private IC: Return of the King (1x1 with Catpone Cerberus)

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

(Link to OOC)

It had been some time after King Sombra was defeated.  The Mane 6 and the Crystal Ponies would have thought that they vanquished the tyrannical king. They thought wrong, however. The explosion of light that blasted his body apart hid the true character of the event. King Sombra's horn remained, and was blasted off beyond sight. There, the King's horn remained for an untold amount of time. Unconscious he was, but the horn's magic would slowly begin to gather up enough power to the point where he would awaken once more. Far beyond prying eyes and within the wispy winds of the Tundra - a familiar form of shadow would return, although weak.

Within the shadow a pair of green and red eyes trailed with purple smoke would open once again. The shadow form there lingered for what felt like an eternity before he realized what had happened. He had survived, yet again. Unlike the first time, he had lost access to his physical body and he could never hope to return to power, like this. Quickly, he decided that he would leave the arctic wastes beyond the Crystal Empire and head south as his magic returns. Hours passed, the King's mind was blank as it was on survival instinct. As he went towards the south, he could feel his body returning. The shadow form slithers across the ground quickly, remaining low. He wouldn't look back.

As the hours passed, the sun would begin to set. He kept going, his eyes naturally attuned to the dark. Eventually, the arctic wastes faded away into pine forests, but he kept going south still. He wanted to get as far from the Crystal Empire as possible. Through the night, he went, occasionally taking rests. He could feel his magic returning in full - but it wasn't enough to return to his body. His mind began to trickle with thoughts. 6 ponies. A small dragon. A pink Alicorn, and a white stallion - responsible for his defeat. He realized his mistakes, though, he had been too open and too brutish the first time around. Now was time to think. All of them would pay. As his rage made his shadow form shook, he came to the realization that the Crystal Empire was not enough. No. Equestria. Yes...Equestria - that would all be his.

By the time the sun broke the dawn sky, King Sombra had spotted a structure within the forest. Not too far, was a plain. Beyond that, he could scarcely see a railway heading off into the distance. That would be the way to civilization. As soon as the sun broke the dawn sky, the King's shadowy form coalesced into his physical form that had now returned. He felt lucky.

And so he headed towards the structure within the forest. He was too far currently to really see what it was. Perhaps it was an abandoned building, or something from the distant past. He needed to rest and fully collect his thoughts.  

Edited June 27, 2022 by -Solstice-

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

@-Solstice-
If a tree falls down in the forest, and there's nobody to hear it, does it make a sound? What about when it's crushed by a building that came out of nowhere? There it laid, a box of steel and concrete in middle of a forest, if the broken trees weren't enough of a sign that something was off, the building itself confirmed it.

The structure was just one room with a short piece of a hallway leading to its door, the hallway was partly collapsed but the room itself was intact. The whole thing was build from what looked like concrete, and the inner surfaces of the hallway had been covered in white painted metal. What made the hallway unusual, was that there was no door leading to it, instead the whole wall was just missing from that end; one could also see inside the walls that were there, this was apparent from visible unpainted steel and what looked like openings of pipes of some kind inside the concrete. In the other end of this short hallway was a metal door.

Inside that room was where the weirdest part was, it was filled with seemingly non-functioning, unknown technology, and scattered papers, only things working were a red light on the roof and a screen next to a transparent cylinder filled with purple liquid, the screen read *Error Power Low*; something pony shaped was moving in the cylinder. On top of the cylinder was a plate that read UNA.

 

What's going on? Why is it so dark? Why do I see red? Those were the thoughts running in Una's head as she opened her eyes, she was expecting bright whiteness, muffled sounds and blurry figures, that was what it had been when she last woke up, that's what it had been always, yet, now was different, there was no light, no figures, no pain, no pleasure, it was just her, and silence, and red. It was... nice, and also scary, and weird, why did she know she was seeing red? she had never seen red before, how did she know the word red? she had never learned that, right?

She moved her hoof, it was heavy, all moving felt heavy, yet she felt weightless, she looked at it, it was too dark to see anything, yet she could swear she could see movement, had her hooves always done that? She touched her face, there was something on her snout, she didn't know what it was, but she knew she shouldn't take it off, it was like an instinct, she knew taking it off would be painful, she just didn't know why.

