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

[Catpone Cerberus 23,549]

@Props ValRoa
Una didn't say it, as the topic had already changed, but she didn't see it as a bad thing by itself that the rich ponies supported their leaders, because it made sense, they were rich, which meant that something the leaders did allowed them to get rich, so of course they supported those leader, it was just logical, you support those who make your success possible. 

There was something else she wanted to say though, that also tested the truthfulness of Sombra's earlier promise about her sharing her thoughts "This may be a dumb question, since I don't know the full circumstances, but is that really the most effective way to free your kind?" "I mean, forced labor is bound to be less efficient than willing labor since they lack the will to give it their all, and that's if you even need to do it the slow way, can't you just use powerful magic to clear to way, or explosives? certainly this place has invented some kind of explosives?"

For the map, being a tourist map, it had everything that a tourist would care about, the market, shopping districts,  museums, the Castle, libraries, hotels, things like that.  

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra looks to Una with a serious glare. "Explosives would risk destabilizing the caverns they reside in. At the time, magic in high quantities that was easily accessible for the population was not something that existed. Perhaps that changed, and it might be possible to clear an exit for them but finding something of that power strikes me as incredibly rare. It may be worth looking into, but I wouldn't count on actually finding something like that." he spoke and pointed out some magic shops on the map.

"We'll go to these magic shops and find artifacts in the storerooms like we did before. Let's go." he spoke. "If we find any more amulets, then I can easily gild them together like I did with the others." he said, pointing to the amulet he had on his neck, and then hiding it again using his stolen clothing.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,549]

@Props ValRoa
Una responded with a 'I see' kind of gesture, she didn't really have anything more to add, and like she had said, she didn't have the whole picture, so her suggestions were entirely based on the knowledge that they needed to make a hole to reach something underground, she would have argued that you could use explosives in safe amounts, but she didn't actually know enough to offer any realistic suggestions on how exactly that would be done.

She didn't want to say anything because she didn't want to keep challenging Sombra back to back, but she actually disagreed with his approach when he pointed at the shops, she didn't know much, but based on their experience previously, she guessed that selling actually powerful stuff was less than accepted, possibly illegal, and they were now in the capital, where the guard presence was notably higher, so what was the chance that they would find anything here? 

As she saw it, they would be more lot likely to find something in the various museums, especially the one closest to the castle, sure those were also likely to be lot better guarded, but there rarely were things that were low risk high reward. But alas, she followed Sombra for now, it wasn't like she had any ideas on how to deal with the museums anyway.

 

 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

 As Una had kept silent, he would proceed on his intention to look through the backrooms of the magic shops like he did before. Instead of actually going into the shops themselves like he had done before, he would go around towards the side and tell Una to wait by the side. He would transform into pure shadow and enter in through either the cracks in the window or doorframes towards the back. As his form was pure shadow, he could go through the smallest of spaces with ease. His shadow form would slink along the floor by the wall, naturally meshing with the natural shadow.

If there were ponies in the backroom, he would wait until they leave. If there weren't, he would carefully look through the crates for anything of high magical nature. If there were, he would take it for himself and stuff it in his cape. He would go from shop to shop, repeating the process. He would continue if nothing went wrong, and after each shop he would tell Una of what he saw, before leading her onward to the next shop. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,549]

@Props ValRoa
At first nothing went wrong, after all, nobody knew to look for odd shadows since as far as everyone was concerned, Sombra was gone for good, they had no reason to be paranoid about his return, Una in other hoof, stuck out like a sore hoof, a hooded figure lingering around sides of shops was suspicious to say the least, and while she tried to act natural, it was only a matter of time she gained attention, though luckily she could tell it was happening, but again she didn't really know how she knew it, since to seem less suspicious, she didn't openly look around to see if something was happening, she kinda just...had a feeling. 

So, after some shops, she would ask Sombra to wait and explained her worry "I think it would be good to change our approach, I think the guards may have taken an interest in us moving from shop to shop, I do kinda stick out with my covering attire." she spoke quietly, because while there was nobody obviously close by, she didn't know what kind of ways there was to listen in someone's conversations in this land. 

For what there was to find in shops, as Una had suspected, there was no illegal artifact business going on in the capital, or at least not in the backroom of random shops, so if there was magical things to be found, they all were of such nature that one couldn't cause any real harm with them, which didn't mean necessarily that they were useless, since magic was magic, even if bound to a harmless thing.  

