Return to Greatness

A shadowy figure crawled along a rocky path towards a small cabin in the dead of night, searching for help. It grunted as it heaved itself over a particularly sharp rock. It looked at its side with difficulty, and acknowledged a long gash on its right side. It sighed. With every breath it took, it got closer towards the cabin. It could smell the smoke from the chimney. I can make it. I have to. I can't die like this... The shadow thought to itself. Closer and closer it came to the front step. "Help.." It groaned heavily. "Please... Anypony..."

Nothing stirred in the home. It groaned loudly as it pulled itself onto the cabin's porch. With all of its effort, it lifted a hoof and slammed it hard onto the splintering wood. Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! "Please! Help me..."

Inside, a crystalline pony was sitting in her chair, reading a book and huddled in a soft blanket. Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! "What was that?" She said to herself. The pony listened again, and when she heard nothing, she continued to read. Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! There it was again. She hesitantly rose from her chair and trotted towards her front door. She didn't dare open the door. It would be her luck that it was a bear in her trash. She still couldn't believe she convinced herself to move out this far from the Crystal Empire. She put a silent ear against the grain and listened intently.

She heard something... panting? What is that? She worried. " H-help me..." A deep voice said from the other side. She gasped in fright. With every ounce of bravery, she opened her door enough to see what was on her porch.

Her eyes widened to disks. "Oh... Oh! You! How... How are you even alive!?" She stuttered. The crystal mare had no clue who the pony was at her doorstep, but she did know that he urgently needed help. She kneeled down to find a way to pick him up - or at least drag him- into her home. With closer inspection, she noticed something incredibly strange about the stallion.

He was terribly familiar, but she just couldn't put her hoof on it. Suddenly, the wounded stallion looked up at her, pleading for her to help him. He had piercing red eyes, and and a broken curved horn. "Oh my Celestia! Y-you-you're K-king Sombra!" She panicked and clumsily backed into her house. Sombra looked at her, beaten and broken. "Please... Help me... I beg you!" He tried to crawl to his former subject and slave, but failed. He let out a squeal of pain that lead to scarlet vomit on the poor mare's porch.

The crystal mare, finally out of her trance, ran to the emergency system that was installed in all the houses and buildings in the Empire. Princess Cadence specifically ordered for these alarms to be installed. The mare flipped a switch with her muzzel and watched as a light as bright as the sun cut through the night. Sombra flinched as he was temporarily blinded by the flare.

"Um... T-There will b-be help coming I-immediately." She awkwardly and fearfully stuttered at Sombra. The former Tyrant of the Crystal Empire sighed heavily in relief. "Thank you..." He managed to slur out of his mouth before completely blacking out.

"Hey! Wake up!" The crystal mare cared nothing for the stallion bleeding to death on her porch, but she couldn't just let him die. She galloped to her kitchen and returned with a pail of water. She sloshed it upon Sombra's head. It woke him, but it didn't help much as he started drifting off again. "No. No. No. No. No." The glittering pony mumbled. "Hey! Stay with me!" She looked east toward the Crystal Empire and saw the Crystal pegasi guards flying quickly towards her once peaceful cabin.

Hurry damn you! She swore to herself. She suddenly got an idea. She needed to keep him awake. Luckily, she learned from a cousin that if some pony was on the edge of consciousness, they needed to stay awake. " Hey! What's your name?" She asked her former ruler. "Whaaa...?" He loosely mumbled. "What is your name?" She asked again, clearer this time. "My... My name? It is Sombra. Former..." He trailed off and plopped his head down hard on the wooden porch. "Aw, crud!" The mare said. She rushed over and laid his blood caked head on her lap. " Former what? Sombra the former what?" Sombra answered no more, but he was still 'awake'. The mare cradled his head as the Royal Guard finally made an appearance.

"Well it's about damn time!" She said and then promptly fainted.