She stopped moving and closed her eyes again, that's what she always did, what she had always done, but, something was off, she stayed awake, she felt scared, her heart started racing, why couldn't she calm down, what was this feeling? Her horn lit up, did she do that? she had never done it before, but it was so natural. A green light shot out, hitting something in front of her, but nothing happened, she moved her hoof again, reaching it forward, it hit something hard, she didn't remember this, she only remembered the brightness, the figures, the voices, the pain, the pleasure and everything in between, the weird smells, the odd tastes....who was she anyway? Did she have a name?

 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

King Sombra approaches the area, taking his time to assert the situation. It could be some sort of trap set by him by the two sisters or the Mane 6 but upon his eyes falling upon the structure he soon realized that was not the case. The broken trees, and the obvious out of place building was enough for him to know that this wasn't mean to be here. He looked over at the railway, could that be where this came from? Was it a part of something that fell of the tracks and somehow rolled through to here? He quickly found out that was not the case upon seeing the area the building and the trees that currently surrounded him were on a slight hill, with no other trees in sight that were damaged.

Whatever this was, looking up at the freshly broken trees - it had somehow arrived here shortly before he got here. It dawned on him, could it somehow be related to his awakening? Whatever the case was, he'd intend on finding out. As he got closer to the building he began to circle around it like a shark stalking it's prey, his hooves quietly crunching the leaves and branches around the place. There was a hallway too, how could that be possible? This obviously just had to...appear out of thin air. That didn't make any sense, but it was here after all. 

After a few moments of processing the situation he would proceed into the room. His eyes widening slightly at what he was seeing, all of this was not anything he had seen before - he was gone for a thousand years, so he obviously knew that he would see things that he didn't understand. And that reminded him of one of his major mistakes - acting upon vastly outdated knowledge and expecting a victory. No, he had to get with the times, and possibly find ways to advance further if he had any hope at succeeding. He knew very well that this time may very well be life or death for him.

His gaze fell upon the pony shaped figure inside of the cylinder. Una would feel that something was...off as she could see a dark shadow come close to her as he stepped over the papers. His magic wrapped itself around the papers and organized them into one stack of papers, which he folded into his cape for later use. It went silent for a bit, but that silence was soon broken by the sound of the glass above Una being cut, if she looked close enough she'd see what looked like to be a dark shadow. Then the same thing would happen below her - cutting the cylinder itself out of it's container. This action caused the purple fluid inside of it to pour out all over the floor, which is why Sombra put the papers inside of his cape.

His magic levitates the cylinder away from it's holder and it's set on it's side quickly, the purple fluid gushing all over the place - and revealing the pony figure inside of it, an unobstructed view. Throughout this, Sombra was entirely silent through it all. 

Una was free. Well, not entirely...

 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

@-Solstice-
Una continued moving, she had the sudden urge to get out but she couldn't do anything, she found that no matter what, she always ended up back in the middle of whatever she was inside of, almost like pushed by some physical force. Being trapped, having no idea where she was, or who she was, and being barely able to see anything, panic started to take over, she needed to get out, she didn't know why, but she had a strong feeling that it was matter of survival. 

Her efforts were interrupted when she saw tiny bit of light coming from front of her, followed by something  darker than the surrounding red blocking it, the dark spot got bigger, were the figures back? Would things go back to normal? She let out a shriek of surprise as an unpleasant sound reached her ears, she didn't recognize it, and couldn't really pinpoint it due to it travelling through the liquid, bouncing around in her small prison. She did see less red in front of her though, but because it was still around her, she guessed the figure she had seen had come closer, and logically thinking, it was probably the cause of the sound. 

She yelped as she suddenly was pulled to a direction, and then another; as the liquid escaped, so did the pressure, causing her to move around with it, and she couldn't really comprehend what was happening until she found herself laying on her back, looking at a red light on the roof, that explained the redness.

The liquid acted like water, and it was body temperature, tasteless and odorless, one didn't really feel it when standing in it.

Una was quite the sight, the most easily noticed part was her constantly changing appearance, it was quite hard to miss, while her shape stayed the same, her body constantly changed between golden scales of a dragon, orange fur of a pony, and the black shell of a changeling, and this was not a full change, rather, different parts of her body were each of the three at the same time. This constant changing was true to almost everything, her eyes, her unicorn horn and even her wings, the only things that didn't change was a pair of white horns behind her ears, one on her nose, and fangs that stuck out of her mouth.

