Blaze of Glory

That night Shadow just couldn't sleep. She was so excited at finally having an owner, and all those thoughts and dreams she kept going over didn't help the matter. She hadn't realized it a small part of her had actually begun thinking that she would never leave and would just spend the rest of her days as a stupid apprentice. She also thought about Flame Blaze, an interesting pegasus she wondered what had compelled him to seek her out, she hadn't been listed in the catalog the palace kept because of her blank flank so it wouldn't have been easy for him to find out she even existed. Still that mattered very little right now in the great scheme of things "All that matters now, is that I finally have a true owner and can get out of the accursed place" she said lightly with a contented sigh.

Of course she knew that she would eventually have to visit the Palace again, she would always be bound to her breeding program and when the breeders summoned her, her master would be required to bring her back here per the sales contract he would be signing. The thought was not a overly pleasant one to her but she had known that would come for as long as she knew what breeding itself was "And how else is my line supposed to continue" she muttered, once again rationalized the situation as she had many times before when thinking about such things.

In frustration she got out of her bed and looked out her small window, it had been a long time since she had looked at the ground city, as one might expect from a city built with a military mentality most buildings she could see were more like stone forts than houses or shops. The few scattered wooden buildings within the city tended to be made to house those who were too poor to afford to live in a normal stone home. Some of the servants and slaves who had actually been outside of the Storm Palace had spoke of a larger collection of poor houses and slums in a different part of the city. All she had ever seen of it was what she could through her window, which was apparently where the upper class who couldn’t live in the clouds choose to live.

When morning finally came her excitement had been tempered by heavy drowsiness, so her morning proceed as it always did. But as she was heading out for breakfast one of the many servants that actually worked at the Palace, instead of just training here, stopped her on her way to the mess hall "Our master desires your presence in his office at once" the mare then turned and headed off not once looking back to see if Shadow was indeed following her.

Shadow followed her around the many twisting turning hallways, many of which she had never seen before this point, until they came to a set of office doors. The doors where solid mahogany with gold trim and the emblem of the Palace emblazoned on the center of the door. The servant motioned for her to stay where she was as she approached the door. She knocked on the large doors "Master, I have brought the slave you requested".

From beyond the door came the reply "Send her in" it was a bit quick and dismissive for Shadows liking.

The servant bowed "Yes master" she then turned to shadow "Be quick, the master will see you now" she pulled both doors open then when Shadow was safely inside she firmly shut them and returned to her normal work.

Shadow looked around, the room was very well furnished, sofas, tables, and even a side desk with a secretary and right in front of her was her owner sitting behind his large stone desk. That was just the second time in her life she had seen him, the last was just before she started her training as a smith nine years ago, he was portly for a pegasus but she could still see plenty of muscle despite his gut. His coat was white going to gold at the tips of his wings and hooves. His hair was just a plain golden blond cut short as was expected of any pegasus nobility. She hadn't felt good around her master Golden Touch the first time she had meet him, this second time was no better.

Standing in front of the desk was Blaze, it seemed they were still hammering out the final points of the sale even as she had arrived "... Yes she is a amalgam, yes I know the history of the program but I still say she should cost a further hundred celests less because of my own expenses in taking over her training, no matter how well breed that is just for me taking a blank flank off your hoofs" Blaze reasoned; he also had carefully avoided the issue of her forging mithril, he had bet that Golden and his predecessors were not keen on that being public, and thus he wouldn't bring it up despite how much it would ultimately gouge his bottom line in the sale.

Golden Touch, quite reasonably, looked offended "Off our hoofs! We are payed by the city for her lodging and raising, also whatever her specialty finally becomes could be worth a hundred times more than you or your estate are worth!” he stopped to seethe and slow his breathing before he started again “Now take the offer before I come to my senses" he shouted.

Blaze smiled, and Shadow wondered exactly how this noble had managed to get a deal like this in the first place "Then I can't help but accept, thank you Golden". After that last exchange she suspected that Blaze had something big on her owner and had pressured him into this long before and at a far lower cost than he would have wished.

Golden then turned to Shadow, a look of barely contained rage still plastering his face at the whole proceeding "Shadow Amalgam, come here and sit" Golden pointed to one of the chairs in front of his desk.

