//------------------------------// // Outlook Uncertain // Story: Champion of the Sun // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Ace made a few adjustments to his screen before he brought up an image of the second destroyed sphere, which was being carted away by officers and workers. He then turned around to glance at the rest of the commandoes, along with the princesses and the Stelar family. "Alright, first thing on the agenda: Bud. You're amazing," Ace said with huge smile with a thumbs up to Bud who nodded with pride with his eyes closed. "Second thing on the agenda: That makes two spheres down. Leaving only one last sphere in the middle of the ocean. That one we'll get to soon enough. But finally, Rogue took one hell of a beating at the hands of Taurus, so he'll either be back with a vengeance or with more power. But either way, watch out." "But now he knows that he's not invincible like he would prefer to believe," Celestia stated for the rest of the people there, getting a nod from all of them. "But that is only going to drive him to become stronger. What I am more concerned about is how the Maestro will react to all of this. Ever since my sister and Sonia defeated him he's been quiet, just like he went quiet after Geo and I defeated him for the first time." "But what makes him so dangerous this time isn't what he will do, it's what he may do," Princess Luna added as she crossed her hooves. "After you and Geo defeated him, when he came back he teleported into this room, trapped most of us in sphere's, and challenged the both of you to a fight to the death. One that you barely managed to walk away from alive." "But he's prideful and hates to lose," Celestia said as she took control of the conversation again. "Something my sister and I had never seen back on our world. In Equestria, he was always focused, executing his plan and letting nothing phase him. But here I've seen him angrier and more emotional than I've believed was possible for him." "And now that we know that, we know that when he comes back, he'll be back with a vengeance," Princess Luna finished, getting the room to go silent for a moment. "He is emotional, way more so than any of us thought. But we can use that to work to our advantage," Ace informed the group, who all raised their heads towards him again. He pressed a few more buttons on his hunter and brought up an image on the screen, one that made the group gasp. "This is our newest anti Maestro tech. We've been reverse engineering what remains of his spheres and we are starting to understand how his powers work, at least to a degree." "So you're saying that we may actually be able to destroy him once and for all?" Geo asked, getting Ace to shake his head with a shrug of his shoulders. "At the moment, no. All this piece of tech really can do is, at the moment, maybe mess with his powers for a second. But once we understand more about him, we might be able to trap him and cut him off from his powers," Ace stated, getting shocked looks in reply. "Didn't I tell you all? Doctor Goodall is a genius when it comes to enemy technology." "So say we strip him of his powers and actually manage to trap him, then what?" Sonia asked. "We just toss him in a cell and leave him to rot? If he's as dangerous as the princesses know he is, then there is no way in hell he'll stay there more than a few days at most. And when he breaks out, he'll be out for vengeance. How many times can we capture him before he finally finishes off one of us for good?" "Sonia, what are you suggesting?" Geo asked Sonia, who sighed as she clasped her hands together. "I'm saying that Maestro is not a foe that we should take alive. If we have the chance to destroy him once and for all, then we should take it," Sonia said in a bit of a quiet voice. "And I know that none of you may agree with me, but he's almost killed all of us at least once." "So has every other villain that we've fought." "But he isn't like other villains. He's a monster-no, he's beyond a monster! He's wiped out billions of lives and that's from Equestria alone!" Sonia said with some more strength, glancing at every other person in the room. "And what if after we manage to beat him, he just leaves? He just goes off to another reality, hell, another version of our world and just start over? Except this time, he kills that Geo before him and Celestia can ever meet? Don't we have a duty to all these other worlds, all those other people, to stop that threat before he can hurt again?" The room went quiet as Sonia finished speaking, with no one except for Geo able to look at Sonia. "I'm sorry that if I sound like a bloodthirsty monster or something like that, but...I really care about all of you. And if I were to lose any of you because of him, because we couldn't stop him, I don't know if I could take it." Geo rose from his seat and walked over to where Sonia was sitting, placing a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. She placed her hand over his and smiled up at him, before Luna cleared her throat and gained the attention of every person in the room. "To an extent...Sonia is right. We know what Maestro has done. And Equestria isn't the first world that he's destroyed. According to him, he's done it to billions. He needs to be stopped," she began. "But I don't know if we are the ones that can stop him once and for all. Think about it. The Solar Knight melted his body. He came back. The Lunar Diva disintegrated his body. He'll be back. Even if we take his powers, even if we burn him in the fiery depths...would that be enough? Would that be enough to stop him once and for all?" " So what do you think we should do, Prez?" Bud asked Luna, who crossed her arms and shook her head. "We're thinking of what we should do to him after we've beaten him before we've actually beaten him. Our biggest concern right now should be finishing that weapon, destroying the final sphere and figuring out what super weapon he has hidden at the center of the three spheres." The group all glanced over at Ace, who gave Luna a look before he changed the image on the screen behind him to that of a map. The location of the three spheres on a map of the continent, which the group immediately noticed formed a triangle. "So you've noticed it too, Luna. Yes, the spheres form a triangle. And there is something in the center of that triangle. But what it is, we have no idea, as every agent, every wizard and anything we send close to that area is disintegrated. It's probably Maestro's big doomsday weapon and