Diamond Journals Issue 1: A Quest for Memory

Chapters

A "New" World
Robot Master Attack!
The Changeling Swarm
The Sounds of Silence
FlutterDash's Mission
RariJack's Mission
Twipie's Mission
Skull Castle Assault: Floor 1
Skull Castle Assault: Floor 2
Skull Castle Assault: Floor 3
Skull Castle Assault: Sewers
13.5: The Legion of Doom (Wily's POV)
Skull Castle Assault: Rush
Skull Castle Rest Stop
Skull Castle Peak
Prologue: A Battle of Memories
Arrival at Canterlot

A "New" World

Fluttershy had seen strange things while visiting the Everfree Forest, but she'd never seen anything quite like this. A VERY highly wounded alicorn male lying unconscious in the middle of who knows where. He seemed familiar somehow, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on it. Regardless, she took it into her own hooves to get him away from the forest and some serious medical attention.

"Urgh..." Diamond groaned in immense pain.

"Um...excuse me for asking, but...are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, rather cautiously, but Diamond was unable to reply. "I guess not...can you talk? How about opening your eyes for a start?"

"Ugh...my head..." Diamond said as he was coming to. As his eye opened, he noticed the yellow pegasus standing a little bit too close for comfort. He screamed, sending a sonic force that pushed Fluttershy backwards.

"Ouch! Try not to scream like that again." she said to the rather confused green alicorn. She had noticed Diamond's cutie mark beforehand, but tried not to stare at his flank.

"Where am I?! What am I doing here?" Diamond yelled out, each word sending out another shockwave.

(You see, Diamond has the power to release a sonic shockwave that not only deals damage, but repels anyone nearby when he yells.)

"Calm down! First of all, are you OK?" Fluttershy asked.

"I'm fine, but...I get the odd feeling that this place is familiar somehow." Diamond answered. "And uh...who am I again?" Fluttershy was a bit confused as to Diamond asking this and decided to contact Twilight for help.

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The lavender alicorn princess materialized shortly after Fluttershy sent her message.

"I don't think I know this one." Twilight said when she arrived.

"Me neither, yet...there's just something familiar about him. I can't put my hoof on it." Fluttershy stated. Regardless, Twilight started her examinations.

"OK, strong magical power, positronic brain, human DNA - wait, human DNA?" Twilight queried. She was obviously confused. "I only know one pony that has human DNA, and that's..."

"DIAMOND?!" the two mares shouted in unison.

"Who's...Diamond?" the still confused and memory-deprived Diamond asked.

"A rare case of amnesia, and a very hard hit too if you can't even remember your own name. Also explains why you freaked out about a talking pony, especially considering that right now, you are one yourself." Twilight stated.

"No, that's not..." Diamond began. Then he took a look at himself. He went to scream again, then remembered what happened last time and quickly swallowed it. "Don't freak out...uh...who am I?"

"Your name is Diamond. We're friends of yours." Twilight reminded him.
"MEMORY BANK RESTORED: 0.31%" Diamond's automated assistant stated. As this was being said, the memories flashed before his eyes, reminding him of who he and his Equestrian friends were.

"Yes, that's right! And your names are Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy, correct?" Diamond asked. "Sorry, my memory bank is nothing but corrupted data."

"Spot on, Diamond." Twilight answered. "And from the automated message we got, we've already restored some of it." she continued.

"I heard the message too, but we got a LOT of restoration to do. A villain named Dr. Wily from another world stole my one and only backup drive and I need to get it back." Diamond clarified semi-worriedly. "But first, I need to get back to my human form." he continued, initiating the transformation process.

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A few minutes later, Diamond's genes had fully re-arranged themselves and Diamond's human form was restored.

"Alright, now I need a weapon." Diamond said.

"Don't you have a weapon system built into your body?" Fluttershy asked.

"MEMORY BANK RESTORED: 0.402%" the automated assistant stated as Diamond remembered installing his Mega Buster.

"Of course! My Mega Buster!" Diamond exclaimed. "MEGANIZE ME!" he yelled. This didn't release a shockwave, due to Diamond saying a transformation word. In mere seconds, Diamond's body was coated in blue nano-core armour. His hair became a nano-core helmet, with his eyes turning from hazel to a robotic blue. His right arm became the iconic weapon known as the Mega Buster. Diamond already looked and felt more awesome.

-All schematics are corrupted! Resetting Mega Buster...
-Mega Buster reset. All systems online!

Diamond quickly dismissed the notifications in his transparent visor and turned his buster off. The arm cannon fell back into Diamond's arm, revealing his hand.

"Sweet armour, Diamond." Twilight said.

"Thanks, Twi." Diamond replied. "Now let's go stomp some bad guys."

Robot Master Attack!

Wily's Robot Masters were all across Equestria at this point. Wily was overseeing an attack on Canterlot, with Bass on his side.

"NYAHAHAHAHAHA!" Wily cackled. "This stupid pony world shall be MINE!! And once I take over and turn these ponies into my new line of Robot Masters, our world and EVERY other world will be in my empire as well!" he gloated.

"Doctor, even for YOU, this is a crazy plan." said Bass, one of Wily's better robots. Treble, Bass's companion definitely agreed, even though he couldn't really talk.

"Bass, I let you in here for a reason. I can always eject you. Watch that tongue of yours." Wily warned. Treble barked, trying to imply that Bass didn't actually have a tongue, but of course, Wily never got that.

"Sorry, Wily." Bass replied, taking the warning seriously. "DRILL MAN! PICK YOUR FEET UP!" he yelled, obviously implying that Drill Man was slowing down.

"I can't help myself, Bass!" Drill Man shouted back. "I'd like to see you do this instead of being cooped up in that fancy flying machine of yours with the doctor!"

"Well, 1, use those drills and DIG your way around, and 2, I only get my hands dirty if I need to!" Bass continued to shout. Treble barked angrily at Drill Man, further emphasising the point.

"Calm down, you two." Wily said to the robot duo before opening the lid of the capsule. "If Diamond's back in shape, which I'm fairly sure he is, then we have to stop him from getting here. Bass, if you will?"

"What did I JUST say, Wily?" Bass said, only resulting in an eyeroll. "Oh, you meant to instruct one of the Robot Masters!" An affirmative nod confirmed that he was on the right track, and Bass turned to the attack. "BLOCK MAN! Diamond could be here any minute! Tell Impact Man this: you and him are on security detail. Whatever happens, Diamond must NOT get here!" Bass instructed.
"On it, Bass!" Block Man yelled back. "Impact Man, you heard him, right?"

"Affirmative! Let's give Diamond the hard reset he needs!" Impact Man replied. The two abandoned the area, with Guts Man and Bomb Man warping in to take their place.

"Alright, now...we wait." Wily stated confidently.

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Diamond, now with 2.3% of his memories restored, was trying to make his way to Canterlot.
"My backup memory drive has a tracking system on it, I believe. It appears Wily is somewhere in Central Equestria." Diamond said.

"Canterlot!" said Rainbow Dash, who had recently joined the team, as with the rest of the Main 6 ponies. "That is NOT cool!"

"You could say that again, Rainbow. Ah'm not sure what Wily's up to, but I'm sure it ain't good." Applejack replied.

"Whatever it is, it's not gonna happen." Diamond assured the mares.

"Are you sure about that, Diamond?" a mystery voice said. With it came a familiar whistle as a familiar robot figure dropped down in front of the team.

"I may have amnesia, but I'd NEVER forget that sound. Consider another 1.4% of my memory bank restored." Diamond said. His memories with the robotic figure flashed before his eyes and the computer didn't even bother to state it's automatic message. Diamond had said what it was going to for it. "Blues?"

"My name is not BLUES!" the red and grey robot yelled at Diamond, firing a blast from his Proto Buster. "And it isn't Proto Man either! That ship sailed long ago, Diamond. As of today, I am Break Man." Proto Man wore a full helmet over his regular and had a red scarf around his neck instead of his yellow one. The two fighters readied their arm cannons for battle.

"Black Hole Bomb activate!" Proto Man said, his armour changing colour as he switched his weapon on kick-off. Unfortunately for him, Diamond leaped out of the way and fired a charged blast from his own buster, which Proto Man couldn't quite dodge fast enough. Detonating his Black Hole Bomb, he switched again, this time to his Water Shield. No blast could shatter this, other than the weapon's weakness, which Diamond, having reset his buster, didn't have. This time, Pinkie Pie had the answer. Reaching into her hair, she pulled a single Weapon Cartridge containing data on the Thunder Wool attack.

"Great thinking, Pinkie!" Diamond exclaimed. "Replication activation." he said, activating his Replicator Beam. Blowing the cartridge and ridding any excess pink hair, he turned on the beam and replicated Sheep Man's powers. A small ping indicated the replication process was complete and Thunder Wool was added to Diamond's arsenal. Tossing the cartridge back to Pinkie, who inserted it back into her hair, he uttered these words:

"Activate Thunder Wool!" As he said this, Diamond's armour changed to match Sheep Man's. (Diamond's Variable Weapon System, unlike the ones that Dr. Light built, can replicate the exact abilities of a Robot Master. His helmet, buster and all of his armour changes to match that of the robot master he copied, but there are side effects, due to it being a prototype.)

"So your friend has weapon cartridges on her. Discard them, pink pony!" Proto Man yelled, pointing his buster at her and changing to Fire Storm. Pinkie was smart, though, and discarded exact replicas she was storing. "Good. Now, carry on." he said, going back to Water Shield. Obviously a bad move, as Diamond shot a Thunder Wool above him, destroying the shield and dealing significant damage when it struck. Changing back to his buster weapon, Diamond fired another charge at Proto, who had the same idea and went back to his Proto Buster. "You haven't won yet!" Proto Man shouted, charging his next strike and forgetting about his core. As the shot was charging, however, the core overheated and left him defenseless.

"A core overheat. I can't attack him now!" Diamond said.

"But you can attack us!" yelled another Robot Master. Proto Man warped out, leaving Block Man and Impact Man in his place.

"Alright, Robot Masters." Diamond said, not necessarily to anyone in particular. "Welp, let's do a bit of Replication!" he continued, activating his Replicator Beam once again and locking on to Impact Man.

"HEY! Get that replicator out of here!" he yelled, trying to ram at Diamond. He missed, allowing Diamond to hop onto his back and stay semi-safe.

"Wait a sec, I don't need this! Block Man isn't weak to Pile Driver and Impact Man isn't weak to Block Dropper!" Diamond said, having placed the weakness weapons and data on Wily into his Protected section. "I need Acid Man and Blast Man's weapons for this job!"

"Heads up, Diamond!" Pinkie yelled. She stuck a hoof into her hair and tossed the Weapon Cartridges he needed towards him. Activating his Replicator Beam, he replicated both powers in one rev, adding both Acid Barrier and Chain Blast into his arsenal.

"You sly dog! I thought your amnesia would make you forget the weaknesses!" Block Man exclaimed. "Curse that Protected section you have in your damn robot brain!"

"It won't save you this time, though!" Impact Man yelled out, but Diamond was having none of it. With him switching to Acid Barrier, Impact Man stood no chance and popped within seconds. Block Man wasn't far behind when Chain Blast was put into play.

"Pathetic." Diamond activated his Replicator and copied the powers of the near dead Robot Masters, offloading Thunder Wool in the process. "Go home and get yourself fixed. I'll wreck you again easily." he continued.

"Ah don't mean to be the bearer o' bad news, but our train's about to leave!" Applejack notified the Elements and Diamond.

"Uh, why do we need a train again?" Diamond asked, having temporarily forgotten about his amnesia. "Oh yeah! To get to...uh...never mind. Let's just get to the train!"

The Changeling Swarm

A long way away from Canterlot (or quite frankly, anywhere) was the Changeling Hive. Snake Man had taken a team of Robot Masters of his own to take over another part of Equestria. But they never knew what they were stepping into.

"Well, team. They say this place is infested, but I'm not really seeing it." he told his team. "Regardless, we came here for a reason. Let's get the shield orb placed down and have it defend what's going to be our new Skull Castle."

"Sir, what if these creatures actually DO exist?" Ice Man asked. "This area could be our graves if we aren't prepared."

"Cool it, brother. While the flames of justice burn strong, nothing will stand in our way!" Fire Man reassured him.

"Shut it, you two. The Changelings aren't to be taken lightly. They can become whatever they wish. And what's worse, they could be any one of us." Snake Man told them. He readied his weapon, preparing for combat. His team did the same.

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"My queen, we have intruders near the hive!" a Changeling hissed. "They appear to be robots, and they're heavily armed." A short silence followed this, before the Changeling queen gave her orders.

"Prepare the swarm."

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Needle Man's danger sense function was kicking in, notifying the others that the swarm was approaching.

"Changelings incoming! Shoot anything that moves!" he yelled out, which was a bad move on his part. Regardless, he fired his Needle Cannon at where the danger sense was pointing, but the swarm was a bit too quick. All projectiles shot at the Changeling swarm missed by the thinnest of margins. Even Homing Sniper just fell short, and the Robot Masters were NOT ready for the charge.

"We can't kill these guys, but we will bring them to our queen. They look like they can help us take over Equestria." one of them said.

"What are they doing, sir?" Ice Man said to himself. "Don't mind that, just get us out of here, soldier!" he yelled.

"Your imaginary friend isn't going to help us out of this one, and neither is my flame weapon!" Fire Man yelled back. He had five changelings gripping him, and he could hardly move. It was a direct flight and there was nothing the Robot Masters could do to free themselves.

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"This is Snake Man to Dr. Wily! We've been caught by the Changelings, despite our best efforts. Our weapons don't work here, so we're just waiting for the Changeling queen. But right now, we require urgent assistance!" Snake Man said into his communicator.

"We can't go in there without pulling out a team! You'll just have to hang tight!" Wily replied before the communicator cut out.

