Familiar
"I hope that this isn't going to be a pattern."
Trunks and Starlight were standing next to one another beneath one of the larger trees in the village, watching as all of the ponies and zebras in the rebellion raced back and forth in preparations for their assault on the Canterlot Castle. At least, that was the plan that Fluttershy had told them. The real plan she had only told Trunks and Starlight, as Trunks was the main factor for that plan coming to fruition.
"What do you mean a pattern?" Starlight asked Trunks in reply.
"Here were are in another timeline, yet it's eerily similar to the one that we just came from. Swap out Fluttershy with Celestia, Chrysalis with Sombra and you pretty much have a similar timeline to the one we came from. You know, when I explore all the different timelines, most of the time they have huge variations that can cause many different futures. This is...I don't know, what's the word, familiar?"
"Yeah, a lot of the foes that the ponies have dealt with over the years pretty much all want the same thing. The crown for Equestria," Starlight agreed with a shrug. "Chrysalis wanted to rule so that she could harvest our love. Tirek wanted to rule so he could siphon our magic. Sombra wanted to rule for the power. And I think Discord wanted to rule so that there would be no order. Try to wrap your head around that one."
"At least it makes things simple," Trunks replied. He then closed his eyes and focused on all of the ki that was up in Canterlot. Thousands of lives lived there, tricking him for a brief moment into believing that Chrysalis's rule wasn't as tight as Fluttershy thought it was. But then he narrowed in on the ki of the citizens and noted how nearly all of them had ki similar to those that the changeling he had met had. Including the being in the castle who, when compared to her subjects, had the highest ki there. That was his target.
"Simple how?"
"If all the other timelines have a dictator or some kind of evil ruling over them, then I can do the same thing again and again until we find Maestro and Clockwork. Show up, ally myself with the rebellion of that world and bring down the tyrant. Eventually Maestro will get fed up with me and try once again to wipe me off the face of the planet. Then I can tear him apart with my bare hands."
"Will it really be that easy?" Starlight asked nervously. Trunks flashed her a look and she avoided his gaze. "I mean, he kinda wiped the floor with you the last time the two of you fought, so who is to say that he won't do the same thing to you again?"
"He didn't wipe the floor with me, he caught me off guard with some kind of toxin that weakened me. But by the time the effects have worn off, I'll be more than ready for him," Trunks snarled as he gazed down at his fist. "He beat me with a cheap trick once. It won't work on me a second time."
"If you say so," Starlight muttered, before gazing down at the mirror she held which showed her the other timelines. A worrying frown crossed her face, a frown that was not lost on Trunks.
"Something the matter?"
"No...well, maybe. I'm not sure," Starlight muttered with confusion. "At first glance, nothing seems wrong. But...I've been looking at this mirror for a long time, far longer than we've been having these time problems. And all the times I remember looking at it, the main timeline, the one I came from, is always the clearest. The other ones, at best, were a blur. But now..."
"Now the other timelines are starting to become clearer while the main timeline is becoming blurry," Trunks answered. Starlight nodded to show that he was right, getting Trunks to sigh before he walked over to Starlight and looked into the mirror.
"Yes and no. You're right in saying that the main timeline is getting blurry, but not all of the timelines are getting clearer. Just the one that we're in...and if I was a betting pony, I'd say that this is the same one that Maestro and Clockwork are in as well," Starlight finished. "So whatever they're doing is causing the main timeline to be overtaken by these fractured timelines."
"And they will become the main timelines unless we destroy them once and for all," Trunks finished for her once again. "Alright, now that we know what we need to do, that will cut down on us wandering around the next time we have to shift timelines. Once I've eliminated Chrysalis from this world, we can-"
"Trunks...is this right?" Starlight asked, her question catching Trunks completely off guard. "Eliminating these timelines, I mean. What right do we have to eliminate these other versions of our friends? Shouldn't we try to find a way for all of them to exist at the same time? I mean, the have just as much of a right to live as we do."
"Time works differently here than it does in my part of reality. Where I come from, multiverse theory is what time travel runs on. Your world seems to run on change the past, change all the possible futures. I don't know how the timelines are taking over or what causes one to become stronger than others, but I do know this," Trunks began before he knelt down next to Starlight so that he could look her in the eyes. "The ponies you care about are not in this timeline. This timeline was never even supposed to exist. None of them are. This world and the beings in it are not real. Or at least, they're nothing more than a fractured version of your world. They are just broken reflections. And we're going to fix it."
"By wiping them out," Starlight muttered.
"This version of them, yes, but in doing so will save their true versions. So in a way, we're just making their lives better," Trunks replied before motioning to the ponies putting on warpaint and sharpening their weapons. "Look at them in this timeline. In this timeline, they're constantly at fear for their lives, unsure if they can even trust the pony standing next to them. Most of their loved ones are dead and their leader was just killed not too long ago. Tell me, does this world seem like one that they should be living in?"
"Well...no, but..."