Her mane and tail were going through their own change, as they kept changing between light pink and greenish blue, the both colors were always present in some amount.

Now that she was out, she could see around her, and the first thing she saw after the light was Sombra, which made her yelp and shield her body with her legs. She didn't know who he was, but something in her told that he was a potential threat, though she didn't do anything more, she just laid there, confused, scared and curious, she managed to let out a quiet "Hi?" she was surprised anything came out, she had never spoken before, why did she even know how to speak? she didn't remember ever learning it, but it came easily to her, like she had spoken her whole life. 

 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra looked over Una's features. Well, that was certainly something he had not seen before in all his years. She appeared to be a combination of various species, yet also constantly shifting. Like an experiment of some kind. He looked down at her silently for a few passing moments, his piercing eyes looking down at her as if she was prey. In her most vulnerable of places, she could easily be manipulated. If that would fail, than he'd try something else. Time to find out.

He was unlike anything or anyone she had seen before to say the least, being quite a tall stallion with a curved red horn. Everything about him just screamed that he was un-natural and not to be messed with, and she could perhaps even feel his passive dark magic. Not that she would have had any experience with that prior to encountering him. He stepped forward and he spoke. His voice was whispery yet contained a great deal of authority within his voice. "It seems that the denizens of Celestia and Luna have done something to you with their foul and evil magics yet this building is not native to this area, but still, Celestia and Luna have done this to you..." his voice echoed in the room slightly, it was intimidating to listen to for sure - but there was a clear regal sense of word.

"Tell me, do you remember anything? Who are you? Why are you here...?" he asked, now standing over her and looking down at her. His eyes and facial features were completely devoid of any expression. It was clear he was the one in charge of the situation. "You will answer me at once - and we will see if this is the work of the mad ponies who defiled this land with their wretched rule." he spat, demanding her to answer him this instant. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

@-Solstice-
Una couldn't really tell that Sombra was unusual looking, as she didn't have any frame of reference, he was the first living thing she had seen well enough to see what he looked like, she hadn't even seen herself yet. What she was able to tell was that he was very much in control in this situation, it was nothing specific about him, his whole demeanor just radiated power, she also could feel something, she didn't know what it was, but it felt dangerous. 

Una was terrified, to say the least, but not only because of Sombra, the whole situation was terrifying, Sombra just made it worse. She didn't do anything though, just stayed put, she was too scared to move or even scream, what was going on?

 She had no idea who Celestia or Luna were, she did know words celestial and lunar for some reason, but they didn't really help here; this was apparent from the utter confusion on her face when they were mentioned, she could have stated that but she didn't dare, not that she knew if this creature was right or wrong anyway, it wasn't like she knew who the shapes had been either.

She flinched when Sombra added his demand, bit unnecessary, she was already intimidated enough to tell anything and everything she knew, the problem was, she didn't know anything "I-I don't know." she cried out, tearing up from fear "I don't know anything." "I-I don't know who I am, where I am, why am I here..."  she instinctively covered her face but stopped as she saw her own hoofs, changing just as she looked at them "...or what I am." 

 

 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra looked down at her in an unphased manner. It was obvious now, that this creature seemed to be a blank slate. That could be easily molded into whatever he wanted her to be, although it would likely take some convincing but, what did this creature know anyway? It was perhaps best to leave this area here. This area was in the middle of nowhere and if the two sisters know anything about anything coming into this world from other dimensions, they could potentially arrive here. Remembering the railroad tracks, he thinks they could take refuge in some abandoned train cars or buildings near to the station, if there were any. If all else comes to worse, then they could take refuge behind the station all together.

