After I got blown up into a million pieces, I spent the next few months reforming my body into something that looks less like a devilishly handsome warlock making mares pregnant by looking at them, and more like a normal bland and boring peasant pony, like that pink slut who blasted my beautiful face. So I hid myself in order to come up with a plan so great they'll crown me king of the world just by monologing it to them in my deep masculine voice that makes mares orgasm from hearing it. So I chose to call myself Crystal Cutter, a name that is obviously inferior to the majesty that is Sombra, so I wouldn't attract attention. I gained an apartment with a great discount after that mare who calls herself landlord heard my gorgeous voice, which isn't that good considering she doesn't leave me the fuck alone anymore.
This day was like any other Friday, a day filled with me doing basically nothing while losing my mind. 'I wonder... if I go to Celestia and act like I'm reformed, will she give me back some of my titles? Nah, she'll blast me in the face again.' I took a long sip of my coffee, before realizing that I bough peasant coffee again, so I stained my wall in the black liquid. "How could I buy this disgusting coffee again? The idiots should stop making them look so similar to crystal coffee." I mumble as I move towards my front door to pick up the newspaper. After acquireing the needed item, I teleported myself on my couch to read it.
"Let's see... Celestia makes friends with another zebrican warlord, boring. Luna kills some monster in the chaos plains, seen it. Twilight makes a new theory about dark magic, she's wrong and stupid. The ancient scroll discovered in the depths of the Emerald Jungle was unable to be translated, bori- wait." I quickly got up into a sitting position and went back to the article about the ancient scroll. "The ancient scroll that was found months ago by The Princess Of Friendship and bla bla bla, wasn't able to be translated. Apparently it was protected by hundreds of wards and traps, so The Princess bla bla bla said that they should put it for display in Canterlot Castle Grand Museum for ponies to see." A laugh escaped my mouth as I read the last part. 'They find an extremely important scroll that could hold secrets older then Celestia, and they put it in a Museum? With Celestia's incompetent guard?' "Hehehe...Hahaha... HAHAHAA.... MUAHAHAHAA-" "SHUT UP YA' IDIOT BEFORE I CALL THE LANDLORD." The neighbor from upstairs screamed at me.
The angry neighbor made Sombra stop his laughter, not wanting to deal with that slutty landlord this early in the morning, Sombra had to put up a short act. "SORRY!" Sombra yelled back, before starting to pack what little stuff he had. "Finally, I will gain secrets unknown to everyone, and with them I will get my revenge on that pink cunt!"
I was forced to sit in the filthy peasant train as I made my way towards Canterlot, the reason being that apparently only guards and royalty are allowed flying carriages, which is ridiculous since I AM ROYALTY. 'This place stinks! If only I could summon my crystal dragon to fly me to Canterlot... but because of my weakening, anything harder than making simple crystals is impossible for me at the moment... Will those two morons shut up already!?'
"BE QUIET, THERE ARE OTHER PONIES ON THIS FUCKING TRAIN!" I stand up as I scream towards the stallion and mare couple. However, instead of shutting up, the mares gets up and speaks with the most arrogant and stuck up tone I ever heard.
"Excuse me, but me and my husband will speak as loudly as we want! And how dare you scream at us peasant!? Do you know even know who we-" She stopped speaking, mostly because I went right up in their face. Let's just say that fangs and a curved horn do wonders when you want to intimidate someone.
"Do you two know how long it takes for guards to arrive on the train?" I spoke in a low, threatening tone. They both shook their heads. "I will tell you how long it takes, IT TAKES EXACTLY ENOUGH TIME FOR ME TO THROW YOU BOTH OUT THE WINDOW AND COVER MY TRACKS WITH A LOT OF TIME TO SPARE."
"Eeep!" They both started shaking as they tried to hide themselves under their bags.
"That's what I thought..." And with that, I went back to my seat where I read my newspaper in peace.
Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. A city filled with the most elite guards in the whole country, the best of the best. Neither of which suspecting a thing as I stroll down the street. The only thing I did was make my eyes a normal color and get rid of the smoke coming from said eyes. I even have my curved red horn, and no response. And Celestia deems them the best? It makes me wonder how are the worst guards...
I quickly cleared my thoughts, changing my path towards Canterlot Museum. The nobles here were even worse then those two on the train... When they aren't whispering to each other, they shove their head into the sky. I saw more then a few smacking into a signs. I may be arrogant as well, but at least I can back it up.
