//------------------------------//
// The Solar Knight 
// Story: Champion of the Sun 
// by Onomonopia 
//------------------------------//

Maestro bellowed with vengeance as he fired shattered magic from both of his hands, decimating the very fabric of space and time around him as he tried to kill the hero before him. But despite the shattered magic's ability to decimate reality, when Megaman swung his shield to intercept the blast the Maestro found that his power was unable to pierce through the disk.

Megaman roared himself before he charged into the shattered magic, his solar shield blazing like the sun as it withstood the power that had yet to fail the Maestro. With one last push he knocked the remaining magic aside before he aimed Celestia's head towards the Maestro. Celestia smirked before her horn glowed and fired a blast of combined power that was filled with both hers and Megaman's energy. Maestro crossed his arms to deflect the blast, but this time the magical assault sent him skidding backwards with its power.

"This...shouldn't be happening," Maestro snarled once he had come to a stop, lowering his arms to find that his metal limbs had been melted slightly by the intensity of the attack. Solar Knight Megaman chose to answer by firing more solar bolts at Maestro, who was forced to create a barrier of shattered magic to defend himself from the onslaught. "Celestia is not capable of merging with an EM being! And what's more, neither of you should be strong enough to even stand after my previous onslaught. This is inconceivable...no, this is impossible!"

"Actually, Maestro, this is the power of friendship. The power that you mocked on my world," Celestia stated with the smuggest smirk she could muster before Megaman lunged forward again. Maestro snarled before he combined his arms and changed them into a massive cannon. He sneered before unleashing a blast of shattered magic far beyond anything he had used before.

He had expected Megaman to block the attack with his shield, but instead he changed his frequency and allowed the attack to pass through him. Maestro roared before Megaman re-materialized and slammed his shield into the metal skull of Maestro, causing him to stagger backwards while clutching a hand to his head. Celestia bellowed herself as Megaman aimed her right at the Maestros chest, unloading tons of solar bursts into his chest. The Maestro was sent tumbling backwards and crashed into what remained of the studio, snarling as he looked down to see that his chest was beginning to melt.

"Friendship was not this powerful on your world. I killed the power of friendship on your world," Maestro snarled as he rose back to his feet, tearing his black cape free of his body and burning it with his magic. "This is...an unforeseen outcome. One that not even I could have predicted, given the lack of evidence."

"Are you still having trouble understanding this?" Megaman asked as he pointed the armored head of Celestia towards the Maestro, solar power charging in her horn. "It's simple. Celestia held the power to bend the sun to her will. I was strong enough to defeat meteors and black holes. Combine that power together and you have an unbeatable warrior. Simple."

"Heh...there is nothing simple with the multiverse. And I admit, despite the damage you have done to this body, am I truly ecstatic for a new outcome. An outcome that I have never predicted," the Maestro said before the shattered magic took up his entire form, repairing the damage done to him. "But I have other plans for this world. Which means that I must still kill the both of you. But I will bring another Celestia to another version of this world later. It has proven most interesting."

"You will need to get rid of us first. And you won't."

Maestro roared as he hurled himself at the Solar Knight, slamming his fist filled with shattered magic into the shield of Megaman. Megaman growled as he pushed back against the unworldly power of the Maestro, digging his heels in deep to withstand the blow. The strength of the shield along with their combined power allowed Megaman to keep his footing, before he bellowed in fury and slammed Celestia's head into the face of Maestro.

Celestia roared as her horn blazed as she unleashed a stream of fire as intense of the sun into the face of Maestro, who roared before swatting her away so that he could leap backward to escape the flames. Maestro slammed his hands together and created a strange, bladed weapon out of his magic, one that he swung towards Megaman and Celestia. Megaman lifted his shield to deflect the blow, but the blade carved through his shield and left a massive scar down the front of it.

"Your power is incredible, but mine is beyond your comprehension," Maestro promised as he continued his onslaught, tearing piece after piece of the shield away. Megaman didn't budge an inch and chose instead to keep deflecting so that Celestia had a clear shot at the Maestro. Yet when she fired at him, his body flickered and her shot went clean through him. She gasped in surprise before the Maestro lashed out with his foot and kicked her head. "Surprised? You are not the only one that can alter your form."