"Well, they said the queen would be here in 10 minutes, but I'm pretty sure it's gone past 20..." Cut Man said, not necessarily to anyone.

"So sorry I'm late. I had other business to attend to first." a mysterious feminine voice said. "But now I'm here, let's get down to our business."

"Show yourself! We have other ways to fight you!" Snake Man yelled. 'We have no other ways to fight...' he thought right after.

"Really? Let's hear it, then." she proclaimed, leaving the Robot Masters silent. "I thought so." she said, before revealing herself to the Robot Masters. A tall, slender (and quite cute) changeling emerged from the shadows of the hive. She had a horn embedded into her forehead and holes all over her body. The Robot Masters were stunned by her seeming beauty.

"Who...are you?" Needle Man asked.

"My name is Queen Chrysalis, the queen of the Changeling race. What brings you to my hive?" Chrysalis asked.

"Orders from our boss, Dr. Wily. We need to place a device here that will shield his Skull Castle in Canterlot." Snake Man answered. "If you'd let us go so we can plant it, that would be great." he continued.

"I cannot accept your request until I know your boss can be trusted. Tell me more about him and maybe I'll let you go. Or maybe I'll keep you as my pets." Chrysalis said.

ONE LONG EXPLANATION LATER...

"Well now, is that so?" the changeling queen said. "A failed conqueror like myself, here from another world..." she began to blush a little.

"So, are you letting us go or what? I got some revenge to get!" Shadow Man asked, getting rather impatient.

"Everyone is free to leave the hive. Everyone BUT you, Shadow Man." Chrysalis declared. "And how lucky! You get to be the test subject for my new spell!" she said, lifting Shadow Man with her magic. Snake Man went to plant the shield orb, escorted by two of the changelings. Everyone else was escorted out of the hive by another, leaving only Shadow Man trapped in Queen Chrysalis's hive. He struggled and flailed as hard as he could, but there was nothing he could do.

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Shadow Man was placed into a chair made from cocoons and strapped down by two changelings.

"Let me go, you...you..." Shadow Man struggled to find an insult.

"How cute. You think you have a chance." Chrysalis joked. "Now just hold still." she said, ready to cast. The changelings decided to come out of the way for their own safety, Chrysalis casting once the area was clear. The hypnotic spell released a virus into Shadow Man's system, which he tried to resist without much luck. He was under Chrysalis's control.

"Mother...Chrysalis..." he muttered. "I will obey...my body is yours." The Robot Master wouldn't awaken from this until Chrysalis dispelled the magic, which wouldn't happen for a while. "What is your command, my queen?" he asked, deep in trance.

"Release him, my darlings." Chrysalis said to her changelings, who released Shadow Man from his prison. "Now, my pet, go to your team and have them exterminated. If one's bad, they all will be." she commanded the Robot Master. Shadow Man saluted before jumping up, his weapon enabled.

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The remaining Robot Masters, sans Snake Man, were stopped by the changeling escorting them.

"You may go wherever you wish in the hive, but the throne room is off-limits. Remember, the hive LOVES changing itself, so if you need me again, just whistle and I'll take you back here to the exit." their escort said. "I'll hear you from wherever you are in the hive, so don't worry. And I will not repeat this again: do NOT enter the throne room." it hissed before flying through one of the various holes. The Robot Masters' weapons were turned back on and they decided to explore.

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Snake Man's escorts stopped him in front of the throne room.

"You may enter there ONLY to plant the orb. Once you have, we'll allow you access to the rest of the hive, but the throne room will become off-limits." one of them hissed.

"Alright, I understand. Don't get hissy at me." Snake Man said. Entering the throne room, he constructed a small altar and placed the orb in the center. It revved to life and shot it's laser at Canterlot, activating the shield. Upon exiting, Snake Man's weapon was enabled and throne room access was removed.

"Alright, if you find yourself lost, just whistle out and the changeling who escorted your friends out will come get you and take you to the exit. We'd do it, but we're on patrol duty in a few minutes, so we don't have time." the other changeling escort said, before the two flew away.

"You're not going anywhere, Snake Man." Shadow Man said, dropping down in front of him. "You die here, and you die now."

"Shadow Man! This isn't you...Chrysalis. Knowing this sort of thing, I'll have to fight him back." Snake Man said, readying his Search Snake.

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"Well, now what, my queen?" one of the changelings asked. The silence that followed was broken by these words:

"Prepare the swarm again. We will lay siege to Diamond and his friends."

The Sounds of Silence

Napalm Man's team arrived at the Peak of Peril. The order was to get by and plant the orb in the Kirin's village, but they had to pass the peaks first. Luckily for weaponized robots, this was a snap. Plenty of Crash and Napalm Bombs were able to blast a hole clear through.

"Alright. Next stop: the Kirin village. According to the legends, they're known for their kindness and peace-speaking." Wood Man said. "This should be...easy."

"Right there, Wood Man, but you never know what could happen. A Nirik could jump out at us at any moment, so be on guard." Heat Man stated.

"My sensors detect a green danger level near here, indicating low. If we'd have gone the long way, we'd be in a red zone. But the green's sorta yellow, so be on guard anyway. Prepare to shoot." Napalm Man told the team. The Robot Masters proceeded, but carefully.

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Approaching the village, the robots were confronted by the Kirin. Efforts to communicate failed, leading the Robot Masters to ready their weapons. But the moment they did, they were lifted by magic and could hardly move. The team were dunked into the Stream of Silence, (seemingly) cooling their emotions and clogging their vocal system. Luckily, Turbo Man had strategically went the long way and hadn't been affected. Napalm Man had chucked him the orb beforehand, so the plan was still intact.

"Well, guess it's all down to me now." he said to himself. "Thank god we're robots, so the water doesn't affect us. I only hope the act can stay strong."

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After a long walk, Turbo Man arrived at the village without being confronted by the Kirin. He tried to communicate with some of them, with no luck. Before planting the orb, he decided to take a detour and encountered Autumn Blaze.

"I'm not detecting any remnant of the Stream of Silence, she must have found some sort of cure." Turbo Man said to himself. "There's no point in hiding it, I know you can talk."

"Wow, that was fast. I don't think I know you. Hi, I'm Autumn Blaze, and you're obviously new here, because I know everyone that comes here. Are you a robot? Can you actually turn into a car? If so, that-"

"Whoa, slow down. First off, I'm Turbo Man. It's a pleasure to meet you...I guess. I don't make a lot of organic friends." Turbo Man said.

"Oh, sorry, did I get ahead of myself? Some words I haven't said in a whiel-while. It's not long we get creatures who can talk to us." Autumn Blaze said. "Anyway, I'll try and slow down as best I can, but it isn't easy, as I don't exactly talk to many."

"I see...an outcast, are you? Some of us know that feeling too well. Oh, by the way, check this out." he said, using his Scorch Wheel weapon. "Scorch Wheel. Burns anything it touches. I won't fire it at you, though." he said, firing it into the trees.

"So...you're a weaponized robot from another world, I'm guessing. I bet you're wondering why the Kirin went silent." she said, earning a confused, but affirmative nod from Turbo Man. "I see..."

"It's alright if you'd rather not talk about it." Turbo Man said, but a notification popped into his vision saying "Song Coming Up!"

"I'd rather SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!" she sang out.

A DECENTLY LONG SONG LATER...

"Well, that's...actually rather helpful. Thanks! Unfortunately, I'm not here to un-silence your race, but I do have a duty to perform." Turbo Man said. "Sorry for any inconvenience."

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Back in the village, the Robot Masters were trying to keep the act up, but some of them had already fetched a few suspicious looks.

'Hurry up, Turbo Man! Get that orb placed so we can leave!' Napalm Man thought, almost out loud. Not one of the Kirin or the Robot Masters noticed Turbo Man approach from the forest, orb in hand. The leader may have caught on, though, but decided not to do anything. Turbo Man constructed the altar, but RIGHT as he was about to place the orb, he was lifted by magic. The Kirin looked at him with a sort of "What are you doing?" attitude.

"Uh...I'm just...doing what I'm tasked to. Can you...uh...let me go?" he asked, nervously, but they shook their heads to say no. "Alright, if we can't do this the easy way, we'll do it the hard way. Robot Masters! Plan B! Attack, but try not to kill anything!" he commanded.

"About time!" Slash Man yelled.

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In mere minutes, the Kirin were locked in a weapon-locked cage. Only Slash Man could open it.

"I'm sorry about this, but we have a job to do." Napalm Man said. "Turbo Man, the orb please."

"On it." Turbo Man replied. He placed the orb in the altar he constructed earlier. It revved to life and provided a similar result to Snake Man's. Slash Man released the Kirin and the Robot Masters took their leave.

FlutterDash's Mission

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had arrived at the Frozen North. Unfortunately, Wily had already set up his defenses for the defenses. Sniper Joes, Mets, little bit of everything. Luckily, Rainbow was able to take out any robots that stood in their way. Just before entering the Crystal Empire, though, they were stopped by Freeze Man.

"Alright, let's-" he started. "Oh , COME ON, Wily! TWO Pegasi? Dude, this is not cool!" he yelled into his com.

"It's kill or be killed, Freeze Man. Defend the barrier at all costs!" Wily shouted back through the com, Freeze Man turning it off afterwards.

"Well, I have a job to do. Come at me, you two!" Freeze Man cried, readying his weapon. Rainbow bolted into the air, quickly putting herself out of range. Fluttershy also tried to put herself out of range, but Freeze Man ran faster than she could fly. He fired a single shot, freezing Fluttershy in place. Right after, Rainbow swooped down and crashed into his body intentionally. She repeated this a couple times before performing the Sonic Rainboom, knocking him off his feet and dealing a ton of damage.

"How's THAT, Freeze Man?" she taunted. He tried to get up to shoot, but the temperature quickly rose around him. Fire Man had warped in and shot Freeze Man a few times with his Fire Storm, which popped him within seconds and only left the Weapon Cartridge for Freeze Cracker behind. "Fire Man? You're on our side?" Rainbow asked in surprise.

"I don't know what I was thinking siding with Dr. Wily. The fires of justice have NEVER burned in that man!" Fire Man roared. "I'll take that cartridge to Diamond. He'll need all the weaponry he can get." He used his Fire Storm to thaw Fluttershy out of her frozen prison, then grabbed the cartridge and warped out.

"Well, let's move, Flutters. That orb isn't going to shut itself down!" Rainbow said.

"A...alright, Rainbow. I just...hope there's no more Robot Masters..." Fluttershy replied quietly.

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The Crystal Empire, usually lively, was oddly abandoned. The Crystal Ponies hid in their homes, afraid to leave due to Wily's robots. Most of them had been pulled out, leaving only one of the most horrid robots behind: Green Devil.

"BUMO! BUMOMOMOMOMO!" the robot cried. The Devil robots only talked in Bumos.

"Bumomomo...bumomo...bumomomomomomo..." Fluttershy muttered, trying to communicate with Green Devil.

"BU, BUMOMO?! BU, BUMOMOMOMO! BUMOMOMO, BUMO!" it shouted. "BU, BUMOMOMO! BUMOMOMOMOMOMO, BUMOMO!"

"Bumomomo...bu, bumomomo. Bumomomo, bumo!" Fluttershy said.

"BUMOMO!" Green Devil cried.

"He says, "You are not welcome here while I'm around! I have your Princess Cadence and Shining Armour imprisoned here, and if you value their lives, you'll turn back now!"" Fluttershy translated.

"Well, tell him that if he knows what's good for him, he'll leave the royalty alone and let us get to the orb!" Rainbow told her. The shy yellow pegasus translated their message into bumos.

"BUMOMOMOMO...BUMO." Green Devil said. "BUMOMOMO, BU, BUMOMOMOMOMO!"

"He said, "Just for you, I'll release the royalty. But you won't get the orb without a fight!"" she translated. This time, Elec Man warped in to take care of the devil.

ONE LONG FIGHT LATER...

The pegasi had access to the orb and the Crystal Ponies were free.

"Alright, Mega. We're in place! Let us know when to attack it and turn it off!" Rainbow said into her communicator.

"Good job, you two. Remember, we have to do this at the exact same time. We'll let you know when we're all ready. Mega Man replied.

RariJack's Mission

Accompanied by Starlight Glimmer, Rarity and Applejack arrived at her old village. Robot Masters had already been here, as the inhabitants weren't willing to emerge. Or perhaps it was Starlight's presence. Either way, the trio were confronted by a pair of Robot Masters: Clown Man and Junk Man.

"You, my friends, are under arrest for having a cutie mark." Clown Man said. "I hear everyone here must be equal."

"What have you done to everyone here, you horrid robots?!" Starlight yelled. "These two, plus some others, freed the village from forced equality created by me. I've paid the price for my actions, and you will too!"

"Yeah...what she said." Applejack said.

"Is that so, huh? Well, we could have done this differently, but since you won't come quietly, we must terminate you." Junk Man stated. "Let's get 'em, Clown Man." he told his comrade, who immediately used his Thunder Carnival strike. Junk Man was about to attack too, but Starlight was able to zap him with her magic before he could do anything, popping him in a single hit and leaving Junk Shield's cartridge behind. Rarity grabbed it using her magic and pulled it away from where Junk Man popped, immediately putting it in her saddlebag. Clown Man's attack had clearly missed and he wasn't happy about it.

"Stop moving, you little earth pony with no redeeming qualities!" he shouted, readying his Thunder Claw.

"You said WHAT?!" Rarity yelled, stopping Clown Man's next attack and him with her magic. "Pop him, Starlight!" she commanded in pure anger. Starlight's magic was able to pop him in two strikes, leaving the cartridge for Thunder Claw behind, which Rarity put with the other one. As they progressed over to Starlight's old home, Doc Robot showed up and assaulted them.

"Uh, Mega? We gots a rough-lookin' robot here guarding the orb! We don't know a lot about it, but it looks like it has your schematics." Applejack said into her comm.