Shadow bowed "Yes Master" she quickly passed through the room and sat where she was directed keeping her eyes low. As any slave would tell you, even the happiest and best treated, the best way to avoid becoming the target of your masters rage was simply to be as invisible as possible. Over the years she had seen many of her peers choose the wrong instance to get mouthy when an instructor had been in a foul mood, it never ended well. still on the plus side the chair she had been given was the single most comfortable thing she had ever sat on.

Golden turned back to Blaze "Here she is" he turned the papers they had been writing around so Blaze could review it "If you are satisfied with the contract and my slaves condition sign on the bottom where I marked and she is yours" he stated in visible agitation.

Not being a fool Blaze looked over every inch of that paper for anything that Golden might have added when he wasn't looking. Once that was done he went over to her and he looked over her appearance and was pleased with how well she kept herself even this close, then he looked over her teeth as that was a common problem for slaves but hers were white and clean "I have already observed her in her element; I am satisfied with her" he sighed his name at the bottom before Golden added his own signature and handed the paper to Blaze.

Blaze took the papers and rolled them up "Now that that is settled, you will follow me to our carriage" he spoke to her as he walked out of the office.

She stood "Yes, Master" she bowed to her former master before leaving after her new one. As She walked away she carefully concealed a ecstatic smile, and if she continued to fight against the joy that she felt she was sure that she would get one hell of a muzzle cramp.

    Golden watched as his untapped cash cow walked out the door, and as soon as they were out of sight he began shouting and cursing enough to shake his entire office. He had never had anyone who dared to blackmail HIM of all stallions and once he had calmed down he set his mind on how he could get his much desired revenge.

The carriage her new master owned was a elegant and surprisingly not flashy, it had been hoof carved of a dark wood that she didn't recognize. The trim was polished steel which struck her as odd as did the extra supports for the windows but this was her first time even seeing the outside world let alone a coach up close so she figured that they could all be like that. The carriage was pulled by a half dozen stallions that had the bored look of hired help. once she got inside of it she could see a set of candles ensconced for illumination at night or in the case of Baltimare the entire day on the ground. The seats where made with a dark red fabric and had, what she assumed to be, her Masters emblem embroidered into both seats; The seats were also more comfortable than she could have imagined and that was after her experience with the chair in Golden's office, she had no idea they could find such a comfortable and plush material for ponies to relax on.

Blaze was pleased with himself and even as he sat down and motioned for her to take a seat across from him he couldn't stop grinning foalishly "You are quite the catch, and once I show you off at the Galla in a week the orders will come flooding in" that was far from the actual reason he couldn't contain his excitement but before he got to that with her he wanted to know her better.

She shrugged, that was fine with her, orders she could deal with. Though that bit about the Galla did make her a touch nervous. She had never been trained in courtly behavior or courtesy so the thought of going to one was disconcerting, not only did she not like being in the spotlight but a part of her was uncomfortable with the idea she might embarrass her new master so soon after having being bought by him.

He then took on a thoughtful expression, but it ended up looking very silly as he continued to grin "But before I get too far ahead of myself, you will be my personal smith. I expect everything metal in my estate that needs repairs or mending be seen too before the weeks out so that you can be ready for outside orders by the time of the Galla. The other servants and slaves will be instructed to seek you out for any such developments" he sounded like he was giving some valiant effort at being serious, the strain was audible. He turned back to the window “We should be arriving there shortly...” Something had caught his attention out the window "Ah here it is now" he pointed to a three story estate, the first two story's were the normal stone fortress common to ground buildings and featured all the outward trappings that she had gotten used to seeing from her window back at the Palace such as the iron portcullis in front of heavy wooden doors for the entrance and the windows that had been converted from arrow slits, but the third was made from cloud, looking like a hasty addition to the old two story structure.

When they arrived the coachmen helped them down from the coach then handed Blaze a small box "I wanted to give you this since you are now mine" he held the box out for her.

When Shadow opened it she wasn't surprised to find the very collar she had forged the day before. She took it and with a little help from Blaze locked it into place "As for your clothes, you will see my seamstress and she will craft an appropriate set of working clothes and a dress for the gala" they started for the door "And Crescent here will take you to her" he pointed to the servant who had just opened the door to the estate.  Once he was sure that Shadow understood he left her and headed up a large stairway.

