was embedded within a flower but it is actually a mysterious, demonic and extremely dense and dark power. Demons have never existed before until the incident at Tartarus. Oh!"
Surprisingly, Starswirl knew about the incident at Tartarus. Specifically, the Box of 100 Demons which meant that he knew about its existence and kept it a secret. But thanks to the Dread League, everyone knows about the box.
"Oh, so he knows about the box. Ah, but it wasn't made in Magehold though." Celestia pouted, realizing that the box was only famous with Magehold since they kept it for so long until Chrysalis, the rightful owner, retrieved it. "But then again...There might be something about this Malebolge that we should know about." Celestia would continue.
"Gardevoir?" Gardevoir and Alcremie would lean in to view what Celestia was reading about.
"However...This Malebolge seems to predate the Box that transformed the prisoners of Tartarus into demons. I also found that it appeared only 9 months after the box appeared, making it rather ancient. I theorize that the origins of Malebolge may be deeply connected to the Primordial Magic. When I encountered it, it was very much sentient but had no purpose. Noticeably, it had the power to create other demons with the mass of darkness within it. It can!?"
Rather shocking to hear. It was only recently that Chrysalis was said to have accidentally created the demons thanks to her latent magic. But apparently, something predates her. By 9 months, specifically.
"I managed to defeat these demons along with Malebolge with ease, surprisingly. They were rather young despite coming from such a terrifying force and exhibiting an intimidating aura. It was surprising since I believed they would be an issue being the first demons to ever appear. I wished to research Malebolge, bringing a remaining piece of it with me. But 9 months later, that piece was erased, dissolving into particles. After that, I ceased research on this demon as it was seemingly one of a kind. Hmm...Is that so?"
This was rather interesting for Celestia to hear. She had now discovered that a demon that predates Chrysalis and the other demons exists. Or rather, it used to exist. According to Starswirl, they vanished.
"If Chrysalis was born 9 months later...this means that when she was born along with the other demons, that Malebolge vanished. Did it respond to Chrysalis and end up being destroyed?" Celestia pondered. "Only Chrysalis can destroy a demon from what we know. And a specific light of course so that would add up. This is good but...Still nothing on Magehold. Keep looking."
The search continued for anything relating to Magehold. So far, Celestia had the right idea going for the darker subjects. Starswirl, being the knowledgeable pony he was, did travel places to expand his horizons. And there could be a chance he must've learned about Magehold and the vampires.
Alas, the only thing interesting so far was the Malebolge.
Ponyville. The Pokemon House.
"Okay, everyone. Gather around." Meanwhile, Fluttershy would call all of the Pokemon from the Pokemon House to gather around. Here at the Pokemon at the Pokemon House were Ash, Twilight and a few others. Here as well was Ember, who recently showed up yesterday and made another appearance. "We'll all come together to make a Get-Well-Soon Gift for Chrysalis. A really big one. I know she'll make it through so let's support her, okay?"
Support for Chrysalis was strong as they were all hoping she could make it. A gift for her would be constructed and judging by how many Pokemon were called to action, there was a good chance it would be a massive one. With Fluttershy's command, they would all get to work, preparing too craft the best possible gift for Chrysalis that they can muster.
"So, Ember. How'd you even get yourself a Z-Crystal? You went to Alola, didn't you?" Spike questioned Ember, bringing up the Dragonium Z that she revealed yesterday.
"Yeah, I went there. And let me tell you, I had to struggle to get this thing." Ember held the crystal. "This crystal just speaks to me. I can use it on most of my Pokemon which makes it all the more versatile. If we ever come across the Dread League, they'll have a taste of this."
"I hope not." Rarity shook her head. "They've been giving us too much trouble. I'm hoping that our next encounter with them is our last."
"It might be. The Lich Queen said that she was accelerating her plans so we might be seeing the Black Crusade soon." Twilight replied to Rarity. "Whatever happens next will kick things into motion. And I can't wait for this to be our last confrontation with them."