"That'd be Doc Robot. It can copy any of the Robot Masters I've fought before, but he prefers the DWN-009 through DWN-016 models." Mega stated. "He's quite dangerous and magic doesn't appear to affect him. You'll need another way to fight him."

"Sounds good." AJ said. She prepared to buck as Doc Robot used Charge Kick to close in, bucking right before the attack hit. Doc Robot flew backwards due to the force of the buck, which also did a decent amount of damage to his system. However, he was able to utilize the moment and toss a few Metal Blades, all of which missed. Rarity tossed him back, letting AJ buck him again. They repeated this process until Doc Robot popped. "Kicking a robot repeatedly would break a normal pony's legs. Good thing I've been practicing." she justified. As Rarity freed the trapped ponies, Applejack and Starlight entered her old home, finding the orb quite quickly.

"We're in place!" Starlight said into the comm.

"You don't sound familiar. Starlight Glimmer, is it? Anyway, we're in place over here as well, so we're just waiting on Twilight and then we're set. Remember, wait on my signal, then buck it, AJ!" Mega told them as AJ prepared to buck.

Twipie's Mission

A renegade changeling by the name of Thorax led Twilight and Pinkie to the Changeling Hive.

"Remember, my friends, magic won't work around the hive, so you'll be left without one of your most important means of defense." Thorax told the ponies. "Don't believe me? Just try it." he dared. Twilight turned on her horn, then walked up to the magic-absorbing barrier. As soon as the horn touched it, the magic was dispelled.

"You aren't wrong. Storming the hive will be harder than I thought. But regardless, we need to in order to turn off the orb. Pinkie, you know what to do."

"I got it, Twilight!" Pinkie shouted, bringing a hoof to her mouth seconds later.

"No, it's fine. I've heard the swarm is out, but the rest are still there and ready to attack. Don't get noticed. I also heard that Chrysalis has got a Robot Master there as her personal pet and guard. Be especially careful of him." Thorax said. "I can't go in there with you, unfortunately. See if you can earn the trust of another changeling in there."

===================================================================================================

The Changeling Hive: a maze that loves to change. Earning the trust of another changeling was surprisingly easy, and the duo were through the maze in no time. However, as the ponies approached the throne room, Snake Man and Shadow Man ambushed them. Snake Man had lost the fight he'd had with Shadow Man and was hypnotised by Queen Chrysalis.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll leave this premises now." Snake Man warned. "If you do wish to face my queen though, you'll have to get through us."

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard." Twilight said, forgetting she had no magic capability. She tried to charge her horn to no avail, then appeared confused as to why nothing happened for a few seconds. "Oh, right. No magic." she remembered. Pinkie, however, dug out her party cannon from who knows where, priming it to fire at the two robots. When it did fire, Snake Man popped instantly, but Shadow Man suffered minimal damage.

"Really? A party cannon? Let's see how it fares against THIS." Shadow Man said, throwing his Shadow Blade and splitting the cannon in half, leaving Pinkie Pie stunned, which turned to rage.

"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!!" she yelled, releasing a flurry of melee strikes too fast for Shadow Man to avoid. He popped within seconds. After cooling off, (literally) she grabbed the two Weapon Cartridges and stuffed them into her hair before following Twilight into the throne room.

===================================================================================================

Chrysalis was snoozing on her throne, oblivious to the fight outside. Her nap was interrupted by the ponies bursting into the throne room, however. Jerking awake, she readied a battle stance.

"Chrysalis! We're-" Twilight began.

"Shh!" the changeling queen hissed. "The rest of the brood is sleeping..." she pointed to the other changelings in the room.

"Oh, sorry..." Twilight whispered. "Regardless, we aren't here to fight. We just need to get to the orb so we can deactivate the shield on Wily's fortress." she added.

"Is that so? Well, you won't be getting to it without a fight. We'd better not have it here, though. Shall we take this to an area outside the range of the hive?" Chrysalis said quietly. "You win, the orb is all yours."

'I'm not very good at the whole "quiet" thing.' Pinkie thought. "It's a deal, Chrysalis." she said as quietly as possible, so not to disturb the other changelings.

"Then let us leave." Chrysalis whispered, preparing her magic and warping the three outside.

===================================================================================================

Who knows where they ended up, but they were out of the throne's range.

"Perfect. Now, we fight!" Chrysalis bellowed, firing a magic beam. Twilight followed with the same spell, overpowering Chrysalis's beam easily. It didn't down her in a single hit - it didn't even do too much damage. The process was repeated a good five times before Chrysalis charged forward and sank her fangs into Twilight's neck, which hurt, and she wasn't planning to let go. Pinkie fixed that problem and Twilight followed by casting a flurry of combat spells. Chrysalis was able to block around 95% of the spells with a Shield Spell, but an Alicorn Beam was a bit too much to defend. She was knocked back, Twilight collapsing from the recoil, but mostly from pain.

"I...have to give you props, Chrysalis. You're good..." Twilight said. "Almost as good as me. But...I think it's safe to say I win..."

"Agreed, my...uh..." Chrysalis struggled to form words. "Never mind. You win, so do what you will with the orb. I'll warp you back in. Just let me head back to sleep." she told the duo, charging her horn.

===================================================================================================

The three materialized on the throne moments later. Twilight and Pinkie made thier way over to the orb, while Chrysalis collapsed on the throne and began snoring within seconds.

"We're in place, Mega Man! Let us know when you're ready!" Pinkie said into thier comm.

"As a matter of fact, everyone's ready!" Mega replied. "Alright, everyone! On my count. One...two...three!" he signalled. A bunch of static over the comm told the story. Everyone struck at the same time, as was planned.

"Shield's down, everyone! Mega, Proto, get over here! I'm going in!" Diamond said into his comm. "As for everyone else, just get out of your area and wait outside. Maybe we can disable the shield from inside!" he said.

"Roger that, Diamond. We're on our way out." Twilight said. "Well, hopefully..."

Skull Castle Assault: Floor 1

Diamond, along with the two robot allies, made thier way into the Skull Castle, which used to be Canterlot. Proto Man wanted to apply his Break Man disguise and went down to the dungeons to try and free the ponies trapped inside, but Mega Man was against the idea heavily.

"Blues, the ponies will be released when we beat Wily anyway. I don't see the point in heading down." Mega told him.

"Rock, we need all the help we can get in here. We don't know what Wily has in store. Besides, I'm looking for two certain alicorn princesses. They'd give us an edge." Blues insisted.

"Stop bickering, you two! Who knows what crazy security Wily's got up his sleeve. There could be anything here." Diamond said. "Proto Man, stick with us. The dungeons will just waste time."

"Fine...but next time, you won't talk me out. Let's press on." Proto Man grumbled.

===================================================================================================

Mets, Shield Attackers, Sniper Joes and even an Armour Joe and Big Eyes tried to halt the progress of the heroes, but all fell to the three Busters. That's when Diamond got a bad feeling.

"It's almost as if Wily isn't trying. But there's something else on the way. I can feel it." he told his team. "Busters ready. We don't know what these are."

"Thanks for the info, as they're RIGHT ON TOP OF US!" Mega Man informed. No sooner had he said this than the swarm of Changelings burst through the door.

"These are organic beings. But they appear aggressive, and since we follow the 0th Law of Robotics, we're allowed to take them down." Proto Man informed. "Diamond, you're also an organic being turned part machine, so you can kill these things." he continued, charging his Buster.

"Mega, you got a flame weapon in your arsenal? If so, let me replicate that. It'll make this a lot easier." Diamond said. Mega Man confirmed this by changing to Blazing Torch, which Diamond replicated.

===================================================================================================

As Diamond had stated, fighting Changelings with a flame weapon was a lot easier. Within minutes, the swarm had retreated after many casualties. The three heroes approached Wily's boss door with a rather low health bar, but Proto Man had the answer this time and split an E-Can between them, restoring all of them to full HP. Entering the boss room, they saw Bass at the other end.

"Impressive. You even defeated the Changelings. But I'm still not sure if I can even consider you a threat worth fighting." Bass said from across the room. "Yellow Devil MK 3! Do it for me." he commanded, warping out afterwards. A loud "BUMO" was heard from their side of the room.

"I don't like the look of this. Doesn't this Yellow Devil have a device to make him quicker?" Diamond asked.

"You mean his Speed Gear? Yeah. I got one of those too, as well as a Power Gear. You should too, if you remember correctly." Mega Man said.

"MEMORY BANK RESTORED: 42.7%." the automated assistant said. Memories flashed, you know the drill.

"Oh yeah! The Double Gear system! Let's do this thing! Speed Gear!" he yelled. No sooner had he said this, Yellow Devil started launching his parts towards the other end of the room. Proto Man struggled to dodge them, but Mega and Diamond didn't have much trouble thanks to thier Speed Gears. The Devil formed, with Proto Man around one hit away from death.

"Not cool, you guys. I only have a Power Gear, due to the unstable core." he complained. "But I better make use of this thing. I got Chain Blast on my system from that pink pony with the poofy hair. Let's do this. POWER GEAR!" he finished. He flashed red, with two holographic gears coming together as the energy was released. As Proto Man's initiation finished, he glowed red with power and changed to Chain Blast. While this was going on, Diamond turned on his own Power Gear and fired off a Blazing Torch at Yellow Devil, while Mega just used a Charge Shot. Before Proto could shoot a Chain Blast, however, he had to dodge another volley of Yellow Devil's segments. Diamond helped him do this with his Speed Gear, allowing Proto Man to let loose with a few bombs. This made the Devil furious. He started glowing light blue, with two holographic gears of the same colour combining. Yellow Devil had turned on his Speed Gear.

"That's not good. Any ideas, Mega?" Diamond asked.

"We counter with speed EQUAL to that of Yellow Devil's, obviously!" Mega said, turning on his Speed Gear. Diamond grabbed Proto Man and did the same. However, it wasn't easy to dodge these attacks even with Speed Gears and all three heroes took numerous hits because of it. After Yellow Devil reformed at the heroes' starting end of the room, Diamond had had enough.

"This has gone on TOO long. Time for me to end this. DOUBLE GEAR!!" he yelled. He began to glow white as the light blue and red holographic gears combined into a white. Glowing white, Diamond switched to Chain Blast and demolished Yellow Devil just before his Double Gear ran out of power.

"Bu...mo...mo..." the Yellow Devil stuttered before exploding...again. All that was left in his place was an Element of Harmony.

"Now why would Yellow Devil carry a crystal like that?" Proto Man asked. He went forward to grab it, only to get knocked back.

"Let me try." Diamond offered, and was able to grab the Element with little trouble. "Only organic beings can grab them...interesting. And when I touched it, I felt something. The crystal has a sort of...feeling embedded into it. This one is sealed with Kindness." he stated.

"Interesting. Why don't you try installing it into your system?" Mega suggested.

"Let's give it a shot." he answered. Opening up part of his chestplate, he noticed a hole shaped just like the Element of Kindness, a butterfly. The crystal seemed magnetically drawn to the hole, so all he had to do was let go of it. The Element dropped into place on it's own, with a surge of Kindness coursing through his body. After the power was absorbed, Diamond recieved these notifications:

-Element of Harmony attained!
-This is the Element of Kindness, the first of six. Collecting all of the Elements of Harmony could lead to a huge increase in power.

Not long after came a new weapon.

-Harmony Buster aquired!
-The Harmony Buster will take one - and only one - Element of Harmony and utilize it's hidden power to supercharge your Buster.
-Kindness will fire pellets that do little damage, but may temporarily tempt the enemy to fight for you.

Diamond dismisssd these notifications after reading them through, then signalled to press on.

===================================================================================================

Outside of the Skull Castle, Twilight had gotten one of her ideas. By teaming up with Starlight, she were able to fire a magic beam to cut a hole in the barrier, just big enough for all of them to fit through. The ponies had entered, but had quite a bit of catching up to do.

Author's Note

Another chapter, surprisingly fast. Which boss do you think our heroes will fight next? Will the Mane 7 catch up in time? Can Diamond find a way to exploit the Harmony Buster?

Find out all this and more on the next chapter.

Skull Castle Assault: Floor 2

With an Element of Harmony in tow, the heroes arrived on the second floor of Skull Castle. Wily, however, wasn't backing down until it was over.

"Yellow Devil failed me. But let's see how they do against my next robot." Wily said to himself. "Dark Man! Destroy those intruders! No matter what, do NOT let them reach the peak!"

"As you command, Doctor. I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best." Dark Man said. He assumed his Proto Man disguise and warped out.

===================================================================================================

"Not looking good, girls." Twilight said. "We better proceed with caution. Chances are the Busters missed a few robots."

"Even if they did, we can take 'em down easily!" Rainbow Dash said. "A Sonic Rainboom would clear the room in seconds...if I had enough room to pull it off."

"Can we get this over with quickly, darlings? I have a most important job waiting back home!" Rarity complained.

"Hey, there's Changeling corpses down here!" Pinkie yelled out. "Looks like all wounds were caused by fire or Buster shots. The Buster I understand, but fire? Diamond doesn't have a flame weapon in his arsenal yet!"

"Did you say Changeling corpses? That doctor has gone TOO far." Twilight said in anger. The bandage around her neck started to leak blood as she said this and she collapsed in pain. Rarity was able to fix it quickly and the team pressed forward.

===================================================================================================

Approaching the door, Proto Man had gone back to clear up any robots they missed. Mega Man lifted a whistle he kept on him and used it to call Eddie in to help them.

"You called, Mega Man?" Eddie asked as he finished warping in.

"Yep. You got any E-Cans? We kinda need them." Mega Man replied.

"Sure do! Have three!" Eddie prepared himself and spat three E-Cans out of his head before warping out. The heroes split one of the cans between them, then went through the door. Surprisingly, Proto Man was at the other end of this room. He didn't respond when Mega Man tried to communicate with him, but he turned around and started shooting his Buster.