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

When Sombra had attempted a few shops, he was enraged that he was not able to find anything of use. Una could see it on his face, he was about to explode into rage but repressed his emotions and just huffed quietly. "Perhaps you are right. I was too blind to realize that they wouldn't be having anything in these shops. It is because of that blindness, I lead myself to my previous defeats." he admitted and growled, bearing his teeth before he started to walk away, leading Una away from the shops and into the crowds of the city to hopefully lose anyone watching them within the crowd. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,549]

@Props ValRoa
Una was no longer fazed by Sombra's anger, at this point she just assumed that some sort of anger was his default state and that she should be more worried when he isn't angry, sure she still didn't want to make him angry at her, after all, she still didn't know what he would do, but his generally unpleasant personality had become clear to her, and it was almost more terrifying to think what he will be like when he's truly happy. 

She did wonder though, was his constant state of negativity what she felt when near him? while she had gotten used to it enough to be numb to it, she still could tell it was unpleasant in nature, but if it was that, then why could she feel it in the first place? nobody else did, or at least, if they did, nobody seemed to pay any attention to it, which would have been odd, since nobody else gave off anything similar, besides that one dragon that is, but he wasn't from around here so...

She looked around a bit, she didn't see anyone she had seen around the shops, so she assumed they had either dodged the bullet or they had lost anyone following them "May I suggest a museum? I understand that security is most likely tougher, but those strike me as places where you could find what you are looking for, you say you've been away for 1000 years, so wouldn't all the items from your time be considered ancient enough to be shown as history?" the last point was something she truly believed Sombra hadn't thought of, after all, while he was aware how long it had been, he didn't necessarily fully realize just how long that was, lot of things happened in 1000 years, and while he had returned once in between now and then, from sounds of it, that hadn't been for long enough to really understand the changes. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra's default reaction to most circumstances was rage. He was full of hate and darkness - with not a shred of happiness or contentment to be found. His mind was a whirling storm full of hatred for those who defeated him in the past. It was rare did any true and well planned out thoughts came through, but he was at least intelligent enough that the reason why he failed in previous times was because he simply thought with rage. With rage, he fueled his magic and he truly believed that power alone would secure victory. It only took two defeats for any inkling of that to change. He knew that he had to improve - or die trying.

With a sigh, he would accept Una's response. "That would have been the smart thing to do. It is probably for the best that we read up on exactly what has transpired since then. The trains, lights, everything is so different. It's like I am in a fantasy land with no real clue what is going on. If I am to secure victory, I must understand the full of it. I've been a boor and an idiot." he grunted, and looked at the map, and would begin leading them to the museum. 

Really, he was glad to have her around so she could point out things that hadn't crossed his mind.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,549]

@Props ValRoa
"That is the one thing we have in common, just two outsiders with no idea how things work."  sure the reasons were different, and the things they didn't understand were different, but both of them were outside their own time and place, it was really the only thing she could relate with when it came to Sombra. She also wouldn't have called him an idiot, because in her opinion, the problem was more that he was biased, he placed too much weight on his own experiences in the past, it was a natural thing of course, everyone did that, but as someone who had no experiences of anything before, she had realized the problem such preconception caused, that was why she had asked to share her thoughts in the first place, she figured that to be the one thing she could help him with.2 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

As much as Sombra didn't want to admit it - she was right. With a silent huff, they would enter within the museum. Thankfully it was open to the public so there were no tolls or anything like that. Already at some of the things he saw at the front, he was almost blown away by some of the things he saw at the front. The guards and the evolution of the uniforms went through many changes since he was around. Not only that, but he also got a glimpse at some of their technology. He looked to Una. "If I had access to that, the whole of Equestria would have been mine within a day..." he said, almost unable to speak from seeing that display. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,549]

@Props ValRoa
Una nodded, she could have said that obviously that was the case since he would have had something that was 1000 years more advanced than whatever he did have back then, but she decided against it since she felt that it would have sounded way too much like she was passive aggressively insulting Sombra's intelligence, which she obviously didn't want to do "Maybe that is why it is theirs now?" "I wonder what kind of stuff they have that they don't show openly."   

While she worded it as a question, it was more meant as a point about it now being something that Sombra would need to go against, this was something where Una was almost angry that she couldn't remember anything, because from what the dragon had said, combined with the odd thoughts similar to what the train had caused in her, that she got from all this stuff, she guessed that, where ever she came from, things were even more advanced than here, thus, if she would have remembered things, she could have helped Sombra with the whole, learning to understand 1000 years worth of advancement thing.  

