//------------------------------//
// The True Timeline 
// Story: Out of Time 
// by Onomonopia 
//------------------------------//

Trunks usually met the white fade out when a world vanished with impatience, wishing that the next timeline that he was heading into would be constructed faster. But this time he spent the time in-between the timelines in mourning, mourning for a pony who had been an enemy of his.

'But even though he was evil and had a black heart, he still had a heart. He still fought for something other than himself with every last fiber of his being,' Trunks thought to himself. Trunks then glanced back and his empty scabbard, realizing that this time his blade was gone for good. 'It's funny, really. He wasn't anywhere close to my strength, but if we had continued our battle...I may not have won. And yet I crushed him in the very first fractured timeline. Goes to show what happens when you fight for others, I guess.'

"That...was hard," Starlight muttered. Trunks looked over at her to see that she was sitting down, her mane covering her eyes and her head hung low. "I mean, I watched a mother to be turned to dust in front of my eyes, unable to do anything to save her. I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep for a long time after this."

"I know how you feel," Trunks replied as he sat down next to Starlight. "My mother was killed in a similar way. Against an opponent that I was far too weak to stop. I had to run so that I would live and ensure that we had a chance to beat Black. And not a day goes by that I don't see her face and wonder if I might have been able to win if I had truly given my everything."

"Would you have?"

"No. Black was far beyond me. Just like Maestro was too strong for you," Trunks said kindly. "You did all you could to save Nightmare Moon and her foal. Try to find some peace knowing that. And also know that Maestro will not get away with what he's done. This time, this time for certain, we will defeat him. That much I promise."

"You mean you'll defeat him," Starlight reminded Trunks. When Trunks opened his mouth to argue, Starlight shook her head with a bitter smile. "Let's be real, Trunks, I've been all but useless in this little adventure of ours. You fight all of the villains, you save the day...or ruin it, based on how you view our actions, and only you have the strength needed to defeat Maestro. I will just get in your way."

"Starlight, you've been the heart of this adventure. You've been the one who has been constantly been pushing me to try a different tactic. I've been...narrow minded," Trunks admitted with a sigh. "After losing my world, my timeline, nearly all of my friends and family...I've gone cold. I've been haunted by visions of not being able to defeat Black, and because of that I've had a zero tolerance policy for the villains we've come across. Maybe if I had done something different, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"You mean heading back to the main timeline with all of the other timelines erased?" Starlight asked.

"Come on Starlight, it's us. Do you really think things are going to go according to plan?" Trunks asked her. "If you don't believe me, then why not take a look at that mirror of yours?"

Starlight did as Trunks asked, pulling out the mirror and looking into it. A terrified gasp escaped her lips as she saw that not only were the timelines that had been erased simply black images, but the main timeline was a black image as well. She glanced from the mirror towards Trunks, who was looking at the image with a grim look on his face.

"Trunks, what's going on? Where's the main timeline? Why is the mirror completely blank?"

"It's like I figured. Maestro and Clockwork were talking about a different "true timeline" whenever they spoke about the time stream. Perhaps the timeline that you come from isn't the main one after all. Or maybe they both truly believe that the one that they've been trying so hard to bring back is the true timeline?" Trunks sighed. "As for why the mirror is completely black, my best guess is that the timeline we're about to pop into isn't one that you've been to, therefor it wouldn't be on your mirror."

"So then, what kind of timeline are we getting ourselves into?" Starlight asked.

"Don't know," Trunks replied as he rose to his feet, Starlight doing the same as the world around them began to fill in. "But we're about to find out."

Just as Trunks spoke those words, the white around them was filled completely in, allowing the pair to see the final timeline that they had been dumped in. Neither of them were expecting what they saw.

Rain poured down with such a force it was like an endless stream of waterfalls were floating above the world and drenching all that lived beneath them with their ferocity and might. Buildings were stretched as far as the eye could see, which in the rain wasn't that far, but the buildings didn't make sense in the context of Equestria. Instead of stone and wood, these buildings were constructed out of metal and electricity, something that Trunks knew very few ponies in Equestria would have had.

Then there was the other advancements in technology that didn't belong. High above the pair floated dozens of black and silver painted zeppelins, which shone spotlights down upon the city with rays of light that pierced through the inky darkness, telling all that shuffled within the shadows that the darkness would not hide them. Ponies in strange outfits moved rapidly past the pair, with only an occasional glance telling the pair that they had been noticed.

"What...what is wrong with this world?" Starlight asked.

"So you sensed it too...or rather, you sensed the lack of it," Trunks nodded in agreement.

