Searing pain.
That was the first thing I felt surging through me as I slowly opened my crust-sealed eyes. Stars and spots of red danced along my line of sight, masking silhouettes of cacti which were further obscured with pulsing yellow and black spots fluttering across my line of vision. Beside all the spots, I tasted dried blood in my mouth, which was even drier. Nearby mumbling, muffled and nonchalant, caught the attention of my scraped ears.
Voices!
Slowly, I shifted my open eyes toward two outlines; ponies who were talking beside a small fire on the opposite end of the desert clearing. Nearby was all of my gear and clothes in a neat pile next to some settled plant life, long dried out. Due to the darkness, these ponies hadn't noticed my open eyes. Since this worked in my favor I decided it would be foolish not to listen to their conversation considering I couldn't perform any magic with an injured head, slight chip in my horn, broken leg, and my other injuries. Did I mention the pain too? It was worse than anything I'd felt before, I was certain of that.
They spoke freely, still believing I was in a comatose state.
"So how much d'ya think we can get from her?" a male voice grumbled.
They were going to sell me? I'm a pony, a true creature, not some construct or... or...
"Not sure, but it better be worth the effort draggin' her forty miles this far south," a gruff female voice snapped to her companion.
They dragged me here too? Is it any wonder that my skin felt so raw?
"Huh, you're tellin' me. Did ya hear what happened to those desparados out closer to 'loosa?"
These ponies are bandits. Horrible, horrible bandits. They hurt and steal and kill - these ponies have deserted all that it means to be Equestrian. They work hard, but their work is horrible, and any 'skills' they might have aren't being used to better others, it's being used to hurt them... and me! They have me! This can't be! Please, please, please Celestia, don't let me die here! Or gods know what! I can't let this happen just because I'm a bad flier. I'm the Princess of Friendship, ponies need me. What will my friends and family think...?
The mare gasped. "Were they the ones who were ambushed by the Dusk Duper?"
Murder... oh gods. That's all they're talking about. Murder. Sweet Celestia... I should have never gone south. Never.
"...and killed." Added the stallion.
I gulped silently, and perked up. Bandits killing bandits?
How much trouble was I going to get in?! This was supposed to be a research trip. I had planned every detail of how things were supposed to go, and this wasn't it.
"Guess what?" a third voice said mockingly. It was dripping with sarcasm and clearly, everything he said was going to be for some kind of sick amusement. He was humoring these ponies and himself.
The two bandits immediately shot up and grabbed the very bows they used to shoot me down. As they stood to do so, I could see that both were earth ponies, thus explaining their combat and weapon choice.
The third voice, also unknown to me, was that of a young male, and gave a sinister chuckle.
"You've been 'duped'." This voice gave me chills - this voice was going to kill, and worse it sounded like it belonged to somepony who appeared intelligent instead of just a blind brute, but that didn't make sense to me.
The male bandit gulped nervously and I lay paralyzed in pain.
"S-show y-yourself!" he cried, stuttering.
A dark, shadowy cloud suddenly swept into the clearing, extinguishing the fire. When it dispersed, a figure in a ragged cloak wearing a large hood stood in its place, near the bandits. The mare bandit thumped her bow in an aggressive manner, almost as if goading the intruder to fight. Rumbling occurred and a strange rock erupted out of the dusty ground impaling her at such a speed she exploded into carnage. Her companion screamed which muffled my horrified squeak, as the remains landed on me.
I couldn't run. I couldn't fly. I couldn't do magic. I was so paralyzed from injury and blood loss that I had no choice to remain a 'mute' lump. I felt myself crying.
Like a corpse.
The male was quickly cornered by this strange ambusher. In the distance the sun was slowly coming up but despite Celestia's light my vision still remained dark. A gentle sunbeam touched my face, I closed my eyes in pain as the dots amplified, continuing their cruel performance. Wherever he was, the outlaw stallion let loose a scream which was his last as a fresh wave of gore hit my face.
Please just make it stop. Please. Please.
Out of both disgust and injury I felt my self beginning to faint as I let loose one full scream that caused my dry, dry throat to excrete a foamy blood.
...
