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

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra would take note of the door as they would proceed around the place. Sombra was just getting a better mental map of things in his mind - and as they walked around, they'd walk by the display showing Nightmare Moon's armor. Sombra knew that his armor was apart of him - but perhaps he could combine some of Nightmare Moon's armor within it, somehow? He could modify his armor spell to make it fit, perhaps...

As he walked about, he looked for anything that he could potentially steal for himself.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
Una almost gasped when they walked past the armor, she had felt it when she was there the last time, but the...whatever exactly it was she sensed, felt stronger than before, she also suddenly felt...more inclined to wanting it, she couldn't have explained if she would have had to, because she didn't want it to herself, why would she, yet at the same time, she could barely stop looking at it. Was it the shard from earlier? maybe it had corrupted her just enough to want more? but then again, she couldn't say she wanted to take anything, it was something outside the usual meaning of want.

Stealing anything was lot easier said than done, not necessarily because of the security, even though that played a part with all the guards and anti-magic things around, the problem was that, well, it was a museum, even the most worthless things would be spotted if they were just suddenly gone, the only reason why Una had been successful was because the stars had aligned for her, so to speak.

The thing she had stolen was a tiny thing among other same looking tiny things, until someone was very familiar with the exact display, there was a very low chance for anyone to notice it missing by just looking at the display, though it would come up eventually, since the museum no doubt had exact inventory of everything written down somewhere, though if theft would be their first assumption was another question. She also used a distraction that was lucky to work, though even being able to use it was luck, since she had been lucky to have magic in her that was not blocked by the measures for reason or another.

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra would take note of the display of Nightmare Moon's armor. He couldn't put his hoof on it - but he wanted it badly. Of course, Sombra wanted anything for himself badly, but this was a special prize to him. It was that of Nightmare Moon. The one who resisted Celestia. Sombra knew that he desperately needed to seek out allies. Building his own power can only go so far, and he could spend potential years here researching magic and it's modern history. Though, he knew that there would probably still be cultists who worshipped Nightmare Moon, so perhaps if he could seek them out and combine some of her armor into himself - he could be seen as the lesser evil and he could have allies who could help him take down Celestia.

Una would have seen him staring at the armor somewhat, and he looked away. He would glance back to her and see that she too was almost transfixed by it. He'd keep mental note of that. If he was going to pull off a heist here, they were going to do it during the night time. A potential plan in his mind was to find the Museum guards, and brainwash them in order to get as much information out of them as possible. He'd gladly steal everything here for himself if he got the chance.

He'd look to Una, "I suggest we split up to cover more ground. I'll be around. Meet back here in an hour." he would state, and if she agreed with him, he'd proceed to walk along the walls, acting like he was checking out the place casually - keeping note of what he sees.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
Una didn't pay much mind to Sombra's reactions to the displays because...well, she had no reason to, she was also focused on other things entirely, namely, the feeling she herself got, not that noticing it would have changed much, since it wasn't like Sombra looking at what was probably one of if not the strongest artifact there, like he wanted it, was in any way surprising to Una. 

She simply nodded to Sombra's suggestion, she saw no reason why not, though she didn't really know what to look at, since she had gone through the interesting ones in the previous visit. After few moments of thinking, she just decided to look through what she didn't have time for the last time, mainly focused on things like security, because lot of the leftover stuff didn't much interest her, something like replicas of the elements of harmony and the items of the original protectors satisfied a certain curiosity yes, but even they were just a thing among others, especially since they were obviously fake. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra would spend some time observing the layout of the place. The activity in this place was something he found to be extremely annoying. It would be better for him mentally, to come here alone in the night. But he knew it was best to do this now, when all the guards and everyone was distracted by the sheer amount of tourists. He was dumbfounded by it. As he walked around, he would notice some guards standing near to a door. He would take a moment and walk up to them to ask about the times the Museum is open, basically playing dumb about it. 

As he would do this, he would step back a bit, and he'd be talking with the guards about various things about the infrastructure of the castle - posing a curious structural minded stallion. He then would break off the conversation, leaving the two guards to talk a bit. He'd walk away into the crowd, and then use his shadow magic to turn into shadow. If anyone looked and saw, they wouldn't see anything upon a second glance - as he would use his shadow form to merge within the shadows of the environment, and slip under the door.

