//------------------------------// // Proven Innocent // Story: Let's Rock! // by MetalJrock //------------------------------// "Wait what!?" Rock and the gang looked at the princesses in confusion, "But, Princess! That's impossible! Proto-Man has been with us this entire time! There's no way he was able to be the thief that you mentioned!" Twilight defended Proto-Man, but the princesses refused to listen to her pleas. "We are sorry, Twilight. But the evidence matches up. The reports mentioned that the thief looked exactly like how Proto-Man does." Celestia explained her motives, "So unless you can prove him innocent he'll be put under custody and put on trial here." she said with Luna nodding. "What? But that's unfair! He never got the chance to explain himself!" Dash reprimanded. "Let them." Rock's eyes widened at the words his brother said, "Wha-? But Blues! You're innocent! You don't have to do this!" he begged Proto-Man, biut he was ignored as he stepped forward. "I know. But in order to preserve the peace of this world, I'm better off turning myself in. I know I'm innocent and so do you. Just got find the real culprit until then." Proto-Man comforted the concerned ponies. Luna wrapped the robot's hands in handcuffs and escorted him into the castle. "We'll keep an eye on him until then." Celestia said following her sister. Rock changed into Mega Man, determined more than ever to prove Proto-Man innocent. "C'mon, girls. We're going to find the real thief behind all this. For Proto-Man." "I-I just can't believe he turned himself in like that!" Twilight shouted in disbelief over the whole debacle, "We know he didn't do anything! He was with us the whole time!" "Then that gives us a better reason to find this Robot Master." Mega Man gestured for the ponies to follow him. The mares and dragon nodded, walking behind the Blue Bomber. Rush whimpered, "It's alright, boy. We'll get Blues back. I promise. Heck, I won't leave here until then. Even if Wily came here himself, Dr. Light would be disappointed if I didn't come home with him." he assured his robot dog. A blur was seen over the robots, "What was that!?" asked Dash, pointing upward. Mega Man scowled, seeing a scarf pass the field of vision on his optics. The pegasus knew what he was thinking and flew after the figure. A rainbow trail zoomed behind her as she began to speed up. Twilight teleported herself to the rooftops to get a a better view as well, "Don't worry, Twi! I got this covered!" said the speedy pegasus with an echo. Mega Man and the others looked up, running to see more. Rainbow Dash caught up to the figure and tackled him, knocking him off the roof onto the ground next to the Blue Bomber, "What the-?! He looks just like Proto-Man!" Dash said. The Robot Master in question wore the exact same armor as Blues, but his armor was a darker shade of red which showed a difference between him and Proto-Man immediately. "You're right, Rainbow Dash." Rarity gasped, "I can see the semblance. It looks like he was designed to throw us off." Mega Man walked forward to stare at the Robot Master, "I should've known it was you, Dark Man." he placed his foot down atop the robot to keep him down on the ground. "Dark Man?" questioned Applejack. "Yeah. He was created by Dr. Wily to frame Proto-Man once. Of course, like Copy Robot, he proved to be a cheap imitation. I should've known it was him when Proto-Man was the one that got arrested." he knelt down to the fake red robot, "Now, why are you doing this. Again?" "Wily wanted me to throw you off when he brought me back. Catch you all for a loop!" Dark Man revealed to his nemesis. "This was the perfect way to do so! I knew that you would fall for it a second time. With your brother gone, he knew that you would be so focused on getting him back that you'd lose focus on Wily!" Mega Man shot a pellet, barely missing his head as a warning, the blue hero's eyes glowing red once more, "You don't know me! I'll knock that smug grin off your face!" he shouted, getting angrier by the second. The ponies looked at him worridly, Applejack, Rarity and Spike especially since they've seen him act like this before when they fought Drill Man and Frost Man. "Get up!" he ordered, removing his foot from the body. Dark Man got up and shot the Blue Bomber with his fake Proto-Buster. Mega Man dodged it, a confident smirk on his face, "Is that the best ya got, Dark Man?" he asked the Robot Master. The ponies stepped back, ducking underneath the charged shot delivered from Dark Man. The beam hit a building, knocking off some chunks of the wall. "Mega Man... What happened to him?" Fluttershy wondered, "I-Is he always like this fighting a robot?" "No. He was the exact opposite when I fought with him." Dash replied, she flapped her wings and charged after Dark Man herself. She punched the robot in the face before Mega Man could even reach him, "Sorry, Rock... But you'll be staying out of this fight for now!" she ordered. Mega Man's eyes turned back to normal again, "Huh? What?" he asked. 