Someone who has never been completely and utterly disconnected from their entire history of thoughts, feelings, memories, and preferences might find the concept of amnesia romantic or freeing. The reality is more similar to being trapped in a haunted house coupled with being at a party and you can’t remember anybody’s name.
One minute there is nothing and then, without warning, there was. His body felt heavy, his neck had a crick in it from being on the floor for too long. His eyes pried themselves open to be met with blinding crystal. A cave? No, there was a window. Fuck his body hurt. A throne room? He could hear something outside, could be somepony yelling.
His hooves were heavy, he was wearing metal shoes, what did the rest of him look like? Was he hurt? Was there a mirror? It felt like he was wearing something. He took his movements slowly, testing to see if anything was broken; wandering over to a window in the corner that looked shiny enough to cast a reflection.
He was a pony with grey hair and a black mane. Was he wearing a crown? He was in a throne room, was he a king? He didn’t feel like a king and if he was, wouldn’t somepony be around?
“Hello?!” His voice echoed off the walls but nopony answered. He was pretty sure he was physically ok, just sore. But if he was a king, nopony was around to protect him, he was alone in a throne room with no idea what was going on…
The thought should have hit him before but now it was hitting him full force. He had no idea who he was! His name, why he was here, what happened, not good, not good, not good. Everything felt like a threat, he had to get out, he hated it here he needed to leave!
He tried to creep quietly towards the door but his shoes were loud so he took them off. He pressed his ear to the polished crystal but couldn’t hear anything; he tried to peer through the cracks in the door but couldn’t see anything. He tried to push the door slowly so it wouldn’t make a noise but it was too heavy to budge so he was forced to push harder until it opened. Crystal scratched against crystal, the noise echoing off the walls in an orchestra of spine-tingling regret.
Somepony definitely heard that!
He checked the hallways before he made a run for it, ducking behind pillars, trying to find an exit. Nopony was here which was a relief to him but at the same time why? Why was he in a completely empty castle? It was too nice to be a fake castle so there should be guards, ponies of state, cleaning staff, something! The oddness of the situation raised his anxiety higher. He avoided the widest hallways because they would be the most used but it was harder to find an exit when it wasn’t prominent. He found himself in a dining hall; the kitchen would be attached! He opened the first door next to the crystal china cabinet. It led to a set of stairs going down.
Why were stairs the best thing ever right now?
He took the steps two at a time; luckily, they did lead to the kitchen. He tensed his muscles, prepping to run past any staff present but none were there. There was an open doorway that lead to a courtyard where carts and supplies would come in, again, empty. He was about to reach the street when he spotted somepony and ducked behind a stack of boxes next to the archway.
Female, she looked like she had gone through Tartarus. Lethargic, tattered, and he couldn’t be too sure but it seemed as if her fur was greyer then normal? She looked too depressed to be a threat to him… should he help her? No, he shouldn’t. He was having a shit time himself. But she might be a safe-ish pony to ask for information. She looked like she was alone, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t some kind of bait for an ambush. He checked every building’s windows and corners he could see from his hiding spot, then checked again to make sure nopony was behind him before slowly making his was out. She wasn’t looking at him and if she really wasn’t a threat, he didn’t want to scare her, he cleared his throat to get her attention.
“Um, excuse me. I don’t mean to trouble you-“ she turned to him slowly, as if in horror, her pupils shrinking as she spotted him. He finished his sentence lamely, “-but could you please tell me-“
“King Sombra!” She screamed and collapsed into a deep bow, covering her eyes with her hooves and shaking like a pony expecting to die.
How exactly do you respond to that?
“I, um, yes?” She continued to shake and cry as if not hearing him. Ok, so he was a king, his name was Sombra, and judging from that reaction, not a good pony. He didn’t know how to deal with this and he didn’t get a chance to think about it. Her commotion attracted attention, other ponies who had been hiding in their homes stuck their heads out of windows to stare at him in horror. His mind tried to come up with some logical options to handle this when a laser blast nearly detached his right hind leg from his body. “Ahh! Wha-“
“Sombra!” a purple unicorn screamed at him, she was galloping towards him at breakneck speed and soon she was joined by a blue pegasi with a rainbow mane who was much faster and equally angry. “Stay away from her you creep!”
