"I am Princess Celestia, Princess of the Sun. The pony you see in the bed there is my sister Princess Luna, Princess of the Night. We are...were the two rulers of a land called Equestria," Celestia began to explain to the two humans, using her magic to create an image of a land filled with similar looking horses that all ran around in pure bliss. "Equestria was a land of magic and peace, where our subjects, most of whom were ponies like us, lived in peace and happiness."
"It was my responsibility as leader to take care of my subjects while also moving the stars to make sure that they were happy," Celestia continued, not noticing that the two humans raised their eyebrows when she mentioned moving the stars. "My sister...to keep her story simple, she grew jealous of the ponies love of me and sought to take my throne. I banished her to the moon for a thousand years and have only just recently had her returned to how she used to be."
"So you used your magic...to imprison your sister in the moon...for a thousand years?" Ace asked in a careful voice, letting out a sigh when Celestia nodded and leaned back in his chair. "Sure. Let's say I believe that. Did you achieve that with your magic?"
"Yes. My sister and I held the strongest magic in the land...along with Cadence and Twilight," Celestia admitted as her face was filled with sadness and she had to stop for a moment to recompose herself. "The point is that for the thousands of years that I ruled, I was able to protect my nation against any threat that opposed us. And because of that, friendship and harmony was able to reign supreme."
"The ponies that lived in the land...they could be idiotic at times and at others cold to those they didn't understand, but they were truly good ponies that always held a smile on their faces and would stand up for those they cared about," Celestia said as her voice choked slightly, causing her to look down to hide her emotions. "And six of them in Ponyville had saved the world more times than I had. They were my closest of friends. And thanks to them, our world was happy."
"But then a month ago all of that fell to pieces. A being called the Maestro, cloaked in black and having limbs stronger than any metal, appeared in our land. To put say he is evil is an understatement. He makes Sombra look like a saint," Celestia seethed, her mane catching ablaze as she thought of the monster. "Upon his very first day in our world he wiped Ponyville off the face of the map...and the six ambassadors of harmony along with it. All because he could."
"He then created a weapon. A weapon the likes of which I had only thought existed in the realms of nightmares. He created a bomb with so much black magic that it killed any that got close to it except for him. He then planned to unleash that weapon upon my land, my home, my FAMILY...just to see what would happen."
Megaman and Ace shared a somber expression, figuring out how the Princesses story ended from the way that she hung her head. "And without the Ambassadors...my sister and I were the only ones that could take him down. Or at least we thought we could. In the stratosphere above our planet, we engaged him next to his weapon. Our immortal natures allowed us to survive getting close to the bomb, while our magic tore the heavens asunder as we tried to kill him."
"It was a joke. Our magic could do nothing to the metal that made up his body. His own form of shattered magic made my sister and I look like we were playing with sparklers. And when he had finally grown tired of fighting us, he...that bastard...he tore my sisters wing from her body and incinerated her right side. Leaving only me to battle him, leaving me as the last hope to save our world."
"And you failed." It wasn't a question. It was a fact.
"It's worse than that. He trapped my sister and I within a sphere of his shattered magic, wanting us to watch as he detonated the weapon and wiped out our home," Celestia said with her voice so low that both humans had to lean in to hear her. "And as we watched he detonated the bomb, unleashing a hell of black magic that rained down upon the land, killing everything within that had been touched by magic."
"How much of your world was magic?" Megaman asked softly, getting Celestia to raise her eyes that stung with tears.
"Everything. All life, be it plant, animated or flesh and blood, was turned to dust by the bomb. My sister and I believe that the only reasons we survived was that the Maestro's magic protected us. Once the bomb was done, he left us on the dusty planet below, leaving us to stand in the wake of our failure. And then he vanished, leaving me with my wounded sister and a world that was dead."
"At first I thought that he had been exaggerating, that the bomb couldn't be that powerful," Celestia said as she gritted her teeth and stared holes into the floor. "That somepony had to have survived. But after healing my sister as best I could, I took off across the land in hopes of finding another. I flew around the land for six days...only to find dust and the ruins of what used to be lives. I then cast a spell that would allow me to feel the lives of any no matter where they were in the world...and I felt nothing."
"That's...horrible," Ace whispered while Megaman stared at the floor with rage.
"So there you have the tale of how my home came to its end and how I was unable to protect those that I had sworn to do so," Celestia said before she bowed her head to the both of them. "I know that it does not make up for my actions or my rage, but I feel that you deserved to know."
"No, this...if I was in your shoes, I'm certain that I'd be in an unstoppable rage as well," Ace admitted with a shake of his head, trying to take it all in. "So you and your sister...you're the only ones left?"
"Yes. We barely managed to make it off of our world and come here."
"So why did you come here?" Megaman spoke up a moment later, turning Celestia and Ace's eyes towards him. "Why to our world? I know that your world...home...had nothing left, but what drew you to this world in particular? Either you chose it at random...or there is a far more sinister reason that you came to our home."
"You are wiser than your age would suggest. The reason my sister and I came to this world...was because we used our magic to trail the Maestro here," Celestia said in a cold voice. Ace's eyes widened while Megaman let out a snarl, his buster following suit and growling with rage. "During our fight with him, he mentioned how our world was not the first to be destroyed by him just so he could see what would happen. In fact, he had long since stopped counting how many lives he had ruined. But we made a promise that ours would be the last."
"So...the being that destroyed your world is now in ours, planning on doing something to our world like he did to yours," Ace stated as he crossed his fingers and leaned against his hands, his eyes a thousand miles away. He then rose out of his chair and marched out of the room, leaving Megaman alone with the two princesses. A long moment of silence passed between the two before Megaman rose to his feet, staring at Celestia for a moment before he bowed.
