• Published 25th Dec 2020
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Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers - Lucar



Several months after her adventures on Popstar, Sweetie Belle decides it's time to start new adventures in new universes

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Chapter 75: Spreading The Shadows

Back in the Mushroom Kingdom, Sweetie Belle had finished explaining to everyone about the future threats she was working to counter by searching allies.

Without surprise, everyone agreed to help, and Peach and Daisy weren't against forming alliances with the three Equestria as well as all the other countries, worlds, and organisations Sweetie Belle already befriended.

Eventually, all the leaders will have to gather to talk together.

But first, Sweetie Belle still had to inform Zelda about that whole stuff, and even the Zelda of Past Hyrule even if she never encountered her.

There was also Frisk's world, but after the monsters' return, the filly wasn't sure of how this would go.

And then, there was still the case of Team Rainbow Rocket in the Pokémon World. While DD assured her that the League could deal with them for now, there was no doubt that the team needed to be eliminated in order for the talks of an alliance with the Pokémon World to go smoothly.

Sweetie Belle also wondered if she should return to that first universe she briefly visited just before the Pokémon World. All she saw were two alien species warring at each other, so she wasn't sure what to expect. One of these alien species had very advanced technology, so gaining it as an ally would be neat. But said alien species had been slaughtering the other species which didn't have technology at all (looking more like wild beasts), so it had looked more like a case of a superior civilization wiping out an inferior one in order to gain territory and/or resources, and Sweetie Belle wasn't sure if she wanted to become ally with a civilization that would do this. Or there may be another reason, she really didn't know. She will have to find out before deciding what to do.

But not right now. She didn't want to potentially lose time on this case when she knew that when she will open a rift to a new universe, DD will lead her to one where she will surely find new allies. With the mysterious army threatening to appear anytime, that was the last thing she wanted. Unless DD leads her to this universe, she will wait until the two Gods are eliminated before she will attempt to contact this potentially hostile advanced civilization.

Back to the Mushroom Kingdom however, there was the matter of rebuilding everything that had been destroyed during the Cankens' invasion. It had been the second subject of discussion after what Sweetie Belle brought up and the Mushroom Kingdom, which had been the less hit, was willing to give any help it could to the other countries, especially Metro Kingdom. Sweetie Belle also said that, as Queen of Floralia, she was willing to help too, and she was certain that once she talked to Luna, Equestria will help too. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom also proposed to have words with their respective princesses. Apple Bloom's case was helped since her world and this world were linked by a portal, even if said portal wasn't in the most accessible place.

They should work on this by the way.

And they should work on building more portals faster. Hopefully, with the Galactic Federation joining, it won't be a problem.

Dream Land was another matter... Sweetie Belle could convince Dedede to help too, but Dream Land didn't have any real government. Dedede was self-proclaimed King of Dream Land but despite his power and his army he had rather limited influence on the inhabitants of the country, and he wasn't really willing to put more work into it. He could do something to create a government and turn Dream Land into a real, organised country. He proved that he had the power back when he ordered his army to steal all the food. He just lacked the motivation. Or at least, the motivation to do it the nice way. As much as she loved Dedede, Sweetie Belle knew that if he had his way, he would turn the country into an autocracy where the only laws would be "bring food to the King at least ten times each days" and "have at least one statue of the King in your home". He still would be a very protective country leader as he proved in the past that he really cared for the lives of the ones under his wings, and even of the ones who weren't, but his HUGE ego allied to his gluttony and his laziness would really make him a terrible one.

Uh. Maybe Sweetie Belle should really annex Dream Land to Floralia. Give it a proper government while letting Dedede keep his power. She wondered how this would work. Maybe they would have something like Celestia and Luna, sharing power and all. Of course, there was no doubt that Sweetie Belle would do most of the work while Dedede would just... be Dedede, but she wouldn't mind.

Once the discussions were over, Sweetie Belle opened a rift back to Apple Bloom's Equestria.

"So, I drop Apple Bloom to her Equestria so she can talk to her Celestia and Luna, then Scootaloo to hers to do the same, and then I return to my Equestria to talk to my Luna before I'll go to Floralia. Once we're done, we will gather back here with the news. Alright?"

Everyone nodded, and the three fillies disappeared into the rift.

They came out right outside of Apple Bloom's home, Apple Bloom wanting to see first her family and her friends before going to Canterlot. Sweetie Belle then opened another rift to drop Scootaloo back to her world, leaving the Spirit of Death alone.

Apple Bloom opened the door to her house and shouted, "Ah'm home!"