"WOAH!!" the heroes said this in unison before jumping out of the way.

"Dark Man!" Mega Man said. At this, Dark Man dropped the disguise and opened his chestpiece, taking out a single crystal.

"Is that an Element of Harmony?!" Mega Man asked. "But only organic beings can touch those! Unless Wily's robots are specially made, they should be like us!"

"Doc's robots can touch these Elements at will. It's how I utilize it's power." Dark Man said. "Alright, Element. Let's do this." he said as he put the Element of Harmony into his Buster. Then, he went one step further and turned on his Power Gear.

"An Element AND the Power Gear?! Well, I can do that too!" Diamond said confidently. He took the Element he aquired earlier and placed it into his own Buster. When he fired his next pellet, it was pink and rather big for the amount of power put into it. However, it did a lot more damage to Dark Man, who responded with red pellets with a lot of extra power put into them. A few more pellets of Kindness were able to defeat Dark Man and he exploded, leaving behind his Element of Harmony: Loyalty. Diamond removed the Element of Kindness from his Buster and put it back into the containment system in his chestpiece. He then grabbed the Element of Loyalty and added it to the containment system along with the other one.

-Element of Harmony aquired!
-This is the Element of Loyalty, the second of six. Collecting all of them will give a huge power boost.
-Applying this Element to your Harmony Buster will fire pellets that have a harder impact than others and can do even more damage if you're within 30m of an ally's X or Z position.

"Good to know," Diamond said, dismissing the notifications. "But where IS Proto Man anyway?" As he said this, the door on the starting side of the room opened again and Proto Man walked through.

"Sorry I'm late, guys. Turns out we missed more robots than I thou-oh..." he said as he walked in. "You fought Dark Man, didn't you? He have an Element?" he asked.

"Yep. Element of Loyalty. We can't waste any more time. Let's just keep moving." Diamond said.

"Oh yeah, I caught a glimpse of a lavender unicorn horn before I walked in here. Sound familiar?" Proto Man said.

"That's Twilight! They must have found another way through the shield. We might as well let them catch up!" Mega Man said.

"That'll be WASTING TIME!! But...they are my friends. And I'd never leave them struggling if I knew they were around. You know? Let's wait. Besides, we have all the time we need. I just wanted to get this done quickly." Diamond said.

===================================================================================================

The ponies galloped through the next area. They climbed in silence and only really stopped when they reached the next boss door.

"This is it. Whatever's in this next room, we'll be fighting." Twilight said. "Everypony ready?"

"Ready!" the other six ponies said. They all entered the door at the same time, only to see their allies waiting for them.

"Oh, there you guys are!" Diamond said. "But...how'd you get in?"

"A bit of incrediby powerful magic." Starlight answered. "So, are we gonna keep going or what?"

"I was getting impatient. Let's go already!" Proto Man said. The ten heroes entered the next teleporter one at a time. The storm on Skull Castle was only just beginning.

Skull Castle Assault: Floor 3

The ten heroes progressed to the third floor of Wily's biggest Skull Castle yet. Not even Mega Man knew how many levels Wily had in store for them now.

"How tall even IS this castle?" Twilight asked. "This climb's going to wear down my horseshoes really quickly, especially since this is metal."

"Usually, Wily's forts have four levels. This one's probably gonna have a lot more, but who knows?" Mega answered. "Diamond, you got any ideas?"

"Nope. But...it's quiet in here. Almost...too quiet." Diamond said. Just after he said this, however, a danger reading popped up on Diamond's minimap. "Oh, wait! Hang on! Robot Masters incoming!" he warned. "Ready a weapon!" At this command, the robots readied their Busters and the unicorns began to charge their horns. When they were ready, the room filled with water and two very familiar Robot Masters appeared. Well, familiar to everyone but the ponies and Diamond.

"Alright, Splashie. We may be outnumbered, but only three of these guys can actually hurt us. A magic-repelling layer over our armour prevents unicorn magic hurting us, and the water will dull the effects of the other ponies." Bubble Man said.

"You seven, get out of this room. We'll deal with the Robot Masters." Mega Man said. "Luckily, our armour lets us breathe underwater, plus me and Blues are robots." Twilight tried to respond, but instead just directed the others to swim straight to the door. The ponies did so and the Robot Masters unlocked the door to let them out.

"Alright, only three left. The ponies had to swim out. Alright, Bubbles. Let's do this." Splash Woman said. She swam to the ceiling, singing to call in fish robots from...who knows where. Meanwhile, Bubble Man shot two of his Bubble Lead projectiles at the three remaining heroes, proceeding to swim upwards while firing his Bubble Buster afterwards.

"Jeez. And I thought that Block Man and Impact Man at the same time was tough!" Diamond said to himself. "But two water-based Robot Masters suck! If only I had some way to jump higher..."

"Diamond, we can all jump higher in water. Just...don't jump too high, there's instant-death spikes on the ceiling." Proto Man said to Diamond.

"Yo, of course!" Diamond said. "I can jump higher in water!" He proceeded to jump, finding that his jump height was in his control. He jumped high, but not too high as to hit the spikes and fired his Buster at Splash Woman, making a successful few hits. He then jumped the same height and fired a Charge Shot at her. However, Bubble Man wasn't having it and took the shot for her. He collapsed defeated to the floor.

"Bubbles!!" Splash Woman cried out. She swam to the floor quickly. "Are you OK, buddy?"

"Splashy...I don't think I'm gonna make it any further. You'll have to continue without me..." Bubble Man said, weakly. "I just want to say...I love you more than anyone. I'll see you on the other side..." he finished before popping. Only the weapon cartridge remained, leaving Splash Woman furious. However, it wasn't long before Proto Man and Mega Man followed up with a Charge Shot each, causing her to pop as well. The water drained from the room and Diamond grabbed both cartridges for Pinkie to hang onto.

===================================================================================================

A lot of Robot Masters later, they arrived at the final door. The Mane 7 hadn't suffered much damage, since most of the Robot Masters let them through without a fight. The other three had taken quite a few hits, so they had to divvy up another of thier E-Cans between them, but they were running out fast and Mega was out of Eddie Calls to top up.

"OK, we got two cans left. We gotta make them count." Proto Man said. "We need to take minimum damage in the next levels and only refill if we have to."

"Guys?" Fluttershy said, unnoticed by everyone.

"Blues, we can always sacrifice a spare body to get more HP." Mega Man argued.

"Tell that to an organic being, Mega!" Diamond said.

"EVERYPONY STOP!!" Twilight yelled, causing the three humanoids to stop thier bickering. "Listen, I know a healing spell that might help you guys in the later stages."

"It might help me, but I'm not sure about you two. We should probably test it now." Diamond said. He proceeded to fire upon both robots with his Buster until the two were at half health. He then signalled to Twilight to cast the spell, which she did and was able to heal the robots back to full health within seconds.

"It...worked!" Mega Man exclaimed proudly. "We'll definitely let you know if we need you, Twi. Now let's beat that next boss."

"As if we haven't fought enough already?" Proto Man complained. "Yeah, for the sake of keeping my core from overheating, I'll skip this one."

===================================================================================================

In the peak of Skull Castle, Wily was running out of ideas. Every robot he'd thrown at the heroes had failed, but then Bass had an idea.

"Why not bring Doc Robot back again? True, the ponies wrecked him earlier, but if we have ten of them, and assign one for each hero ONLY, we'll have the advantages!" he suggested.

"Bass, you're about as smart as me!" Wily said. "Alright, Doc Robot! Ten spare bodies, each assigned to a respective hero! In the meantime, we'll hold them off with-"

"Yo, doc! Need someone to stall? I gotcha covered!" Quick Man said.

"Fine, Quick Man. But make use of that Speed Gear of yours. You're only there to stall, not to take them down." Bass warned. You'll probably get popped, but...not like we care." Quick Man took no notice to this comment and warped into the boss room on the third floor.

===================================================================================================

The heroes entered the boss room. It wasn't as flat as the previous rooms they were in, and had no ceiling.

"Well, this is anticlimactic." Rainbow Dash said. "I expected that we'd get attacked by a giant robot boss or something, but this room is...empty."

"Don't say stuff like that, Dash. Who knows what Wily's got up his sleeve." Diamond said just before his visor alerted him that something was up. He quickly switched to his Combat Visor and placed the Element of Loyalty into his Buster, his eyes becoming red and he suddenly felt a LOT more powerful, due to being fully loyal to his friends doing so.

"Since when did you get an Element of Harmony?" Twilight asked.

"I got two, actually, and I have those from defeating the robot bosses Wily's tossed at me and my robot buddies." Diamond replied. "I got Kindness and Loyalty on me right now. Who knows which one the next boss will have."

"You'll see, zeroes!" Quick Man said from the metal platform just above the door they came in through. "Well, you will if I don't kill you guys first."

"Quick Man!" Mega Man yelled. "Get down here and fight us like the man you are!" Surprisingly enough, Quick Man actually did as he was told and jumped down to fight, but not before striking his signature pose.

"Alright, so Quick Man, if that memory was preserved correctly, is weak to a weapon called Flash Stopper." Diamond recited, earning an affirmative nod from Mega Man. "Pinkie, you got the weapon I need?"

"Sorry, Diamond, but I don't think I have the data for that weapon on me." Pinkie said.

"But...I think I do." Fluttershy responded and gave a quick whistle. A few birds flew into the room from who knows where on her command. "Excuse me, but do you think you could stop by my house and grab the small cartridge I have there?" she asked. The birds tweeted in response, then flew out.

"So that little mare can talk to animals, eh?" Quick Man said. "Let's see if you can talk to THIS." he added, throwing a barrage of Quick Boomerangs as he finished. Fluttershy flinched in terror as she pictured her inevitable death, but the Boomerangs never contacted her as Diamond took the hit not meant for him. He tried to replicate Quick Man's powers shortly after regaining his stance, but he couldn't keep his Replicator locked on and failed every time. Giving up and changing back to his Buster, he turned on his Power Gear and let loose with a volley of shots, which all missed the target as well.

"You're kinda slow, Diamond. Especially with this in play! SPEED GEAR!" Quick Man yelled, and the Speed Gear turned on almost instantly. Nobody could keep track of him anymore, but this didn't last for long as Bass warped in moments after Quick Man turned on his gear.

"Great job, Quick Man. Now-" Bass started, but Quick Man ignored him. "I'll...leave you to it." he finished, jumping back up where he came from. At that moment, however, Fluttershy's bird friends flew in back from where they left. In thier feet, they carried the Weapon Cartridge for Flash Stopper. Diamond replicated this, then changed to it, his armour altering itself to match Flash Man's. A single shot was enough to stop time, doing some serious damage. Diamond followed up with a gatling gun he had installed into the weapon data. Quick Man quickly popped and Bass could carry on.

"Why Quick Man, Bass? Hell, why even attack us? What did we ever do to you?" Mega asked.

"Dr. Wily is my creator, Blue Bomber. But it looks like you're ready for my next boss, Doc Robot. However this time, it's one each." Bass announced. The ten Doc Robots appeared in the room shortly after Bass had finished. "And if you can beat THIS, I'll fight you myself." he said before teleporting back to Skull Castle Peak.

"I dunno, guys. There's ten of them and ten of us if you count Proto Man. He probably gave all ten of them armour thst resists attacks from everyone but the hero the Doc Robot body is assigned to." Mega Man estimated.

"Do I seriously have to fight EVERY time?" Proto Man asked. "Whatever, let's get it on."

===================================================================================================

A very, VERY long fight later, all ten Doc Robots were lying in pieces on the uneven steel ground. Next to one of the wrecks lay a third Element of Harmony, Generosity.

"My element?!" Rarity shrieked. "Give it to me, Diamond! Now!"

"Hold up, gal." Applejack said. "Wouldn't exactly be generous to do that, would it now?"

"Fair point, AJ." Rarity admitted. "Uh, Diamond, if you want to hang on to my Element, you can. I need it back later, though."

"Thanks, Rare." Diamond said, picking up the Element and adding it with the rest.

-Element of Harmony aquired!
-This is the Element of Generosity, the third of six. Collecting them all may result in a huge power boost!
-Applying this Element to your Harmony Buster will shoot pellets that give an enemy a higher chance to drop a pickup.

Diamond quickly dismissed these notifications, but right as they were about to move forward, Diamond got another notification.

-Armour upgrade available!
-Estimated time: 1 hour.
-Dismiss this notification when you're ready to upgrade your armour.

Diamond may have dismissed a bit too fast, though. He forgot to read that last part and initiated the upgrade, which removed his Mega Armour. He tried to Meganise again, but all he got was a negatory buzz.

"Darn! Should have read that last bit. My armour's going through the available upgrade and I can't Meganise until it's done. We'll have to sit tight until I'm ready." Diamond said.

"Come on, Diamond. You're better than this!" Proto Man said. "Whatever, dude. We'll cover you in case one of Wily's robots come back in here."

===================================================================================================

It had been over an hour and still the upgrade hadn't finished. The computer now reckoned the upgrade would take a further two.

"Well, we may as well keep on moving. This upgrade may finish a bit quicker if we forget about the time for a few minutes and do the next part. Only problem is I'll be a one-hit wonder without my armour. I still have a weapon and I've got my trusty Grapple Beam to get around with. I got a new upgrade that allows me to latch onto any surface, not just those little Grapple Poles. Which are the same as the Thunder Claw poles." Diamond monologued. The ten heroes kept on moving, but with no teleporter in this room, they struggled to move on. After five minutes, Diamond suggested to move UP. Literally. Using any way to move upwards they could, they were able to make progress and entered a system to take them down to the next stage.

Skull Castle Assault: Sewers

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter's kinda late, guys. I had other things to attain to, which kept me from writing.

