A watchful shadow

by Askre


Chapter 2. Shadowy travels.

Chapter 2

Donning his Silver Gloom guise once more, King Sombra arrived in the lobby and put the key on the counter. This time it was a white earth pony who was manning it.

“Morning, Mr. Silver, I understand you are checking out?” the pony asked and smiled. “I hope you have enjoyed our service.”

“I have indeed, I have a purse of bits in my safe deposit box,” Sombra said giving the pony a friendly smile.

The clerk nodded and went in the back to retrieve it. When he returned, Sombra opened it up and used the money contained there to pay for his stay and any extra service he had received. Once he had signed out, the Dark Pony left the resort, using his pegasus wings he took to the air.

Sombra departed Las Pegasus and started heading east, for a while he maintained his disguise but once certain that he was alone, the king reverted into his shadow form and descended back to the ground. He came upon a forest area and immediately blended in with the shadows there as he continued his way east.

The trip took most of the day, it was almost evening when he arrived far further east in Equestria. He had taken his time, not going too fast, ensuring no one saw or detected him. Slowly the king made his way to the suburbs of Fillydelphia.

The Dark Pony smiled to himself as he continued to blend in with the shadows, only moving between them when no eyes could see. He edged closer and closer towards a white house with a red-tiled roof and brown window frames. A picket fence surrounded it and in one corner of the garden was a toy fort.

This is a risk. My enemies are keeping a subtle watch themselves. I must move with the uttermost caution. He thought as he slunk into the shadows produced by the fort and waited. Lights were still on in the house, Sombra could see movements. A maroon mare with a white muzzle appeared in the window, talking with someone inside.

Sombra kept waiting, the sun went down and it was now dark. The king smiled wider when spotting a unicorn stallion, dark gray with a blonde mane appearing in one of the upper windows.

If you only knew, he thought to himself, holding back a cruel chuckle.

Time went on, ponies passed the picket fence, oblivious to the presence in the shadows beyond it. The light started to turn off in the houses around, one by one. Eventually, that began happening as well in the building Sombra had his eyes on. Soon it was all dark.

Still the king waited patiently, the moon went higher and higher, still he didn’t move from his hiding place. It was close to midnight when Sombra finally began edging closer to the house, slinking up the walls and approached the window he had seen the unicorn in. Using the shadows, he slipped easily inside and was in a bedroom.

Soft snores came from a single bed. Sleeping peacefully was the blonde maned unicorn. Sombra slithered closer and started to rise. As he did, he carefully lit up his horn with his dark magic and cast a deep sleep spell.

“Oh, Private Iceland. If you only knew how easy it would be for me, to just come here and whisk you away,” Sombra whispered and reached to caress the mane of the sleeping pony, now unable to wake up due to the spell.

“Ah, if only I was ready. I can’t take the chance right now,” the king smiled wickedly, tracing his hoof to the cheek of Private and gently stroke it. “Soon you will be by my side.”

King Sombra slowly began dissolving into shadow, the hoof still caressing the unicorn’s cheek turning into a tendril and the Dark Pony sunk into the darkness. As he slunk back out he lifted the spell keeping Private asleep. Missing the unicorn jerk awake, rise in the bed and look fearfully around.

“DEW!” Sombra heard an alarmed frightened cry come from the bedroom window as he disappeared back to the grass below. As he continued to quietly slither away, he let out a soft cruel chuckle.

Hm, I do wonder where Private works. It was a museum, wasn’t it? Sombra hid again under the fort, waiting for the morning daylight. He made sure to always keep to the shadows and out of sight. As the sun began to slowly rise, ponies were already emerging walking away from their houses, some heading straight for the city proper.

The door of the white house opened and out stepped Private, carrying a saddlebag. He turned around to speak with someone inside the house.

“Are you sure you want to go to work today, that was a pretty bad episode you had last night,” a soft voice addressed him.

Private just nodded and used his magic to close the door. Sombra noted that the unicorn looked a little nervous, carefully glancing at every single shadow around him as he trotted to the gate of the fence.