"Just in time for dinner!" she heard Granny Smith shout back. "We were about to start!"

Apple Bloom ran to join her family at the table, seeing Big Mac and Granny Smith as well as Applejack and even her parents around it. The ghosts couldn't eat, but they never wanted to pass the occasion to have some family time around a meal. As for Applejack, she just had a glass of apple juice. Having a robotic body, it was all she could consume, the liquid being her source of energy (thanks Discord).

"Hey Bloom. Welcome back. So ya saved Mario's world?" Applejack asked.

"Eeyup! Ended up having ta fight some kin' of eldritch abomination with mah new friends," Apple Bloom said as she climbed on a chair while her mother served her. "But now, Mario and the others need help rebuilding everythin' that's been destroyed so Ah'll have ta talk ta the princesses ta see if they'll agree ta give some. There'd been a lotta damage."

"I'm sure they will agree," Pear Butter said.

Bright Mac nodded. "We owe a lot to this other world. Without their help, Ah don't think ya'd've defeated Thanatos. It's time for us ta repay this."

"But first, finish yer meal youngun," Granny Smith said.


Contrary to Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle left Scootaloo directly at Canterlot where the pegasus went to see her Celestia and Luna.

As soon as Scootaloo explained what happened, the princesses agreed to help who they knew will be future new friends. They however wondered how they will be able to send supplies to this other world. Scootaloo then proposed that they could maybe link the portal that was currently in Twilight's castle to the one in Luigi's basement and use it while waiting to build one bigger. She was however uncertain. She knew nothing about how this worked and she wasn't sure if it was possible to link two portals that were different and that hadn't been built to be linked to each other in the first place, but as long as there was a possibility that it could work... The Tails were already trying to link the portals in the two Mobius to the one in Sweetie Belle's universe, so it may be possible.

Maybe this Magolor Sweetie Belle talked about or other members of his people will be able to do it.

Once she was done, she decided to pay a visit to her friends. However, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom being at school for now, she went to see if Rainbow Dash was free from her work.

And she indeed found the pegasus chilling on a cloud, taking advantage of the warm sun.

Scootaloo teleported to her side and poked her. "Guess who's back."

"Mmh?" Rainbow Dash groaned but smiled as she recognized Scootaloo's voice before even opening an eye. She sat up happily on the cloud, her sleepiness immediately gone. "Hey Scoot! Welcome back! So, how did it go?"

Scootaloo smiled. "We entered an alternate Equestria where Ponyville is full of friendly ghosts, and the local Apple Bloom is the Spirit of Death."

"Spirit of Death? Like Discord being the Spirit of Chaos?"

"Yeah, and that's as epic and creepy as it sounds. She can kill pretty much everyone with just a touch, and she can summon the dead to create her own undead army. If we ever end up in the middle of a war, she will be redoubtable."

"No kidding," Rainbow Dash said with a chill creeping up her back. That was some bucked up powers.

Scootaloo then proceeded to recount the events of Mario's world in a passionate and over-dramatic way, and the mare listened with rapt attention.


Sweetie Belle finally appeared back in her dimension, in Canterlot.

However, when she asked if she could see Luna, she was told that the Princess was in Ponyville.

It wasn't new for Luna to pay a visit to Ponyville, but Sweetie Belle wondered what it was for. Twilight and the others weren't present after all. Only Starlight Glimmer was there, the mare having wanted to remain to continue to study friendship, but Sweetie Belle wasn't sure if her relationship with Luna had gone far enough that the Princess would pay her a courtesy visit.

So Sweetie Belle teleported to Ponyville, in the sky above the town to have a global view, only to see quite the scene at the portal.

Luna was here, beside Celestia and Gandaro, and the three of them were talking with who she recognized was Chairman Keaton from the Galactic Federation. There were also a few humans and other alien creatures, some wearing formal attires while others had armors (obviously guards, of the elite kind judging by their decorated armor), and there were also a few scientists (recognizable by their blouses) who were all gathered around Tails having what seemed to be a very animated and passionate discussion about whatever techno or science-stuff they were talking about.

It didn't take long for them to build their own portal. It must have been, what, four days in their universe? Five? Frankly, between their advanced technology and Gandaro's help, it wasn't surprising.

And it seemed that Keaton had wanted to see more about the Federation's potential future allies. Or just allies if the discussions were already over.

Starlight was also present behind the Princesses, and a crowd of onlookers obviously surrounded them, curious about the strangers. Among them, she could see some finding the armor of the guards very cool judging by the stars in their eyes. Well, space marines. Of course they're cool.