Anyway, the story's really putting pressure on our heroes now, isn't it?

If you want to see how Wily recruited the villains, (and I'm fairly sure you do,) I'll post that in a bonus chapter, so keep an eye out for that.

Skull Castle Assault: Sewers

The next area in the Skull Castle was the sewers. The whole area was coated in a yellow-green mist, and it smelt terrible. There was also a bit of radioactivity in the air, which read on Diamond's radioactivity scale as a 30, which wasn't that serious.

"Bit of radioactivity down here, Diamond. Think you and the ponies can take it?" Mega asked.

"The ponies, they'll be fine." Diamond said. "Me, well, it's kinda obvious. I practically LIVE in Liphidite crystals, which is a 500,000 reading on the scale. This area is no higher than double digits, so I'm gonna be good for a while." he added. The heroes decided to press forward anyway, even though the area was irradiated and Diamond didn't have his Mega Armour. They hadn't gone far when a loudspeaker appeared from one of the pipes.

"Nyahahahahahaha!" Wily laughed from the speaker. "You've done well to make it here. I've got the last Element of Harmony locked in my room. But if you want it, you gotta get it!"

"That...doesn't explain all this sewage, Wily." Proto Man said.

"Right, the sewage. Poisoning these ponies is one of the goals I have in this world. That way, it'll be a lot easier to turn them into robot slaves." Wily said. "But...if you want me to cut the sewage off, defeat my Kamegoro Maker. You'll get another Element from it as well. Have fun! Nyahahahahaha!" The loudspeaker disappeared back into the pipe it came from as Wily finished.

"Not good. How's everyone doing back there?" Mega asked.

"I've only recieved one dose of radiation. My visor tells me that everypony else has recieved quite a lot." Diamond answered. "I have the answer, though. I called a Supply Drop while I was waiting for you guys at the shield and it contained quite a lot of Rad-Aways. Everypony, cleanse yourselves in these to wash off that radioactive dust."

"I don't see how it'll help, but okay." Applejack replied, but she and the others proceeded to coat themselves in one Rad-Away each. When they were done, Diamond gave the thumbs up to let them know the radiation was clear and they pressed on.

===================================================================================================

The team passed through the highly toxic sewers with little interference. A few Big Fish, Mets and an Armour Joe were the only enemies down here, making the walk to the boss door uneventful at best.

"Upgrade done yet, Diamond?" Mega asked.

"Not quite yet. It's on 89%." Diamond answered. "Think Wily's actually gonna turn the pipes off if we defeat this boss?"

"If I know Wily, then probably not." Proto Man said. "Let's just beat that Kamegoro Maker and grab the next Element." he added. The team entered the door into the clean water of the next room, with a machine above the pool. This boss room, like the last one, had no ceiling, but an even floor. Most of the room was filled with clean, blue water and the smell and radioactivity was non-existent.

"There's the Kamegoro Maker. How do we break it?" Diamond asked.

"Destroy the Kamegoroes it makes." Mega answered. "Let's see how well your Photon Rifle does." he continued as Diamond dug out his gun.

"Engage Shadow Blade!" Proto Man shouted into his system, his armour changing colour as he did. He then threw a couple Shadow Blades at the incoming Kamegoroes, destroying them near instantly. Diamond emptied his current mag on the next few Kamegoroes, leaving them mere scrap metal. Mega Man changed to Metal Blade and tossed a couple at the next few, but Metal Blade had no effect on these guys, so Diamond took over with his rifle. Twilight and Starlight finished the job with thier combined magic beam aimed directly at the Kamegoro Maker and disintegrated it, leaving it beyond Wily's repair and leaving only the Element of Honesty behind.

-Upgrade complete! You can now Meganize into a new armour!

"New armour. Let's grab the Element first, though." Diamond said, moving forward to grab the crystal apple. Before he could grab it, however, the chestpiece of his robotic body opened and the Element flew into it's slot in the storage system.

-Element of Harmony Acquired!
-This is the Element of Honesty, the fourth of six. Locating the remaining Elements is highly recommended.
-Applying this to your Harmony Buster will shoot pellets that will increase in power if someone close to you tells a lie.

Diamond dismissed the notifications before he said "MEGANIZE ME!!"

[Transformation Scene]

Diamond jumped into the air and was coated in a flash of light. As it faded, his green jumpsuit disappeared to be replaced by light blue bio armour.

Next, Diamond's armour expanded into lapis-coloured boots, shortly followed by his chest being coated in light and forming his blue breastplate, followed by the backplate.

Then, the hands were coated in light to form Diamond's gauntlets. One of them would be able to transform into Diamond's Harmony Buster later.

Lastly, the Mega helmet formed on Diamond's head, with it's appearance changing his eyes from hazel to a robotic blue. This ended the process.

[Transformation End]

No sooner had Diamond touched the ground, Diamond's armour glowed again, shortly having it's material replaced from metal to crystals. His Zero Suit Grapple Beam was fastened to his helmet in the form of a horn. Rapid notifications appeared on his visor shortly later.

-Crystal Armour Acquired!
-This new armour will draw magic from the area around you and use it to power your Grapple Beam, now renamed the Magic Beam.
-Crystals direct from the Frozen North increase the defensive properties without hindering your agility, especially considering those crystals are really heavy usually.
-The Elements can expel more power than before without putting strain on your systems, and your Zero gadgets can now be used in armour.

-Rainprism Acquired!
-The Rainprism is a passive weapon, engaged when you use the Light Dash mobility weapon.
-Colliding with something while using this attack negates all contact damage and releases a shockwave similar in power to the Sonic Rainboom, thanks to the Element of Loyalty.

-Gem Shield Acquired!
-The Gem Shield is a defensive sidearm useable with your secondary Buster.
-The shield is formed by magic, is virtually indestructible and can even ward off magic attacks, fueled mainly by the Element of Generosity.

-Nature's Regeneration Acquired!
-Nature's Regeneration harnesses the natural energy in the magic absorbed by your armour to restore your Power over time.
-Animals in the nearby area will be attracted by a single whistle to enhance the Power regeneration rate when the ability is used, courtesy of the Element of Kindness and Fluttershy's ability to communicate with animals.

-Apple Kick Acquired!
-This weapon is similar to Charge Kick, only a lot stronger.
-It is used in the same way as the Charge Kick - slide into stuff to attack it.
-Sliding into enemies will drop explosive crystal apples in the immediate contact area, powered by the hidden power of the Element of Honesty.

"I...I never knew my Element had that potential!" Applejack said.

"Neither did I, Applejack. But if Diamond was able to unlock it, perhaps he should keep them on him." Twilight suggested. She turned back to him, only to see energy being released from his armour in huge spurts. Diamond's visor read:

-WARNING! Power Overload! Remove an Element of Harmony immediately!-

The Mane 6 wasted NO time. Mega opened Diamond's chestpiece and the two unicorns and Twilight used their magic to yank the Element of Loyalty from it's socket. The energy spitting out of Diamond's armour ceased as he collapsed to the floor in immense pain.

===================================================================================================

Meanwhile, down in the Skull Castle Dungeon, the ponies imprisoned were starting to get restless. Wily had a few robots stationed there, and they weren't letting anypony escape anytime soon. Celestia and Luna, however, had remained calm, even though Crash Man and Commando Man were guarding their cell.

"Prisoner Report!" Bass cried out as he teleported in. Commando Man rushed forward as he materialized and saluted.

"All accounted for, nothing to report." Commando Man said quickly. He was obviously scared of Bass, but didn't want to show it.

"And as for you, Luna, KK, you're coming with me for now." Bass said. "Let them out, Crash Man!" he commanded. Crash Man swiftly obeyed and cracked the Weapon Lock with his Crash Bomb, letting the princesses go.

"What do you want with US?" Luna asked. "Not like we can do anything anyway. You had Discord remove our horns!"

"Don't forget about our wings, Luna." Celestia said. "But anyway, why would you release us anyway? We're the enemy."

"But you don't HAVE to be." Bass said. "We formed an alliance with a few guys you've fought before, and...why am I talking? It would be better if I just showed you." he continued before warping out, taking the two sisters with him.

===================================================================================================

Wily, Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra (somehow) were more than expecting the arrival in Skull Castle Peak. The rest of the villains (also somehow) were not, but Bass filled them in as Wily confronted the two sisters.

"What do you want, human scum?!" Celestia snapped, initiating a fight stance. Luna quickly imitated as best she could.

"Calm down, you two. I just want to talk right now." Wily stated. "But if you wish, I can always blow the castle and everyone inside it to pieces." he threatened cleverly.

"Fine. We're listening, but I don't think we'll be interested in anything you have to say." Luna grumbled.

ONE WILY MONOLOGUE LATER...

"...and that is essentially the deal. To put it simply, you join me and we'll unlock the evil side of your person...or...pony...whatever. In return, we make the prisoners our slaves and take over the rest of the planet." Wily finished. "You refuse, and the least you get is your powers back and we blow this place up. What'll it be?"

Celestia considered this for a moment, then agreed, even though Luna tried to warn her that she was making a ginormous mistake. "We gave you what you want. Now let everypony go." she said.

"Who said I'd do THAT?" Wily asked them sarcastically, his hand hovering over the detonator. "Set the timer, Sombra!"

"But...you said-" Luna began before being cut off.

"Remember when I said I'd disarm the explosives? You should have known that I never stay true to my word." Wily gloated. The heroes did beat my Kamegoro Maker, so I'll keep that promise, though," he added, hitting a button that said "Cease Sewage".

"Timer's set, Wily. Now let's hit these two with a bit of darkness..." Sombra said, charging his magic. When he released, both of the princesses present were engulfed in visions of thier worst fears, which would later evolve into something dark.

ONE SLIGHTLY-LONGER-THAN-ANTICIPATED PROCESS LATER...

The two sisters had become evil versions of themselves. Celestia had become the Empress of the Sun, Daybreaker, while Luna had become the Queen of the Night, Nightmare Moon. Discord (who had been tricked again, this time by Wily,) snapped his fingers after they'd finished maniacally laughing to restore their wings and horns.

"Alright. The Legion of Doom is now reborn and ready to go. We'll detonate this joint and take over the rest of this planet, and there's NOTHING that can stop us!" Wily said, almost certain that his plan would work out.

"And...what do we do after Equestria is ours?" Discord asked quickly. "There's got to be something beyond our planetary borders."

"Oh, but there is, o great Lord of Chaos." Wily answered. "After we take over Planet Equis, one of us will stay and watch over while the rest of us travel to the next planet on my list."

"But...who's going to stay behind, Wily?" Cozy Glow asked. "And why only one of us? Surely having more than one would give us a better chance to keep control."

"You make a good point, little one." Wily said. "And who better to stay behind than literal royalty? I have a feeling Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon would do the best job ruling over the planet when we're done."

"Excellent. And like you say, Wily, there is NOTHING that will stop us this time." Nightmare Moon said. "I know we villains say that every time, but this time, really, NOTHING will stop us!" she finished. The Legion of Doom began laughing maniacally at this statement, as they knew they'd be doing better than their previous attempts. Wily proceeded to hit a big red button that said "Detonate" to start the timer on the explosives in the castle, which would go off in three hours.

====================================================================================================

Diamond had just come to his senses when the room they were in began flashing red. He immediately got to his feet, ready to fire before a monitor appeared from the ceiling. The water drained from the room to make more space for it, and the Legion of Doom appeared on the screen.

"NYAHAHAHAHAHA!!" the Legion laughed.

"You've done AWFULLY well, all of you. Really, you have! But your time's running out rather fast." Wily said. "If you're going to storm this castle, you'd better be quick doing it!"

"What did you do?!" Mega Man yelled into the monitor. "I swear, when we get up there, you're going to be seeing STARS!" he threatened, charging his Buster quickly, but Twilight used her magic to restrain him.

"All I did was activate a self-destruct sequence, set to go off in three hours. I've been generous and given you time to reach me. But you'd need all six Elements of Harmony to stop me, and HOW many can you carry at a time?" Wily smirked as he said this. "A pathetic three is the answer to that one."

"We've got every villain in Equestria here, boys." Chrysalis said from the background. "From Nightmare Moon to Cozy Glow, and EVERY CREATURE in between. Even Discord's here with us."

"Did...you...just...say..." Fluttershy said, triggered by hearing Discord had gone bad again.

"Now, Fluttershy. I'm sure this is all a big misunderstanding-" Diamond began.

"DISCORD!!! WE MADE SURE YOU'D BE REFORMED, HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US?!" Fluttershy shouted, taking no notice of Diamond at all. "LET ME TALK TO HIM NOW, OR YOU'LL BE SEEING A SIDE YOU DON'T WANNA SEE." she threatened.

"I never knew you had that side to you. Alright, Discord. She's all yours." Wily said, with Discord materialising in front of the screen a half-second later. "But you guys are wasting time by doing this."

"Dang, he's right! Come on, team!" Diamond said, blasting the monitor apart. Fluttershy immediately cooled off and the heroes sprinted (or, in the case of the ponies, galloped/flew) onward.

13.5: The Legion of Doom (Wily's POV)

-WILY LOG PAGE 155: RECRUITING THE LEGION OF DOOM.

Before Recruiting

After forcing the Equis ponies to build my new Skull Castle on top of their little city of Canterlot, I figured I'd need some help from the villains OF Planet Equis to help me in taking it over and also to defeat the heroes it has, as I was certain it would. I decided to use a new device I'd constructed to locate dark magic, which would most definitely lead me to a villain, to guide me towards them so I wouldn't be flying around like an idiot, more specifically, Dr. Thomas Light. Less than five seconds after booting it up, however, I got a HUGE energy signal coming from an area my map couldn't identify, so I decided to drop Bass and Treble off to watch over construction and followed the signals.