'The Celestial Sisters proud themselves on the fact that their cities are the most clean and advanced in the world. Well, they are clean, but advanced? Don't make me laugh! This place is nowhere near the state of my glorious crystal empire, they don't even have magic powered lamp posts, much less crystal powered! Arrogant mares!' I though as I glanced at the buildings. 'This place looks so old fashioned, if it wasn't on a mountain, I would have mistaken it for The Everfree Castle.'
"Tsk, tsk. Celestia, it seems your country has stagnated." I mumbled to myself as I remembered about the things I saw in Manehattan while I lived there. 'They at least have more modern street lighting. How the mighty have fallen...' I though as I watched a group of three Royal Guards struggle to deal with a drunk stallion.
Deciding I wasted enough time looking around, turning around, I walked faster towards the direction of the museum. That is, until I realized I had no idea where it was. After mumbling some curses under my breath, I walked into the nearest shop. Said shop being a purple building with the name 'Canterlot Boutique'. Entering inside, I saw a tall slender mare with beautiful features. She had a light blue fur along with an orange and yellow mane. "Greetings fair lady, may I take a little sliver of your precious time?"
The mare turned around and gave me a smile as she spoke. "Welcome to Canterlot Boutique! Do you need anything made, a suit maybe? Or perhaps something from a special somepony?" She said while giggling after saying the last line.
"Sadly, I don't need a suit at the moment, but maybe in the future." I responded as I walked towards the counter.
"Then what is it that you need?" She asked while tilting her head slightly in confusion. I locked eyes with her before talking again.
"I was wondering if you had any maps of the city, that and if I could have a certain type of outfit made." I gave her a polite smite before continuing. "I'm confident that a mare of your tastes can easily make it even trough it's a strange request."
"But of course! I have a few spares map that I can give you for free." She bent down and started to search for the map she mentioned. "And I'll make sure to not make you regret trusting me, just tell me the details for outfit and I will make it!" She said as she handed me a scroll which I assumed was the map.
"I require a complete outfit of cloth who can cover the whole body without hindering movement. This are some really rough sketches on how I want it made." I said as I handed her a piece of paper where I made some really rough designs. "I also need it to be able to protect me against most scratches, along with a long scarf. All of it a dark blue if possible."
"Mhm, well I'm sure I can do that until tomorrow if you want me to make it an urgent order, you do right?" At my nod she motioned towards a small stage covered by a purple veil. "Then head inside so I can take your measurements."
I quickly got on the stage as the mare went to get a measuring tape. "Oh, how could I have forgotten? My name is Sassy Saddles, what about you sir?" She said as she got up on the stage with me and started taking measurements.
"My name is Crystal Cutter, I must say this is a rather beautiful shop, you must take good care of it." I say as I was looking around said shop.
"Why, thank you! I try my best." She replied as she started humming. "What is this outfit for, if you don't mind me asking. It's a rather weird request for a stallion such as yourself."
"It's for a new expedition I will participate in." I lied as I watched her do her job. "I was wondering if you accept gems for payment? I specialize in small scale manufacturing of expensive crystals, and I seem to be low on bits." Which wasn't a lie, crystals were pretty much growing on trees for me, but I had almost no bits on hoof.
"Of course, but I'll need to see what type of crystals you have first. This way I can give you the correct cost of your order." She said as she levitated her measuring tape away and wrote something in a notebook as she walked towards the counter. I followed her after she motioned for me to do so with her hoof.
"Well, right now, I have at hoof amethysts and some black crystals imported from the Crystal Empire." I said as I summoned five of each, but to her it looked more like I teleported them here. Those ten where around the same size, being able to fit four in one hoof.
"Oh, those are just lovely!" She said as she grabbed them in her magic as she brought them to her eyes. "Those ten will be more then enough for payment, if you don't mind giving this lady a little tip?" She said as she looked at me with what I assumed where puppy eyes.
"Of course, I don't mind. When will I need to come for the order?" I asked as I started walking towards the exit.
"Tomorrow at 10 am. Oh and have a wonderful day sir!" She said as she waved me away as I gave her a polite smile.
After leaving the shop, I looked at the map I got from Sassy. 'Well, now that I see that if Canterlot is going to be attacked, they are completely doomed. That is unless they just pull out the fix to everything they call the Elements of Harmony... They have one training ground and one armory, not to mention that most of their constructions are made for entertainment. Eh, whatever, their problem, not mine.'
'So this is the museum...' I though as I looked at the massive marble building. Great pillars stood as decoration for it's entrance, it held an imposing stature. 'But why is it so empty?" I walked onto the stairs as I looked around confused. "Didn't they just announce that they discovered something new? The opening was today, wasn't it?" I looked at the schedule situated near the doors. 'Yep, it appeared today. Are Equestrians that uninterested in history? No wonder they keep making the same mistakes...'
