The revelation hit Starlight, Trunks and Sombra in different ways. Starlight's jaw fell straight to the floor and the look in her eyes showed that despite having traveled across different timelines with an alien that could turn his hair golden, this was what finally broke her. Trunks had a grimace on his face, caused by the knowledge that what Nightmare Moon had just revealed made his mission a thousand times more difficult than it had been.
Sombra took the news the best. For a few moments he stood in stunned silence, before looking to Moon's waist then up to her. When she nodded he let out a roar of victory and tackled his wife that was twice the size of him, laughter escaping his lips as he did so.
"So have you come up for a name for him yet?" Sombra asked after a few moments of happiness.
"Him? What makes you think it will be a him?" Nightmare Moon asked with a smirk. "Our foal will be the next future queen of Equestria, continuing to allow the moon to shine upon the land endlessly and spreading the darkness across the land. So of course our foal will have to be a she."
"Moon, I will not ruin this joyous occasion by arguing this with you," Sombra replied, his smile breaking out across his face once more. "Instead I will say thank you for bringing so much joy into my life. First you free me from the ice, then you make me your adviser, followed by our marriage and now finally this. It is hard to believe that over a thousand years ago that you and I were enemies."
"Yes, back when I foolishly believe that my sister was in the right. That she knew what she was doing," Nightmare Moon spat, before she nudged Sombra with her shoulder. "But perhaps I should thank my sister for one thing. Had she not driven me to take on my true power, I would never have met you and we would never have conquered Equestria. So she got one thing right for us."
"Perhaps she did. Maybe we should let her out of the sun for five minutes as a thanks?" Sombra suggested. For a brief moment they seemed to think about it before they pair laughed and shook their heads. "Ah, I crack myself up. How about in celebration we figure out a way to crush Cadence once and for all. That seems like a better way to celebrate our little addition to the royal family?"
"Sombra, my love, you always know what to say to me," Nightmare Moon smiled menacingly. The pair began discussing battle strategies and different ways that they could destroy Cadence as they left the room, closing the door behind them. A few moments after they left, Trunks and Starlight walked out of the room that they had been hiding in, neither of them seemingly overjoyed at the news that they had just heard.
"That was...both sweet and creepy at the same time," Starlight admitted with a nervous chuckle. "I mean, those are two of the biggest bads that Equestria has ever had to deal with, yet seeing them be so sweet and loving with one another almost made me forget for a moment what they have done. I mean, I've never seen so much as an image of Nightmare Moon smiling, yet she seemed to be almost giddy over watching Sombra figure out that she was...pregnant."
Trunks felt Starlight's eyes glue to the back of his head, getting him to turn and she that her horn was glowing slightly and she was looking at Trunks with a look on her face that he didn't know she could make. "Trunks...I've stood by and let a lot of things you've done slide. Because in all those other timelines I've known that what we were doing was to fix the main timeline. But here-"
"You're right," Trunks cut her off, getting Starlight to look at him with some confusion. "We can't do that here. Not against Nightmare Moon. Kai's, this just messes everything up, doesn't it? Arrive, kill the big bad, be one step closer to fixing this convoluted timeline. That's all we have to do. Should be easy. But now we can't kill her. I refuse to kill her. And a part of me is even hesitant to kill Sombra, despite having no issues doing it in another timeline."
"It's different, isn't it?" Starlight whispered. Trunks turned to look at her, finding her looking up at a painting of Moon and Sombra standing together, with a conquered city behind them. "To see beings that we've been told all our lives are evil to act like...normal ponies. To crack jokes, to poke fun at each other and to be excited for the future. If I didn't know what was at stake...what's our plan?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that this changes everything. Your normal plan, even if I didn't agree with it, was getting us results. However, we can't move on to the next timeline until we kill Nightmare Moon and neither of us can or will do that. So what do we do now? How do we somehow manage to switch to the final timeline without ending her and the life within her?"
"I...don't know," Trunks admitted. "I've never dealt with a situation quite like this before. Honestly Starlight, you might be more adapt to handle things from here on out. At least until we can figure out what our next move should be."
Starlight lowered her head and pondered for a moment, before she came to a decision. "Alright, here's what we'll do for now. I'll go into the nearby towns and cities and see what I can find out. I will blend in as a pony and I don't think any of these other timelines have a version of me. I know they don't have a version of Twilight."
"I've been meaning to ask you about that. What did you mean when you said that Clockwork was responsible for redoing what you had already done?" Trunks asked. Starlight sighed and a bitter smile crossed her face.