Recruiting Tirek and Cozy Glow

I approached the signal, which was coming from an area my map now recognised as Tartarus, which is essentially Hell. I busted in, which wasn't easy, and defeated the Cerberus guarding the area. Once I did, I approached the cells that contained the two most notorious villains on the planet: a centaur named Tirek and a filly named Cozy Glow. I know, the latter sounds weird, but my research showed that she had once tried to drain and banish ALL the magic from the planet, and NEARLY managed it. The moment I got out of my Wily Capsule, however, I was confronted (as best they could in those cells) by a clearly angry centaur.

"And who are YOU? We don't see your type around Equestria," Tirek asked me. "You look kind of like me, only...with two legs instead of four? No horns, no magic, even my SECOND form could beat you in a fight."

"Now, Tirek, we shouldn't be rude to humans. After all, we may not see them that often, since they come from another world, or planet, but they are a force to be reckoned with," Cozy Glow assured him. "Now, who are you and why did you come to bust us out?"

"My name is Doctor Albert Wily, but just call me Wily." I answered. "I busted this joint because I need your help with something."

"What would you need OUR help for?" Tirek asked, clearly still angry at me. "For all we know, you'll backstab us at the last minute and have us sent back here, to Tartarus."

"Tirek, he wouldn't free us if he was going to betray us," Cozy Glow told him. "Why not just let me do the talking for you?"

"Fine. I'll shut my mouth and let you handle it, Cozy Glow."

"Now, I believe Tirek was trying to say: why do you need our help?" she asked.

"Well, I'll put it this way: what if I told you I could help you take over Planet Equis, or as you call it, Equestria, single-handed?" I offered. "All I need is for you to contribute towards helping me defeat this planet's heroes, and I'll help you defeat my planet's," I added. Cozy Glow stayed remarkably calm, but Tirek's jaw dropped at my proposition.

"It's a deal," Cozy said.

"Count me in, Doc." Tirek added.

"Brilliant!" I said. "Now, if you'll allow me to, I need to bust you out and restore your powers. This won't take a moment," I added, pulling out a laser gun. With one zap on each lock, they fell off the cell doors and the two were able to walk out. I then set my laser to "Restore Dark Magic" and zapped them, restoring Tirek to his second form and Cozy's flight capabilities.

"Oh yeah! Welcome back, bulk!" Tirek said to himself. "So, what now?"

"Now?" Wily said. "Heheheh. Let's unite the villains of Equis."

Recruiting Queen Chrysalis

After completing the castle, including shield, I got into contact with Shadow Man. He picked up, but had a strange...slur to his voice.

"This is Shadow Man. How may I, or my master, help you?" he said.

"Your...master? Shadow Man, that's me. Why haven't you left that place yet?" I asked.

"That would be because your little robot now belongs to me, Wily." a very unfamiliar voice told me from Shadow Man's audio call. I could tell it was a female on the line.

"What?! Who are you and what have you done to Shadow Man?" I asked.

"Do not be alarmed. I am Queen Chrysalis, ruler of the Changeling race," she answered. "As for your robot, I cast a spell on him and his little cohort to put them on our side."

"The...Changelings? Oh right! You're THAT Chrysalis! My remaining robots said something about you. A failed conqueror, like me." I said. "Do you mind having Shadow Man switch to his video call? I really want to talk to you in...uh...person, I guess?"

"Not at all. Shadow Man, you have your orders." Chrysalis told him.

"If that is what you wish, my queen." Shadow Man said in his mind-blank slur. My call cut for a second, then I saw her for the first time, and I will be honest, she was absolutely stunning. After picking myself back up, I continued the conversation.

"So, Shadow Man and Snake Man are under your spell, are they?" I said. "You can keep them if you like, but what if I said I could help you?"

"Go on...um...I never got your name." she said, obviously asking what my name was.

"Doctor Albert Wily." I told her. "As for what I was saying, we're both failed conquerors, but if we worked together-" I began.

"NO. I am a QUEEN, not a pawn. I work alone...well, alone with an army of Changelings." she snapped.

"I wasn't saying you'd work FOR me, I'm saying you'd work WITH me." I told her. "If we worked together, we'd be able to take over not only Planet Equis, or as you call it, Equestria, but the whole galaxy."

"Interesting. I obviously jumped to conclusions a bit too fast. Tell me more..."

"Well, you, me and a bunch of other villains from Planet Equis once I get them on the team will be working to plunge the planet under our control." I continued. "And NO, not in a magic way, but in an imperialism way."

"Say nothing more, Wily. Do you mind if I call you Wily?" she said. "Regardless, I'm in on your little scheme. I've got a feeling with your help, we'll be able to finish what we never could."

"Perfect. Welcome to the Legion of Doom, Queen Chrysalis." I said. "According to my list, we still have Nightmare Moon, Daybreaker, King Sombra, Starlight Glimmer, the Sirens and Discord left to recruit."

"Well, Starlight's reformed, and is on my To-Kill list, so she's out. I have no idea who the Sirens are, Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker are long gone, King Sombra's been dead for years and Discord is also reformed." Chrysalis affirmed quickly.

"Well, come over to Canterlot, now more appropriately Skull Castle, and I can run down on the details." I said.

"I don't really have time right now. Besides, I need to get the rest of the brood to take their nap and still get it myself. I'll be there as soon as possible." she told me before hanging up. We had an army on the team now.

Recruiting Discord

My Dark Magic Detector was going nuts around Ponyville. Going there led me straight to the Lord of Chaos, Discord. As usual, he was keeping himself occupied by making chaos happen by snapping his claw...or...paw. I don't know what he's supposed to be, his head is a pony's, but his body is made from basically every creature imaginable.

"Uh, excuse me? Do you know where I could find someone named Discord?" I asked. He turned to face me when I spoke.

"Are you looking for me, perhaps?" he said. "I know, I look rather strange, but that's just what happens when you're born my species."

"Wait...YOU'RE the Lord of Chaos? I find that a little..."

"Hard to swallow?" he asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.

"Exactly. I'd like your help, but unfortunately for you it means using your chaotic powers for evil again, but then, isn't chaos an embodiment of evil?" I said. "Letting your powers go to waste like this doesn't seem healthy for you."

"My...powers are going to waste?" he asked. "But...why would that be happening?"

"Because from what I've seen, you are physical chaos. By using your powers like this, you'll slowly fade out of existence." I told him, trying to trick him into going bad.

"That...almost happened once. I don't want a repeat of that! Tell me, what do I do to keep my form?"

"You can start by helping me conquer Planet Equis, more aptly named Equestria." I said. Discord, completely oblivious to the fact that he was being blatantly tricked, agreed to join the Legion of Doom in a heartbeat and almost plunged the entirety of Ponyville back into it's chaotic state. I explained who we were missing that we could recruit, and he said that we now only needed Sombra, Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker to have all the villains united. The Sirens would be impossible to recruit, and were practically useless without their gems, which they didn't have. The Pony of Shadows, which I never knew existed, was also impossible to get, due to him being a pony named Stygian who had been freed from darkness not too long ago and wouldn't be getting that form back anytime soon, so he was out.

Recruiting King Sombra

My detector was again going nuts near the Crystal Empire, which is where I'd headed to pick up Sombra. It turned out I'd had to revive him, which was actually rather difficult. Once I succeeded, however, Sombra was less than happy to hear that I wanted his help.

"Why should I help you? What's in it for me?" he demanded.

"W-well, if you work with me, I'll GIVE you not only the Crystal Empire, but all of Equestria." I answered, nervously.

"Yeah, right. Don't make promises you can't keep, human. You'll probably backstab me at the first chance you get and sic the Elements of Harmony on me again." he said.

"Look, I'm serious. I'll remain loyal to you all until we win or somehow lose. In the words of the annoying pink pony Diamond always hangs with: Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." I recited painfully.

"Alright...I'm in, but don't expect us to get along." he told me. "I've got my eye on you, and if you try to break that promise of yours, I'll plunge you into your worst fears for eternity."

"I'm telling you, I don't even KNOW what the Elements of Harmony are. Not that I could use them, they're forces for good!" I told him.

"Oh, well in that case, my suspicions are cleared." he said. "You're good, doc. I feel like we'll get on better than I originally thought."

"Now we only have two more villains to get, but it won't be easy." I said. "We're after Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker, and I have no idea who EITHER of them are."

"You mean the evil forms of Princesses Celestia and Luna. It's a simple spell - for me, at least - to force their dark forms out." he said. "Let's head to your castle so we can perform it."

-END PAGE.
-Next Page
-Previous Page

Author's Note

This info will be transferred into Diamond's system later. Keep an eye for THAT bonus chapter.

Skull Castle Assault: Rush

The heroes made their way through the longest gauntlet they'd faced yet at a very high speed, but Diamond was having a little trouble making his way forward. Twilight and Starlight caught on with this, eventually stopping to talk to him. They'd catch up with the others later.

"Guys...the aura up here is not normal. It's changing me...back to my pony form," Diamond struggled to say. "We need to get through the area FAST so I can replace lost genes."

"Your pony form is returning? I don't see it." Starlight said, which Diamond responded to by removing his Crystal Armour to show his body. His left arm had turned into a pony front leg, with a human hand sticking out of it. His head had also partially sprouted a horn, and parts of his skin was turning green.

"See what I mean? We gotta get through here quick, or I'll lose my human form permanently," Diamond said. "The process should take up to an hour if we're lucky, which should be JUST enough time to get the next Element of Harmony and get to the peak."

"But...you lost your armour! What are you gonna do now?" Twilight asked.

"I only de-Meganized to prove a point." Diamond answered. "MEGANIZE ME! CRYSTAL ARMOUR, ONLINE!"

[Transformation Scene]

Diamond jumped into the air and was coated in a bright flash of light. He span through the air as his clothing vanished into thin air.

Then, the sapphire-coloured crystal boots formed, followed by aquamarine nano-tech pants. Next, the armoured upper chest formed as an aquamarine nano-tech vest appeared, followed by a sapphire-coloured crystal breastplate and backplate. Energy shot through his arms as his sapphire-coloured crystal gauntlets formed, followed by the matching sleeves for his vest.

Finally, a sapphire crystal helmet with a transparent visor appeared on Diamond's head, with nano-tech forming on it to create what was supposed to be a knight's crest. As the square button formed, his eyes changed from hazel to robotic cyan. Diamond held his right arm out as if reaching for something, forming his Harmony Buster, then entered a battle stance, his nano-tech becoming crystal as he did so.

[End Transformation]

When Diamond's transformation finished, Starlight hit him with a spell that would repel the ponyfying aura for a while. They had to sprint to keep up with the other seven, but a Speed Spell from Twilight made it no issue. When they reached the first boss door, it had a different plate above it. Instead of a traditional Dr. Wily plate, black with a red ring around the Dr. W text, it instead had Tirek's face on it.

"I think this could be a tough one..." Mega Man said. "We don't know ANYTHING about Planet Equis's villains."

"Hang on, let me take a look." Diamond said. He approached the plate with a Grapple Beam aimed at the ceiling, then switched to his Scan Visor and copied it into his system.

-Recorded to Villain Logbook.
-Tirek: A centaur with a lust for power. Since his defeat a long time ago, Tirek spent most of his time imprisoned in Tartarus.
Powers: Can absorb the magic of living entities, including flight from Equine Pegasi and strength from Equine Earth Ponies at a high enough power level, and use it to make him even stronger.
Weakness: Harmony Buster (Kindness).
Max Power (HP): 250 Base Form, 2500 Form 2, 7500 Form 3, 500000 Final Form.

Diamond dismissed the messages, switched to his Neutral Visor and turned off his Grapple Beam, doing a flip before he hit the floor on his feet. The heroes progressed through the boss door, only to see Tirek at the other end of the room in his second form. Diamond switched to his Combat Visor and got in his fight stance, buster at the ready.

"You know, I never thought you'd get here." Tirek said. "But now that you're here, I'll POUND YOU INTO GRAVEL!" he yelled, readying a magic blast from his horns. The heroes responded by readying their own weapons: horns, busters, even bare hooves. Diamond proceeded to open his breastplate and grab the Element of Harmony he needed, placing it in his Harmony Buster and readying his Combat Visor.

boss theme

Tirek's blast was aimed at Diamond and he wasn't exactly ready for it, being hit square in the face with dark magic. Diamond responded by using two of his new passive abilities, Gem Shield and Nature's Regeneration. Right away, his Power meter began climbing back up slowly as enchanted butterflies flew around him and a shield made from enchanted gems appeared on his left arm. He then turned on his Power Gear and fired a few pink pellets infused with his current Element, surprisingly doing little damage even WITH Power Gear. Mega Man followed up with his Scramble Thunder attack, also not doing great. In fact, NONE of the heroes's attacks did great.

"HEH! Compared to me, your power level is like a pancake's!" Tirek gloated, readying another magic blast aimed at Diamond. Unfortunately for him, Diamond was ready this time and blocked the majority of the attack with the Gem Shield, following up with a few more pellets, to no avail.

"It's no good! His Power Gauge AND defensive properties are off the charts! We need to find some sort of weak point." Diamond said. "But where? I have amnesia, you know! I don't know as much as I should!" he added, blocking another dark blast. He started blasting Tirek randomly, one of his shots actually doing damage when it contacted one of his horns.

"Yo, he lost a bit of Power! Go for the horns!" Mega Man said, shortly before witnessing Tirek trying to absorb Proto Man's essence. He immediately charged his Buster and fired on the horn, knocking Tirek back and letting Proto Man make the escape. Proto Man used his own shield to block the majority of another blast, then used a few charge shots on the horn, making near contact every time, but still hitting his target. Tirek grabbed Proto Man before he could charge his sixth shot and proceeded to suck the essence from him, and this time nobody could make Tirek let go. He left Proto Man darn near powerless and was able to power up to his third form.