Entering the building, I saw an empty hall. Not empty of expositions, no it had plentiful, but empty of ponies. The scene before me looked like something pulled from those cheap movies I watched while in Manehattan, the only ponies around were the receptionist and a mare with a cloak. Shaking my head, I moved to the receptionist who was talking with the cloaked mare.
"Excuse me." I said to attract their attention. "How much for a ticket for the new exposition?"
"Oh, welcome!" The receptionist said. He was an old stallion who looked as frail as the exponents around him. "Just five bits sir." He said after coughing a little. I quickly levitated the money towards the elderly stallion. "Here you go sir, have a nice day." I grabbed the ticket before nodding.
"Same to you as well, I hope you'll be more busy in the future." I said as I walked away, strangely, the mare looked curious and quickly started following me. 'Does she know me? No, I'm pretty sure she wasn't one of those mares that blasted me in the face, none of them were creme with a mane of different colors of gray. I'll ignore her for now, I need to pay more attention to the location of the scroll.' Picking up pace, I looked around in search for the scroll.
After a few minutes of searching for the new exposition while pretending not to see the cloaked mare behind me, I finally found what I was searching for. In front of me stood the opened scroll on a pedestal, said scroll was made from dragon skin bathed in liquid gold. And the only reason why I know that, is because I used to do that to all the important scrolls I had. That way the scroll would have, not only an incredibly high durability, but a beautiful look as well.
Getting to the point, I quickly saw something extremely important about this scroll. The so called impossible to decipher scroll was written in the Horsian script, a script only known by the Saddle Arabian royalty in my time. And considering the fact that the old dynasty fell a short time after the Crystal Empire's disappearance, I may be one of the few, if not the only one who still knows that language. 'Oh, how delighted I was when I read about their fall. That's what they deserve for refusing to aid me in the war against the Equestrians. I told them that if I lost the Equestrians will go after them to 'reform' them.'
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I started reading the script while remembering to fake an expression of complete confusion. 'Trough this ancient script, may The Great Crystal One show the path! In the sands of time, at the peak of the sun, the magic of the script shall guide the dark crystal trough the sands and towards the oasis.' As I read the scroll, I almost couldn't believe my eyes. Under those words lays a rune I could barely recognize. 'Sallahudin, I knew you hid IT somewhere instead of destroying it. And for that I hope the eternal sleep is kind to you.'
Summoning a scroll, I began putting a new plan in action. I started copying the script onto the new scroll as I saw the cloaked mare trying to see what I was doing from a distance. 'She's been following me for quite a while hasn't she? I may need to be more discrete so I don't raise any suspicion.'
After finishing copying the script, instead of teleporting the copied piece away, I instead put a spell on it to make it look indistinguishable from the real one and teleported it in place of the real one, while teleporting the real thing in my personal hammer space. 'Oh how I love that I still have access to that thing, I don't know what I would do without it...' And like this, I left the museum without the cloaked mare following. 'Too easy...'
"Good morning, Crystal Cutter! Did you come for your order?" The smiling face of Sassy Saddles said as I entered Canterlot Boutique.
"Good morning, Miss Saddles. Indeed, I've come for my order. Is it ready?" Sassy nodded her head before levitating a light blue bag towards me. Taking it, I looked inside, seeing the dark blue material inside I nodded towards the mare. "Thank you for making my order on such a short notice, you've saved me so much time." I told her while giving her a polite smile before levitating her a bag of a few amethysts. "A tip so you can buy yourself a reward for you hard work."
"Thank you, Crystal! Hope you'll come again!" She said before putting the gems under the counter.
"Maybe in the future." I said before walking towards the exit. "But for now, I have a tight schedule and can't chat, have a good day." I told her before leaving the shop. As I left, I heard her wishing me a good day as well. 'Such a nice mare, hope her business will do well in the future, the material my costume was made from is of really good material.' I thought while checking my bag once again.
After I checked out the map, I quickly changed directions towards the train station to buy a ticked to Saddle Arabia. The early sun was bathing the city in its light, showing me quite a beautiful site. 'Of course, it's not nearly as beautiful as my Crystal Empire! However, I have to admit that the sun rays striking the golden roofs is extremely beautiful.
The nobles and merchants were walking around in a hurry, trying to get to their businesses and stalls before the peak hours. None of them stopping to admire this gorgeous sight. 'Still, a giant change from Manehattan... How much I hate living in hiding. It feels too cowardly, but I can't let my pride get the best of me.'