One of the guards spotted her and informed the Chairman, seemingly having been told who she was, and Sweetie Belle took it as her cue to approach without risking being shot.

She landed so that she faced both the Princesses and Keaton and said, "Hello. Nice to see you again Chairman Keaton. Welcome to Equestria. And hello too, Princesses. Hello Gandaro."

Keaton gave her a slight bow. "Thank you. It is nice to see you again too, Sweetie Belle. But I fear that I will not be able to remain here too long. I can't be away from my duties for more than a few days."

Sweetie Belle nodded. "And considering the time difference between our universes... Yes, I understand. So I won't take too much of your time. I just need to tell the Princesses something."

"Is it related to whatever new universe your explored?" Celestia asked.

Sweetie Belle gave another nod. "An army of mad cultists invaded the world I was in. Me and some friends I made managed to destroy them and the abomination they called a God, but the cultists and the battles caused a lot of damage everywhere, so they need help." She turned to look at Tails who was still talking with the scientists. "Hey! Tails! Have you succeeded in linking the portal to the one on Mobius?" she called and asked, gaining the fox's attention.

"Not yet. It has only been half a day after all. But I think that we're getting close to figure it out, me and other me," Tails answered.

"And I can help!" Gandaro said.

"We would be happy to help any way we can," Celestia said.

"But would we have the necessary resources to help a whole world to rebuild?" Luna questioned.

"Not everything has been destroyed," Sweetie Belle reassured. "But some cities took major damage, especially one that is like Manehattan but much bigger. But Equestria won't be alone helping. Tails must have told you a bit. I encountered an alternate version of Scootaloo and an alternate version of Apple Bloom, each from a different Equestria, and they each returned to their respective home to ask their Princesses for help too. And I can assure you that Floralia will also help."

"I would gladly also offer help from New Halcandra, but I'm sorry to say that we can't. We are already using all our resources to rebuild it and make sure that everyone in our growing population has a home as quickly as possible," Gandaro said with regret.

"That's okay, I understand."

"So I guess this means I will have to link this portal to that world too? Do they even have a portal already?" Tails wondered.

"Yes, they already have one of their own, so it will only be a matter of linking them. I should put you in contact with Professor E. Gadd. He's the one who built it in this world, and he's a real genius. I was told that he even built a time machine. You two will hit if off right away."

"What?! He built a time machine you say?" Tails asked in shock, which was shared by many others surrounding them. "I can't wait to meet him! But I don't have another dimensional phone for you to give to him," he said that last part sadly.

"Then I will give him mine. It shouldn't be long before the guys at New Halcandra finish to build new ones. Speaking of..." She looked at the scientists. "If any of you guys want to go to New Halcandra, or even Pop Star, just use the portal. It's already linked to the portals on these worlds. If you come to Pop Star and want to visit my kingdom, it's the group of floating islands surrounding the giant beanstalk. Just a warning, try to not think on how this universe works. It is made from dreams so literally anything is possible, even the more impossible stuff like breathing in space."

"An universe made from dreams?" one of the scientists asked with disbelief. "Yeah. Right. How would this work?"

"I'm sure Gandaro will be happy to tell you. Or you could ask the local God, Void, if you decide to go to Pop Star. He personally helped creating it."

"Talking with a God?..." another scientist asked before they exchanged glances. All of them then moved toward the portal, one of them asking Gandaro, "How do we use it to go to Pop Star?"

"I'll show you," Sweetie Belle said before she went after them.

The scientists already knew how to use the portal since they helped build the one back in their universe, so Sweetie Belle just had to show them how to open it to the one on Pop Star. It was very easy actually as there was simply a list of portals it was linked to with names beside them. The one to Pop Star was called "Pop Star - Dream Land - Base of the Dreamstalk". They precised its location in case they build more of them later. The portal was built at the foot of the Dreamstalk because they could easily access the main locations of Dream Land as well as Floralia from there.

Once she opened the portal, she said her goodbyes to Keaton, the Princesses, and everyone else. She also let out her Pokémon to let them do what they wanted. Since she barely used them in her adventures because of the dangers, she decided that it was better to leave them in Equestria and bring them only when she feels that it won't be too dangerous for them to participate instead of leaving them in her pocket dimension in their Poké Balls. Maybe, once they better trained, she will have less problems sending them into dangerous situations. They will be a great help against the army DD warned her about once they're strong enough.

When she looked back at the scientists, she saw that they were staring at her Poké Balls as if they were divine artefacts.

