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

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

"You not being seen by the guards is a pre-requisite to any excursion we will be doing. These helmets cannot, and must not be seen anywhere by anyone, especially not guards. I suggest we go there during the night to where none can see." he spoke to the vendor. "I must also know your name, I don't believe I was told your name." he added, wanting something to refer to the vendor as. "I can sneak you aboard a train headed towards Ponyville - a freight train, I have done so before, as that is how I got here."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
"Lunar Charm" Lunar stated "The only earth pony that lives like a bat pony." she added jokingly, Una tilted her head at this, so she explained "I'm most active at night." "I'm guessing that even you can't sneak a whole wagon, so I should probably bag up my tools?" "Also a fair warning, it wasn't a joke when I said that guards will look for me in my workshop, I wouldn't be surprised if they are guarding the place when we get there." "The unfortunate side of my job is that the law is keeping a good eye on me"  

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra would take this into consideration. "Sneaking a whole wagon is not something even I could do. I can take your tools with me . I don't think it will be worth it to try to trudge a wagon through a forest while trying to be hidden." he put his hoof to his chin. "If the guards are at your place when we get there, I suppose we'll just wait until they move away then sneak in." he suggested, giving time for Lunar to gather up her tools. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
As Lunar went into the wagon to pack up her things, she spoke through a small window it had while doing so "I don't think you understood, they'll guard the place, they won't just leave." "My talent is very unique, I'm not the only one who can do this, but there is very few of those like me." "My skills are also quite powerful, since I can modify even the more powerful, dangerous stuff." "The guards know this." "So in situations where they have a reason to think that there's a possibility for my skills being used for something illegal, like when I suddenly disappear, they'll go to the one place where I would need to go to do anything in bigger scale, my workshop." she came out of the wagon with filled pair of saddlebags. "I never liked the law breathing in my neck like that, I think they were targeting me even more due to my connection to the moon, thinking I'm some secret Nightmare Moon follower or something." 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra looked to her with deep thought. "Seems like they discriminate against you because of your connection to the moon - it is what the vile Two Sisters and their deluded followers do, discrimination against anyone who goes against their deluded fantasies. Perhaps some kind of distraction could lure the guards away while we get inside your place." Sombra would suggest, as she looked to Lunar's saddlebags - he was more than ready to head into Ponyville now. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
Lunar would follow Sombra, not that she had any other choice, and while she didn't say it, her body language made it clear she was ready to go. "While my alliance is in no way towards them, I must defend the princesses here." "They have been very helpful trying to figure out the source of the connection, especially Luna who feels responsible for it." "The guards' discrimination is not sourced from them, but rather the tribal thinking that still exists in most ponies, I am sure you are aware of our history, that mindset never left, and my similarity to bat ponies in my actions makes some ponies suspicious." "It doesn't help that most guards come from Canterlot, you know how high and mighty those unicorns can be."

Una stayed quiet all this time, not really having anything to add, and not wanting to interrupt Sombra, but she did listen closely, and thought about thing. It was curious that this pony managed to technically go against Sombra by defending his enemy, yet didn't actually do so, since she only stated a fact relating to her own experiences; Una saw this as a good thing, because it answered a question Sombra had failed to answer before when she asked, regarding the amount of free thought the mind control gave. Sure in this case it was meaningless, since the point was to not interact with anyone, but if they were going to infiltrate anything, it would be a bad thing if a guard suddenly started calling the princesses 'vile' and other such things. How Sombra would take this was of course another question, Una worried his ego would fail to realize the importance of disagreement in this context.

"How you handle the guards I leave to you, because I have no experience or skill in that matter." 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra was more than ready to leave at this point and for a few moments he would process what Luna spoke of. "There are many who likely share the same connection as of you, however, I do not know how one would pursue it - other than finding allies who were loyal to Nightmare Moon. Their knowledge is likely driven underground, and into secrecy - if anyone knows the source of the connection, it will likely be them. I too, have been wanting to find allies in those loyal to Nightmare Moon - finding them will be another matter entirely." he said, with a slight sneer. He realized that while it was annoying to not hear Lunar call the two sisters vile - it was the smarter thing to do so those brainwashed would keep a sense of their true personalities to be useful.