I soon found myself wanting to pass trough the crowded market, and oh how much I hate not having all my magic. 'These insufferable nobles keep pushing each other like pigs towards corn! They call themselves nobles but act like spoiled brats! I knew Celestia was soft, but I didn't know she was this soft without her sister!' I watched as the nobles kept pushing each other around while throwing playground insults to everyone around them. 'And Celestia was the one boasting about how 'good' and 'fair' her system was, bah!' I though as I shoulder slammed a couple of nobles into an alley, thus making them scream like foals.
The only good thing about the crowd of nobles filling the market was the satisfaction I got when I shoulder bashed nobles onto the ground. Ah, the sound of them crying over the fact that their expensive clothes got dirty. Now I remember why I was always so rough on the nobles from the Empire.
My enjoyment was quickly cut short when I saw a small group of ponies. A small group of ponies that knew me. 'Ah, what do we have here? The pink twat, her idiotic husband and their- actually I have nothing against their filly. I may be able to corrupt her so I have the upper hand over them, but that will have to wait.' I shook my head and started moving away through them while still maintaining the same direction. 'I should still leave before I have the whole Royal Guard after me. They may be incompetent but they can still block the train station.'
Sadly, a noble that I pushed out of the way reacted louder then the rest. "HOW DARE YOU PUSH ME YOU FILTH!? GUARDS! ARREST THIS STALLION THIS INSTANT!" The mare screamed at the top of her lungs attracting the attention of the couple I was trying to avoid.
"Calm down Ma'am, just tell me what's the probl- wait, SOMBRA?" The Shining idiot said after he saw me try to push trough the sea of intoxicating perfumes and extravagant clothes. 'Well, shit.' I though before I started to shove and push more frantically.
"GUARDS!" Shining screamed as his wife came over to ask him what was happening, meanwhile the nobles where panicking like headless chickens and where quite efficiently stopping the guards from reaching me. 'Come on Sombra, think!' As I kept pushing, I quickly realized that I'll soon leave the market, and I'll be in the open. The guards where closing in as well, however, a spell flashed in my mind that gave me an idea. 'Of course! The old switcheroo!' With a flash of my horn, I smacked into the nearest unicorn stallion and casted my spell. Said spell temporarily switched his and my appearance, as well as giving me his clothes.
And using that old trick, I managed to escape with no problem. 'Ah, I just love how the oldest tricks are the most useful.' I need to try to be more discrete, but pushing nobles around was too much fun to give up. 'Oh well, it all ended up good for me in the end.' I suddenly made a sharp turn into an alley. Hiding behind some dumpsters, I casted a disperse spell to get rid of the illusion. And with a flash of light, I was back to my beautiful self. I quickly ripped off the noble's clothes before going back towards my original destination, the train station.
This time it was a lot quieter, the nobles were rare and the commoners were too occupied with what they were doing to care about a devilishly handsome stallion like myself. However, it seems someone has found me. But it wasn't the guard nor the royals, this time it was that cloaked mare from the museum. I wonder if she knows who I am, or if she has any other unrelated reason to be following me. 'Ah, how I wish those two didn't see me earlier, they probably started telling the other guards to capture the most handsome stallion to bring to their princess so she can try to 'reform' me. I know you went through that mirror Celestia! If the guards didn't know anything I could have told them she was stalking me, that way I would have gotten rid of her and whatever reason she had for following me without much of a hassle.'
Turning a corner, I arrived at the train station. There were few ponies around, and luckily I came exactly a quarter of an hour before the train for Saddle Arabia left. 'Such nice timing, lucky there are no ponies around either.' I walked towards the ticket booth which held an old mare inside.
"Hello, I would like a first class ticket towards Saddle Arabia please." I told the old mare while giving her a small smile.
"That would be a hundred bits honey. What's a stallion like you doing there?" She said while pushing the ticket towards me.
"Oh, I'm just visiting an old acquaintance of mine." I responded while levitating her a bag of bits which she quickly grabbed and stored somewhere safe.
"Must be nice to travel around, ah how I miss the old days... Have a nice trip!" She said while giving me a tired smile.
"Thank you, have a nice day." I told her before leaving for the train. Entering inside, I was delighted to see the silk seats plated with gold. I slowly moved towards one of the seats. Sitting down, I lean backwards and let a sigh escape my lips. 'Now that the easy part is done, I'll finally be able to feel some adrenaline pumping.' I felt my eyelids close as I let myself fall into unconsciousness. I had no fear of having anything stolen from me, having everything stored in my hammer space does tend to keep everything safe. This way I could safely fall asleep with no fears, casting a warding spell to keep Luna away from my mind, I fall asleep with one last though in my mind. 'Finally, I'll finally get back what I lost back...'