He would slip into a long hallway with all sorts of rooms. This was something that was hidden. In his examining of the hallway, he'd find this was where the guard's offices were. It was similar to the Guard Barracks he slipped into before. Going into one of the unoccupied rooms, he'd enter in and shut the door quietly. He'd search through the desks and drawers for any relevant information. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
Because Una didn't find anything interesting, she decided to do something that Sombra wouldn't have necessarily wanted her to, but that he couldn't really stop her from doing, that being, eating something instead of going on. She had gotten her hooves on bits in the crowd, it hadn't been hard, and there was a little cafeteria type of thing in the museum, so she decided to stop by. She didn't really pick and choose, and just took little bit of everything as far as she had bits, after all, she was a mix between several creatures, all of them with different diets, so she was omnivore in more ways than usual.

It didn't take long and nothing went wrong, so she was quickly back at looking around, she was subconsciously wandering back to the Nightmare Moon display, something she didn't realize until she felt the armor again, the only thing that had 'happened' was the staff member taking the payment looking at her curiously due to her outfit as she paid, but she had avoided the situation by simply saying something about ugly facial scars, to which the clerk had just silently nodded, not wanting to make things awkward to anyone. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra would spend a while searching through the desks. He didn't find much, though he did pocket the personal records and crew manifests he was able to find here. This included their schedules. It was very good to pocket that. He would hear the sounds of hoofsteps approaching the office, and would quickly put everything back the way it was - his body morphing into shadow. There were two guards who entered the office. Sombra would remain in place, listening to their discussions. They were talking about gossip and mundane subjects. Stuff Sombra didn't care about.

Sombra used this to his advantage - and took a little while to search for the highest ranking guard's office. There was a captain of the guard, albeit one specifically for the Museum Guard. Sombra would slip into the Captain's Room. It was quite large, and expansive. He would take a second to make sure nobody was in there - which there wasn't. He would then revert to his physical form and lock the door and shut the windows. He wanted to take more time to look through the information that was kept here. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
Speaking of feelings, if Sombra was somewhere else, why could Una still feel his darkness? It was lot fainter yes, but it was still there, and it had no direction? She had felt it the whole time but she didn't realize it until now that she focused on things she felt again. She walked around a bit to see if anything changed, but only the armor's effect lessened, the 'Sombra feeling' remained unchanged. She checked her pockets and everything else she could even imagine to somehow be the source, even the  shadows in case he was following her secretly for some reason, but no. She let her mind run for a moment, until finally she came to a realization, was it coming from her own body?

The room of the Captain of museum guard had exactly what one would expect, paperwork regarding the museum guard, schedules, absences, replacements, orders, reports, stuff about the security, how things worked, what to do in what situation, latest spotted potential problems.....anything that happened regarding security to either direction passed through his table. In the newer reports would be a mention of the distraction Una had caused, though it only talked about someone accidentally tipping over a display, and mentioned that someone was called to attach them better. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra would take note of what was reading through, remembering the distraction Una had caused - though there wasn't much else of importance in that regard. He'd take a read through everything, including the orders and reports. After reading that, he'd look through the guard's desk to see if there were any blueprints of any hidden areas of the Museum or mentions of the Alicorn Amulet. Anything hidden in this museum - he'd likely uncover within the notes and plans the guard captain had in his office. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
There was no hidden areas beyond the guard areas he was already in, and no secret hidden items, as this was a museum, a relatively poor place to hide anything, closest thing would probably be the various things inside walls that were the cause of the anti-magic areas, but the guards had no instructions on disabling them, or even accessing them, that was probably information only known by those who installed them in the first place.

For the amulet, there would be a confirmation of what Una had reported from her earlier exploration of the museum, the Alicorn amulet was right there, in the open, for everyone to see, be it very well protected, with more than one guard constantly watching it 24/7, the amulet itself being inside a reinforced display inside another thick glass display, surrounded by magic-nullifying measures especially targeted at dark magic and other similar forces, there was no stealthy way to take it, and it going missing would most likely put everyone on high alert.