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

His eyes narrowed in thought. "That's something I will have to look into. I'm going to gather up some books about this sort of thing. I need to gather up as much information as possible about this before anything else, as well as gaining historical knowledge." he spoke as he would walk closer to the displays, his eyes taking in the various displays and committing them to memory. He would be sure to read the plaques and various details on them stated throughout the museum. He would also have located some books in the museum as well, in the gift shop area. Of course he would slip those into his cape when nobody was looking, and gathered up enough information to become well read about the subject matter of Equestrian history and technological development. They would probably have spent a few hours there, absorbing the various information and gaining a more fundamental understanding of affairs. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,549]

@Props ValRoa
Una followed Sombra, looking through the displays and reading things like he did, though she didn't commit to it as much, sure it was interesting to learn these things, but she wasn't the type to really get into it, though that was only part of the reason why she didn't try to make herself remember everything, the other reason was that she was distracted by specific things. Those things being, everything linked to Nightmare Moon, Night, and the sun, not Luna or Celestia specifically, in fact, those two got ignored by her in anything they may have appeared, but their symbolism got her attention, because like Nightmare Moon, it was tugging a very distant string in her mind, why did she have a negative association to all of this?

There wasn't lot of Nightmare moon stuff here of course, since this museum seemed to be more focused on the technology side of history, but it was a big enough event that it had affected everything at some point, so there probably didn't exist a part of history that didn't mention her at some point. No magical artifacts though, but Una had kinda assumed so, this was only one of the few museums here, and while the names didn't really make it clear what was what, she did assume that if there was something like that in public place, it would be the museum closest to the castle, since that way it would be easiest to guard.

She was glad to see the gift shop had information about more general history too, meaning that maybe she could at some point get some answers to something, not that she believed that she could actually figure out anything about herself, but hope never hurt anyone right?

 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

As they went throughout the museum, Sombra had collected a good margin of books in his cape that went more into the details of said technology here. He knew various stuff about it, but he wanted to go infiltrate the guards themselves to get blueprints on the weaponry and technology that they use in secret. In order to combat them in the future he would have to know the ins and outs of his enemies. He would also want those blueprints to steal for the crystal guard so his new army can be built with entirely modern technology and practices in mind. After learning more of the history, he was surprised about Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony.

He now knew the names of those who defeated him, lead by Twilight Sparkle. He hated them more, but he had to know more. He wanted to steal the elements of harmony and destroy them to make defeating him impossible in the future. But for now, the guard's blueprints and all of that would be something to pursue.

When they left the museum, he would inform Una about the idea of looking into the guards and blueprints for more hidden technology. This time, he would be more open to ideas. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,549]

@Props ValRoa
Una did have an idea, but she thought for a moment how to word it, because she knew from Sombra's earlier outburst that he had trust issues, and her suggestion would require him to trust her loyalty. "Something like that would probably be stored in the guards' headquarters, which I would assume is either close to, or in the castle." she started, for some reason she felt like she actually knew what she was talking about, but obviously she couldn't know, so why did she feel so sure? she didn't have time to think about that now, she would ponder about it later, if she stopped to think about everything odd about herself. she wouldn't be able to do anything else. "You probably can sneak in easily enough, since if we assume that they assume you were destroyed, they would have no reason to prepare for you, right?" "But I can't, I am far inferior in ability than you, your highness, and standing around the castle is sure to rise suspicion, so maybe I could make myself useful while you are there?" "I noticed on the map that there is one museum close enough to the castle that it may even be connected to it, and I figure that, if the artifact you are looking for isn't in some secure vault somewhere, it would be in that museum." "Maybe I could investigate the museum while you look for the blueprints? to save time?" 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra pondered her question. He wanted to show that he was capable of pragmatism and diplomacy. He couldn't rule absolutely and expect everything to magically go right. There were some risks with this plan, but it seemed sound enough for him to accept. Plus, if she were to betray him and tell others about him, nobody would believe her anyway. In all intensive purposes, Sombra had been defeated months ago and there was no evidence of any remains. He was gone. Smirking to that evily, he realized his defeat was actually a blessing - nobody would see him coming.

"You are correct in your assessment. Nobody would see me coming. They naively assumed that I would be so easily destroyed. To them, I am a dead legend. But here I am. Ready to go when they least expect it." he chuckled darkly. "It is worthy to note that if you are on your own, I would be unable to help you if anything happens. You must stay aware of your surroundings. The museum is extremely busy, you would be able to blend in, but if anyone is watching you, you may be unable to notice." he said, his eyes narrowing.