Megaman leapt backward and kicked off the Maestro's chest, hurling the both of them backwards before Megaman landed on his knees. He shot up and aimed Celestia at the Maestro, only to find that she was still recovering from the Maestro's attack. Taking the opportunity, Maestro switched his shattered weapon to a chain with a hook on the end, one which he hurled at Megaman and wrapped it around his leg. His power was then channeled through the chain, causing Megaman to roar in pain as agony seared his nerves.

Maestro then flicked his wrist and pulled Megaman off of his feet, spinning him around a bit before he whipped the chain so that the hero on the end was driven through half of the trees that lined the back of the stuido. Maestro finished his attack by hurling Megaman into the air, before clenching his fist and causing a bolt of shattered lightning to strike Megaman from behind. The blast drove Megaman through the ground, where he started to push himself back up once more.

"Why don't you make this easier for all of us and just stay down?" Maestro asked as he focused his shattered magic into a sharp point, one that he aimed at Megaman's head. "After what I've done to you and your friends, it should be clear that you cannot beat me. Even if you manage to destroy this form, I will return."

"Stay down? After everything you've done to Celestia and Luna?" Megaman repeated as he rose back to his feet, his eyes starting to blaze like the star in the center of the sky. "After all the lives you have ruined? All the people that you've hurt and killed?! You think I would just stay down?!"

Maestro sneered before firing the spike of shattered magic at Megaman's head, but a wave of fire erupted from Megaman and wrapped around his body, incinerating the spike and consuming Megaman in the flames. Both Megaman and Celestia roared within the flames, which seemed to grow in strength as the wrath of their creators grew.

"After what you did to MY friends?! MY Sonia? MY WORLD?!" Megaman roared before he reached out with Celestia and had her bite down upon the flames, concentrating all of their power and fury into a blade that was as pure and as all consuming as the sun itself. The blade was shaped like a claymore, with yellows and red so bright that the people that looked at it had to avert their eyes. Both he and Celestia then both glared at the Maestro, who felt himself burning away under their gaze. "After what you did to my little ponies?"

In a flash brighter than the sun, Megaman was before Maestro. Maestro had just enough time to register that Megaman was there before the solar sword sliced through his chest, getting Maestro to roar as shattered magic began to spew from his wound. Another flash happened and his right arm was severed from his body, before another flash cleaved one of his legs. 

"What...is...?" the Maestro asked before Megaman spun around and drove his blade through the chest of Maestro. He then drove both the blade and Maestro into the ground, where the metal madman found out quickly that he could not move the blade. He tried to vibrate his form to escape, but at the rate his body was melting he found that he was unable to.

"It's over, Maestro. Time to burn for what you have done," Celestia spat before Megaman leapt into the air, placing himself between the sun and the Maestro. He then moved his shield in front of Celestia's head, while the light of the sun turned the shield transparent. Celestia then narrowed her eyes as she channeled her magic both through her horn and her mouth, which in turn caused the shield to begin to glow with power. The Maestro roared with fury as he tried to escape, but to no avail. All he could do was look up at the hero that aimed his final attack towards him, an attack that was brighter than the sun.

"Solar Inferno!" Megaman roared before the blast of solar magic erupted from the shield, barreling down towards the Maestro while incinerating everything in its path. Maestro said nothing before he was consumed by the unrelenting magic, which quickly melted away the metal until there was nothing left. After a moment of firing Megaman ceased the attack, ceasing the beam of solar power and revealing that all that was left of the Maestro was a black circle of pitch black ash.

Megaman and Celestia lowered themselves to the ground, staring at the spot where the Maestro had laid. Megaman then let out a sigh of relief before he glanced over at the reporters, who had all been recording the fight with awe stuck looks upon their faces. The Solar Knight then turned and walked over to where Sonia lay, gently kneeling down and picking her up into his arms.