"Go to New Halcandra and you will learn more about the Poké Balls," she told them before she finally led them through the portal, leaving everyone else to return to what they had been doing.

"So, should I lead you to my castle?" Celestia asked.

"I would like to. From what I can already see from here, it seems to be an architectural wonder," Keaton answered.


The Ultra Space, the interdimensional spacial realm connecting worlds and even universes all with Pokémon.

Flying in it was a sinister castle of dark bricks with pennants and tapestries bearing the symbol of a rainbow-colored R. That was the Team Rainbow Rocket's Neo Castle, the team's mobile HQ built with the original castle in mind, but much bigger and with reactors in order to make in move like a spaceship. The castle slowly advanced, never remaining in place.

Situated in the last floor of the castle was Giovanni's office, with the team's boss himself before his desk, facing the bosses of the other teams.

Archie and Maxie weren't looking their best. Maxie tried to keep appearances but everyone could see his frown and one of his eyes twitching. Archie, however, didn't hide that he seemed ready to blow up like an Electrode. And after they got their butts trashed by the Champions serving as diversion, it was very understandable.

The other bosses were simply waiting to see what Giovanni had to say. Cyrus, boss of Team Galactic, recognizable by his short spiked blue hair and his expression that showed absolutely no feelings, had his arms crossed behind his back as he looked, not at Giovanni, but at a blond man in a white overcoat and wearing large green glasses who was standing beside him.

Faba of the Aether Foundarion. Giovanni secretly recruited him not long before they began their operations on this world, and since then, he was helping Team Rainbow Rocket developing technologies and researching things. Cyrus knew that he was recently researching something very important for Giovanni, and seeing the man's pleased smirk, he knew that he was finished, so Cyrus was interested to know what it was. No doubt that it was something that will help them reaching their goals, and that it was what Giovanni will reveal in this meeting. Truthfully, having already fulfilled his goal of creating a perfect universe devoid of useless emotions and spirit, he didn't really care about Giovanni and his plan, but he thought that following Giovanni was a good occasion to bring more universes to what he judged was the perfect state.

The others expected the same thing as they alternated between looking at Faba and at Giovanni. Lysandre, the leader of Team Flare who looked like a lion with his long spiky hair connected to a spiky beard, remained silent and away from the others, not really appreciating his curent company as he knew that everyone present here were some of the worst that humanity had to offer. But he was willing to work with them if it was to reach his goal, secretly hoping to get an occasion to backstab Giovanni and gain access to all the Team Rainbow Rocket's technology for himself to go to other universes at will and do what he did to his own world: exterminate all life excepted a group of chosen ones to who he would give the gift of immortality with his Xerneas. Until such an occasion presented itself, he was just following Giovanni's plan, hoping to save at least some of the worlds that they will cross, starting with the current one.

And then there was Ghetsis, formerly one of the Seven Sages of Team Plasma, and now the King who ruled over his world with an iron fist that would put to shame any tyran known in history. He easily was the more perturbing person in the room, between his red eyes that showed pure cruelty and his yellow and purple cloak that had eye-motifs which had red pupils too. Most worrying of all, his right arm was hidden under his white robe, so he could be hiding a dagger for all they knew, and everyone knew that he did use one to kill the previous King of Team Plasma (as he loved to gloat about it) so they made sure to leave as much space between him and them as they could. Everyone was also certain that he was secretly plotting to take over Team Rainbow Rocket, but surprisingly, Giovanni was doing nothing to put a leash on him which was even more worrying for some of them.

"We are all here. So, what did you want to tell us, Giovanni?" Ghetsis asked.

"Well, first of all, I would like to congratulate Maxie and Archie for successfully keeping the Champions away from the island. Thanks to them, our men had enough time to retrieve the plates that were gathered there. Good job you two!" Giovanni exclaimed before he applauded, joined by Faba.

They were the only ones applauding.

"Your congratulations, you can shove them where-" Archie began to yell before he was interrupted by Maxie hitting the back of his head.

"What this sea-idiot wants to say is that we aren't really in the mood. Facing all these legendaries was... painful, and we would like to have some time to... recover," the leader of Team Magma then said, ignoring the glare that Archie was giving to him.

"And if you ask us to be a diversion again, then-" Again, Archie was hit on the back of the head by Maxie.

"What he wants to say is that we would be very grateful if you could ask someone else to be the diversion next time that it is needed," Maxie then said, again ignoring Archie's glare.

"You hit me again and I will send you to the bottom of the abyss with Kyogre!" Archie yelled at Maxie.