In my dream there was laughter. This wasn't happy laughter like Pinkie Pie's constant giggles, but a crazed and maniacal laughter that was coming from the earth itself and matched the ambusher in the clearing. The ambusher's had been a brief, dark chuckle - sardonic; that was it. Here it was repeated endlessly and distorted, it sounded nightmarish and evil in my dreams, just like the laughter of Nightmare Moon, Discord, and every villain I had faced.
A sudden earthquake rippled through the landscape.
"Aah!" I gasped as I bolted upward and ran a hoof through my sweaty bangs.
Huh?
Blinking at the light and trying to make the effects of sleep dissipate, I looked around, confused by my new surroundings. I was in a small two room hut with wooden shelves adorning the walls in the first room, which I was currently in. With this was a 'bed' composed entirely out of burlap sacks and discarded quilts. Did anypony even use it? It was so... bare.
In the next room was a plain, crudely made table and chair, wooden utensils, a crude telescope that probably didn't work, and two barrels. As I observed this, giving a second glance at the wooden spoons, I noticed a large chest with... all my stuff resting on top. When I reached for my hat I noticed myself, or my present condition to be exact. My wings, coat, skin, and horn were all completely healed. My coat was dusty, but free of scars. The only ailments I suffered from were thirst a slight headache, and some wooziness.
The loud gurgling of my stomach startled me.
Oh, and apparently I was quite hungry, I thought with a cautious smile.
I got up from the chair I had been sitting in to search for some food since the house seemed to lack any edibles that might be in plain sight, and tripped on some small iron shoes, like those of a guard, on the way out.
When I quietly slipped outside the smell of smoke greeted my nostrils.
Was somepony, perhaps the owner and my rescuer, cooking? My stomach growled even louder, wishing it to be true. It was so kind of them to do that - I just hope that they weren't doing this because I was a princess, and instead, because I was a pony and it was the right thing to do, helping somepony who needed it. I would be sure to return the favor. It can't be easy getting cooking supplies out here, so maybe they'd like fresh food? A proper house in a nice town? A friend? I always love new pen pals!
"Burn you monstrosity! I'll murder your families!"
My stomach felt like it was going to do a flip, for outside burning cacti was... the pony. The very same possibly sadistic pony who ambushed the other bandits. Forget everything I said before, this was not a pony I would do any favor for. They weren't a friend or offering basic equine decency by doing this...
Their voices matched.
Matched...
Everything seemed... to...
...match.
"Uhh... hi, I'm going to leave now..."
I unfolded my wings and was just about to take off a dark, winding unseen force that could only be a paralysis charm grabbed hold of me, black charged crimson aura twining around me like shadowy waltzers. The pony - he - walked up to me, using his slightly superior height almost as a mute excuse to gloat. A hood was pulled over his head, hiding all possible identification. He knew that I was scared. I think that he liked that too, and it only scared me even more.
The cloak was red, dark dark red - like blood - with a small clip for a saddle bags, sheath, and a clip for a bed roll, but the clips looked hoof-made and loose, like he could discard them at any moment and do things the harder way because, why?
The cloak appeared to have been longer once but was jaggedly cut until it came to only about knee length and was poorly patched with fabrics of dull grays, browns, and other earthy hues. The poorly done cutting job revealed legs adorned with reddish cloth wraps topped with plain metal bracers trimmed with sandy hued fur... or at least it looked like fur.
A blade, as black as dried blood and as crystalline as the Empire, gleamed in a partial sheath. Its pommel and cross bar winking with blood rubies while the structural metal shone with pure gold.
I felt choked, submitting further to the powerful charm squeezing at me... where had I seen that blade before?
It was at Canterlot.
Shining Armor complaining about his foreleg in a cast. Cadance with a faint scar on her wing along with a far away and fierce gaze. Admirable to any adventurer.
"I know that sword..."
The words, choked out and as painful as getting teeth pulled, did nothing to amuse him.
"You should know it, Twilight Sparkle." Sombra seemed to toy slightly with my name, as if it were an unfamiliar food before choosing to say it with the most condescending tone I had heard.
"It would be unwise to forget such an item as Phobos..."
A pause? Phobos?
With a small spark he divided his spell and telekinetically pulled his sword partway out of its sheath.
"... and especially unfortunate to forget who wields it."
With one jerk of his hoof the hood was removed.
"Sombra."
He sneered. "Goody, you know my name. I bet mummy is so proud. Now give me a good reason why I shouldn't kill you."