His eyes narrowed. "We must leave quickly if we are to survive. This area here, this building..." he gestured, "Just came into existence for no apparent reason. It could likely have been brought here by the evil two sisters and their followers who have defiled this world. If they catch us, we will have to fight for our lives or be ruthlessly slaughtered by their tyranny. No matter how they color their lies, they are tyrants and liars." he said, a little harshly. He got up and made a motion to leave. "Follow me. Practice your strength for when you need it." he commanded her, if she was even able to follow on her own accord. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

@-Solstice-
Una wasn't entirely sure if she fully believed what was told to her, not because anything specifically made her think that Sombra was lying, but because she realized her current situation, she knew that he knew that she didn't know anything, after all ,she had just stated so, thus it wasn't impossible that he was lying to her, it wasn't like she could prove either way. There was also the fact that he was bit mean to her, there was this slight contradiction of 'I'm here to help you, you do what I say'. But, ultimately, since she didn't really have any other options, not knowing anything about anything, she trusted him, not that she could have done anything even if she didn't.

She carefully got up, surprised that she could stand and walk, again not remembering ever learning either, she quickly looked back at where she had been before all this, seeing the text UNA above it, was that her name? How did she know how to read? She didn't ponder about it long, as she looked back towards Sombra, being afraid of him, she didn't want to keep him waiting "L-Lead the way" she let out, she was bit shaky and unstable in her walking, but she managed, and after some steps she quickly improved, she didn't understand why it came so easily to her, even beyond not having learned it as far as she knew, one would think it would be harder after floating in one position for what to her was her whole life. 

When they would eventually reach the outside, Una would be in awe, while she again for some reason knew what most things she saw were called, she had never seen something as beautiful as nature. 

 

 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra saw where she looked at the word 'Una' up above where she was previously. He didn't say anything further as he lead them out of the building and into the forest. There wasn't any snow on the ground, but it was during the fall fall. It would be winter within a few weeks. Not that Sombra particularly cared, he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible just incase there were anyone chasing him down. He had to consider all possibilities and hope for the best. He wasn't going to go back. No. He wasn't going to be defeated. He would rather die than be defeated again.

He would observe her shakily manner of walking, it was to be expected after being in a cylinder like that for so long. She didn't seem to know anything, really. He knew that she likely knew that he knew that, so was going to be careful. He couldn't allow anyone else to come into possession of her. She could be extremely powerful for all he knew - or she could just be a waste of time, waiting to be disposed of. Whatever the case would be, they were now outside.

Sombra looked to her. "Beautiful isn't it? I too haven't seen this in a very, very long time - because of the vile actions of Celestia, Luna, and their subjects. That is something for another time. We cannot afford to delay ourselves. We must make haste, and conceal ourselves before we are hunted, and slaughtered like animals." he spat, and began to lead the way down the hill to the Railroad tracks. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

@-Solstice-
Una shook from Sombra's words, not that it was easy to tell since she was shaking from walking and the cool autumn air too, the comparison to animals wasn't as effective as it could have been, since she didn't know animals were slaughtered nor how it happened, but it was terrifying image regardless.

At this point she had come to conclusion that this individual really didn't like Celestia and Luna, whoever those were, after all, he had mentioned them every time he spoke; if she would have known better, it would have been easy to see she was being manipulated, since if they were truly bad, one wouldn't need to press the topic so much, but alas, she was naive in this, as she knew nothing of this world, or any world in that matter, and had to trust the ones she met.

She followed Sombra without question, considering if she should speak or not, but ultimately she decided to take the risk "I-I hope you don't mind me asking but....what should I call you?" "I-If we are going to be around each other f-for a while, it could be good to know." sure at the moment there wasn't really a need since there wasn't exactly anyone else to speak to, but still, if not a name, then maybe a title? he seemed the type to demand respect, and Una was willing to show that respect by calling him sir or whatever else he may want to be called, because as aggressive and dangerous he seemed, he did help her. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

He looked to her, his eyes relaxing slightly upon such a question. "I am King Sombra. Ruler of the Crystal Empire and soon to be Equestria. You seem to have a name as well. Una. I saw it above the canister you were contained in. Una is your name." he said and looked down the hill as they walked. He went silent as they exited the clearing and looked past the Railroad tracks there, seeing the outline of a rail yard in the distance. "I do not know where we are. But I suppose we'll find out. We can't allow others to see us, since word would spread fast about our appearances that are unlike any other." he mentioned as he began to walk on the railway tracks at a fairly brisk pace.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

@-Solstice-
Una had no objections regarding her name and nodded, she of course didn't know for sure if that had been her name, but it didn't really matter, it was her name now. 