Oh, I really shouldn’t. I should resume my watch on my enemies, continue to study them. Yet I just can’t resist. Sombra smiled as he watched the unicorn exit through the small gate. I wonder if I can fool him with one of my disguises.

King Sombra waited, then slowly crept forward and under the fence. As Private passed it on the sidewalk, the Dark Pony merged with the unicorn’s shadow, tethering himself to it and let the oblivious pony take him towards the city.

Sombra could feel the fear and apprehension, drunk it in and fueled his powers. He was careful though not to actively feed on it, least Private became aware something was off. The unicorn still occasionally glanced around him, he didn’t relax the whole trip, not even when more ponies were around as they approached the city.

Private didn’t stop his walk until they came to a large museum building. Two stone statues of manticores guarded it. As the unicorn walked up the steps, Sombra let go of the tether and slunk over to the shadow of one of the statues. Watching as Private used a key to gain access. The king noted that Private locked the door once he was inside, the museum was still not open for business.

The king had to wait some more, moving with the shadow of the statue as the sun gained altitude. Sombra frowned and glanced around at the ponies walking past. When one got close enough, he hitched a ride on that shadow until they passed an alley which he silently slipped into.

Once he was out of sight, Sombra emerged from his shadow form. He quickly activated his magic and cast his illusion spell. His body shrunk, the horn vanished and he sprouted wings. His mane became more silver-colored and shorter and his hooves turned from black to gray to match his coat. The eyes turned from red to blue and the pupils became round. One final spell gave him the illusion of having a raining cloud for a cutie-mark.

“And thus, Rain Cloud is born,” Sombra chuckled to himself and trotted out of the alley.

Sombra made his way back to the museum and saw ponies entering, meaning it was finally open. Smirking, the Dark Pony climbed the step and opened the glass door and stepped in.

“Hello and welcome to the Fillydelphia History Museum,” an amber mare greeted him at the counter.

“Thank you, how much is it for entry?” Sombra asked politely.

“It’s ten bits for an adult,” the clerk informed him.

Sombra nodded and paid the necessary amount with a warm smile. Then he entered the museum and started to walk around. There were already many ponies in there to take a look at the various exhibits, all carefully watched by staff members, who occasionally would approach guests to answer questions if they had any.

The Dark Pony frowned; he could see no sign of Private. The king glanced around, then trotted towards a section that was marked Pre-Equestria. Entering it, he saw exhibits for various pony nations that had existed before Equestria was formed.

Now where would Private be hiding here? Sombra thought and looked over the room, then his eyes caught something familiar. It was a battle armor, very old, cracked and rusted. The helmet had the remains of a steel horn. Underneath was a plaque that read, ‘Spartacornian battle armor.’

“Excuse me, am I reading right that this is a Spartacornian armor?” he addressed a light gray unicorn mare that looked like part of the staff.

“Why yes, it is. Our very own Spartacornian expert was on the dig that dug it up,” she said cheerfully and walked closer to the armor with Sombra.

“Indeed, I have a mild interest in Spartacornia, would it be possible to meet this expert? If she’s not busy,” Sombra asked slyly, glancing at the mare.

“Oh, the expert is a he,” the mare corrected him, then she looked over to doors that said, ‘staff only.’

“Private Iceland, he usually works in the back, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind coming out here to talk about Spartacornia,” she offered and smiled at Sombra, her eyes only seeing his pegasus disguise.

“That would be quite lovely,” the dark pony nodded, internally laughing at how easy this was.

Sombra watched the mare leave for the staff door, then turned back to the armor, examining it with his eyes, feigning great interest. After a little while, the gray mare returned with an apologetic look on her face.

“I am so sorry. Private requested with his supervisor to just be in the back today. He had a rather traumatic experience several months ago and he’s exempt at the moment from working the public areas unless we desperately need extra staff to help out,” she told him.

Clever boy, Sombra silently grumbled, outwardly he put on a sympathetic smile.

“Oh, I am so sorry to hear that, do you know what happened?” he asked, feigning curiosity.