Sombra would then start leading them away from the area, towards the railyard where they came in before. But this time, he was going to have them board another freight train that was bound for Ponyville. After a bit of searching, it didn't take them too long to find one - just that they had to lay low here and there to avoid guards in the area that were inspecting the trains. They'd be able to find an empty car towards the back of the train - likely this train was picking up supplies in Ponyville.

 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
"That is one thing about the connection that is so weird, we first assumed it was related to Nightmare Moon somehow, but the mare left the moon and the connection stayed." "I have also never felt anything towards any artifact or darkness, only the moon itself." Lunar concluded as she followed Sombra.

She hadn't lied when she had said she wasn't good at sneaking around, though luckily Una was there, as she noticed right away that Lunar didn't really know what to do even when lead by Sombra, so she moved next to Lunar and physically guided her to do things. Lunar clearly didn't like Una poking her like that, feeling uncomfortable from the invasion of her personal space, but she didn't say or do anything about it, and just did as told, be it due the mind control or some personal reason. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra would go silent, and process that information in his mind as they made their way to the train. Eventually they found themselves in the back of a train - it was headed to Ponyville and Sombra made sure of that. What Sombra did not know, is when the train would leave. Sombra would suggest that Una and Lunar take a rest, and he'll take guard to make sure they aren't detected. For whatever reason, he didn't seem to need much sleep at all. He stayed silent, still thinking about what Lunar said. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
Una did take rest, as she figured it was good to take any chances to rest she had, but Lunar didn't, because as she had stated earlier, she was the most active at night, and thus, she started working instead. She took out a small mirror, bunch of small items with no obvious purpose, and pen and paper, put them on the floor in front of her, and started to work.

She started by drawing the helmet based on the reflection on the mirror, and until Sombra stopped her for reason or another, she'd then start pressing the seemingly random items in different spots against the helmet, some of them glowed, some of them shook, and some did nothing, and every time she did this, she marked something down on paper, highlighting areas on the picture of the helmet, drawing arrows, writing down number and letters; she would let Sombra see the notes if he wanted to, but he would most likely find it hard to make any sense of it, as it would just look like random nonsense to anyone not Lunar. 

If asked what she was doing, Lunar would explain that she was doing the tests she needs to do that she mentioned before, and would remark that it's slightly inconvenient to do them on something she was wearing, but that she'd manage. 

If not allowed to do this for some reason, Lunar would just sit silently  looking into the direction of the moon, even if it wasn't visible from the inside of the train. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra would observe Lunar's actions - and he would just stare at what she was doing. Sombra didn't seem to really care that much what she was doing because he knew that she would be incapable of taking hostile action against him for any reason. For a bit he was content with observing what she was drawing. For Sombra it would be relatively easy to surmise what she was doing - testing to see various properties about the helmet she wore that would be useful for adapting the properties of the helmet into a far more hidden form.

Sombra would smirk to this and proceed to ask about it - of which Lunar's explanation would get a pleased chuckle from Sombra - already pleased that his newest servant was already doing work for him earlier and better than anticipated. With that in mind, Sombra would continue observing what she was doing - it would very much prove useful for further reference. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
Lunar's work ethic had nothing to do with the mind control, it was just her being her, she enjoyed her work, and she had been curious about stuff like Sombra's helmets even before all of this, she just had never gotten her hooves on them, because even ignoring how hard it would have been, it would have also been illegal, the only thing the mind control did in this specific case, was form a paradox in her mind, as she knew what this helmet was, she knew what it did, and she knew she was wearing one, yet, due to the mind control, she was incapable of connecting these obvious dots.