"That's why we need to fix the timeline. These ponies don't deserve to live in a timeline like this. They deserve to live in a time free of worries and pain. Free from the terror that haunts their ever waking moment, a terror that wants to wipe them all off the face of the planet. And I will do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening. I swear it."
Starlight watched Trunks carefully as he continued to talk, noticing that he didn't seem to be talking to her anymore. His eyes were locked on the ground with a fury in them that she had never seen in another being before. His blue hair was flashing with shades of gold and the very planet beneath them seemed to tremble slightly with fear of what was to come next. But then Trunks seemed to put a lid on his rage and when he looked at Starlight once more his eyes were filled with determination, but not the rage that they had held.
So that's why we need to fix this timeline as quickly as we can so that we can hunt down the Maestro and his little chrome sidekick and take them out of the equation once and for all. You and I are the only ones that can fix this."
"I...I guess you're right. But there has to be a better way," Starlight muttered to herself.
"There isn't. Believe me, I've tried," Trunks cut her off abruptly. "Think we've discussed this long enough. You know what you have to do, right?"
"Yeah, I know what I'll be doing to help, if you can call it that," Starlight said with a smirk. "I'm with the other unicorns, using my power to tear open a hole in the magical barrier that protects Canterlot from all forces. Of course, with your power, I'm certain that you won't really need our help up there. This will probably be quick."
"Chrysalis will be no problem. It's Maestro and Clockwork that I want," Trunks muttered. Their conversation came to an end when Fluttershy flew over to them, landing next to the pair of them and giving them both a steely eyed glare.
"It's almost time to move out. We've only got one shot at taking down Chrysalis, so we're going to take it before she realizes that we've got the two of you on our side. Starlight, your magic is nearly equal to some of the students that Celestia took back in the day. And Trunks, if you're really as strong as you say you are, then I will finally get to live out my dream of watching Chrysalis being hurled off of her throne."
"Are you sure you want to go through with this, Fluttershy?" Starlight blurted out, getting Fluttershy to glance at her. "If we do this, there's a very high chance that you and everypony else in the world will cease to be! That this whole timeline will be wiped out once and for all!"
"Starlight, I had to watch as the changelings descended upon my home, killed or captured everypony I had ever called my friend and then took control of my world while all those who were left had to fight day in and day out to survive," Fluttershy said in a voice that held no emotion. It was simply cold. "So if you're telling me you can not only wipe out the changelings, but this whole stinking timeline that allowed something like this to happen, I say go for it. Make sure what happened here never happened at all."
Fluttershy then flew off to continue helping her forces prepare, leaving Trunks to shake his head at the disbelief that was on the face of Fluttershy. "It's just like I said. By eliminating these timelines, we're only fixing things. They are not supposed to exist, and be repair the original timeline, we're making all of these miserable lives infinitely better. I've seen this kind of thing before and, before we're done, I'll wager I'll see it again."
"But...it doens't feel right," Starlight muttered, more to herself than to Trunks. "There has to be another way. A way that can help all these timelines live in peace."
"We're bringing them the peace that they crave, Starlight. We're going to fix what's wrong with them by repairing where they all came from. Now come on, even though Chrysalis may not pose a threat to me, there are still dozens of different ways this can all go wrong. And I will not let any unknown factors bring down another world that I've been put in charge of."
Starlight nodded and followed Trunks as he led the both of them towards where Fluttershy was giving out orders to her troops, but neither the pony nor the swordsman were thinking about the upcoming battle. Starlight was still thinking of the millions of lives that would simply cease to be if they succeeded, lives that weren't responsible for what was happening. And Trunks wasn't thinking about timelines or the battle against Chrysalis at all. All he could think about was Maestro and Clockwork.
And how he was going to make them pay the next time they fought.
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Wow is Trunks pissed. Hopefully he will drop his attitude as the story goes on or is this how he is in these games?
I've always had a question in the back of my mind about the episode that this story is based off of and it re-occurred to me while reading this chapter... What happened to the alternate versions of Twilight? She may not have been Celestia's student but we don't see any alternate versions of her...
Should be "Starlight" and "by repairing".
Nearly equal to Celestia's students nothing. Starlight surpasses them.
Unless there's no kind of rebellion. I mean who would want to rebel against capitalism?
Will Trunks ever have to cut loose? Will clockwork be guarding cheese horse? Also how are the bug ponies still alive? Wouldn't the smart move be to take out the Crystal empire quietly and then make Changelings intertwine with ponies to produce more love? Rather than killing off Celestia and everypony
8981502
They are all likely in Canterlot.which we never saw.
8981660
Surpass Twilight, maybe. But certainly not Celestia.
Maybe Trunks can use the super dragonball from his friends timeline to bring back the erased Equestria timelines as separate universes?
Well, by Trunks' logic, he should just orbit nuke everything when they get to each timeline. After all, if they are going to be erased anyway, why worry about collateral damage?