"I did. Trunks, this isn't right. There's...there's no trace of the magic that made Equestria Equestria here!" Starlight half panicked as she looked up at Trunks. "I've never felt anything like this before! I mean, even in the world where Tirek had taken all of the magic for himself at least I could sense it all within him! At least I knew where the magic had gone! But here...here I sense none of it. Not so much as a drop."

"Agreed. There is no magic here. At least, none aside from the magic I feel in you," Trunks replied. He then began to walk forward, ignoring the rain and the crowds of ponies around them as he used his size and strength to march on ahead, Starlight following behind him. "Come on, we need to find out more about this world. So far in all of the other timelines we've at least had some clue as to what was going on, but here we're in the dark. Let's go."

Starlight didn't have any better ideas, so she followed after Trunks, creating a small shield of magic around herself to keep the rain out of her eyes. Trunks pressed forwards as if the rain or the ponies weren't even there, lost in his own thoughts as he sent out his senses to scan the world. He was hoping that his initial scan had been wrong and that there would be at least some magic in the world. Maybe not the magical power that all of the ponies wielded, but that hint of internal magic that he had sensed within all lifeforms in the other timelines, even the one where Tirek had stolen their magic. He was hoping for so much as a wisp.

But he found nothing. Aside from Starlight, there was no magic of any sort within the world. Not in the land he was in, not in the nation across the sea from where he stood. Even in the largest cities or the mightiest kingdoms there was no magic to be found whatsoever.

"What kind of terror or cataclysm could lead to an Equestria without any magic within it?" Starlight asked in horror. While Trunks had been searching the world around them, Starlight had been watching the ponies around them. She watched as they ran from place to place, faces mostly covered in hoods attached to long cloaks that shielded them slightly from the rain. But whenever she did catch a glance of their faces, she found that there was no life in their eyes, no wonder or...magic. There was only the will to live, for themselves or whatever small family they had.

She continued to watch, and as she did so more and more pieces started to fall into place. She watched as an older stallion on the side of the road had a small hat laid on the ground, eyes hung low and head fallen as he clearly needed money to survive. None of the ponies paid him a glance. She watched as a mare, who had been zigzagging through the crowd, fell over and crashed hard into the dirt. Ponies passed her by without so much as an offer for help.

But the one that broke her the most was when they came across a small foal that was lugging a large number of items that were far too heavy for him to carry by himself. But he never asked for help, or even glanced at those he passed by in hopes that one of them would give him aid. He ignored the ponies he passed and, in turn, they ignored him. It was only after Starlight witnessed all of this that she pieced together what was wrong with the timeline they were in.

"There's no friendship," Starlight whispered. Trunks, who had been helping each of the ponies they passed by and was currently helping an elder mare up a flight of stairs, glanced over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. "That's what's wrong with this timeline. There is no friendship in this world. And since friendship is magic, without the magic of friendship..."

"There's no magic period," Trunks replied, glancing towards the mare that he had just helped. She continued on her way without so much as a second look at Trunks, who frowned at Starlight's words. He looked around the city center that they found themselves in, unable to find any argument that could counter Starlight's conclusion. "So that's what this world is, huh? But that raises the question, why is this the true timeline? Why is this the real Equestria compared to yours?"

"A world without magic," Starlight repeated, almost as if she hadn't heard Trunks words. "A world where ponies don't care for one another. There is no laughter, no parties, no fun, no love...it's just a world that exists and existing is all it seems to care about doing. Even in Tirek's timeline, or Chrysalis's, or Nightmare Moon's, the world felt alive. There was still a spark of life to it. But here...here there is nothing."

"So is this the real timeline, the one that has been hidden beneath all of the other timelines?" Trunks asked. "And if so, how did the one with Twilight and all of them come to take the spot of this one for such a long time? What is going on here that we're missing?"

"I don't know. I mean, how could I?" Starlight asked. She stared at all of the ponies that passed her by, unable to believe that all of them were able to walk by each other without the slightest interaction. "And why would Clockwork and Maestro fight so hard to bring this timeline to the forefront? There is nothing interesting here for Maestro and Clockwork...what could he be trying to undo in this timeline? What could be the event so tragic that he had to be ride of all the other timelines to make this one?"

"Well if we want to know the answer to that, then I suggest that we follow him," Trunks suggested. Starlight turned to follow his gaze and found that, indeed, Clockwork was standing at the end of an alleyway across from them. When the pair noticed him, he turned and vanished deeper into the alley, leaving Starlight and Trunks to share a look for a moment.

Then they walked in after him.