"King Sombra." she repeated quietly to herself, this was both to make sure she remembered it and to see if saying it out loud brought up any memories, it didn't, but it was worth a try. This also explained Sombra's authoritative demeanor, while yet again she had no memory on why she knew it, she knew kings, queens, princesses and all such terms, and it made only sense that a leader of a nation would be used to being obeyed, and luckily to Sombra, Una had no idea about the stereotypes of said titles in Equestria, so she had no reason to be wary of him for that. 

Speaking of Equestria, that name didn't mean anything to her, nor did Crystal Empire, all she got from them was that they both were most likely empires of some sort. 

Una didn't have anything more to ask for now, so she just followed him and to his last statement she simply responded, "Understood, your highness." she wasn't certain if such response was expected from her, but it wouldn't hurt right? Social norms was one of those things she wasn't really aware of, she had some basics, but that was about it. 

She didn't have trouble keeping up, she still now and then stepped in a weird way but it was nothing that affected her speed, as she instinctively used her wings to keep balance when it happened.   

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra would nod to her in an approving fashion. His face softened slightly at that, but maintained the otherwise hard and cold exterior. It appears that was just his nature, really. At the very least he got this creature to accept his authority. That was a start - for what was to come. He has a long way to go to come close to what he wanted to do. Taking over the Empire could wait until he had his full power back, and a concise plan to do so. First, he had to really hammer in his ideals into this creature's mind.

"I am sure you have a lot of questions. For such a creature such as yourself - you do not originate from this world with no idea where you came from. In all my travels, I have not yet seen one like you. I have so, so many things I can tell you...but I suppose one should start at the questions one has." he spoke, as they were now fully walking on the tracks themselves, Sombra was being weary, so that they wouldn't accidentally get hit by a train or anything like that. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

@-Solstice-
Una did indeed have lot of questions, too bad that most of them Sombra couldn't answer. For something he would be able to answer  there were few questions she could put into one longer question since they were related topics. There was only few because it was hard to come up with questions when you didn't know enough to ask anything. "If it isn't a bother, I'd like to know what is going on, your highness." "You speak of these two sister and mentioned empires, yet that means nothing to me, as i don't know what or who they are." "I have gathered from how you speak of them that they have taken your throne away from you." her tone on the last statement was careful, signaling that she knew she may have been wrong "But could you, your highness, tell me more? to give context? if nothing else, it would probably be good for me to know who I am supposed to avoid?" her body language and way of speaking showed her submissiveness, and it wasn't just because she was scared of Sombra, rather, it came naturally to her, 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra looks to her with a slightly harsh glare and then relents slightly. "In essence, I am the fusion of two different races. The Umbrum and the Crystal Ponies from the Crystal Empire. The Crystal Empire ruthlessly oppressed the Umbrum and I saw it fit to punish the Crystal Ponies for what they did by stripping away their rights. Unfortunately by the time that had happened, the Umbrum were cast underneath of the caves of the Empire, banished there. When I had attempted to free my subjects from their imprisonment, I was confronted by the two sisters of the Sun and Moon." he growled and sighed.

"Celestia and Luna are the ones who raise the Sun and Moon. They wield control of the Sun and Moon themselves and immense power. As I was battling them, I was forced to banish the Crystal Empire and myself from this world into limbo. I had no other choice. When the Empire itself, along with I, returned a thousand years later I maintained control of it for a time. By that point, the Two Sisters had a group of 6 powerful ponies that defeated me once again using the power of the...Crystal Heart. A dangerous artifact contained in the center of the Empire itself, responsible for the power that keeps the Umbrum in their unjust prison. With that power, they destroyed my original physical body, I thought I was dead - but thankfully, I had reawakened just recently, and reformed my body with my magic." he shook his head slightly and went silent for a moment.

"It is my destiny to rule both races. I am a combination of both worlds, and either of the two just so happen to be divided because of what the Two Sisters, and those 6 pathetic ponies did. It was always my goal to claim the rest of the world, and liberate it from the two tyrants, but I didn't have it at the forefront of my mind. Now there is no other option. The Two Sisters must be destroyed, I must claim their power, and I must free my kind from them. I cannot explain to you why I became who I am - it is the same thing as you, I don't know." he said, with a more honest tone, but his tone was rather rough and full of hate. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

@-Solstice-

Una fell thoughtful for a moment after the explanation, both to think it over and to see if any of it sounded familiar, again the latter had no results, but she did get something out of it, she was surprised by a detail she didn't know why it surprised her. Interestingly enough, it wasn't the fact that these sisters were still around after 1000 years, that she kinda just accepted like it was to be expected, instead it was that the sun and moon moved. 

