Diamond Journals Issue 1: A Quest for Memory

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.

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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."

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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.

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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."

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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."

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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.