"Darn...he's got my powers!" Proto Man said. "Try attacking him when he's ready to fire one of his blasts. My essence might leak out of him and back into me! Think you can process all that and give us a few chances of success, Diamond?" he added. On command, Diamond switched to his Scan Visor and began to copy the statistics they needed, while everyone else kept Tirek busy.

"OK, I think I've got all the data I need. Based on what I've got, if we hit Tirek's pressure point at JUST the right moment, which will be right before he fires, we might be able to release Proto Man's essence in one go and ALSO deal a HUGE amount of damage to his Power Gauge." Diamond analysed. "Even if we DO screw up on the timing, we still have a 32.5% chance to do that, a 60.2% chance to release a good chunk and the rest of our percentage to release only a little."

"Sounds good. Speed Gear can help out with timing anyway." Mega said. "Buster ready, Diamond! Not that I don't trust you, ponies, but stand back." he added as Tirek began his next charge. The two turned on their Speed Gears, proceeded to charge their own shots, and let loose RIGHT before Tirek's magic was released, their Double Gear system overheating a second later. The two shots hit the horns square on, with Proto Man's essence leaving Tirek's body and returning to it's rightful owner. In revenge, Proto Man activated his Proto Strike attack, turned on his Power Gear and let loose. Within seconds, Tirek was defeated and was teleported out.

end song

"There's another boss door at that end of the room, so he couldn't have been the last boss." Diamond said. "But wait a sec...that's my backup memory drive!" He charged forward, grabbed the drive and took out his artificial brain. He connected the backup to his brain and let it take it's course, then inserted the single chip back into his head. His memory drive was immediately restored, and Diamond was back to normal. He kept the memories he'd had from before he got his backup drive back into his possession and recovered the rest.

"How you feeling now, Diamond?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"In your words...AWESOME. Well, slightly less awesome than usual, considering my situation right now, but...you know what, why don't I just show you?" Diamond said, removing his Crystal Armour to show his ponyfying body.

"Dude, not cool. But we don't have time right now, the clock's still ticking!" Proto Man warned. "Here's our timer in digits: 2:43:20 and counting."

"Right. Let's keep moving." Diamond said.

The heroes passed through the rest of the incredibly long gauntlet in near silence. They reached the boss door a lot quicker, this one a more traditional plate. When they walked through, Bass was the one standing at the other end.

"You've done EXTREMELY well to get all the way here. I must say, I'm impressed." he said. "But you will not be reaching the Legion of Doom on my watch. We've thrown everything we had at you, but I guess if you REALLY want something done well, you gotta do it yourself. Come on, Treble!"

boss theme

Bass immediately jumped in the air and merged with Treble to activate his Super Adaptor. Mega decided to do the same by calling in Rush and having him transform into Mega's Super Adaptor armour.

"This is my fight. Anyone who can fly, cover me!" Mega said. The pegasi and Twilight followed him easily, while Diamond used his Hover Board previously only accessible in Zero Form to follow. Proto Man was left with the other ponies and had no idea what to do, before Starlight remembered she had a levitation spell and took off with the others. Regardless of his actions, he and the others were grounded and had no way to follow.

Bass and Mega Man exchanged blows, but to little effect. Twilight's combat spells weren't really helping either, as Bass wore a magic-resistant layer of armour. Diamond loaded his Harmony Buster with the Element of Loyalty (which he had recently replaced with Honesty before they entered the room.) and activated his Power Gear to try and deal some serious damage, which ultimately failed. It wasn't until later that he noticed that Bass had an Element in his own Buster: Laughter.

"Bass! How did you get an Element?" Diamond asked. "In fact, how did Wily even steal the Elements of Harmony in the first place?"

"That's for him to know and you to find out." Bass said. After shooting him a few times, however, Diamond noticed a sort of slur in his voice, and he knew now that Bass had rebelled against Wily and planned to stick that way, so it could only mean...

"Guys, I don't think Bass is...you know, in the right mind." Diamond said. "Keep him busy while I run diagnostics. There's gotta be something here..." he added, turning on his Diagnostic Visor.

"Fools. The last thing I am is out of the right mind. If anything, YOU'RE not in your right minds." Bass said, his corruption now revealing itself. "Don't make accusations that aren't true." The heroes there responded with their own attacks: Twilight tried a number of combat spells, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy span him in circles and Mega shot his Rocket Fist a few times.

"Diagnostics complete! It appears that my assumption is correct. Bass is infected with a prototype form of Roboenza. Luckily, I have one last bit of cure. Hold him down." Diamond commanded, with the heroes dragging him back down to the floor.

end song

With Bass struggling, Diamond shoved the last of the Roboenza cure into Bass's systems. He shuddered a bit, then returned to normal, Treble reappearing at his side and looking a lot less menacing now. It didn't take long for Bass to come back to his senses, and he quickly looked around wondering what happened.

"Where...am I?" he asked himself. "Last thing I remember, I was fighting Wily in space, but..."

"Don't worry about it, Bass." Diamond said. "You were infected with a prototype of Roboenza, forced to do Wily's bidding."

"But...the virus was exterminated! How did I..."

"What matters now is that you're back to normal. Can I have a look at that crystal embedded into your buster?"

"Uh, sure." Bass said, handing Diamond the Element. It was indeed the Element of Laughter, and in surprisingly incredible condition, after being in a corrupted body for who knows how long. "Oh, and I have this one as well. Just thought I'd let you know." Bass added, taking out the Element of Magic.

"You had TWO Elements of Harmony on you? I'm about glad we beat you." Mega said. "Diamond, you know the drill. Get them into your system." Diamond did as he was told and placed both Elements into their slots in his containment system, one at a time. He started with the Element of Laughter.

-Element of Harmony Acquired!
-This is the Element of Laughter, the fifth of six. Locating the final Element is highly recommended.
-When applied to your Harmony Buster, it will shoot larger pellets and release a huge amount of confetti.

-Party Cannon Acquired!
-The Party Cannon is a single-use projectile weapon that does a ton of damage to anyone who gets in the way.
-However, the Cannon can also be used as a distraction for most enemies, courtesy of the Element of Laughter.

He then followed with the Element of Magic, which wasn't easy to slot in.

-Element of Harmony Acquired!
-This is the Element of Magic, the final of the six. The Elements have been united, and all six have been automatically placed into your system. Be ready for a huge surge of magic!
-Applying this to your Buster will have a result even I can't describe.

-Alicorn Beam Acquired!
-This weapon will take out anything in it's path with the magic stored in your armour. A fully charged blast will disintegrate anything it touches.
-However, this weapon releases all the magic stored in your armour at once, so only use it as a last resort. However, it's incredible power comes direct from the Element of Magic.

"Magic surge in three...two...o-AARGH!!" Diamond counted, before being hit with the massive magical surge the automated assistant had warned him about. Everyone else decided to stand back, and the surge nearly killed him. It took a whole 15 minutes for the surge to go down, but when he emerged, his armour had COMPLETELY changed. His Grapple Beam remained fastened to his forehead, but it had gotten a bit longer. His backplate had also sprouted wings, his Hover Board's sonic thrusters fitted into the exhuast barrel in the back. He also had sonic thrusters embedded into his boots for extra aerial power. The armour itself had been coated in a more sturdy crystal layer and his visor changed on the outside to become green. His armour was also more jagged, and his breastplate had the Elements of Harmony showing on the outside for easier access, and they hardly caused any strain for him, even with all six in place.

-Alicorn Battle Armour Acquired!
-The Alicorn Battle Armour is much more powerful than the Crystal Armour and has all the abilities of an organic Alicorn.
-Your new armour has integrated your Hover Board's sonic thrusters into your wings, allowing you to fly at any moment, but your Hover Board has now been removed from your possession.
-Your magic meter will be permanently supercharged from this moment forth, allowing for permanent use of the Grapple Beam and ALL Element of Harmony abilities.
-Your Buster has been infused with all six Elements, which can be interchanged at will with the new interface on your Buster, and the final Element weapon is now compatible with your armour, but can only be used once.

-Harmony Blast Acquired!
-WARNING: Using this ability will remove the Alicorn Battle Armour and the Crystal Armour permanently.
-Your Buster will absorb the power of all six Elements of Harmony at once and become insanely overcharged with magic to release an attack that will one-shot any foes in it's way.
-The Elements of Harmony will leave your armour and return to their owners or the Tree of Harmony, whichever one is closest, and you will be de-Meganized for a day.

"Sweet! This armour seems AWESOME!" Diamond exclaimed. "Unfortunately, I'll lose it using that Harmony Blast weapon, but I feel like it's the only thing that'll finish the Legion of Doom for good."

"Diamond, we're KINDA on a timer right now! No time for that!" Proto Man urged. "Wily's our last obstacle between us and everything we need to release everybo-" Mega Man nudged him to use proper Ponish grammar. "Sorry, everyPONY, from this darn castle."

"Well, we still got about two hours left. We can make a quick rest stop before we fight Wily. Surely we don't need TWO HOURS to fight Wily." Diamond pointed out.

"Good point. I think the doc gave you a little TOO much time." Bass said. "There's one in the next corridor, but Wily's got it rigged so that we can't leave, and even I can't bypass Wily's security without permission. His password is CRAZY long, contains everything it needs to make it secure, and changes it every single day. I'm surprised he even remembers his passwords!"

"Which is why we aren't using that one. We'll make it in this room, considering there's no ponifying aura in this room." Mega said. "And yes, I scanned the entire atmosphere. We're clear."

"Alright! I got some genes to replace and a bit of sleep to get. I am human, after all." Diamond said. "Once my human form is restored, wake me up and we can get going. Offline!" he added, removing his Alicorn Battle Armour and collapsing on the floor in exhaustion.

Skull Castle Rest Stop

Author's Note

This one's a little shorter than usual, but there isn't much to discuss here. It's LITERALLY just a rest stop for the heroes.

Skull Castle Rest Stop

The team had stopped in the room where they had defeated Bass. Most of the organic beings hadn't slept for at least 20 hours, leaving the robots to keep them guarded, which they had no objections to. It gave them a little time to catch up, even though they were in incredible danger.

"So Bass, how exactly did you get infected with Roboenza's prototype in the first place?" Mega asked. "Remember, we all caught that disease, but we were able to be cured."

"Alright, I'll run you down on what happened." Bass said. "And...uh...this is kinda strange, but do you mind if I do it in song? I just feel like it would be easier to do."

"Go for it, Bass."

"Whatever..."

"I travelled through the fortress, hoping I could end this,
But I underestimated what I was to witness.
Wily's capsule cloned itself and I was fighting two,
I never noticed one was fake 'til I remembered fighting you.

My Bass Buster was spraying and I was silent praying,
Hitting Wily wasn't easy, but I kept on playing,
I contacted the fake, it's head began to shake,
And released Roboenza on me in it's natural state."

"When you finally took him down, you couldn't help but frown,"

"I felt something was wrong with me but I couldn't think how.
He caught a fever then, I took him back to base,
He left behind the cure for Roboenza and escaped!

But I couldn't help but feel...like I was out of mind,
I ran some diagnostics but the virus failed my sight!"

"And over time it crawled through systems, making you go mad,"

"When it was done, Wily would have me under his command!"

"Why did I start singing along with you, Bass?" Mega asked after they'd finished.

"Don't know, but I'd rather you didn't. Your singing voice sucks." Bass answered in the savage way he was used to, earning a wry chuckle from Proto Man.

"Bass, you're a cool guy. It's funny to say that, but you are." Proto Man followed up. "I sure hope Wily's next robot is a bit more loyal to him!" he joked, getting the three of them laughing.

"Heh. You're not so bad yourself, Blues." Bass responded, shortly before his built-in communications device began vibrating. "That'll be Wily checking to see if I beat you. If you can hear me, everypony play dead!" he commanded, and everyone did as they were told before Bass picked up.

"Bass! How come I haven't heard back from you recently?" Wily demanded.

"Wily! Uh...kinda long battle I had to get through." Bass answered nervously. He was feeling a little hot under the collar.

"Well, I suppose you were able to terminate our intruders?"

"Of course, doc. Allow me to show you." Bass replied before turning on his first-person camera and showing Wily a little false footage.

"Brilliant. Well, I suppose I can let you stay down there a little while, but I need you back up here before the bomb goes off."

"Can do!"

"See you then, Bass." Wily said before hanging up.

"OK, we're in the clear." Bass signalled. "You guys can get up if you want to." The robots immediately got back to their feet, as did Starlight and Applejack.

"Hoo-wee! This Wily sounds meaner than a...um...yeah, I got nothin'." Applejack said. "I don't got no countryisms when it comes to humans. And humanoids, for that matter."

"Well, yeah, Wily sucks. That's why I went against him one time, and actually won!" Bass claimed.

"We all beat Wily that time. Don't ask why we all had a go at him, but...yeah." Mega stated, before looking down on Diamond. His genes had been able to reconfigure themselves and he was no longer becoming the pony he was inside. "Yo, Diamond. You're good, let's go." he said, but Diamond remained asleep. Everyone else awoke, however, and were ready to move on when Twilight overheard something. It sounded like...singing.

"Is that...Diamond...singing?" she asked herself a little louder than anticipated.

"Sounds like it." Applejack responded. "What you say we listen for a bit before we try to wake him again?"

"It couldn't hurt. I guess we can spare some time." Bass said. "Besides, a song's always welcome." They had to use a voice modulator to get the words out properly, but they went sort of like this:

"If I'm a diamond
Then why do I feel so rough?
I'm as strong as a stone
Even that's not enough,

There's something jagged in me
And I've made such mistakes,
I thought that diamonds were hard
Though I feel I could break,

Would you believe~,
That I've always wished I could be somepony else?
Yet I can't see~,
What I need to do to be the pony I want to be...

I've been told my whole life
What to do, what to say,
Nopony showed me that
There might be some better way,

And now I feel like I'm lost
I don't know what to do,
The ground is sinking away
I'm about to fall through,

Would you believe~,
That I've always wished I could be somepony else?
Yet I can't see~ee,
What I need to do to be the pony I want to be...