"Oh, it will." Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves in confidence. "We've got all the help we need. Those vampires are super weak to the light and struggle with our Pokemon. I mean, if it was just us going up against them, I don't think we'd stand a chance with how much faster and stronger they are than us. Minus me of course."
"But the Lich Queen isn't a vampire, so she's immune to that. And she's absurdly powerful for somepony who's far away from us and still healing. If she ever gets to full strength, there's no telling what she's capable of." Twilight shuddered at that fact. The possibility of a Full Power Lich Queen was rather mortifying.
"Relax. You have us to help out." Ember uttered. "All the Dragons will have your support. We'll torch all those vampires."
"Maybe not all of them," Twilight said. "I don't think we should go after every single vampire. They're not all bad."
"They're not?" Applejack, who has had a rough time with vampires and anything related to them, questioned.
"Some of them are just living their lives or wanting more than havoc. Spectrum Shade and Night Sprout are the biggest examples we know. Both of them are just interested in Pokemon. And from what I learned from Potion Nova, there might be more. We should only focus on stopping the Black Crusade from ever coming true and that's it."
"Easier said than done. They've got a Pokemon that can get the job done as quickly as they want." Spike sighed. "But uh...if Yveltal can just take everything out when its life ends, why haven't the Dread League done it yet?"
"Oh yeah." Spike brought up a good point that his friends commented on. "They would've done it long ago. What's stopping them?"
"It's because of Xerneas," Ash said, knowing exactly why they haven't done it. "They probably know about Xerneas by now. Xerneas brings life and can ignore Yveltal's destruction. If Yveltal destroys everything, then Xerneas can just bring it back like it was nothing. The Lich Queen's probably trying to do something about that."
"So the Dread League are going after Xerneas too?" Pinkie Pie added. What happens if they get Xerneas?"
"They'll probably try and snuff it out. That way, no one will be left to bring life back to the world." Twilight answered, already figuring out the outcome of that. "I hate to admit it but the Dread League are always catching up to us. Or maybe even moving ahead. We failed to keep them from gaining Bayleef's Fate Changing Ability and now one of them has that amazing power with her. We couldn't help Reshiram or even find him and who knows where he is after his battle with the Dread League. Fantina's been taken away from us and Chrysalis took a horrible blow and now her life is on the line and I'm not sure what else they're planning."
When spouting it all out, everyone soon realized how difficult the Dread League have truly been. They always managed to get an edge over Equestria in some way. All these accomplishments made the Dread League stronger and harder to take down without a doubt.
"No need to worry." But Ash wouldn't let that get to him, standing up. "We've proven we can beat 'em and we'll do just that. No time to sulk when their huge plan is coming straight for us. Even if we can't get through that barrier, we can always wait for them to come to us."
"Ash is right. We might have only one chance to make this work. All that matters is that we get Yveltal and Fantina back from Magehold." Twilight agreed. "But I do wish we had a way to bring that barrier down effectively. Maybe something from Starswirl the Bearded but I can't think of anything or find it."
"I bet Flash Magnus could totally find a way." Rainbow Dash said, bringing up another pony new to the ears of Ash's ears.
"Not sure what he would do. But ya know, maybe Rockhoof could do something about. Strong hooves and all." Applejack added.
"No, no. I'm pretty sure we know that brute strength isn't enough. Well, it is but...it must be a tremendous amount of it if we want to break that barrier." Rarity shook her head. "But perhaps if all Pillars were here today then they'd figure something out. All 6 of them would do the trick with how great their coordination was. I believe it was 6, right?"
"Uh, who are they?" Ash asked, curious about these Pillars. It was new to him.
"Huh? You don't know!" Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped. "You've been here for this long and you never learned about these ponies?"
"Nope." Ash shook his head along with Pikachu.
"Pikachu."
"Uh, I don't know either." Ember was in the same boat as Ash, having no clue about these pillars.