he's protecting it like its his child." "Then he is almost done." All heads turned towards Celestia, who had her eyes closed and her face was filled with nothing but concern. "Back on Equestria, there was an area of land that no one could get to without being destroyed. And that was where he held his sphere that destroyed our world. So yes Ace, you are most likely right in saying that a doomsday weapon is being held there." "So that's where we should be focusing all of our efforts, because that's where Maestro will be focusing all of his," Kelvin spoke up for the first time. "If I had to wager a guess, he won't even care if we get to the last sphere. That doomsday weapon is where he will be focusing all of his efforts from now on." "Any assault against this weapon directly would be suicide," Ace added in as he rested his hands on his desk. "Whatever is protecting that area is too strong even for our EM forms. Maybe the Solar Knight or Lunar Diva, but I'm not sending the two of them in alone against whatever the Maestro has up his sleeve. My suggestion would be to wait for our Maestro killing weapon to be finished before we move in on this area." "But every second we spent waiting is another second that doomsday weapon gets closer to completion," Zack pointed out, getting a groan out of Ace. "Action would be the best course of action here. We have Maestro on the ropes. Rogue is wounded and he's down to a single sphere. If we attack now, we might have a chance to defeat him once and for all!" "Celestia? Princess Luna?" Geo asked before the argument could continue, gaining him the attention of the princesses. "He's the villain to you two, more than anyone else here. What do you think?" Luna and Celestia shared a look before the princess of the sun rose to her hooves. "Everyone here has made a valid point. Yes, with the Maestro weakened this may be the chance for us to finally get rid of him once and for all. But if we do this wrong, it may cost some or all of our lives. And after my failure in Equestria, I promised that I would let no one else die to the Maestro again," Celestia began very slowly, walking around the table as she spoke. "I have lost my world to this monster. I have lost my ponies to this monster. I nearly lost my sister to this monster. I am tired of losing to him. Of having the things I care about taken from him. But a leader puts the needs of those around her before her own needs. And right now, what we need to do is get rid of the last sphere. The doomsday weapon will be complete whether we attack now or not. Maestro will make sure. So we must make sure that the weapon is as weak as possible. Getting rid of the sphere will do that." "Welp, you call heard the princess. Our next plan of attack is to get rid of that final sphere," Ace instructed the rest of the group, who nodded in agreement as they all stood up. "We'll continue with the plan we've used for the previous two and put an end to this. We'll go on the offensive two days from now. Rest up a bit and get ready for a fight. If I'm right, both Maestro and Rogue will be there to protect it." "Doubtful. As my sister said, Maestro will be far more concerned with his doomsday weapon and Rogue is still nursing a broken arm," Princess Luna cut in. "At most he will have a few abominations to protect it, but other than that he is done with his spheres. Destroying it should be a breeze." "Guess we'll find out. Alright guys, meeting adjourned," Ace said before he entered in a phone number into his hunter and turned away from the commandoes. "Very well, see you tomorrow. Bud. Zack. Let's go home. I'd like to discuss something's with you," Luna instructed to her friends, who followed after her without a word. "It's getting late, so we should be getting home as well," Hope said before she gave Sonia a smile. "How would you like to stay with us tonight? I know that Geo would love to have you over." "MOM!" The Stelar's and Sonia laughed while Geo tried to calm down, all of them giving Geo a hard time as they walked out of the room. Ace nodded to the princesses as he walked by them as well, deep in discussion with an important looking person on the other end. That left the two alicorns in the room by themselves, both of them lost in thought. "Just one more sphere and then we face a similar weapon to the one that destroyed our world," Luna said to her sister, who nodded in agreement before she stood up and walked over to the window, gazing at the setting sun behind the canyon wall. "And then we can deal with the Maestro, hopefully once and for all." "Yes, let us hope so...sister, are you happy that this is the world we arrived on?" Celestia asked her sister, who gazed at Celestia with raised eyebrows. "Out of all the worlds that Maestro could have gone to, are you happy that this was the one?" "I suppose I am. I like the people here. Geo is kind and strong, Sonia is an unstoppable wave of joy. Bud and Zack are fun to talk with. Luna's my favorite for obvious reasons...why do you ask this, sister? It seems like you're hinting at something." "Perhaps I am. This world has been so kind to us, accepting us even when we are so different. And its heroes have fought and nearly died for us, even when the source of their pain was a foe that we failed to stop," Celestia said in a voice that Luna never liked. "Sister, are you trying to imply something? Because whatever it is, I am not sure that I like the tone in your voice," Luna said with a hint of wariness. "It is nothing, sister. I am just wondering about the future...about our future on this world," Celestia put forward, getting Luna to frown. "After we've beaten the Maestro, and I am hopeful that we will, what would our purpose on this planet be? It does not depend on us for the navigation of the sun or the moon. It's people can govern themselves just fine. What should we do, sister?" "Well, Ace was kind enough to offer to let us join his team," Luna put forward with a shrug, before a large grin crossed her face. "And I am actually interested in getting my own wizard. I think that would be a unique experience. Oh, could you imagine if they give me one that could allow me to EM wave change? I could be a hero of earth as well!" "As far as I am concerned you are already a hero of earth," Celestia said with a chuckle as she wrapped a wing around her little sister. Both sisters then lost themselves in thought, with one thinking about the peacefulness of the world they were on while the other wondered what would have to be given to maintain that peace.