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra had expected the outcome of his search through the Museum Guard Captain's paperwork. It was a public museum after all. At the very least to him, he was able to confirm that there wasn't anything else here. If there was, he would have found it in the Guard Captain's office. However he was able to confirm that the Alicorn Amulet was contained here - and it was the real deal as stated within the records. It wasn't a fake like he thought it was.

With that in mind, he'd revert into his shadow form and sneak out of the place. He'd reform his body within the crowd when they were all pre-occupied by other things. He would search for Una, as he was able to confirm what he was looking for. The problem being was that it was watched 24/7 by guards and his magic would be nullified in close proximity to it.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
Sombra wouldn't need to look for long since Una was near the Nightmare moon exhibit like they had agreed, she hadn't moved much since getting far enough to not feel the armor, as she was busy thinking about the implications of her realization, and the implications of those implications. She wouldn't notice Sombra before he was close enough for her to feel his aura again, she had learned to ignore the feeling generally, but now that she was hyper-focused on the faint feeling coming from her, the sudden increase that Sombra's presence caused surprised her. She greeted him with a respectful nod, the closest thing to a bow that could be done around others. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Nothing else is here. But the Alicorn Amulet, and this armor...both of which are always guarded around the clock by more than one guard. These two artifacts are a priority." he spoke to her, barely a whisper. He was curious what Una would think when he confirmed that. Now that he had that confirmed - the task was clear. They had to find a way to steal these artifacts without getting caught.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
"Nothing new from my observations either, just replicas or otherwise useless stuff." Una confirmed quietly, sure there was real things besides the two, but many of them were either weak or specifically countered things like dark magic, so those would have not been worth the effort. "Should we move somewhere more private to discuss the next step?" Una was growing braver towards Sombra, now, she still feared him, she would always fear him, as it was deep instinctual fear, but she wasn't afraid of him anymore, if that made sense, she had learned to know him, so she was no longer afraid of what he could do, rather, she knew what he would do, and had an idea on how to avoid angering him. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Una could sense Sombra's hatred grow. It was clear he was absolutely frustrated and enraged he couldn't take the artifact he created right now - in this instant. But his logic prevailed and he nodded, and would lead the way out of the Museum. He'd look for an alleyway or some area without many others around once they got to a suitable location. "It's the real deal. I was able to see in the records that this was, indeed, the real deal. Which is unexpected - due to there being nothing else of significant interest other than Nightmare Moon's armor. At first, I was pondering something. Perhaps during the night we could cause a significant distraction to lure the guards away - but that doesn't solve the problem of my magic being blocked from interacting with the display case." he stated, and pondered. "Though perhaps we need a way to disable it, using Anti-Magic, but that runs the downside of disabling our own magic as well in the vicinity of the Amulet."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
Una didn't pay much mind to Sombra's hatred anymore, as she knew to expect that it would grow; it seemed that any negative emotion eventually led to it, be it mild bother or genuine rage. She followed him as always, glad to be away from the crowd. 

She didn't mention it, but Una wasn't as surprised about the amulet's location as Sombra seemed to be, it made sense to her, that items like it and the armor would be in plain sight, since if they were in some vault somewhere, they could be stolen without anyone noticing; there was also the fact that the wielders of both items were dealt with as far as the ponies knew, so no point in going overboard with the protections.

"Their measures are not perfect, I can still use some magic near them." Una informed "It is very weak magic, and I don't know what kind of magic it is, but magic none the less." it probably wasn't enough to break the display case, but it could be useful in combination with whatever they can do without magic. "The guards do worry me a bit, since we may have to figure out a way to....disable them, in case they won't leave their spots even with distraction, your high...." Una interrupted her own words and shook a bit in discomfort "...we got company, the weird hybrid is near, I can feel her." the question where? wouldn't stand long, as a shadow on the ground showed movement above them, where the annoying creature had poked her head out, looking at them from the roof "Did I hear somebody needing a distraction?" Flint asked almost cheerfully, Una just hoped she would stay up there, as she didn't want to feel her presence any more strongly than she already did.

