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// What Needed to be Done 
// Story: Out of Time 
// by Onomonopia 
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Both Clockwork and Trunk's ultimate attacks faded away as they both looked down at the small hole that had been made in Trunk's chest. Then the pair slowly turned around to face Starlight, who was shaking as emotion overran her body, but her eyes were still strong and determined. Trunks tried to say something, but the moment he opened his mouth blood came out and he collapsed to the ground.

"Trunks!" Starlight called out. She was at his side in a second, using her magic to patch up the hole she made in his chest. Clockwork's green aura faded as he stared down at the pony, unable to figure out what was going on.

"I do not understand. First you shoot a hole in his chest and then you try to save him," Clockwork muttered. "I am trying to find the reason for why you did what you did, but nothing comes to-"

"Clockwork, you can survive when a timeline is erased, right?" Starlight snapped, cutting him off mid sentence. "Do it and do it now! And if you can, give that power to all of us!"

Clockwork regarded the demanding pony with disbelief for a moment, before he clasped his hands together and a sphere of green magic was placed around all three of them. He and Starlight watched as the world finished fading around them, until there was nothing left but a white void that they were floating in.

"No...dammit...not this again," Trunks grunted, closing his eyes so he didn't have to watch. "Starlight...I could have beaten him. I could have-"

"That wouldn't have worked," Starlight explained, continuing to use her magic to heal Trunks. "I had a talk with Maestro and he revealed to me that you defeating Clockwork locks us into an endless time loop. One that he's seen repeated millions of times."

"What? But that can't be, if it was a timeloop, then my power would have-"

"Your power is just as useless against this timeloop as Trunks power is," Starlight cut off. "You've both been stuck in this loop for Faust knows how long, doomed to repeat this never ending battle until the end of, well, everything. I've been stuck in it as well. Everypony has. Everypony but the Maestro, the only one who seems truly immune to the effects of time."

"Hang on one moment. I'm a time traveler and even I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this one," Clockwork sighed. He sat down within the sphere and gazed at Starlight, as if trying to place her within a puzzle. "Say what you said is true. Say that we are stuck in a timeloop and that Trunks kills me to reset everything, dooming us and all in this loop to live out the same events again. That would mean in those millions of times we did all this, you made the same or at least an almost identical decision that helped to keep the loop going."

"What are you getting at?"

"What I'm saying is that, even if Maestro told you this, you should be like Trunks and myself, doomed to repeat the same actions again and again. But instead, this time, you spared my life and kept Trunks from killing me," Clockwork theorized. "You broke the time loop when in theory that should be impossible. How?"

"Simple. For as much as Maestro bragged that he had done this millions of times, he let something slip this time. Something              key that the other me's would have been sure to notice if he let it slip to them as well," Starlight said with a thin smile. "He said that he wanted to kill the both of us, just to see what would happen, but that wouldn't be fun. It might have been an assumption on my part, by I interpreted that as meaning that we have never lost this final fight against you."

"Why would that change anything?" Clockwork asked.

"Because, think about it. If you won even one of these battles against us, then you wouldn't die and the timeline's wouldn't reset. This entire reset happens because you lose. So I figured, what would happen if we lost instead," Starlight explained. "Of course, this was a total shot in the dark, but hey, if I failed all that would mean is that I would just have to wait for the time loop to come back around to try something different. But this time...I think things changed."

"Yes. Things are very different from what they should be," Clockwork agreed, looking out from within the time bubble to stare at the white void around them. "If what you said is true, then right now the first generation should be taking over once more. But since I still live...it seems that nothing is happening. But if that is the case, did we just doom this world to a fate worse than death by preventing my defeat? Or maybe I should have been defeated long ago..."

"Clockwork?"

"Maestro...used me," Clockwork admitted. "I knew he always had been, but I had hoped that if I played his game long enough, one day I would be able to save my son...to undo a world that never should have been...but now I see that he had no intention of ever letting me reach my goal."

"What...do you mean?" Trunks grunted.

"He kept the time loop going. He knew everything that was going to happen and did nothing to change it. That means he watched my son die time and time again...and did nothing. And worse of all, he prevented me from ever saving him. He just kept watching, time after time, as the worlds were ruined and did nothing. How could he?"

"Because he's an evil jerk that only cares about himself," Trunks said, sitting up and stretching out his arm. "First off, ow. Second, I've seen his type before. Unstoppable power, god complex, thinks they're better than everyone else. He's evil. Plain and simple. An evil so far gone that he was willing to watch the same thing play out again and again on an endless loop just to see if something would change. And something has changed. What's changed is that now I get the chance to rip him apart with my bare hands."

"What do you mean, Trunks? We have no idea where or when he is. There doesn't even seem to be a world left after everything that just happened," Starlight said as she looked out into the oblivion. "Maybe we messed up and there isn't anything after this."

"No. There's got to be something left," Trunks grunted. He pushed himself back up, stretching out his arm near where he had been shot.

"How do you know that?" Clockwork asked him. "This looks a lot like what I believe the end of time to look like. What evidence do you possibly have that there is anything after this?"

"Because this is a boring ending. And the Maestro hates a boring ending," Trunks replied. Almost as if the metal man had been listening in on their conversation, a moment later a single, metal platform appeared under their feet/hooves. Trunks looked to Clockwork and nodded. Clockwork separated his hands and the time bubble vanished, allowing the three to touch down on the platform.

"Well this is solid at least. That counts for something," Starlight said. After she said this, a few more metal platforms attached themselves to the side of the metal platform they were standing on, almost making a path.

"It seems that whoever is behind this is inviting us onward. And I am willing to bet that person is the Maestro," Clockwork said as he took a few steps down the path. But when Trunks placed his hand on his shoulder, Clockwork stopped and looked back at Trunks. "Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, considering barely a couple of minutes ago you and I were about to erase each other off the face of the planet. How do I know that I can trust you?" Trunks asked. "Because while I may not want to take on both you and the Maestro at the same time, make no mistake that I will erase you both if it means fixing this train wreck of a mess that we find ourselves in."

"Maestro lied to me and used me, but worst of all, he prevented me from saving my son for eons. I plan to take this power he gave me and use it to spend eternity ripping him apart. I will aid you in eliminating him," Clockwork promised, before he darkly glared at Trunks. "But make no mistake, once we are done with him, I will go back to do what I set out to do originally. Saving my son."

"Fine with me. Because after we destroy Maestro, I'm going back to my original plan and fixing this timeline once and for all," Trunks snarled back.

"Fixing the timeline? Do not forgot, Saiyan, you are the one responsible for everything going sideways to begin with," Clockwork reminded him. "I may have shifted the time stream, but you are the one who chose to erase the timeline instead of saving them. Trunks narrowed his eyes in response. "But if you believe that you can save the time lines by blasting apart what little they have left, then by all means, show me what your definition of hero is."

"Alright you two, enough. Fighting the Maestro is going to be impossible enough without you two butting heads the entire time," Starlight glared at the both of them. "Trunks, Maestro has already introduced your face to his boot twice now and he remembers all of the millions of times he's fought you, putting him at a severe advantage. And Clockwork, if Maestro gave you his power, then I am fairly certain that he can take it away from you as well. If you two don't work together, then he'll probably kill you both."

"You're right. We'll save this for when Maestro is dead," Trunks said darkly.

"Agreed. We will make sure that he does not mess with our time any longer," Clockwork added. The pair then glanced towards the pathway, which had now expanded so far that it faded into the whiteness with no way to see what was at the end. "So by all means, hero. You go first."