‘Sombra’ spared a glance at the cowering mare at his feet, evaluated his options, and ran as fast as he possibly could. Pegasi were fast but they couldn’t corner well, he ducked behind the first alleyway he saw and could feel the rush of wind from the pegasi’s wings brush his flanks. “Hey! No fair! Get back here so I can shove some harmony up your flank!” He had a sneaking suspicion that her hoof was named ‘harmony.’
The alleyway was not completely clear, there was the odd trashcan here and there which slowed him considerably. The near constant nocking over of trashcans like a beacon alerting his attackers exactly where he was. He was never going to get away like this, he had to leave the city. He could see the outskirts as he made his next turn, there was a blizzard ripping the landscape apart, why wasn’t it in the city? Was there a barrier? If so, would it allow him to leave? “Found you!” The pegasi was going to divebomb him from above; no time to think. He tensed for both the jump and prepping himself for the possibility of diving headfirst into an invisible wall, the pegasi was getting closer.
He felt the blistering cold winds like a slap to the face, felt the filly’s sharp hooves as they crushed his spine, felt the all-consuming fear for his life, and felt his body dissolve into darkness.
‘Away; have to get away.’
He was one with the snow and wind, he was scattering, he was trying to hold himself together, he was tossed and turned, no up or down, he was drowning, he was dying.
“Stop!”
All at once he hit the ground, as whole as he ever was. He really hoped waking up in an odd place in pain wasn’t a usual trend. There was grass beneath his cheek, he was in a wide-open field and uncomfortably wet. He tried to stand but the ground was like a sponge, the mud sucked his hooves down the more he moved but before he could panic, he heard a voice.
Frankly, it scared the hell out of him.
“Hello there young fella, where did you come from? No trains today yet and no town for miles.” Sombra turned and saw a very old stallion on a slightly raised platform with a small hut. Beyond that were trees, he was near a swamp. The stallion had an odd hat that didn’t cover the top of his head but had a brim to cover his eyes and a green vest. The stallion himself was light green with most of his mane fallen out with age. At least the old stallion didn’t want to kill him… yet.
“Um, hello sir, I’m terribly sorry if I’m disturbing you but I’m a bit lost… and stuck.” The stallion smiled in amusement but didn’t leave his platform.
“Don’t spend much time in the swamp now do yah? You have to break the suction, just take it slow and try to increase the surface area of your body. What you got there is technically quicksand but it’s not as bad as the books make it out to be. You’ll be fine.”
Sombra didn’t really like the thought of being somepony’s entertainment but he didn’t exactly have a choice. He still wasn’t entirely sure how he got here so it’s not like he could do… whatever it was he did to get away before. He took it slow by wiggling his hooves to break the suction before taking his next step but it wasn’t going well.
“You might have to crawl on your belly. I know unicorns are all about fast solutions but sometimes the earth pony way is best.”
Was he a unicorn? He thought it was just a crown. That would explain how he got here if he could use magic. He tried to focus on himself and lift himself out of the mud but… nothing. At least the old man found it amusing. He did as the old colt suggested and got on his belly to crawl but his cape (as he recently took note of) was so bogged down with mud that it was dragging him down so he unclipped it and let it go. After a significant amount of struggling and laughter from the old man he finally got on to the platform and promptly fell on his flank from the slick mud on his hooves. In fact, he physically could not get on the flatform. “Haha as amusing as this is-“ the old stallion said while wiping a tear from his eye”- why don’t you park yourself on the trail. You know, the one that most ponies use to get here.” Sombra ignored the prickling of anger at the old man ‘he could have told me that before’ and sat himself on the dirt road; trying to scrape off the mud from his fur.
“Oh I tell you what, this is the most fun I’ve had at work in ages. Now then young colt, mind telling me what sort of trouble you’ve gotten yourself into? Perhaps old Cartwheel can help.”
Sombra was trying to rub a particularly itchy mud spot on his chin but only succeeded in smearing it around. Should he tell him? Lack of murderous intent does not a friend make, he could get away with half-truths though. “I had an accident-“ Cartwheel smiled and looked ready to add a smart comment but Sombra beat him to it and amended his monologue. “Before I slipped on mud I mean. I can’t remember a thing. I can’t go home because there are pony’s there who were… not friendly. I need food, a place to hide, work, and a bath. Somewhere where I can get back on my hooves until I can piece together how I got into this situation. Do you know where I can find a place like that? Oh.” He took off his crown and held it up for Cartwheels inspection. “This is all I have; do you think I can get some money for it? Enough for some food even?”
