"So where are we this time?"
Trunks and Starlight took a moment to regain their bearings, with Trunks having had made the mistake to keep his eyes open as time stitched itself back together. As a result he was currently blinded and blinking heavily to try to clear his sight. While he was staggering around wiping at his eyes, Starlight had her own eyes to the sky. A sky that held the moon and only the moon in it's grasp. There were no stars and not even a hint of the sun. And she knew full well what that meant.
"We're in the world of Nightmare Moon," she told Trunks. "That's what Luna called herself when she went evil for a thousand years. Seems that we've finally reached the timeline where Nightmare Moon defeated her sister and forced the whole world to worship her eternal night. Wonder how this one is going to go."
"Same as all the others. We find Nightmare Moon, beat her into nothing, and finally return this world to its right timeline," Trunks explained, his sight having finally returned to him. "You heard what Clockwork said. There are only two timelines left. This one and the true timeline. Once we've erased this one we'll be able to finally fix your timeline. And maybe Twilight or one of the other princesses will have a few suggestions on helping the timelines that have been erased."
"Trunks, we've been erasing timelines. Not relocating them or anything like that. Erasing them. Do you really think that after being erased we can somehow magically bring them back?" Starlight asked, baffled.
"Starlight, I once watched a cat god erase another god out of existence and watched a child erase my whole timeline. I've seen weirder things than a bunch of timelines being restored with the power of magic," Trunks explained. He then reached down and wrapped his arm around Starlight. "Come on, let's go get this over with. I want to be out of here before some other complication shows up."
Trunks took to the skies with Starlight in tow. The two flew straight up from the field that they had been brought to, taking only a moment to glance around before they spied their next target. It was a massive black and blue castle covered in crystal and statues of a bat like alicorn. Trunks assumed that was Nightmare Moon. He flew over quickly, but not as fast as he usually did.
'Don't want the guards to let her know that we're here,' Trunks thought to himself as he flew, glancing down to see dozens of guard ponies in black and silver armor patrolling every part of the castle. He also had Starlight construct magical clouds around himself to disguise the two of them from the pegasi guards that patrolled the airspace around the castle. He allowed himself a small smile when he found that there was no magical barrier protecting this version of the Canterlot Castle, though he did notice that this version of the castle was seated on the ground instead of a city on the side of a mountain. He cast a glance at the mountain to see a massive, black scar of magic that was seared across the sky.
'So I guess Canterlot didn't survive the battle between the two sisters then, huh?' Trunks asked himself, even though he already knew the answer. For a brief moment the image of the foal that had wished him luck against Tirek flashed across his mind, but he locked those thoughts away. 'Don't think about them Trunks. They're just apart of a timeline that should have never existed to begin with. Finish the mission and save the timeline. Save the versions of them that should be.'
Once the coast was clear of guards, Trunks lowered himself and Starlight to the roof of the castle. He closed his eyes for a moment and used his senses to locate all of the living beings within the castle. He sensed numerous guards, quite a number of staff and even a few prisoners. But the ki that gained his full attention was in the center of the castle, surrounded by numerous other ki's that were very afraid of the strongest ki there.
Trunks motioned for Starlight to follow him and flew over to the ceiling of the room that was next to the room where Nightmare Moon's ki was. He held out a single finger and channeled his ki through it, turning it into a small blade of power. He stabbed his finger through the ceiling and quickly made a small hole, just large enough for him and Starlight to fit through. The pair then leapt down into the hole, Trunks floating softly to the ground and catching Starlight so she didn't make a sound on her entrance either.
'Don't risk using your magic while you're in here,' Trunks whispered to Starlight in a voice that could barely be heard. 'I don't want them to sense your magic and then teleport out, forcing us to chase them all across the world.'
Starlight nodded to show that she understood and Trunks set her down, the two of them alone in the dark room that look like a side study. Trunks and Starlight swiftly but silently moved to the wooden door that allowed entrance into the room, able to hear voices coming from the other side. Trunks gingerly placed his hand on the door and slightly pulled it in, allowing a crack to appear that allowed the two to both hear and see what was going on in the main room.
"What do you mean Cadence's forces still resist us?!" Nightmare Moon, an alicorn in all black and blue fury, roared at one of the smaller ponies kneeling before her. She stood before a throne that seemed to be carved from darkness itself and all around the massive throne room hung banners of blue and silver, which all had a crescent moon etched into them.