"I will allow you this one chance to prove your loyalty to me. Go there. Prove your worth. Find something, and bring anything of magical interest to me. Preferably something the public isn't aware of. If you are able to find a vault, do not attempt anything, as one of my specialties is unlocking vaults. If you find anything you are able to get possession of, do not use it." he said in a manner that stated his word was absolute, and there was to be no disagreement. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,549]

@Props ValRoa
Una gave a small bow to Sombra, small because she didn't want to full on kneel in a public place like this for obvious reasons, but it was big enough that Sombra should have been able to tell she was doing it "I will do my best your highness." "You will not regret this." she wasn't going to let herself fail, she didn't know if she would be able to steal anything, she would try, but even if she couldn't, certainly there was at least some information that Sombra would find useful? because if there wasn't....well, that would be both a failure in action, and failure in judgement from her part, and at that point she would deserve whatever Sombra felt like doing to her, because it would mean that she really was useless.  There was of course also the possibility that she got caught, at which point the only thing she could do was to keep her mouth shut "But if I do end up getting spotted...I know nothing about anything." she wasn't sure how Sombra would feel about her honest acknowledgement for  possibility of failure, but she felt that he would have been able to see through her bluff if she tried to act like there was no way for her to fail, it wasn't like she hadn't been honest about not knowing anything, and how that was also true on the skill side of things.
 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

"If you do end up getting spotted - I will consider it your first command decision. Whether you succeed or fail with that is up to you, and up to chance. You know the risks. Keep them in mind and you'll succeed. I will be back soon enough, we will meet back here in 2 hours. Now go." he spoke, before leaving towards the guard barracks. He was so sudden and walked away as if he was confident of Una's ability to act on her own. In reality, this was just a test. A test of her loyalty. He knew that she would be easy to track down if he needed to. If she turned out to be something of a disloyal subject, and would easily cave to the two sisters? Another enemy to be made.

Hopefully that wouldn't be the case. He liked having her around as a useful pawn. Sombra would casually blend in with the crowd. After a little bit of walking, he would find a chance to turn into his shadow form without being noticed, and slipped into the guard quarters. In his shadow form, he'd quickly blend in with the shadows of the place. They likely weren't expecting a shadow being such as him to show up and hide within the shadows.

He'd listen into whatever the guards were saying and payed close attention to where they were. As well, he began to look for any secretive rooms or anything of that nature that would be useful to him.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,549]

@Props ValRoa
Una made her way to the museum, she started by taking one of the leaflets with general overview of what the museum had and a map, and made a plan on what she would go to see, since with limited time she wouldn't be able to look through the whole place. Getting in was quite simple, she wasn't actually sure if one was supposed to pay to get in or not, but there wasn't any obvious way to do so, and nobody had tried to stop her from just walking in, so she didn't worry about it, she had blended with the crowd well enough that nobody probably even noticed her. 

Sombra had been right in guessing there would be lot of creatures, but the crowd wasn't that bad outside the entrance area, because the museum was also huge, though what was a slight problem, be it something Una had guessed to be the case, the guard presence was also noticeable, and it wasn't separate museum guard, it was the guard. While it did make things slightly more complicated, it was also a good sign, because it indicated that Una had been at least somewhat correct, there was something important in here.

She took a minute or two to come up with a plan of action, this seemed be a museum of history, more specifically, there was a section for all the big historical events, and some small sections for smaller events, and more importantly, there were at least some magical items in here too, as evidenced by her walking past one, though after reading what it was, she was doubtful it was something Sombra would have wanted, because it was the 'Amulet of Atonement', an amulet that dispels dark magic, quite the opposite of what he needed, not that she would have been able to take it anyway, since it was in a very visible place and there wasn't really a way to take it without doing something obvious. 

Her plan was rather simple, she would go look at specific sections and see if there was time after for more exploration, she would also keep an eye out for any security to see how it worked here, one thing she noticed right away was warning written in several places with few different languages, and while the exact wording changed, the general message was 'Attention magic users, you will be unable to use magic nearby some displays, this is a part of security measures, if you start feeling ill, visit the first-aid point.', so there was some kind of anti-magic measures, was it to stop stealing or to protect the visitors from some of the items? she didn't know, but it again implied there was something actually important here.

So, the sections, she chose three for start, Crystal Empire, Nightmare Moon, and Changelings, in that order, for the first there was two reasons, one practical and one selfish reason, the practical was simply because Sombra was from there, she assumed that if the Alicorn amulet he was looking for was somewhere in this museum, it would be where it talks about him, and the selfish reason? this may be her only change to learn about Sombra from someone else's perspective. The other two were entirely selfish reasons, since she had no way of knowing what parts of the history would have artifacts linked to them, Nightmare Moon because she wanted to see if she could find anything to explain the odd familiarity, and Changelings because she saw a picture of them and they looked awfully lot like one of her appearances. So, towards the Crystal Empire section she went. 