"I am sorry," he said, causing Celestia to raise an eyebrow in surprise. "After everything you have gone through, it was no wonder that you were so hostile when we approached. But instead of talking with you I simply tried to bring you down like a common virus."
"Please, there is no need for this. If anything I should be the one apologizing to you," Celestia said with a shake of her head once Megaman had stood back up. "I should have kept a lid upon my temper and simply explained my actions, but I-"
"Was trying to protect your sister. And after everything that you've gone through, I think that you've responded appropriately," Megaman cut her off with a smile, before he extended his right hand to her. "Perhaps we should start over. It is nice to meet you, your highness. I am Megaman, hero of Earth."
"Then it is nice to meet you, hero of Earth. I am Celestia, former princess of a dead land," Celestia replied with a bitter smile as she took Megaman's hoof and shook it. "There is no need to be formal with me anymore. Celestia will do. I suppose the same will go for my sister."
"Well, if we're not going to be formal..." Celestia adverted her eyes as a sphere of light consumed Megaman, blinding her temporarily. When the light died down Celestia's eyes widened when she found a teenage boy standing before her with a colossal monster of blue floating behind him. "Then you can just call me Geo. This here behind me is Mega, an alien that's been living on Earth with me."
"Oh...well then, nice to meet you both," Celestia stammered. "But why did you, um, stop being the hero?"
"Because after hearing all of that, I've realized you're not an unstoppable monster. So there's no need for me to be the hero that brings down monsters," Geo said with a shrug before he glanced over at Luna, who was still sound asleep. "I'm sorry for what you had to go through. Perhaps if I had been there..."
"What could you have done?" Celestia asked with a shake of her head, a bitter sound ringing in every word. "You could not stop me with your power? What makes you think you could stop Maestro?"
"Well, for starters I wasn't using all of my power against you. Second, stopping world destroying maniacs is part of my job and I've done a pretty good job with the other four that tried it," Geo informed Celestia with a sly smile that made her raise an eyebrow.
"You've defeated four world ending threats at the age of...fifteen?"
"Fourteen. Not bad for a first guess," Geo smiled.
"Believe me, you're not the only one who has a hard time seeing this kid as the savior of the world. But lo and behold, here we are," Mega smirked as he clapped Geo on the back, nearly knocking the teen off of his feet. "Of course, he gets a bit of help from me. Think of me of the second half of the hero, the one that provides the power, the skill and the looks."
"And yet it's my face that the news puts on the tv and not yours. I wonder why?" Geo fired back, elbowing Mega in the armor. Mega rolled his eyes before pulling Geo into a headlock, using his knuckles to further mess up Geo's already messy hair. Celestia watched the two mess with each other for a moment before she let a small chuckle escape her lips, getting both Mega and Geo to look at her with surprise.
"I'm sorry, it's just that it's been a long time since I've seen...friendship," Celestia said as she regained control of herself. "Even thought it's only been a month, I'd forgotten how nice it was."
"Well then your in for a treat. This world happens to be pretty friendly. At least what I've seen of it," Mega informed Celestia. The door to the room was then opened once more and Ace walked back inside, a serious expression gracing his features. He took only a second to take in the fact that Megaman had split before he held up a drawing to Celestia. It was a human in a full metal suit with a black cape draped around his shoulders.
"This is the Maestro, right?" Ace asked Celestia, who could only nod her head in amazement.
"Yes, it is. But how did you draw his form so accurately after my brief description of him?"
"I didn't. He's been spotted here before." Both Celestia and Geo shot out of their chars as they heard Ace's words, while Ace turned the picture over and glared at it. "A few of the Satella officers thought that they had seen a man in a metal suit wearing a black cape hanging around areas where a good amount of noise was gathered. They weren't able to pin him down and since there was no evidence of anyone there, they thought he was just a myth."
"But it is clear that he is here and he's up to something," Geo snarled as he tried to run out of the room, but Ace held out a hand to stop him. "Don't stop me, Ace. Mega and I are going to go out there and stop Maestro before he has the chance to hurt anyone else!"
"But right now we don't know where he is and running off half cocked to fight him won't end well," Ace reminded Geo. "What I want you to do for me is to stay with Celestia. She's new to this world and will need some help in getting acquainted with how things work. And I want you to be the one to do that. Let the officers here find out where the Maestro is, then we can come up with a plan to bring him down."
"The plan is simple. Kill him before he can kill everything you love," Celestia added as she walked over beside Geo, smiling down at the teen. "But I admit that from what I have seen of this world, its technology and its people have me very interested in how it works. If you wouldn't mind, hero of Earth, I would like to be shown around."
"...sure, Celestia. I can do that for you," Geo said after a moment before both he and Mega walked out of the room, leaving Ace alone with Celestia for a moment.
"You left out some details of your story, didn't you?" Ace asked Celestia, who nodded somberly. "What were they?"
"That Maestro didn't just kill the Ambassadors. They fought him and unleashed their greatest weapon, the Rainbow Pulse, upon him. And he laughed it off," Celestia informed Ace, who raised an eyebrow. "The Rainbow Pulse brought down a villain that could have destroyed the planet with his power. And the Maestro walked through it like a calm breeze. His power is beyond my nightmares. He's like a god."
"I see. However, you should still tell Geo," Ace informed Celestia with a smile filled with confidence. "He may not look like it, but he's brought down a few beings that could be classified as gods. I know that I told him to show you around, but I actually want you to learn about him. And how it's not a bad idea to put your trust in him."