"I would like to see that," Maxie said calmly with an expression that said that he considered Archie as a being even more stupid than the fishes that he loved.

Ghetsis glared at them and the two calmed down.

"Also, good job Cyrus for finding the Icicle Plate. It must not have been easy searching the mountains in the middle of the snowstorms," Giovanni said as if the two leaders hadn't been about to start a battle of legendaries in his office.

"Get to the point, Giovanni," Cyrus said with some annoyance.

"Eheh. Very well. As you all probably know by now because you aren't stupid..." Giovanni eyed Archie and Maxie. "Or at least not THAT stupid..."

"What is this supposed to mean?!" Archie shouted.

"Faba here was researching something very important for me. It wasn't long ago that I sent Archer to Orre to retrieve something probably left behind by Cipher. Can any of you guess what that was about?"

"I never bothered to know what was going on in this region," Cyrus said.

"Same," Archie, Maxie, and Lysandre joined at once.

"Mph. That region was a mess. I just decided to wipe out everything there without question to restart from scratch. It was much easier," Ghetsis said.

"Well then, if you had bothered to look deeper into what happened in this region, you would have discovered something about what are called Shadow Pokémon."

"Shadow Pokémon?" Lysandre asked. "I don't think that I like where this is going."

At Lysandre's words, Giovanni smirked before he took one of his Master Balls and threw it to let out Shadow Mewtwo, revealing it to the other leaders.

"What the-?!" Maxie almost shouted while taking a step backward as he saw the darkened Mewtwo.

Archie and Lysandre had similar reactions while Cyrus simply raised an eyebrow and Ghetsis looked first surprised, then interested.

"Tell more," that last one said.

Giovanni proceeded to explain everything about Shadow Pokémon, how about they were real fighting machines with their emotions locked so they had no problem following orders and attacking with everything they had. The emotion part really got Cyrus' attention. Giovanni also said about how Shadow moves were very effective against all types of Pokémon, giving a huge advantage no matter what the enemies' teams were.

"With these Shadow Pokémon, getting the last plates will be child's play. Anyone who will oppose us will be easily defeated. Even the Champions. I personally fought Red, and my Mewtwo outmatched his. So now, let's turn your Pokémon into Shadow Pokémon."

"I refuse!" Archie shouted. "Turning Pokémon into fighting machines? Locking their emotions away? I was willing to cooperate with you despite how some of you treated Pokémon in order to make more worlds like mine, but this is going too far! I will not stand for this!"

"You know what, Archie? For the first time, I agree with you," Maxie said as he grabbed a Poké Ball.

Giovanni's smirk simply grew at this. "Mewtwo."

At Giovanni's call, Mewtwo's eyes glowed. The next instant, Maxie and Archie's expression became blank, now totally under Mewtwo's control.

Suddenly, Lysandre threw a Master Ball and sent Xerneas, the legendary Pokémon incarnating Life looking like a giant black stag with a blue head and four pairs of antlers, each pair having branches of different colors (orange, red, purple, and blue).

"Xerneas! Use Megahorn!" Lysandre shouted.

Xerneas' horns glowed before the Pokémon lowered its head and charged at Mewtwo. The Psychic Pokémon was hit, but it was able to grab Xerneas by the antlers before it used them to slam it on the ground, on its side. Mewtwo then repeatedly and mercilessly used Shadow Punch on Xerneas' head until the Pokémon lost consciousness before it threw it aside to crash into a wall.

"Wha-?! Arg!"

Lysandre then found himself being levitated from the floor, a strong force squeezing his throat to the point that he couldn't breathe anymore. Mewtwo eventually slammed him on a wall, almost breaking his back, before the Pokémon finally decided to take him under his control like he did with Archie and Maxie.

Faba applauded. "Marvelous! That show of power was absolutely spectacular!"

Ghetsis grinned. "Amazing."

Giovanni silently nodded at Mewtwo and looked back at Cyrus and Ghetsis. "Seeing that you did nothing, I suppose that you aren't against turning your Pokémon into Shadow Pokémon?"

"After seeing THAT?" Ghetsis exclaimed excitedly. "Not at all! With these Shadow Pokémon, I will become invincible!"

Wordlessly, Cyrus grabbed his Poké Balls and placed them on Giovanni's desk. "Do it."

"Good. And once we are done with your Pokémon, I will have another mission for you to retrieve a certain flute. I suppose that you know where it is."

Author's Note:

Writer's Block is a b****, but I finally got the chapter out. But before writing the next one, I think that I will rewrite Chapter 59. Rereading it, I think that I got some of the time stuff explained in it wrong.

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