 

For Sombra, there probably wasn't any secret rooms in already restricted area, but several well protected ones with thick doors yes, closest thing to a secret door was one less obvious door to a tunnel that allowed the guards to move around the city quickly and unnoticed. The best bet for blueprints or any other documents would probably be the planning room or where ever else the commanding officers were often, and security there was no doubt tighter than the quarters.

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra would have snooped about the guard's headquarters and would first spend some time getting the general layout of the place set in his head. Knowing the layout and where the rooms were in relation to each other was key. He had noticed the entrance to the underground tunnels. That was something to keep note of. Perhaps if his forces were to invade, they would find these tunnels and block them off from the guard's forces. His memory was near photographic, so what he saw here would be something he would use in the future.

For each office commander's office he found, he would enter in when the officers were not there. If they were on break or not on duty at the time, he would sneak inside. His shadow form would slip about the shadows, and be un-seen by the unexpecting guards. Whenever he had the chance, he would enter inside an unoccupied office space. Using his shadow magic, he'd unlock whatever was locked in here. He would take any documents involving hidden plans, blueprints, hidden technology, or information about the guard in general and put them into his cape.

Due to the way his cape was - it was a pocket dimension, so he could take whatever he wanted. Throughout this process, he would be extremely attentive to detail. If he heard anyone coming down the halls, he would immediately revert to shadow form. That way, nobody would ever see his physical form. 

The process could take just as long as it would for Una to find anything at the Museum, due to the amount of rooms involved in the guard's headquarters. Sombra would likely find himself in the possession of confidential information that would prove worthy of his cause. If there was anything containing information to the whereabouts of the Alicorn Amulet or similar things, he would have access to that as well.

As the nature of his magic was completely mastered, he would leave behind no residue. If any of the guards noticed anything was missing, it would be a long while from now most likely. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,549]

@Props ValRoa
Most of the Crystal Empire's section was rather boring, there wasn't actually that much about Sombra's original rule in there, just a mention about things that were bad about it, though Una wasn't necessarily surprised, since it was unlikely his perspective would have been shown, and that was the only way to have any real detail about his rule. As for Una's reaction to the information, she didn't really mind what she learned, sure there was surprises like the Empire disappearing after Sombra's first defeat, but other than that, nothing was really shocking, Sombra had made it pretty clear to her what kind of individual he was, so she hadn't exactly expected him to be a fair and nice ruler, besides, while Sombra was undoubtedly morally worse based on the story here, even with them being painted as the heroes, Una saw the princesses as the actual aggressors since  they were the ones to attack Crystal Empire, after all, Crystal Empire was a separate nation ruled by Sombra, be his rule however awful, the princesses had no right to invade another nation because they disagreed with its leader. 

Other than the part about Sombra, really the only thing that caught her eye in the history itself was the changeling attack, which made her just more interested to see the section about them, though she did figure that rest of it could be useful for Sombra, so she made a mental not to see if there was something she could take with her regarding it. 

But more important than the history was and item in the Sombra section, an amulet to be specific, now, Una didn't know what the Alicorn Amulet actually looked like, but the amulet here had that name written under it, so she assumed that was it, and thus was happy that she had been right. Though that was where the good news ended, first problem, Una didn't have any way to know if it was real or a replica, though the amount of security did hint at it being real, the second problem, the security, there was absolutely no way for her to even try to take it, there was constantly more than one guard around where they could easily see the amulet, and the amulet itself was inside a reinforced display, which in turn was behind a glass that you weren't allowed to go next to. Interestingly enough though, the anti-magic measures didn't seem to be as effective as Una assumed, as while she felt an effect to her magic, she didn't feel like she was entirely unable to use magic, though she didn't want to test it in case it would lead to trouble. 

 

She made a mental note to tell Sombra about her finding and then proceeded to the Nightmare Moon section, which was themed after night, and thus were darker than the other sections. She felt odd familiarity when she stepped in, in a negative way, yet at the same time she was sure she had seen none of this stuff before, and still had no idea who Nightmare Moon even was. She read everything in that room, looked at everything as closely as she was allowed to, yet nothing seemed familiar, but still there was that nagging feeling that she should have known something. 

Her last stop in that section was a display with pieces of blue armor, and a helmet that was in similar secure display as the amulet, 'The Helm of Shadows' Nightmare Moon's helmet, said the text, 'Forget from pure negative emotions' whatever that meant, though Una could agree it was certainly negative, as she could swear she felt the helmet from where she was standing, it was similar to what she felt near Sombra, but also different, because while Sombra's aura made her think of hate and anger, this one also made her think of...jealousy? 