"Now I understand why you hate them so much." many would have been put off by the talk about world take over and stripping away rights, but not Una, she wasn't heartless, she had empathy, and she wasn't stupid or even necessarily naive, but she kinda just accepted it, she had no reason to think she was being lied to, and to her Sombra's reasoning was solid enough. There was still few things she had absolutely no context for, but she realized asking about them wouldn't most likely just lead to a loop of new things she didn't know about, so she decided it was better to only ask when something was critical to know. 

"I don't know what use I could be, but I want to try and help you. Your highness." She stated giving a small bow, she wasn't sure even herself why she suddenly felt so compelled to support him, but add that to the list of things she didn't understand about herself, though she explained it to herself with Sombra being the first one, and the only one she had met, and it being only fair since he was helping her.

What she couldn't explain away, was why did the idea of wielders of the sun and moon make her so.....agitated, and why did the sun and moon moving sound so weird to her?

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra looked over Una's actions with a look of authority and acceptance. He didn't even have to tell her to bow or any of the proper manners he should be approached, it seemed like she was already doing that on her own. That was excellent, the plan was proceeding exactly as intended. For once, a faint genuine smile crossed his lips. He didn't know when the last time he smiled like that, but it was barely noticeable unless someone was looking really close.

"The two sisters of Celestia and Luna have ruined and defiled this world. They hold the population in a submissive stance, where the vast majority of ponies idly obey without questioning it. The ponies of this world live far too comfortable lives because of the way this society has been designed top down from the two sisters, who rule from the city of Canterlot." he explained as they proceeded onward. "The only solution to this is to destroy the two sisters and claim their power for myself as it so rightfully belonged, for they are the ones who stole it from me to begin with." he spoke, and shifted his cape in his magic.

Much to Una's surprise, he flared a large set of charcoal black wings that faded towards lighter grays at the end. These wings were truly magnificent, he had no desire to show them off though - for he was planning a massive reveal of his wings when he stole the Crystal Heart for himself and defeated the two sisters, as a psychological action of revealing his true nature upon the defeat of his enemies. He only showed his wings briefly, before retracting them under the cape. Una could see his cutie mark.

 

Spoiler

"The Two Sisters have a group of 6 ponies who wield demonic artifacts called the 'Elements of Harmony', responsible for the destruction of my original body and my second defeat." he huffed.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

@-Solstice-
Una listened as Sombra spoke, while she didn't agree or disagree with him yet, she did wonder about what he said, like for example, why was living comfortable lives a bad thing? She liked being comfortable. His words also brought up a question to her mind, but she didn't ask it right away, and instead pondered if it even was a good idea to ask it, as it may be seen as her challenging Sombra's words, which she didn't want to do.

She was indeed surprised by Sombra's sudden showcase of his wings, but not because he had wings, rather, it was because it was, well, sudden, it didn't help that he closed them again right away, Una didn't really know why he had done such thing, but also didn't want to ask in case it was a bad thing. She didn't comment on the cutie mark either, but seeing it made her wonder about herself again, because she knew it was a cutie mark, she knew what it was called, and knew they were important, but that was all she knew, and again she had no idea why she knew it, she herself didn't have a cutie mark, and she didn't remember ever seeing one, so why did she know they existed?

She made a mental note on Sombra's cutie mark though, just in case. 

She almost complimented Sombra's wings, but as he continued talking, she pushed that topic aside and listened.

After Sombra had finished, Una decided to ask the question that had come to mind "Your highness, it is clear what needs to be done, but do you already have in mind how it will be done?" "I understand that lowly creature like myself doesn't need to know your plans, but I am just curious if you have one." "And if I can be any help in it" 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

King Sombra pondered her response for a while. He had to think on that. First thing's first was to entirely replenish his power. He could feel his power slowly trickling back. It was not back all the way after all, thanks due his magic having to re-build his entire body from scratch. That would come naturally. What was needed next was to find a way to steal the power of the two sisters - perhaps finding a way to steal their cutie marks and put them inside of an amulet of some kind...wait. That reminded him. The Alicorn Amulet! That was what he created - and it was out there somewhere, he needed to recover that first.

