'I've got to stop waking up like this,' was all Trunks could think of when the world returned. He let out a groan of pain as he opened his eyes, finding himself laying face down in the middle of a road. He pressed his hands down and pushed himself up, his body sore from, what he assumed, traveling to another timeline. "Starlight, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I think so. At least the feeling of my body being ripped apart and put back together has finally ended," Starlight groaned, standing up a few feet away from Trunks. She lifted her head to the sky and began to look around, confusion crossing her features after a moment of getting her bearings. "This...isn't any place that I recognize. Why is the sky red? And why are all the buildings designed like that?"
Trunks rose to his feet and followed Starlight's gaze, finding that the pair of them had landed in a town that was made entirely of stone, with unbalanced buildings, a red, cloudy sky and none of the usual life and splendor that he had come to associate with Equestria. He then closed his eyes and sensed the entire planet, only to be nearly bowled over by an unyielding wave of power that washed over him.
"What the heck was that?" Starlight asked as she used her magic to steady Trunks.
"There...there's someone in this timeline. Someone whose power far exceeds any other being I've seen in Equestria," Trunks replied, shaking his head and trying to locate the being whose powers he had sensed. "But it's weird, it doesn't feel like its the power of a single being. More like the kind of power that the Spirit Bomb-"
"Is that...magic?"
Trunks stopped talking to Starlight and the both of them looked towards who had spoken, their eyes resting on a single pony that was staring at them from the entrance to one of the stone buildings. Or rather, he was staring at Starlight and the mark that she had on her flank. "It's been so long since I've seen a pony do magic that I thought for certain that it was a myth. Quickly, come in here before he comes for you."
Starlight glanced up at Trunks, prompting him to nod, and the two of them joined the pony inside of the building. The pair found that the stone house wasn't just housing the pony that had invited them in, but held over a dozen ponies, all of who were crammed into the place that was clearly too small for them. But what drew both the attention of Trunks and Starlight was that none of the ponies had a cutie mark.
"What happened to all of you?" Starlight managed to ask. The pony who had invited them inside gave her a bitter smirk, before he took a stone cup off of a rock and offered what little water that the cup held to her. She gently pushed it back to him and shook her head. "Where did your magic go? And what do mean it's been so long since you've seen a pony do magic?"
"My name is Stone Four. These are the rest of my unite, Stone One through Seventeen," Stone Four introduced. "And I believe that it's been at least two hundreds years since a pony was last able to do magic on their own in broad daylight."
"Two hundred years?" Starlight mouthed to Trunks.
"Perhaps this timeline is in the distance future?" Trunks muttered, shrugging his shoulders at Starlight.
"We have never had magic. Or rather, we are all born with magic. The magic that once belonged to this land. But every year, once a year, we are gathered and those of us that have magic are offered up to the lord of this world. He takes our magic and adds it to his already colossal power, as he has continuously done so for two hundred years, ever since Celestia and Luna fell to him," Stone Four explained.
"Tirek," Starlight whispered and the pony nodded.
"Tirek?" Trunks repeated, getting both ponies to look up at him.
"He's a centaur that has the ability to steal magic from others and add it to his own. His power on his own is already great, but if he's been stealing the magic of an entire nation for over two hundred years-"
"World. The entire world," Stone Four corrected for Starlight. "Once he absorbed the magic of Celestia, Luna and Cadence, the rest of the world was no match for him. He ever freed Sombra, Chrysalis and Discord and added their magic to his own. He is an unstoppable god, whose powers can change the very way this world works with a snap of his fingers. He is our lord and god."
"After taking our magic from out ponies and our world, he set us to work. Everyday we slave away finding the rarest of minerals and the strongest of rocks, all of which go into building statues in his image or adding to his golden city that is in the heart of Equis. We have no magic, no joy and even our names have been taken from us. That is his will."
"Sounds like to me that he's nothing more than a tyrant, one that I will deal with soon enough," Trunks replied with an angry tone. Stone Four and the other ponies in the stone house looked up at Trunks like he was crazy, while Starlight gave Trunks a concerned look.
"You...did you not hear what I just said?" Stone Four asked. "He has the magic of every being on the planet. He has the power to move the sun and moon! What could possibly make you believe that you, a being with no magic, and your blade can slay a being that is pretty much a god?!"
"Well, first is that Celestia and Luna, while nice ponies, are nowhere close to what I can do," Trunks began, getting Stone Four to give him a look. "The second is that I have dealt with my fair share of godlike beings and, well, I've done more than hold my own. So yes, I am entirely confident in my skills and blade to see me through."