She pondered that for a while before getting an idea, this was a good chance to test if she could actually steal something, while that helmet was out of the question for obvious reasons, the pieces of armor were numerous, and some of them were quite small, so nobody would notice for a while if one of them went missing, and what was better, was that unlike the helmet, they were in lot less protected display, and the room was also dark, so there was some real potential there.

After some thinking, she decided go for it, and hatched a quick plan, this also worked to test how effective the anti-magic measures were against her. She moved to a spot where she was out of direct sight from the guards in the room, and then lit her horn, which proved that the security measures weren't perfect, though she did feel notably weaker, she then used her magic to tip over one of the less durable displays in the other end of the room, which got the attention of everyone, and she used the moment to grab one of the smallest armor shards, managing to force the glass open enough to get the tiny piece out, dropping it into her pocket for now, she then put the glass like it was and simply walked out of the section.

She didn't leave yet though, as she wanted to see how the security operated now, and if they would notice what she had done. That section was closed down for cleanup, and guards were talking to those who had been closest to the fallen over display, it didn't seem to cause any bigger ruckus in the museum, possibly because it had been just some random piece of night-guard armor, and thus hadn't been broken. 

 

She headed to the changeling section next, but not before visiting a bathroom to move her stolen item from her pocket to somewhere bit less obvious, more specifically, a pocket of one of the clothes on her back, though when she did that, she lowered the shard on her hoof to look at it, and felt a slight pinch, it made her drop it, but after she picked it up again, she felt nothing, usually she wouldn't have thought much about it, but she could swear she had felt her horn lighting up for fraction of a second when it did.

 

At the changeling section, Una realized she had taken so long in the Nightmare Moon area that she was starting to run out of time, so she went through it quickly, reading only the parts she was actually interested in, or in other words, anything that explained what the species was, which wasn't lot, but it certainly caused some gears to start spinning in her head. She also visited a small room with 'Shards of dark stone', the reason she went because there were warnings outside of it warning any non-changelings that 'Dark stone absorbs and nullifies all non-changeling magic' which made her curious, and it turned out that when she went in the room, she felt absolutely nothing, and could use her magic freely, meaning that the similar appearance was not just a coincidence, and the realization that she finally knew something about herself made her happy, and probably for the first time, she had a genuine smile on her face. 

 

She finally left the museum, but not before visiting the gift shop and taking a page out of Sombra's book, by stealing few books by putting them under her robe when nobody saw, three books to be exact, one about Crystal Empire, one about artifacts, and one about changelings, the last one was for herself, as she wanted to learn about the species she was apparently partly part of. 

She'd arrive to the meeting place slightly later than 2 hours, but she apologized right away and explained the crowd was slowing her exit. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra had a few close calls with the guard here. One moment he was in the guard captain's headquarters and he had heard some stallions walking by the place when the captain was on break. He then heard them talking. The more gruffer of the two voices said to the other one that he would be speaking to him later after this guard rotation ended. The reason for that, Sombra didn't know. He then had heard the doorknob turn, but it didn't open thanks to Sombra locking it.

The male voice on the other side of the door got confused by this, understandably so.

"What the hell? I left this door wide open." the captain said and turned to another nearby guard who happened to be in the area.

"Branson, did you see anybody in here? Were Boson and Higgs in here earlier?" he asked the other guard. The other guard would walk up to him and shake his head. He was noticeably confused by this. 

"I don't know what you are talking about. Boson and Higgs are back on duty and have been on shift for the last three hours. I know those two screwballs usually would be up to something, but I've been standing here for the past fifteen minutes and haven't noticed anything, sir." the guard said to the captain.

The captain would sigh at this response. "Then why is my door locked? I was gone for a half hour because I was meeting with counterpart from Las Pegasus and we were discussing preparations for the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration. Barnable was needing to talk with the others in the relations department here and requested that I give him the updated schedule that the Princess agreed upon. No idea why she wanted the change, but he requested it because for whatever reason he wasn't informed of any schedule change." he stated, definitely confused at what was going on.

"Wait, the door's locked? How did that happen? I swear I haven't seen anybody in here. And before you ask, I wouldn't have been capable of locking it - seeing as I am standing here." Branson spoke and walked up to the door and tried to move the knob, but it was locked.

The captain looked onward. "Look, I tell you, it's locked." he spoke to Branson and Branson's blood went cold. 

Meanwhile, Sombra was inside and he stopped. He shut the cabinet quietly while pulling out a clearly marked "confidential" folder which was inside of the guard's cabinet by his desk. He shoved the folder into his cape and immediately went into shadow form and hid down in the shadows of the desk. By that point, he heard the captain speak to Branson, "I always keep a spare key on me." and the door swung open and the two guards would walk in.