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra was about to respond to what Una was saying - before his ears would perk up as he looked to Una. "Where is she?" Sombra asked in a low, calm tone. It was strange to think that he had reacted rather calmly at this - upon seeing Flint looking down at them from the roof he would give a devious grin. "You there. Flint. That's your name. Let me say this, to you. I need you to cause a distraction, in a certain place, at night. I do not care how you do it - but I am guessing you are capable of such a task. Simple task, it is." Sombra sighed, hoping he wasn't making a grave mistake in saying that. Flint could easily end up messing the whole thing up and derail his plans completely. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
Flint seemed tiny bit surprised that Sombra had bothered to remember her name, though then again, it was not a hard name to remember, so if someone did forget it, they probably did it on purpose. 
"Aren't you suddenly nice when you need something." She said in nonchalant tone, before grinning "Just kidding, I couldn't care less how you treat me, I wouldn't have popped in if I wasn't ready to agree, now would I?."  Una didn't like Flint's blue eyes staring down at them, they were so...unnatural, so...wrong. "Causing scenes is what I do, so why not do so to benefit you, could be fun." as she spoke, she slid down from the roof backwards in a way that she was now hanging upside down from the edge with her legs keeping her up "And before you ask, I don't want anything, I already take what I want, I'll do it because it may be fun." like in their previous meeting, Flint's self-confidence was well clear from the way she spoke, she was a very self-satisfied creature, and mixed with her constant cheerfulness, it annoyed Una, there was being happy, and there was being prideful, but this smug overly positive weirdo got on her nerves, and the weird twisted feeling she got from her didn't help. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra's eyes looked into Flint's with a passive stare. "Take what you want from the Museum - just as long as it's not my artifact in interest that I am going to take. I created it. It's mine. The rest is yours. I don't care about it." he said bluntly, and nodded. "Now, feel free to run off for a few hours. Meet here at Sundown. We will then enact your plan of distraction. Do what you want with the guards. We will need a way to disable the anti-magic within the museum, as well, for this to work properly." Sombra stated to Flint. It seemed as if he was collecting his thoughts and saying what was most important. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
"It's not like not getting your permission would have changed anything." Flint remarked "I may have agreed to do something that happens to help you, but I still don't respect your authority, or anyone else's." instead of pulling herself back on the roof, she pushed herself off, landing on her feet not far from them; somehow it didn't seem to hurt. "Though before I leave for now, I must ask, are you ponies really that helpless without magic? Can't you even smash glass without your precious spells?" she sounded bit condescending when she said it "Grab an axe and smash it, it's not that hard." 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra just stared at her, not seeming to openly care about how she was acting. He knew that attempting to put her in place would just backfire on him and make her more unlikely to help him. "You have a point." he said, and sighed slightly. "We will use physical means. Grab an axe, take what you like, the whole museum is yours if you want to be." he stated. "But you are going to need to distract the guards, I'm sure you'll come up with something. They will likely not have the means to defend against our magic, anyway." he stated.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
Flint laughed "Don't worry, I'll do lot more than just distract." "But make sure you have an alternative escape route, things may become....heated." the way Flint spoke made Una uneasy, she felt that they were playing with fire when allying with Flint, and considering the earlier comments in the forest, it may be lot more literal than usually. "I'll need to go prepare something, see'ya" if not stopped by Sombra saying something to her, Flint would walk away and disappear behind a corner. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra narrowed his eyes a bit as Flint would walk away and vanish behind a corner. "What a freak." he huffed to himself and turned away, his eyes settling on Una. "I don't care what else she does, as long as I have what I am looking for. She can burn the place down and I wouldn't bat an eye." he shrugged. "There are many exits and hallways in the Museum, so it shouldn't be a problem." 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
"She will either be a big help or a disaster for us." Una said in slightly worried tone "Either she will pull attention away from us, or getting involved with her makes us even bigger targets." "I mentioned it after our previous meeting too, but she feels twisted..." she shook a bit, the feeling went deep "...she's dangerous." 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra looked to Una. "I will do whatever it takes to get that Amulet. It's a part of me. I was stupid and someone stole it from me. If I had it?" he asked, allowing Una to fill in the rest of the blanks. He sighed, he was so close to what he long since desired. He was the only one who could wear that amulet without it's power overwhelming him - which was intentionally designed by him to discourage others from wearing it.