After doing bunch of tests that would take hours to explain if anyone asked for details, and writing down notes that would take at least a day to explain, she took empty papers, and using those notes started drawing and writing down potential designs, everything from rings to crowns to amulets to unspecified shapes, putting down calculations and lists of materials and so on. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra would not bother her and allow her to focus on her plans. The train itself would take off within the hour - though it would be a few hours until they arrived in Ponyville. In that time, Lunar would have hours to do whatever it is she wanted for her notes. Sombra would pass the time by just sitting there and staring outward at the passing landscape. He spent a thousand years being banished, and over a year being reduced to only his horn. He was a very patient pony - all things considered, even if his hatred was boiling at the surface, if anything, he knew how to wait and play the long game now. If there was nothing else to disturb their journey, they would be in Ponyville by midnight. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
After hours of work, Lunar had drawn few potential ideas, and started packing everything up back into her bags a moment or few before they arrived in Ponyville "I have few ideas planned now, I need to remind myself on what materials I have in my workshop before I promise something I don't have materials for, but it seems for now that the only real limit is the amount of the helmets themselves, because your enchantment, with all due respect, is quite inefficiently spread out, as tends to be with old stuff like this, so the ratio for the modification will be 1:1, until of course you are still capable making said enchantment, in which case I can split one helmet in many pieces, you just need to strengthen the enchantment on them to have same effectiveness as the helmet." 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

"I originally created these helmets one by one and created a caste of loyal Crystal Pony mages who could then replicate the enchantment process to use them on my soldiers during the war." Sombra stated, "Studying in the forbidden archives of the Crystal Empire lead me to create the enchantment spell - but due to how the spell worked, I could only cast it on somewhat large objects such as these helmets here." Sombra stated as he would exit the train. The train was in a wooded area by Ponyville, of which a large railyard could be seen with plenty of spots for them to hide. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
Since they exited the train, Lunar didn't say anything, but did let out a thoughtful hum, as she thought about what was said, she didn't fully understand what exactly Sombra meant regarding of if he could enchant more or not, but it gave enough of an idea for her to ask specifics when they were in a better spot. Yet again, Una stayed close to Lunar, guiding her through the process of being stealthy, regardless of if Lunar liked it or not. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra would lead them into the woods outside the railyard, making sure to move quickly while keeping low. It was obvious that he was very skilled at hiding, giving how he moved and such. Within a half hour or so, they'd get to the other side and see Ponyville on the other side of the woods. Sombra looked to Lunar and Una, "Now the difficult part will be getting in your place. As you mentioned there will be guards there." he said, despite it being night time - he wouldn't be surprised if there were guards. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
"Probably should tell you where 'my place' is in the first place?" Lunar remarked, and until stopped for reason or another, she'd take a stick and draw a rough map of Ponyville on the ground. "Regardless of housing a princess, Ponyville has relatively few guards, and there isn't any barracks. " after creating the map, she drew few circles "We are somewhere here" "The castle" "The market" "Mayor's office" "My workshop" her place was relatively close to the market, on an area with mainly shops and such. 

If stopped from doing that for some reason, she'd just point in the general direction of her workshop instead.
 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra would let her draw a rough map of Ponyville and would do his best to follow it in the direction of the shop. If they managed to successfully get to Lunar's shop, Sombra would have Lunar unlock it so they can go in and he would start taking a look around as if he owned the place. He wanted to see everything she had in her shop. Right under the nose of Princess Twilight Sparkle - a fact that no doubt brought him great amusement. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
There was a reason why Lunar had used the word 'workshop', as the shop itself, that being the business side of the building, was empty, it was in use clearly, since there was places for products fitting what Lunar did, but currently there was no products, which made sense if you considered the fact that she was a travelling merchant that had last been on a market in a different side of Equestria. There was no guards yet, and Lunar stated something along the lines of "nopony has been here yet.", though how she knew that wasn't specified, but considering how well prepared she had been for case of something happening to her, no doubt there was something hidden that told her that. 

They would then reach the workshop itself, and again, it wasn't exactly filled with powerful artifacts, rather, it was just a workshop. There was a workbench, more items that were most likely some kind of tools Lunar used, and several tools and apparatuses to cut, flatten, crush or otherwise work different materials. Though what probably got Sombra's attention first, were the countless boxes of stuff, metals, seemingly random magical items, and gems, so many gems, but while the room itself felt very much powerful due to all the magical stuff inside, all the items were individually weak. There were also some bigger pieces like weapons and armors, but all of those were damaged, some of them quite literally leaking magic. Some items would even affect dark magic negatively, something Sombra would no doubt feel if he got too close. 

The various boxes were marked with number and letter combinations, explaining Lunar's seemingly nonsensical notes.  