"W-what we mean is, that her Empire is incredibly hard to get to. With all of the snow and ice and the magical meteors that she rains down upon our forces daily," the pony said in a voice that was on the verge of a breakdown. "And with the recent loss of our chief tactician, we have had no success. And with what has happened to your body recently-"
A blast of dark magic erupted from Nightmare Moon's horn and a moment later the body of the pony that had been talking slumped to the floor on the other side of the room. The other ponies all slowly turned to look up at Nightmare Moon, who had a look straight out of a nightmare upon her face.
"We...do not speak of my body," Nightmare Moon whispered, yet in the dead silence of the room her words were like a roar. Trunks narrowed his eyes at the display and slowly reached up, grabbing the hilt of his sword and reaching out with his other hand to push the door open when the moment was right. "Now then, does anypony else have anything of importance that they'd like to share?"
"Yes, my queen. There have been sightings of strange beings near the town of Ponyville, beings that look nothing like anything that we've seen before," a female pony spoke this time. "However, none of the guards that we have sent in to investigate the area have come back alive. So for the time being we are simply telling citizens to avoid the area or forfeit their live. It seems to be working."
"There are also reports of another uprising in the eastern part of your kingdom. We do not have the pony power necessary to quell them at the moment, so the towns and nearby areas have suffered a good amount of damage already. That will need dealing with in the nearby future."
"I see. I will have to deal with that when I have the time," Nightmare Moon sighed, her face momentarily flashes a pained look. "This would all be a lot easier if I had somepony I could rely on instead of all of you."
"Then today is your lucky day."
All eyes in the room, as well as Trunks and Starlight, spun towards the main door to the throne room, which had just been opened by a dark clad pony that Trunks knew all too well. In the doorway stood Sombra, his body bruised, his cloak shredded and blood soaking his coat. But on his face was a defiant smile that complimented the fire that burned in his eyes.
All of the ponies in the room looked at Sombra with stunned silence, as if a ghost had just wandered into their midst and had started speaking to them. Sombra then began to limp towards Nightmare Moon and the ponies that had been speaking with Moon moved out of his way, until he was standing right before her. He then slightly bowed, wincing with pain as he did so.
"Forgive me for taking so long to come back. Being buried alive in a magical coffin by Cadence and sent to the center of the planet took some time to escape from, even for me," he apologized to Nightmare Moon, whose face hadn't changed since his return. "But there is no need to fear anymore, my queen. I have returned."
"All of you, leave," Nightmare Moon instructed. Within a moment all of the other ponies in the room aside from Sombra had cleared out, leaving the queen of the moon and the king of darkness staring at one another, neither of their faces giving away any emotion.
'Perfect, there go all of the other ponies that might have gotten caught up in our fight,' Trunks smirked as he slowly began to draw his blade. 'Now I can strike down Nightmare Moon and kill Sombra a second time. Perhaps things are finally starting to go my way.'
"So you have returned alive?" Nightmare Moon asked Sombra.
"Despite our enemies best efforts, I have," Sombra smirked in reply. For a brief moment Nightmare did nothing, then a heartbeat later her hooves shot out and wrapped around Sombra, pulling him into a hug so tight that Sombra made a squeaking sound.
"You damned fool, I told you that it was too risky to take on the entire Crystal Empire forces by yourself! And yet you charged right into them like you had a death wish," Nightmare Moon swore at Sombra, her body shaking with relief.
"Well it was either that or risk them overrunning us and finally getting their hooves on you," Sombra replied as he too wrapped his own hooves around Nightmare Moon. "And besides, there was no way I could die yet. Not until i got back here to see the look on your face as I returned alive."
"Is that the only reason that you fought so hard to return to me?" Nightmare asked, but in place of the look of anger she normally had, now there was only a tear filled smile. She lowered her head and gently nuzzled Sombra, who returned the gesture. Trunks and Starlight, who were still watching from the shadows, had been stopped dead in their tracks by what they were witnessing.
"Well, perhaps there were other reasons, but being with you once more is the main one," Sombra replied. He joined up besides Nightmare Moon and gently bumped into her, before an eyebrow went up and he glanced down at her waist. He opened his mouth to say something, but fortunately for him his brain overrode what he was going to say and slammed his mouth shut. Nightmare caught onto what he had been about to say, but instead of anger a soft smile spread across her face.
"No my dearest, I have not put on weight."
"That was not what I was going to say."
"That is what you were going to say."
"You will never be able to prove it. You've gained muscle. That is what I was going to say."
"No, you fool. I am a larger than when you last saw me two months ago. And there's a good reason for it."
'No...' Trunks thought, the realization dawning on him. 'No, don't say it. Please, for the love of Beerus, don't say it.'
"I'm pregnant, Sombra, with your foal. We're going to be parents."