"Long ago from my power, I created an artifact. This artifact was the one that granted me wings - hence it is called the Alicorn Amulet. It worked only on me since I designed it for me. For others who use it, it would drive them mad from the power. My mind is the only one that can handle it. We must locate that artifact. Then from that point on, we must seek out a way to siphon the two sister's power so that it may be held within me. Hmm..." he pondered, smirking somewhat.

"The Alicorn Amulet exists in it's current form, already holding a massive amount of power. I could craft an addition to it, designed to hold the power of the Two Sisters within itself - so that I may wield both. With that power, I would be able to release my Kind. With the two sisters out of the picture, they would not be around to defeat my armies - who would be strengthened by both the Umbrum, and the Crystal Ponies working together, to thus over-run the rest of the world..." he grinned evily.

They entered a railyard, Sombra was quick to move the two of them aside as there were workers milling about. Thankfully they were not spotted - and he lead them to a few abandoned train cars. Cargo transport, rusted and without wheels. He lead her inside, safe from prying eyes.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

@-Solstice-

Una didn't respond and instead just nodded in understanding, partly because she had to think about what was said, and because they entered the railyard; she could tell from Sombra's actions that they needed to stay hidden, thus speaking was a bad idea. His more blatant evilness didn't escape Una, even she could tell from the grin and the words that he wasn't perfectly pure hearted, and he clearly had greed for power, but that didn't really change anything for her, she had empathy and such, so she had basic, natural understanding of good and bad, but she didn't really have morals; she would feel bad for hurting an innocent, but she had no reason to not hurt them if she felt she needed to. 

After they had entered the car(s), and it didn't sound like there was anyone nearby, Una spoke again, be it quietly , not directly to Sombra this time though, instead it was more her thinking out loud, sharing her thoughts "I wonder if I have any kind of power, there has to be a reason why I was in that thing." she looked at her hoof, then looking at rest of her body as much as she was able "I don't think my appearance alone explains the things I do remember." 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra lead them to the back of the railcar and sat down as he listened to her. Thankfully no workers came by and noticed them, but in his mind they had to get moving. The only real lead he could have would be to find out where the alicorn amulet. That would be quite the thing to figure out, and it would take time. He was clearly thinking about things and went silent for a while before he turned to her.

"I don't know. I've never seen anything even close to what you are. You are a combination of multiple species, this obviously didn't happen naturally. I would surmise that you are an experiment of some kind. The technology, and the appearance of that building in that forest is enough to convince me that it, along with you come from a completely different dimension." he stated in a logical fashion.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

@-Solstice-
Una nodded in agreeing manner, she would have lied if she would have claimed she understood anything about different dimensions and travelling between them, but she could only take Sombra's word for the technology, since she didn't know anything about this place, and she too could tell that the building really did not belong where it was. She agreed on the experiment part though, since it explained the few things she remembered.

She had also came to the conclusion that it wasn't that she knew nothing, and rather she just remembered nothing, since there was so much that she knew without ever having learned it, and she was clearly not a foal yet she had no memories of ever being one. Sure in reality this made no difference, she still didn't know anything, but it gave her a small amount of personal closure to know that she may have had a past besides what little she remembered.  

"Were there anything else about me there besides the name?" "I think I saw you move around before freeing me your highness, did you see anything?" 
 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

"The building itself was out of place in the forest. I saw broken trees and snapped branches. That was evidence enough to me to prove that it had recently appeared or showed up through some other means. I would think if it simply appeared, it would have broken the branches around it, which matches what I have seen. You were in some sort of cylinder containing an unknown fluid. Now. I also have these papers here." he spoke and took out the papers, now that it was a good time to read them. As he conversed with her he began to read them, curious to see what they will say.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

@-Solstice-
Una just nodded, besides the papers there wasn't really anything new, and since he started to read the papers himself, she didn't really know what to say to add anything, and she didn't want to say something just for the sake of speaking, especially not when Sombra was reading, she didn't want to interrupt him. 
 

The papers were reports of some sort, all of them had the same format with different information, all but one that is, as one of them just had a picture with text under it.