The servant in question was a sizable earth pony, but despite his obviously mass he still appeared the model of decorum, a sight that seemed to contradict itself as she approached. He wore a full butlers suite as usual which did a good job of covering his body so his mark wasn't visible to her, nor was his general physique. What also struck her was that she was close to eye level with him, a point she had not seen in a long time. As they reached the gap where the portcullis would sit if down, Crescent bowed "Yes sir. Come this way miss...?" he replied to their master automatically before turning to her, she guessed that despite hearing their masters plan the butler had waited till they were close enough for him to speak at a normal volume.

She could hear the question he was politely posing "I'm Shadow Amalgam, it's nice to meet you" she replied softly as if she could be offending him by speaking.

The Crescent's eyebrow raised slightly at her last name but he otherwise showed no reaction "Miss Shadow" he finished before leading her into their masters estate, part of him was secretly amazed that his Master had actually pulled off the transaction without the guards being called in or settling for a lesser slave. The layout was so much simpler than she was used to, the Storm Palace had been a massive sprawling structure that had constantly been expanded over the centuries it had been in operation, this place seemed to have a set plan for its layout and rooms even with the minor expansions that could be picked out.

They came to a room on the south side of the estate, it was filled with fabrics and other supplies for making clothing. The pegasus in the back corner of the room was a small thing, she could easily be mistaken for a young filly if it she was not so serious looking. Her coat was a pale teal with yellow highlights while her hair was a dark blue, her cutie mark was of a set of needles. As for clothes she wore a simple dress made of silk with a short skirt, she also had a silver collar around her neck signifying that she was also a slave "Miss Sharp, I have a new slave the master just acquired, this is miss Shadow" he indicated the slave following him with a hoof.

Needle Sharp looked over Shadow for a few seconds, sizing up the oddly large mare "So she needs clothes, wonderful" she sighed "Fine what is her job?" sounding like she expected misery out of this line of conversation as she gave Crescent a deadpan look, she absolutely hated adding to her list of ponies she was expected to provide clothing for.

"She is to be the master's personal smith" Crescent replied "Also besides her work clothes and a set of common ones the master requires her attendance at the upcoming Gala she will therefore need suitable evening gown" he ever so slightly braced himself as he spoke, knowing just how Sharp would react to this little addition to her work load.

Sharp barely resisted the urge to grind her teeth and she locked eyes with Crescent "I had finally caught up with my orders, finished all the mending and now our Master has the nerve to set me back again!" she visibly seethed, looking as if she would simply run over and throttle the stallion or their Master in a couple seconds.

Shadow could easily tell that the odd mare hated her workload, but that struck her as odd after all her cutie mark was of a set of needles with string, she should like her work as a seamstress. Try as she might she couldn't envision what else it could possibly stand for, it couldn't be medical, as doubtlessly Blaze would be utilizing her for that instead of a mear seamstress.

Finally she calmed enough to get back to work "Get over here so I can get your measurements" She huffed, resigning herself to the task and directed Shadow to a short raised platform before striping her of her old cloths. Shadow actually blushed as she stood there exposed but she stood stock still as was expected of her. Pulling out her measuring tape Sharp started, only stopping every couple of seconds to write down in her notebook, measuring her every dimension and making Shadow a bit dizzy as she literally flew circles around her. She even took measurements that many others would not bother with such as her horn length and base circumference.

Shadow remained still despite her discomfort at being studied and scrutinized like this at no point had anyone took such a detailed look at her like this. She hoped that this seamstress was better than the ones at the palace, they always had the novices make clothes for the slaves which meant ill fitting clothes had been a fact of life for her. That thought alone helped her, she wondered what a properly fit outfit might be like.

Crimson took a quick look at the sun's position through one of the windows in the room "I apologize for walking out on both of you but I need to attend to the Masters lunch. When she has a suitable working outfit summon me so I can aquant miss Shadow with her room and her forge".

Sharp nodded "Fine do what you must, she's fine here" before wavering the servant off as he quickly exited leaving the two mares alone.