Cartwheel looked at him with pity, “That’s quite a story youngin. I’m sorry you’ve been through so much. Wait just a tick.” The old pony wondered into the hut on the platform. Sombra had a moment of worry that he was recognized or not believed and some sort of authorities were being contacted. But Cartwheel reemerged with a sack in his mouth and handed it to him. “You can have my lunch, it’s just a daisy sandwich but it’s better than nothing. I’ll look at the crown for yah but I imagine it’s worth something. The closest town is about a half hour train ride and tickets cost 5 bits for one stop. Princess Celestia has a program to provide emergency tickets for ponies in desperate situations like yourself. You just have to make your case to station management, and you’re lookin’ at him! I will have to ask you to clean up a bit before I call the conductor. There’s a waterfall about a 15-minute trot in the swamp, watch for gators.”
Sombra held the bag in his hooves just processing the generosity shown. “Th-Thank you Cartwheel sir I, I don’t know how to thank you I just… thank you I.” Sombra pulled the plastic wrapped sandwich out of the bag and held it up to the old man. “I can’t take your entire lunch, please take half at least.” Cartwheel gave a dry laugh and look the sandwich back to break it in half.
“You’re a nice young man, I’m sure things will look up for you. Get cleaned up, the faster you’re wet, the faster you’re dry. I’ll call the conductor, we’re not a popular spot so it may take about 1-2 hours for him to get his tail up here.” Sombra nodded with the beginning of tears in his eyes and shoved the entire half of his sandwich in his mouth in one go. It was the best thing he had ever eaten. Cartwheel waved his hoof at Sombra, “Go on and wash up, I don’t do well with cryers.” Sombra nodded his thanks again and made his way into the swamp. He still was suspicious of the old man but not demanding he hand over his crown, his only way to get some money, was a good indicator.
The trail was not well maintained and he did come to understand Cartwheels warnings when an alligator snapped at him almost the second he entered denser woods. He tried to activate magic a few times to… do something, prove he had it? But nothing happened. The waterfall did have some alligators but none of them came near the falls and there were rocks to stand on. The water was unbearably cold and far from clean but it got rid of the mud and that’s all he could ask for.
Cartwheel was waiting on the platform and found his ‘drowned rat’ look hilarious. “I wish I had a camera to take pictures for the misses. She loves a good drama more then anypony and I love a comedy. You so happen to be both!” Sombra tried not to get annoyed at the only one to actually help him but he was making it very difficult.
“You said you could look at my crown and say if it was worth anything?” Cartwheel wasn’t offended by his surly tone and took the item from him.
“I can’t promise anything. My brother’s the one in the jewelry business but I know a little from his incessant ramblings. Nopony loves talking about ‘cut and clarity’ more than him now let’s see… It ain’t silver, maybe platinum? If so, it’ll be harder to sell. Ponies don’t like investing in melting down platinum metals unless they are making armor. And it’s custom fitted for your head so… not good. You sure you don’t want to keep it?”
Sombra sighed and took the crown back. “I don’t need it; I need the money more and it’s all I have until I can get a job.” He sighed again “Also, I confirmed something when I was in the swamp; I can’t do magic, I forgot.”
“You forgot?!” Sombra didn’t know why this pony was so shocked but he nodded. “That can’t be right. My sister has two unicorn foals at home, both of them could do crazy magic before they were out of diapers. How could you forget something you could do before you could control your bowels?” Sombra winced at the crassness of the statement and the implication that he was less then an infant. Cartwheel rubbed his chin and looked at him critically, “Come to think of it, your horn looks mighty mangled. Did your accident have something to do with it?”
“Mangled!? Mangled how?!” Sombra felt his horn, it was long and sharp and matched his eyes if he remembered right. Did horns not look like that?
“Also, there’s something else odd about you. But I just can’t put my hoof on it.” The old man circled him while Sombra silently panicked. Could he tell that he was apparently a bad pony? Had he heard of an evil king before? Fuck! He was a pony who came out of nowhere with a crown! Of course, he knew! He said before about a princess? Was he in another country? Was this his country and the princess was his daughter? Did he have a family? Did that family want him dead?!
Cartwheel stopped and shrugged, “Oh well, I’ve got about an hour to figure it out. In the meantime, why don’t I tell you about what I know about, well, everything. See if it jogs your memory at all. “Sombra sighed with relief and gratification.
“Thank you. I would really appreciate it.”