The ponies in the room continued to stare at Trunks like he was a crazy person, before the ground shook with an intense force. All eyes snapped towards the entrance, where they could all see that a massive, two legged being had crashed down in the center of the stone village. The being had got like legs, but had a humanoid upper half, complete with horns growing out of his hairy head. He was twice the size of Trunks, who wasn't impressed with what he was looking at while the others cowered.
"And that is?" Trunks asked the ponies cowering behind him.
"That is one of his most trusted warriors. A being that has spent over a hundred years working for him. Because of that loyalty, it has been given a fraction of the power that Tirek wields," Stone Four said as he sat down and closed his eyes. "And yet even that fraction is enough to destroy us. He has come for your magic, pony. And for our lives."
"Well he's getting neither."
Trunks fist was on the satyr's face a moment later, rocketing the being backwards and into the side of a building. The satyr let out a snarl as he pulled himself out of the building, his eyes locking onto Trunks before he opened his mouth to roar. The roar was followed by a massive blast of magic that caught Trunks off guard, knocking him across the ground and through one of the stone buildings. The building came crashing down around Trunks and buried him underneath tons of stone and rubble. The satyr chuckled to itself at how easily it dispatched its foe, before Trunks erupted from beneath the rubble.
"Okay, so you're not as weak as the other villains I've fought," Trunks snarled before he reached up and cracked his neck. "But let's see what you can really do."
Trunks shot across the ground, hurling a rapid fire of punches into the face of the satyr. The beast caught onto what was happening after the first few punches and it created a barrier of magic around itself to cease Trunks attack. When one of Trunks blows struck the magical barrier, torrents of electricity ripped through his nerves. Trunks growled with pain as he ceased his attack, leaving him open to an overhead, hammer fist that drove him through the rocky streets below.
The ground shattered as Trunks body was driven through it, but he had barely come to a stop before the satyr aimed both of his horns towards Trunks body and unleashed an unholy amount of power into Trunks. Yet even underneath all of the magical power that was bombarding him, Trunks pushed up against the magic and rose to his feet, before channeling his ki into both of his hands which he raised over his head.
"Masenko!" Trunks roared as he thrust both of his hands forward, unleashing a blast of yellow ki into the chest of the satyr. The magical monster was ripped from his hooves and hurled across the stone town, crashing into a rock quarry near the outskirts of the town. The magical being barely had time to register what had happened to it before Trunks appeared overhead, flying downwards with his blade pointed at the creatures head.
The satyr vanished in a flash of magic and Trunks drove his blade into the stone where the being had laid. Trunks had just a moment to pull his blade out of the ground before a backhand caught him from behind and set him tumbling across the ground. His body crashed through two buildings before he finally came to a stop, only to turn around to catch a face full of magic that launched him into the sky. The satyr appeared overhead and drove a fist into Trunk's face, sending him back down into the very streets that he had just gotten free of.
"Okay, maybe this guy isn't as weak as I thought," Trunks grunted as he pushed himself back up, turning around to see the satyr land across the street from him. The being narrowed its red eyes, before it let out a bellow and charged towards Trunks with magic pouring out of its body. "So all the more reason to end it."
Trunks dodged the punch thrown by the satyr before he grabbed hold of the satyr's arm, letting out a roar as he spun around and hurled the satyr into the air of his head. He then thrust both hands into the air, creating a massive dome of ki and heat around him, a smirk crossing his face as he saw the satyr's eyes go wide with shock.
"We're done here. Heat Dome Attack!"
From the center of the dome a colossal blast of blazing ki erupted towards the satyr, who had just enough time to realize he was dead before the beam of ki struck his body, incinerating him within moments. Trunks then lowered his arms, which caused the dome to dissipate and end his attack. He then turned to look at the ponies, all of who were coming out of their houses and slowly walking towards Trunks, disbelief and amazement on all of their faces.
"That...how did you do that?" Stone Four asked Trunks, who used his ki to summon his blade back to his side. "That being held a fraction of Tirek's power, which was more than enough to destroy our very home. And yet you...you bested it while suffering so little damage. What are you?"
"It's like I told you, I'm not afraid of Tirek," Trunks replied as he used his thumb to wipe away a bit of blood at the corner of his mouth. "Because I've fought beings like him before and won. Who am I, Stone Four? I'm Trunks, the Hero from the Future."