'Oh no... I lost control. Again...' he sighed, "Go ahead, girls... I'll be sitting this one out." he slowly walked away, a frown on his face. Rush barked at him, wondering what was wrong with his owner this time. Twilight teleported behind Dark Man and shot the fake Proto-Man in the back, denting and burning his armor slightly. "Why you-!" he grunted, shooting at the alicorn, who already teleported to safety. Rarity held his Dark Buster back and allowed Applejack to buck him with her fronthooves. Dark Man felt the force of the hooves on his face, grunting while the farmpony attack him once more, this time even harder. He tried to grab Applejack, but the unicorn pulled back the earth pony with her magic before suffering his wrath, the pony covered in a light blue aura like his cannon before. "That should teach you!" yelled Rarity. Fluttershy stayed next to Mega Man all the while, seeing Pinkie grab Twilight and shoot at Dark Man, using Twilight's horn as a rifle of sorts to shoot beams of magic. Dark Man hopped around each one, but one of them hit his chest. "Fine." he held the damaged area with his free hand, "You left me no choice." "What is he talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked, "No choice... We're already kicking your metal butt!" "His true form." replied Mega Man with a stern look on his face. Dark Man's fake Proto-Man appearance began to morph. He became bigger and his red armor became black. He had a torso similar to Top Man and his head had a dome on top of it. "That's his true form?" Twilight gulped, genuinely surprised to see what Dark Man truly looked like. By this point a crowd had formed nearby to watch the commotion, "Stay back, everypony!" she warned, "It's not safe here!" the ponies took a step back upon hearing her words. "I already miss his fake Proto-Man shtick." taunted Rainbow Dash, flying above him. Spike blew flames at Dark Man, burning his armor even more. The dragon slid underneath the Robot Master's grasp and stood up behind him. Spike hopped back behind Applejack. The farmpony ran back to action and bucked Dark Man once more, denting his chest even more than last time. Dark Man clenched his chest, seeing that he was losing power. Twilight shot more beams of magic his way, damaging him even more. It got to the point where sparks were flying out of him, "It doesn't matter... Wily st-still has three more Robot Masters. All of them ready to kill all of you." he mocked, feeling that there was nothing left to lose. Rainbow Dash flew past him kicking him in the dome on his head, cracking it. Twiligth charged her horn and ended Dark Man with a beam of magic strong enough to blast off his head. The robot stumbled forawrd before collapsing. The ponies around began to clap for the ponies that had destroyed the Robot Master that had been robbing them for the past few days. The mares panted, exhausted from a surprisngly brief, yet strong battle. "Nice work, everypony. Glad to see that Proto-Man was proven right." Mega Man placed his hand on Dark Man's body, downloading any data to his own databanks, "Well, I'm surprised. There's actually something of use in here!" he cheered. "There is? What is it?" asked Twilight. "I'll explain once we get Proto-Man back." he held Dark Man's destroyed head and made his way to the castle, where he could prove his brother innocent. Proto-Man sat in the chair, his hands tied up and himself silent. Celestia and Luna stared at him from across the table, asking him questions he chose not to answer. 'Give it a matter of time. Rock wouldn't leave you behind... He probably figured it all out like I have at this point. A shame these annoying excuses of royalty choose not to believe me.' he thought, his hands crossed on the table, still in silence. The doors slammed open and Mega Man, with the ponies behind him walked in. The Blue Bomber placed the head of Dark Man on the table, "Dark Man?" asked Proto-Man. "Dark Man." "This... Is the true culprit? But he looks nothing like the reports." "That's because Dark Man has the ability to change his form. He took the form of Proto-Man once again to mess with me. Luckily, unlike last the facade didn't work." "It's true! We took him down!" Pinkie whined. "Please! Listen to us, Proto-Man's not the enemy here!" Celestia closed her eyes, "Very well, my former student." she and Luna released the cuffs holding Proto-Man and allowed him to leave, "Please accept our sincerest apologies, Proto-Man. We only did it to preserve peace until further investigation." "I hold nothing against you. I could've broken out at any moment, but that would do more bad than good." the red robot taunted the security. "Anyway, Blues. I finally got more info on Wily. Dark Man told me he has three more Robot Masters and in his data there were locations. I think Wily wants us to head there this time," Mega Man revealed, "What do you think? You want to help us find them?" "I'll help you as much as I can. Remember, my core can only take so much." The mares nodded with Mega Man, "Alright then. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna. We apologize for the confusion. My nemesis Dr. Wily is plotting something big and we need to stop him and Starlight Glimmer. We have to leave immediately." "Very well, Mega Man. We wish you the best for you and Proto-Man." Luna praised. "Where to Rock?" "How about we head to the nearest location, Whitetail Woods? I got a feeling we'll be running into an old friend there."