The Captain would sit down in his seat, not knowing Sombra was hiding in the shadows where his hooves were sitting. Branson looked on and almost didn't know what to say. "I don't know what the hell would cause your door to lock like that. We got new doors and locks installed during the renovation two months ago, so we shouldn't be having any issues with security." he stated, and the guard seemed to think to himself and came up with no explanation.

The guard then would lean towards Branson with a serious glare. "I am going to need you to keep your eyes open. I tell you, some freaky stuff has been going on around here lately and I don't like the looks of it. A door locked here, a missing file there..." he spoke. Sombra had realized that some of the blueprints he had stolen were ones that were in active use by some of the guards, so they must have reported that to the Captain an hour before his meeting, and Sombra knew that he was responsible for that. 

Branson would lean back on the doorway slightly. "Then what is it you suggest we do about it, then?" Branson asked and the captain sighed. "I can't do anything about it. I have no real solid proof of anything besides two one off things that may or may not be related. Maybe they misplaced the file they were looking for. I can't just go all out here without anything to really go on. If that door locks again, I am telling you that something freaky is going on here and we may have to up the security around here." he spoke and sighed, and pulled out the file he needed for Barnable.

"I am going to go clear up the scheduling with Barnable. Everything's been so hectic lately, so I can't be bothered with this currently. Keep three guards in this hallway at all times. Do not let anyone in my office until I am back. I may be away for a few hours to get this ironed out, but I don't want any funny business. I know that I like to keep things informal in here, especially with what happened last week - but this time I mean it." he spoke and turned away.

"I understand, Captain Afterglow." Branson said and saluted, and shut the door as Afterglow left down the hall. Branson would leave momentarily to get the three guards as Afterglow requested. Sombra would take this opportunity to exit through the open window. He was done here. He had gotten all that he felt he really needed but wanted to take some time to review the material he had gathered for himself first before he left. Just incase he felt like he needed more.

-----

Sombra's shadow form would quickly lurch to a nearby allyway and he would hide behind a trashcan. With his eyes that were naturally able to see in the dark - he was able to tell that nobody else was here, and so would take the time to read. He pulled out the first blueprint and looked at it in detail.

The blueprint involved some kind of guard carriage. It was able to carry 6 armed guards and various other details about it's construction was listed. There were some shaded areas, indicating that the designer wanted various parts of the design to be improved upon by the one who was intended to review it. Various question marks were marked about the wheels, indicating the designer wasn't sure if the wheels had to be a certain size or not. Sombra could definitely tell that this guard carriage was quite advanced. His army in the past didn't have flying carriages like this. It was only ground troops. In Sombra's time, he only had the resources to focus on his ground forces. As a result, his ground forces were quite strong - but were able to be defeated by Equestria's flyers.

King Sombra didn't have any fliers. He needed to find some Pegasi to brainwash to be his servants. He had the ability to create those with ease. With those, he would be able to brainwash someone into following every single of his commands. They would feel undying loyalty to their King, but their personalities would otherwise remain the same and be unaffected in situations where they weren't needed. The ability to create something like that could potentially be expanded upon, but it proved extremely effective on more rebellious soldiers in his army - he was able to make them his brainwashed servants who were willing to die on the battlefield for him at a moment's notice.

He flipped through the pages further. The next few pages detailed the various weaponry of the Equestrian guard. He was able to see exact specifications for the materials and detailed lists of how said materials would be found, and constructed. The various weapons were anything from staffs, swords, armor, all the way to things like bows and cannons. All of this was stuff he would be able to build upon. He was a skilled artifact crafter, and he could potentially find someone skilled in crafting things to produce some prototypes. He would have to put the helmet on them and brainwash them to do that, though. Perhaps he would be able to replicate his brain washing spell in a far smaller form - like a trinket or a ring perhaps? A whole entire helmet would be easily noticeable.

Perhaps in that way, he could even get spies within the guard themselves if he found a way to do that. He could have spies everywhere in Equestrian society, feeding him the information he needed and being put in places. He could paralyze the whole of the Equestrian leadership at a single command, without having to resort to an all out war. With his shadow sneaking ability, he would be able to sneak the rings on the guards as they slept. It was perfect.

Speaking of the guards, he was able to find exact crew manifests and rank for the various guards. Evidently, that was the guard manifest and on the list it showed where the various guards themselves were stationed, as well as various skills they had at their Entrance Exam compared to their Graduation before they officially joined the guard.

At this explanation - ironically enough, like Una, he smiled. It was a devious and evil smile. Yet, it was also a genuine one.

A shame nobody was there to see it.