The picture was a planet, a planet that if Sombra knew about such things, he could recognize as the planet they were on; it was from the side of the planet where Equestria was, there was all the land surrounding Equestria visible, but Equestria was missing, and in its place there was a star. The text under said picture read 'The United Institution of Military Research'.

For rest of the papers, they had printed sections, there were spots for, Researcher, Subject, Procedure and Date; rest of the paper just had room to write. On each paper, in the bottom corner, there was the aforementioned logo, but instead of the full text, there was just 'U.I.M.R' under it. 

Under the 'Researcher' there was always a name, the name changed, sometimes it was very pony sounding name, sometimes dragon-like, and sometimes such that it didn't fit any stereotypes for creatures of Equestria, regardless, none of them were such that Sombra would have heard of them before. The 'Subject' spot was the only one that didn't change, as under it in every paper it read 'UNA'.

The Procedure-sections didn't give a lot of information, as in each paper it was just a set of letters and numbers, though interestingly enough, while all the other sets only showed once, there was one set of characters that was in about half of all the papers. The Dates were also weird, they didn't match the Equestrian style, and were just two numbers, an example, on one of the papers it was just '93.789' the latter number stayed the same on each paper, but the former number changed on each of them, at smallest it was 2 and at biggest 295, it didn't go through each number, rather, it jumped a lot, the differences being everything from 3 to several tens between subsequent dates. There was somewhere around 50 papers total.

But ultimately the most interesting part on each paper was the writing area, as that was where the most differences were. For most of the papers it wasn't super helpful, as they were just explanations on how the procedures had went, the exact way of wording things changed based on the researcher, but they all were rather vague on what exactly had been done, though there were mentions like 'Subject's reaction to the substance was...' 'Subject's body reacted...' and other such things pretty much confirming that Una had been tested on. 

There were few that stuck out though, one was on one of the papers with the repeating procedure code, breaking the usual scientific-like writing style, it just read 'I had to repeat the procedure several times before her mind was wiped properly, I think she is growing resistant to the current methods.'. Another paper with different code read 'Her obedience and learning capabilities are excellent, her tolerances are far above expectations, she passed all tests without a hitch, but that defect is still a problem, and she asked me to not wipe her memory, how does she know about that?'. There was a third paper breaking the usual format, but it was to even greater extend, as the writer hadn't even tried to stay on the line 'Procedure cut short, Subject went berserk, questioning revealed subconscious hostility towards several researchers. Requesting inquiry to the effectiveness of current mind wipe procedures' 

 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

As Sombra read this information, he was both surprised and not surprised by the information he had found. He was sure that she was experimented on and had her mind wiped but what surprised him was the date keeping system and the absence of Equestria on the image of the planet. He wasn't sure if that was a stylistic choice or if Equestria itself didn't exist or ceased to exist there for whatever reason. It was clear that those in the other dimension had a different system of time keeping or had developed their own for the sake of the procedures as a way to keep this private for those who didn't understand. As for the tests themselves, he didn't exactly have many opinions on those at the moment.

However, he felt it was important that Una would know and understand this material and would present the papers once he had finished reading to his satisfaction. If anything, having the thought in her mind that he was not willing to hold back anything that may be important to her was a way to build trust - and thus the obedience that he desired from her. He found that he was a lot more forgiving and holding back his emotions more so than he would usually, partially out of realization that it was precisely because of his lack of foresight that got him into this mess. However, if Una would turn out to be something of a weapon or a powerful creature that he could have under his command, he was most glad that she came into his own possession instead of anyone else who would prove harmful to his plans. At the end of his reading, he would speak to her.

"It is clear to me you had a previous life that was wiped away from your memory and the ones that experimented on you did so unwillingly. I am not sure if there is any chance one could recover that, so we best be focused on the future. The main goal is to retrieve the Alicorn Amulet. First, we must be able to find it's location which could be anywhere. It has been around 1,000 years since I have last seen it. Something of such power, would likely be held in some protected museum or came into the possession of someone who is knowledgeable in rare artifacts. I would suggest disguising ourselves and heading into Equestria proper." he paused, thinking for a moment.

"Perhaps we can board a freight train, and hitch a ride further into the Equestrian Heartland. We are on the Fringes near to the Crystal Empire, so we will not find much luck here." he commented casually.