"Sonia? Are you alright?" he asked her softly. Sonia let out a weak groan before her eyes cracked open, blinking twice as she looked up at the crown on Megaman's head with some confusion. "Don't worry, you're safe now. We did it, Sonia. We beat him."

"I...knew you would," she said softly before she closed her eyes and rested her head against Megaman's shoulder. "And I knew you would save me too. After all...you're my knight in shining armor."

Sonia then began to breath softly, telling Megaman that she had fallen asleep. The Solar Knight walked back into what remained of the studio, which was only half of the building. He found that Sonia's room had managed to stay intact. He gently laid her down on the bed before sighing in relief, before he glowed like the sun and separated back into Megaman and Celestia once more. The two then looked at each other before they both collapsed to the floor, both of them breathing heavily as they tried to calm down.

"So we...did it right? We actually beat him?" Megaman asked Celestia, who was staring up at the ceiling. 

"I don't know. I don't know if something that evil can actually be killed," Celestia said before she glanced over at Geo and smiled, her smile brighter than the sun. "But we proved we can beat him. That with our powers combined...with the power of friendship, even a world ender like himself can be beaten."

"Good job you two. Neither of us knew if you could win," Mega said as he appeared next to Geo, with Lyra appearing next to the sleeping Sonia. "But that Solar Knight...that might be our strongest form yet, Geo. I've never held that much raw power within our body before."

"Yeah...speaking of, where were you when we transformed?" Geo asked in-between breaths.

"I was still in there, but with how well you and Celestia were doing, I decided to take a backseat and see where you two would drive us," Mega replied before he stretched his arms before he floated towards the door. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go fly off and give those reporters the impression that Megaman has flown off to save the day."

"But you both were incredible," Lyra said after Mega had left the room, giving the both of them a kindhearted smile. "When Sonia and I first started fighting the Maestro, I realized the true power that he held within him. And I thought...we were all going to die. But you beat him. You actually managed to put that monster down."

"It was a team effort," Geo said with a sigh as he sat up, feeling like he had a sunburn over all of his body. "Just like every other time we've saved the world. It was a team effort."

"But I am not certain that the Maestro is dead," Celestia said after a moment, shaking her head as she thought things over. "During the battle he said if we destroyed this body, he would live on. Does that mean he have more bodies? Can he posses others? I'm afraid that even with this newfound power, the danger of the Maestro will still loom over us."

"This time, though, we have the power to defeat him if he shows up again," Geo reminded her with a smile as he stood up, walking over to Sonia's bed and sitting in a chair beside her bed. "We have the power of the Solar Knight. And with it, we can put a stop to whatever the Maestro has in plan for this world."

"I agree with Geo. This power is beyond anything I've ever felt, in a good way," Mega said as he floated back into the room, swinging a camera around on his finger. "I've lead most of the reporters away and scared off the others that wanted to intrude on your privacy. Unfortunately for you Celestia, most of them are already writing stories about the magical, talking horse."

"I am not surprised. After my entrance upon arriving her and now this, it was bound to happen," Celestia said with a shrug. "Geo, now that we've dealt with the Maestro for the time being, this may be the best time to call Ace. Let him know that you're okay and tell him what's going on."

Geo nodded as he brought up his Hunter, selecting Ace's number and calling. A moment later Ace's face appeared on the screen before Geo, a wide smile on his face. 

"Well well, if it isn't the hero of earth! Nice to see you again," Ace said with a laugh before he gave Geo a proud nod. "Yeah, I'm not surprised to see you. Everyone saw that battle between you and the Maestro on the news. Love the new look by the way."

"Thanks, but the only reason we beat him was because of Celestia. If not for her power, we most likely have all died," Geo replied with a shake of his head. "Sonia is down for the moment, but she's alive at least."

"Okay. Good job on taking down the Maestro, never doubted you for a moment. Now all of you get your butts over here, I've got a few things you'll probably want to hear about," Ace said with a sly smile before he glanced down at something. "Bring Sonia with you as well, once she's awake again. I'm going to need all of you here."

"What's going on?"

"We've found out what Maestro has been up to. And it isn't good."