"Suppose this is as good a time as any. I was the one that originally fractured the timeline of Equestria," Starlight admitted, causing Trunks eyes to widen with shock. "I was...well, I was like Sombra and Nightmare Moon back then. I was a villain, I wanted everything for myself and I wanted to create a world where only I was special. And so I ripped apart time trying to create a world without Twilight in it, so that she couldn't stop me. And I succeeded. Multiple times. And those are the timelines that we've been visiting."
"I see. That explains why you have been unaffected by the timelines shifts. Your like me. You exist outside of the time space continuum," Trunks confirmed. "It also explains how you have a mirror that allows you to check the other timelines and see what they are up to. I wish you would have told me this sooner."
"I would have, but you've been so gung ho about striking down anypony that has been the slightest bit responsible for this that I thought I would wait for a better time...heh," Starlight chuckled. "But none of that matters now. Maestro is up to something and Clockwork is going to try to change the main timeline. I know he is. He already is. The main timeline is fading away more and more with each action he takes. Erasing these timelines slows the process, but soon there will be nothing left of my timeline. Trunks, if it comes down to it..."
"Then that's how we'll stop this timeline," Trunks deduced. "Maestro and Clockwork. They're the ones truly responsible for everything that has been happening, between the fractured timelines and the constant pain I find myself in. So if we take them down, in theory..."
"Perhaps everything will go back to the way it's supposed to be," Starlight agreed, catching onto Trunks plan. "But there's a small snag. Maestro has ruined you twice when you tried to fight him. I don't see how this time will be any different, even with your golden haired form."
"See, that's another secret that I've been keeping from you. The Super Saiyan form isn't my strongest form by a longshot," Trunks revealed. He allowed Starlight a moment to try to process what he had just said and when she couldn't, he continued on. "The next time I fight the Maestro, I'm going all out from the start. But the first order of business has to be to draw him and Clockwork out. And I know how to do that."
"Maestro is obsessed with stories. With seeing how things will turn out. It's the reason that he's let me live twice. And we'll use that to lure him in. We're going to mess with this world. We're going to mess with it so badly, throw it so far off track, that either he'll show up in a rage to fix everything or show up in amazement because he has to know how it ends. That's when we'll take him down once and for all!"
"And so what are we going to do to draw him out?" Starlight asked.
"We're going to fight Nightmare Moon and Sombra. And we're going to spare them," Trunks revealed. "Maestro let me live in our second fight because he found it interesting that I was erasing timelines instead of saving them. Meaning that not only is that how we'll draw him out, but that there's also another way to save these timelines. I wasn't thinking straight in my anger before, but now I've got a good idea on how this is going to work. But the problem is that I don't know if I can fight both Sombra and Nightmare Moon while holding back and still come out alive. I might need your help. Can you fight them?"
"It will be tough. Sombra is one of the greatest unicorn wizards in the history of Equestria and Nightmare Moon is essentially Luna without any of her morals. Fighting against either of them will be the toughest fight of my life. But I will fight with you," Starlight agreed at last. "So should we attack them now or-"
"No. For now let us go with what you wanted to do. Go around the towns, learn about the world and see what the ponies think," Trunks instructed. He walked over to one of the windows as he did this and looked down at the town within the castles protection down below. "You might also want to find some kind of disguise or clothing that matches that of the ponies down there. Seems they all have their own kind of uniforms or outfits."
"Got it. It feels weird to be actually helping you for once. Normally you just show up and make death rain from the skies or stuff like that," Starlight nervously laughed.
"It's like Clockwork said. Power along will not work in this timeline," Trunks replied in a whisper. Starlight nodded and took off down the hallway, Trunks keeping an eye on her with his senses just in case she ran into any trouble along the way. But his attention was taken away from the mare almost instantly after she left due to the reappearance of Nightmare Moon and Sombra, who were now walking down the street with all of their subjects bowing at their hooves. Trunks narrowed his eyes in disgust at the sight, before he saw the pair press up against one another and smile softly.
'All this because Maestro wanted to see what would happen. All of this because Clockwork wanted to undo something that happened to him. I guess I can relate, but I used time travel as a last resort, when all else had failed. Also multiverse theory,' Trunks thought, before shaking his head and frowning as he looked down at the pair once more. 'But if my plan fails...if Maestro doesn't appear and I have to pick between erasing this timeline or losing the main one...can I actually bring myself to do it? Can I actually bring myself to kill Nightmare Moon.'
'I hope I never have to know the answer to that. But for the time being, Nightmare and Sombra, the both of you are under my protection. Don't make me come to regret that decision.'