To be the pony I want to be..."

"So...beautiful." Bass said. "I never knew Diamond could sing so well. Kinda like somepony else in the room," he shot a quick glance at Fluttershy.

"I will admit, it's brilliant. But...do you mind, Twilight?" Mega said, requesting that Twilight auto-tune him, which she did.

"I don't like the look of this." Proto Man said, standing WELL back.

"DIAMOND! TIME'S RUNNING OUT!" Mega yelled in a MUCH more menacing tone. Diamond sprang awake in an instant, his Buster supposedly at the ready.

"Huh? Wha? Who's there?" he said, still partially asleep. Blinking a little bit, he was forced back to reality, following up by saying: "Oh, right. Timer. Let's move!" They decided to just follow Diamond's commands and everyone followed him through the corridor that would lead to the peak, with Bass and Mega sticking behind for a sec.

"Should we tell him about his sleep-singing?" Bass asked.

"Probably not. Who knows what would happen?" Mega replied.

"Good point. Let's catch up with the others." Bass said, before the two sprinted forward to follow the other nine.

Skull Castle Peak

It was finally time to take on the Legion of Doom. However, Diamond wanted to make ONE last stop first to grab a little something to upgrade his Grapple Beam into a PROPER Magic Beam and put his horn to work.

-Unicorn Magic Acquired! Scanning DNA for spells...
-Spells acquired: 100+
-The unicorn magic from your alicorn form has been incorporated into your Magic Beam and can be used at any period.
-With your Alicorn Battle Armour, your spells can be used indefinitely, but be careful that your horn doesn't overheat, or you won't be able to use magic for a while.

After that quick detour, they climbed the rest of the main tower as fast as possible. That bomb could detonate at any second and they didn't want to waste any more time they already had. When they reached the peak, the final boss door awaited. Wily had specially designed it to look different to the others. It was notably larger, had the plate pasted onto it, was coloured red and overall looked a bit more menacing. Diamond activated his armour and they walked through the door into Wily's control room, where every villain in the Legion of Doom was eagerly waiting their arrival. The moment they DID walk in though, they got caged instantly by a tripwire which none of them saw.

"NYAHAHAHAHA!! I never expected you to fall for this trap!" Wily gloated. "And BASS! How could you betray me like this?"

"I know what you did to me, Wily. You INFECTED me, and you're GOING. TO. PAY." Bass threatened. "As soon as I bust out of here, I WON'T hesitate to kill you."

"You have problems, Bass." Nightmare Moon said. "Perhaps you should see a doctor. A real doctor, not Dr. Wily." she added, earning a glare from Wily and COMPLETELY brushing it off.

"Besides, I only want one thing out of you. Starlight." Wily bargained. "We get Starlight, we let you go. We don't, you stay."

"I've gone BEYOND a villain! You can thank Twilight for that." Starlight said. "I don't want to be bad anymore. And we'll get out of here whether you like it or not! Diamond! Let's put that magic of yours to the test."

"Right! A Bubble Barrier should do this. Get in close!" Diamond said, readying his robot horn. It glowed in an aura of light as he charged it, then released the energy outwards in a shield bubble. The cage showed a little resistance, but was ultimately no match for Diamond's overpowering magic. The eleven heroes prepared for battle, readying their weaponry. The villains also prepped for battle, with Wily hopping into his next mech and the others preparing any dark magic they had possession of.

boss theme

DIamond started by activating the Element of Magic and firing a few incredibly powerful magenta pellets. Nightmare Moon tried to retaliate, but a quick mind-clearing spell restored both her and Daybreaker to their original forms, but instead of joining the fight they decided to head down to the dungeons and save the rest of the ponies trapped inside. Tirek was next up, and he lunged at the heroes, but Diamond was able to perform a Stasis spell to hold him place temporarily.

"Since you love magic so much, why not become ONE with it?!" Wily said before shooting his Ponifying Beam at Diamond, which he couldn't dodge quickly enough. In an instant, his armour was removed and he was returned to his alicorn form.

"OK, my tech's down. It might take a while to get my genes ready for reconfiguration, so I might as well fight like this for the time being." Diamond said, his now organic horn beginning to glow again. Wily began to unload with every weapon in Mega Man's arsenal again, the multi-attack that started this mess. This time, however, Diamond was able to block about 90% of all projectiles launched at him, and the ones he couldn't block didn't hurt that much. He then followed with a Stasis spell that would freeze Wily until Diamond was ready for him.

Chrysalis had tried to get her long-awaited revenge on Starlight while all this was happening, but nearly every attack she threw at her opponent missed. Remarkably enough, Starlight's aim wasn't great either, but at least she made contact, even if it WAS with the weakest combat spells a unicorn could cast. A beam attack sealed the deal on her though, and Starlight collapsed to the ground in defeat. Distracted, Diamond ran towards her and began to tend to her injuries.

"Diamond, you're a kind guy, I know. But...I don't think I can go much further." she said.

"You did well to make it this far. The least I can do for you now is send you home, which is what I'm gonna do for your own safety." Diamond replied. He lit his horn and Starlight vanished in a flash of Diamond's aura just before Chrysalis could finish the job. She launched a second beam at Proto Man, who block some of it with his shield, and he was getting infuriated.

"Enough is enough. It's time to stop holding back! ALL LIMITERS RELEASED!" Proto Man said, overcharging his Buster for the last time.

"Proto Man, NO! Releasing that much energy will kill you beyond regeneration!" Mega warned. "If you release that Big Bang Strike, you'll defeat your target, but we're ALL going down with you!"

"Shut...shut up, Mega Man. I know what I have to do. Besides, Light fixed me after this attack before, I'm sure he can do it again." Proto Man assured. "I'll see you on the other side." he finished and fired his final strike., which coated the room in light and released a huge charge.

When the light cleared, Proto Man was in near pieces and everyone else but his target was still intact. Diamond's Stasis spell on Tirek had run out JUST as Proto shot his gun, and he had taken the blow for Chrysalis. The attack had also sped up Diamond's gene regeneration, so he was able to restore his human form, which he did, and was surrounded in an aura of light along with the Mane 6. He lifted the Stasis spell he had placed on Wily so the attack he was about to launch would actually do damage. Wily tried to shoot at them and HIT every shot, but all of his lasers bounced off of the heart-shaped barrier surrounding them as they formed a similar shape.

"What?! How are you-" Wily began. "Together...we can't be defeated! We are the ultimate evils! Our power together is infinite!"

"Wrong, Wily. The things that can't be defeated are heart, soul and the bonds of friendship. Something you and your pathetic cronies LACK." Diamond started.

"And we always keep telling bad guys the same thing every time." Rainbow Dash said.

"But you just never seem to listen." Applejack added.

"FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC!" they finished in unison. The other villains were teleported out of the area by Diamond's magic and back to where they were supposed to be.

"Wily, your so-called friends have left you. What does that say about you? Not very much, I'd say." Diamond began. "Even now, you still fail to surrender. And as of today, I'm sending you back home and into prison where you belong. Only this time, you're not going to be escaping. But first, I'll have a little bit of judgement. That mech will repel anything of my power normally. But it's time for you to pay! HARMONY STRIKE, ACTIVATE!" he finished. The six Elements in his chest glowed with power, and Diamond's buster began charging a HUMONGOUS amount of magic. Wily did everything he could to stop the attack with EVERY projectile he had, but he had no dice on the impenetrable heart barrier.

"Your reign over Equestria is done, Wily." Twilight said. "We won't let you do any more harm to our world. Elements, unite!" At this command, the Elements began to expel power into their owners, which would make Diamond's Harmony Strike even more powerful. A silent ping only Diamond could hear signified the strike was charged to the maximum. A warning flash on Diamond's visor, saying:

-ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU WISH TO RELEASE THIS CHARGE? YES/NO

Diamond ticked the []Yes box, signifying that he was sure he was ready to fire.

"It's time to meet your demise, Wily. HARMONY STRIKE!" he yelled, releasing the blast in a signature rainbow laser. The blast hit Wily square in the face, and constantly did damage to his Wily Machine #12. It exploded seconds later in a flash of rainbow-coloured light. Diamond's armour reverted to it's default Mega state, the Elements returning to their owners, and the Skull Castle blew up into a Sonic Rainboom, freeing everypony trapped in the dungeons and restoring Canterlot to it's natural state.

end song

Diamond awoke in Twilight's castle, having had to have been carried away from the scene by Mega Man and Bass. His alicorn form had been taken once again and his memories were running away from him. He grabbed his backup drive and inserted it into his brain, restoring his memories once again. He had been de-Meganized from the blast and wouldn't be able to do so again for a while. As Diamond tried to get his bearings back, Twilight and Spike walked in.

"Diamond! We did it!" Twilight cheered. "We defeated that evil doctor and saved Equestria!"

"Heh...couldn't have done it without ya, Twi." Diamond admitted. "But where's Mega and Bass?"

"Right here, Diamond." Mega said, entering the room. He was holding a strange USB port in his hand. "After Skull Castle blew up, I found this in the tower where we left. It contains a ton of data, ten terabytes of it, and all of it's on Wily's plan on Planet Equis."

"Oh, and that remind me. We had something for you." Spike remembered, showing Diamond out of the room and to a brand new Mirror Portal. "We had this set up and put another mirror on the other end. With this, you can teleport here any time we may find ourselves in danger."

"We also have a comm-link set up with you, so we'll always be in contact." Twilight said. "If you ever need someone to talk to, just give one of us a ring."

"I...I don't know what to say!" Diamond said before grabbing Twilight into a hug. "You've gone the extra mile for me, and I can't thank you enough." A buzzer began to sound on Mega Man and Bass's displays, meaning it was time to go home.

"Looks like our work is done here." Bass announced. "We'd best be heading back to our world. See you again soon, Diamond." he added and the two of them walked through the new portal together.

"I'd be going home as well, but...it's actually been a blast being here and I hate for our journey to end so soon." Diamond admitted.

"Well, it doesn't have to. Please stay for as long as you wish! We'd love your company more than anything." Twilight said. "I feel like our problems are only just beginning."

-End Log.

Prologue: A Battle of Memories

-Begin Log. Third-Person View.

In the skies above Equestria, an unknown being is in combat with a strange evil. This being is Diamond, a human with the powers of an alicorn. The evil is a certain mad scientist named Dr. Wily.

"Wily, I'm giving you a chance. Stand down and I may just spare you," Diamond warns, knowing the answer before it even comes out.

"Nyahahaha! I don't care about your mercy. Mega Man never learned, and neither do you!" Wily gloated cockily. "And now, with a new dimension under my control-"

"You'll be able to harness it's power and conquer our world. I know. You've said this a million times." Diamond was clearly getting bored of Wily saying the same thing every time. Priming his Mega Buster, his weapon of choice was the Thunder Beam. Diamond fired, but ended up missing his shot.

"All too predictable, Diamond." Wily stated. "Now, prepare to meet your demise!!" As he said this, his Wily Capsule fired an energy ball a bit too big for Diamond to dodge. Upon impact, Diamond's energy was drained and Wily refused to hesitate, shooting Diamond with every weapon in his database. As Diamond crashed to the surface of Equestria, the mad scientist proceeded with his maniacal laugh.

============================================================================

Diamond's fall was eventually broken - albeit by the Everfree Forest. He lay unconscious on the enchanted soil of an out-of-control area infested with some of the most dangerous creatures known to pony-kind. It wasn't long before a pack of Timberwolves found him, one of them deciding to maul the side of his face.

As time went by, Diamond slowly began to take a different form. He became the first ever male alicorn in Equestrian history.
In alicorn form, Diamond's skin was green. His mane and tail were both coloured cyan. His eyes stayed the same colour - hazel. On his flanks, Diamond's cutie mark was a diamond anvil. (because it makes sense.) His horn was slightly curved. His wings were far more powerful than the average Pegasus.

When Diamond would be found was a mystery.

Arrival at Canterlot

The heroes arrive at what used to be Canterlot. With a 35.7% memory bank, Diamond readies his Mega Buster and prepares to storm the Skull Castle. His buster fired, but bounced off the shield.

"Crap! Wily got smart and put up a near impenetrable barrier!" Diamond said. "We'd need some SERIOUS weaponry or magic to break through this."

"Perhaps I can help you break this." the voice of a familiar robot hero stated. Mega Man warped in seconds later. "Hm. I think we'll need to destroy the source of this shield. Wily got smart and placed 4, though, and he scattered them across Dimension Equis."

"So, what do we do...uh..." Diamond asked.

"What's up, Diamond? Wily hit ya too hard, causing your memories to go wrong?" Mega asked. "This barrier's powered by four psycho-kinetic orbs, scattered all across Dimension Equis. How about this? We split into teams and head to where the orbs are supposed to be. That way, we'll be able to shut them all down. We can't destroy them or the altars they've been put on, and they'll reactivate within minutes of each other. We gotta shut all four down at the same time." he explained.

"Sounds good, but I never got your name, blue." Diamond said.

"Mega Man. Anyway, the teams will be this: me and Blues (Proto Man) will head to the Peaks of Peril. Rainbow Dash and Flutters, you head north to the Crystal Empire. Twi and Pinkie, you head to the Changeling hive, leaving AJ and Rarity to head over to Starlight's old village. Be careful of any Robot Masters that may be there and take these communicators. Once you're in place, wait for my signal. Diamond, once the shield is down, you head in and stop Wily. We won't have time to get back and follow you in, so you'll have to go in alone." Mega Man explained.

"And...what do I do for the time being?" Diamond asked.

"Just...don't die. We'll let you know when we're ready." Mega told him. Get into your respective pairs and head to where you need to go. Remember, wait for my signal and shut those orbs down!" he commanded the others, and they set off.