-----

Sombra would head back to the meeting location. Una would notice that his demeanor had changed. He almost seemed...giddy? Or excited? That wasn't the right way to put it - but he felt a bit more upbeat than normal. Yet even like that, she could see the hatred and rage in his eyes and face.

"I have everything I need. I know the technology and materials I need to build a new army. I have ideas for how I can find new soldiers. I know exactly where the guards sleep at night. This technology is truly impressive...I can imagine a massive air fleet of warriors covering the skies...while my spies rise up from within..." he cackled devilishly. 

Then he went to a more stoic stance. "But let's hold that thought. That will take a lot of time to even come close. Now tell me...what did you find?" he asked, his now focused eyes baring down into her own with an intent to know all of the details.
 

 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,549]

@Props ValRoa
Una noticed Sombra's changed demeanor, but she wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not, since with what she knew about him, it could have...dark implications, not that morality was something that was in her mind, but there were still things she felt iffy about. She of course didn't show that, and instead had the usual submissive demeanor that Sombra would be used to at this point, his cackle also rubbed her the wrong way, but mainly because it was further confirmation to Una's observation about Sombra's emotional stability, she was mostly worried that he was unstable enough to do something to her.

"I'll get the most important thing out of the way first your highness, I believe I have located the amulet your are looking for, in the museum, in a section about your empire there was an item claimed to be the Alicorn Amulet, I of course had no means to make sure it wasn't a fake, but security around it is heavy, so that points to it being real." "It is under constant surveillance, with at least two guards nearby constantly, it is also isolated in a more secure display, with some kind of anti-magic measures around it, some of my own magic seemed to be able to get past said measures, but only a little, and I have no doubt the measures would affect dark magic, as they seem to have access to means that counter it directly." she took the book about Crystal Empire and the book about artifacts and showed them to Sombra "I got these in case you have any use for the information in them." 

"I also stole something for sake of testing the security..." she took out the small shard of armor she stole "...it's a piece from armor of mare called Nightmare Moon, seemed like a powerful pony, I don't know if this is worth anything, but it's the only thing that wouldn't be noticed missing right away that wasn't in the shop." if Sombra was able to sense such, the piece did indeed have tiny bit of magic in it, or more specifically darkness in it, not dark magic like his, but darkness related magic that was different. This tiny bit of darkness was also in Una now, though it was lot harder to sense since she was over 100 times bigger than the tiny piece of armor, and thus the darkness wasn't nearly as focused on one spot. If Sombra touched the piece, nothing special would happen.

"I also found possible clues about my own nature, but I will not bore you with that until you want me to, your highness." 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra listened intently to this. He was very pleased with what she managed to uncover. Even if they couldn't get what he wanted right at this second, at least he was aware of where the Alicorn Amulet could be. Even if it wasn't the real one, the museum likely contained information about where the real one could possibly be. For Nightmare Moon's armor, he would want to take that as well. Perhaps he could combine his own armor with it to make his armor have stronger abilities than it currently does. The first thing he wanted to do around here was steal the Alicorn Amulet and the armor of Nightmare Moon. 

"Excellent work. I must be able to take the Nightmare Moon armor, and my alicorn Amulet. Having both would be the benefit of both. With not only the Alicorn Amulet in my possession, my magic would surge beyond what it once was. In my defeat, I was defeated due to my magic not being as powerful as it should have. I lost possession of the Alicorn Amulet - because it is specifically attuned to me, other users were not able to use it's maximum power. I would be. With the Nightmare Moon Armor, I would need to find a blacksmith to forge it to my specifications, but I could easily find someone who could do that with my magic." he stated.

Sombra did touch the piece of Nightmare Moon's armor, and took possession of it. "You may tell me about your own nature. I would presume you are some kind of Dragon-Pony-Changeling hybrid..." he stated, but seemingly more focused on his own power. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,549]

@Props ValRoa
It felt good when Una heard Sombra's compliment, while it didn't really show outside, she felt a small amount of pride, she managed to be useful, and that made her glad.

"I didn't want to waste time so I didn't look into it much yet, I got a book that talks about changelings to read later, but in short, I think I may be more Changeling than the other two, my main evidence is that when I went close to Dark stone, material that apparently nullifies all but changeling magic, I felt no effect, there was also a mention about feeding on emotions, and while I don't do that as far as I know, I think I can feel strong emotions, because I feel something when close to you, I just don't know for sure if it's emotions because I don't know what those feel like." 

Seeing that the shard did nothing with Sombra, she decided to bring that up too "There is one more thing that I don't know if it is something to do with me or not, your highness, that shard, when I touched it, it felt like it pinched me, it did it only the first time I touched it, I don't know if it means anything, but I feel it should be mentioned."