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

When they approached the workshop, Sombra's eyes would look upon it with malicious intent. He already saw it as his. Anything he wanted - he viewed it as his right to take. He could do whatever he wanted, to anyone, for any reason. He is the King after all, and in time the ponies will come to bow down to him and accept him as the absolute ruler of Equestria and the one true King. With those thoughts running through his mind, as they drew closer he would take note of the exterior.

He would maintain his quiet observations of the place as they entered into the Workshop. He would take a look around the place to examine it. He could feel the magic of the artifacts around him - some of the feelings he got when he went near them were less than desirable due to some of them affecting his dark magic negatively. He had taken a few minutes to himself to think about what he was seeing - he found that it was useful, but the most useful possession in his control was Lunar herself. 

Then he'd look to her. "Let us get started with constructing a better source of possession - than either helmets, or rings. Something that would go un-noticed by those who know what to look for." he spoke, very pleased that he now had a solid base of operations. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
Lunar spread out her various drawings on the workbench "As I didn't really get it from your previous answer, in short and simple, can you still enchant things, or are we limited to what the helmets have?" she got a big empty box from a side-room full of empty boxes of many sizes, and pushed it next to Sombra, then pointing at it "Helmets" before returning to her drawings, ready to explain her plans, after getting the answer to her question. "Also, just a warning, like I have said before, I can't change the enchantment itself in any way, so anything that would normally break the effect of the helmets, will still break the effect, no matter what I do." 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra looked to the box as he would think about his response. "I am able to enchant things. However for whatever reason I found that the helmets were able to be the most effective at delivering the desired effect. We can likely find a work around this. However, only the helmets I have can I create as many as I wish." Sombra said to Lunar, ready to see what plans she came up with for this. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Props Valroa
"That makes things easier then." Lunar stated "And the reason for helmets being the most effective is quite simple, they are closest to the brain." it was quite logical really, mind affecting magic was most powerful, when it was the closest to where the mind was stored. She levitated one of the drawings in front of Sombra "With how the helmet works, and with the materials I have, this is the most optimal design." "Round flat disk, about the size of a coin (mlp bits), I can make them blend in with the color of whatever they are put on, though that doesn't mean they are invisible, so you still need to think where you put them." "Closer they are to the head, stronger the effect." "They'll stick to living things, and can only be removed by whoever put them there." "However, anypony with strong enough magic, the right knowledge, or good enough magic nullification, can remove them, and there's nothing I can do about that, it's just the reality of magic, everything has a counter."   

"To mass-produce these, as I assume you don't want to have to wait for months as I do them one by one, I can melt the helmets and with the right mixture of things can make a type of enchanted metal, which can then be made to any shape, with only the blending layer needed to be added separately." "However, to do that, the enchantment in the helmets is not enough, as it will dilute, thus I need you to enchant more things." she carried a box full of small ingots of some kind of mixture of metal and crushed gems next to him "more specifically these, more powerful the enchantment, more powerful the end result will be." "If you want me to start, please, fill the empty box with helmets, and start enchanting the ingots." 

Una was surprised by how almost authoritative Lunar was, considering the whole mind control thing, but when she thought about it bit more, it made certain sense, Lunar was the only one in the room that could, and knew how to do, what Sombra wanted to, so she was the boss in the workshop, if Sombra wouldn't do as she said, he wouldn't get what he wanted, since he didn't know how to do it. 

[King Sombra]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sombra was very pleased by the explanation he was given. With a wicked smile, he would respond to Lunar. "You know exactly why I chose helmets in the time I did. Anything else would not have had the same and desirable effect. I chose helmets specifically for the reason they completely surrounded the wearer with my magic. Whereas this is much more discreet and be applied to the back of ponies heads, hidden within their manes." he spoke as he would look at the box he was given here. "Enchanting the ingots will be easy enough." he spoke as his horn flared up with dark magic. The first thing Sombra did was enchant each of the ingots one by one with his magic. After the ingots were completed he would summon helmets one by one and let them fall into the empty box. There was a bit of a delay between each one that was summoned - about 20 seconds. 

"Now that is complete, you can begin producing the disks out of the materials you have currently. Go one by one, until they are all complete. This will be the first batch." Sombra said in a tone that was more of an order, than anything. "While you do so, I would also like you to teach me how this works." he said - thinking it would also be a benefit to learn how it works from one who has mastered this craft - so eventually, he could do his own.