"Well, do we have something to share with you..." Twilight rubbed her hooves, eager to spill whatever she could about the Pillars.
"Ya'll ain't alone in this. I don't think Apple Bloom knows either." Applejack shrugged. "Your sis doesn't know too, does she, Rarity?"
"Not at all. Remind me about that. Ash, you should hear this. It's something we all learned when growing up here in Equestria. You're already aware of Starswirl the Bearded but there were 5 more ponies who assisted him."
"Yeah?" Ash leaned in, fully interested in this story and what it had to entail. It seemed like each of them had something to share for the most part. At least, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity had something to share. Fluttershy was still busy and Pinkie Pie was feeding some of the Pokemon here to really share anything. Either way, Ash was about to learn a lot.
Another Dimension.
The Strange Dimension where Galaxy Master's base resides. Still peaceful at the moment but the threats were there, waiting to strike. The fictional character would be ready and at the same time, joy filled his heart. His meeting with Ash had sparked something great that he couldn't but love. Being created after Ash's father made him practically an alternate version of his actual father. And Galaxy Master couldn't be happier about that.
"Alright, I'm here. What's up?" Arriving here was Galaxy Master's good ally, Potion Nova. She had used the Dimensional Potion to arrive here once more. By this point, the potion was at the tipping point, nearly empty.
"Glad you could make it my Potion Brewing Friend." Galaxy Master greeted her with Pikachu running over.
"Pika!"
"You had something to tell me? Is it the vampires again? Have they made a big move this time?"
"No, no, no." Galaxy Master shook his head. "But they are suspiciously moving around the Kalos Region more often. That's beside the point. It's the Pokemon. It seems that knowledge of their lost world seems to be expanding a bit. They recently revealed something to me."
"Really? What is it?" Potion Nova questioned. The Subspace Pokemon have apparently shared something of notice that resulted in Galaxy Master calling Potion Nova over.
"I had to write this name down multiple times since they all kept saying." He pointed at his monitor, showing a single name that was duplicated repeatedly based on how many Pokemon have said it. "Look."
And the name that was said the most was Prisma.
"Prisma? Uh...Who?"
"That's what we have yet to figure out." Galaxy Master shrugged. "They all spoke of a character named Prisma. Possibly from this Lost World that they originally came from. I'm not sure who he is but according to what they know so far, he was a prominent figure in that world."
"So is he here then?"
"Maybe. But strangely, the Pokemon only started talking about Prisma when Ash and the others showed up. Or at least, after they left. It's all they've been talking about since yesterday. He might be here or possibly not. Which is why we need to focus on that as well!"
"Don't we already have enough on our plate?" Potion Nova sighed. "I mean, I know you can't get tired since you're made out of Light Energy but I can."
Ah, apologies my unicorn friend." Galaxy Master apologized. "I won't strain you. But this Prisma thing is worth looking into. But before that, we have some Dread League activity. And, of course, it's over at the Kalos Region. They seem to be looking for something and the ones to find out will be us."
"We're going to Kalos?! Aaah! I hear it's a romantic city!" Potion Nova squealed. "Wish I had somepony to go with since I'm too busy but still!"
"Precisely! You may need to stock up on that Dimensional Potion of yours though." Galaxy Master suggested, already seeing the lack of liquid with this special potion.
"Yeah, I'll figure that out. Until then, you're gonna have to take me in and out of this place. So, where to Kalos next?"
"Wherever justice leads us." He would put his hands on his hips, posing as the Sun in the sky would beam down on him, responding to his comic-book-like nature. It was off to the Kalos Region. Galaxy Master and Potion Nova would be busy once more, dealing with everything else while the world knows about their achievements with how frequently they've been showing up.
There was one only reason for the Dread League being there. It was for Xerneas. Just as Ash suspected, they were going for the counterpart to Yveltal. And speaking of Ash, knowledge of the Pillars were about to be shared with him.
As the journey continues.
Chapter 111 End.