“I don’t know all the details, just that he had a terrible accident in the Crystal Empire. We don’t ask, it shook him pretty badly, he’s even more reclusive than normal,” the mare shrugged and again offered her apologies. “I could tell you something, I have been to Private’s Spartacornia lectures.”

“That won’t be necessary, I’m rather pressed on time,” Sombra was smiling on the outside, inside he was cursing how his luck had turned. He quickly said goodbye and hurried out of the museum.

Well that was a waste of time. Can’t risk slinking into the backroom. I was pressing my luck already as it was, he thought as he took to the air and started flying out of the city. One more stop before I head back to the fort and lay low for a little while. Might as well scout out Canterlot.

Once more when he was out of sight, the king turned to shadow and returned to the ground to use that method to move about unseen and undetected.

His trip to Canterlot was uneventful and slow since he still needed to avoid detection. Despite the distance not being far from Fillydelphia, it was evening when he arrived. Once at the Equestrian capital, the king once more donned his Rain Cloud disguise and started walking unnoticed by the populace.

As he walked around, keeping his eyes and ears open for anything that might catch his interest, his stomach started to growl. The Dark Pony realized he hadn’t eaten in a while. Glancing around, the king spotted a nearby restaurant. Shrugging Sombra approached.

The smell of food coming at him from the kitchen as he entered, roused his hunger even more. The place was filled with ponies dining or still in the process of ordering their meal. A waitress soon approached and offered to show him a seat at an empty table.

Sombra sat down and picked up the menu, he quickly noticed that these were all Equestrian dishes, which meant no meat. The Dark Pony sighed, but knew it would do, he would draw attention to himself if he tried to order a more omnivorous meal.

While considering what to order, his sharp hearing picked up a familiar voice. Slowly he lowered the menu a bit so he could peek over it. He frowned when seeing the table further away from him.

Princess Twilight Sparkle sat at a table with four other unicorns and, Sombra had to hold back a snarl, Spike the dragon. One unicorn was wearing a sweater and had big glasses with white tape in the middle. Her mane was tied up with a small pink ribbon. She didn’t look like she wanted to be there. The other unicorns and Twilight tried awkwardly to strike up a conversation with her.

Damnation, did I press my luck too far? Is she here looking for me? Sombra couldn’t say he was happy to see the alicorn. He was downright alarmed and almost tempted to hastily vacate the restaurant.

The king resisted the urge to quickly head out, it would just arouse suspicion. Besides, the princess didn’t seem to be actively looking for anything. She seemed quite focused on the group of unicorns she was talking to.

Sombra started to raise his menu again, his hunger distracting him a bit from fully paying attention to the other table. Then he spotted something else. A light purple unicorn with a purple mane that had a light blue streak in the middle. She was doing her best to conceal herself behind her menu at a table close to the one the unicorns and the Princess sat at.

Still spying are you, Starlight Glimmer? Still sore that Princess Twilight ruined your little village? Sombra chuckled to himself, he glanced at the waitress who approached his table. Selecting a meal from the menu, he made his order. The mare smiled and jotted it down, then took the menu and trotted away.

While Sombra waited, he noticed that Princess Twilight’s dinner was turning south. The glasses-wearing mare was leaving in a huff. The king raised his brow, wondering what this was all about. The remaining mares and Spike spoke for a bit before Twilight seemed to realize something and teleported out of the restaurant. Spike jumped out of his seat and quickly ran after the princess.

Something must have happened, Sombra frowned a little, regretting having not paid close enough attention. The remaining mares finished their meals in awkward silence before departing the restaurant. When that happened, Starlight lowered her menu and looked very thoughtful and contemplative.

Sombra ignored it, his meal had arrived and the Dark Pony began eating. When he was done, Starlight had left the restaurant as well.

Perhaps it’s time to head back to the fort. Princess Twilight being here could mean I have attracted attention, or maybe not. Best not take any chances. I better lay low for a little while, the king thought as he rose up from his seat. He went to pay and then left the restaurant.

Once more he took to the air to depart the city that way. When he was far enough way, he didn’t change into his shadow form. This time he teleported away, departing Equestria proper for now with these thoughts.

I wonder what Barricade is up to. Perhaps I should check on him next.

The end