Shadow was a bit shocked at the other slaves flippant dismissal of what was her detect superior "Was it wise to disrespect him like that?" she quietly asked.

Sharp was getting the last of her measurements as she spoke "You have a lot to learn about how our Master runs his affairs" Sharp pointed out as she gathered the fabric she needed "Lets just say that I have earned my share of leeway with such nonsense" that reply gave the pegasus an almost imperceptible smirk.

Shadow nodded in response not wanting to press the issue further, that almost smile looked unnatural. She couldn't even imagine herself ever being so disrespectful to anyone especially anyone who was in charge of her. But soon something else derailed that line of thought, HER room? HER forge? no surely she must have misheard that part, now that she was no longer at the Palace she surely would be housed in a communal set of slave quarters and be forced to share a forge with the slaves of other Masters She thought as she distractedly watched the pegasus work on a outfit for her.

Sharp might not have enjoyed her work but she was undoubtedly skilled at it. Within two hours the disgruntled pegasus had crafted a full set of working clothes for her "Come on I don't have all day, try it on" as she held up the finished set and impatiently waited for Shadow to take the bundle off her hoofs.

Shadow nodded as she took the clothes, then quickly slipped into them. The simple wool pants and shirt where both a dark copper color that complemented both her mane and her new collar. She also had a new metallic grey apron to match the rest of her new look, and unlike the ones she was used to this one actually had a metal lining that would fully keep hot embers and sparks from singing her coat "Thank you Sharp, I love it!" She said happily basking in the feel of a comfortable outfit.

The seamstress just shrugged before sitting on her chair to look over her work for any flaws "That's nothing special but, if you liked that then you'll flip at the gown I'm going to make for you. Still that's for another day, right now I need to bring you to that stuck up twit" despite her words she still gave her work another look over before standing “Well come on” as she started for the door. They headed out of the room and down the halls of the estate with Shadow following behind a few feet as Sharp lead the way.

After checking four places that Sharp expected the Stallion to have gravitated to, hey finally found Crescent in the kitchen. Much to their communal chagrin they walk in to find him exchanging glares of hate with the chief "I told you never to use your "special" spice cabinet with the masters food again!" he growled breaking the silent match the two were competing in.

The chief was an average earth pony, his coat was an off green and his hair was black, she couldn't see his mark from where she stood. He had a typical white chefs uniform except for his hat which was actual a old style city guard helm similar to a great helm except that it allowed his mane to flow out a cut in the back of it "I know my spices from my "spices" you giant olf!" the obviously insulted chef bellowed back at the enraged butler.

As she listened Shadow couldn't help but think that she had no interested in discovering whatever the chef meant by spices and “Spices”.

Crescent just continued with his verbal barrage "Tell that to the master and explain to him that two week nap he took the last time you messed up!" It was mildly frightening to see the large polite butler seemingly swell with barely contained rage as he laid into the chef.

Sharp on the other hand was used to how these two acted when they got together "HEY, Crescent" she shouted over the raging argument.

Crescent turned sharply, rage still evident on his face till he actually saw and recognized them "Oh dear, looks like Spice and I fell into one of our old arguments" his rage visibly dissipating even as he spoke. After several calming breaths he took a hoof and readjusted his lightly wrinkled and ever so slightly disheveled outfit.

Spice just shook his head "More like my big brother was sticking his nose in by business, again" Spice huffed in the background.

Crescent spared him only a moments glare before turning back to the two mares "I'm sorry ladies" he then looked over Shadow "The clothes are so much more fetching than those rags the palace provided, good job as usual miss Sharp" he tried complimenting her.

Sharp rolled her eyes at the compliment, she never knew why he bothered trying to congratulate her on something she could barely give two noctems about "Yea yea, now if you don't mind I have a recently extended backlog to get to" she didn't even wait to be dismissed before walking out the door back toward her sewing room, her grumbling could still be heard even when she was halfway back to her room.

Crescent sighed as he rubbed his temple "Let me apologize miss Shadow, the Masters collection of servants and slaves has never been a group to ever act properly but they are the best at what they do, as I have no question you will be too" returning to his normal smile as he finished speaking. He then did his best to play that the whole situation had no real effect on him, an act he had perfected admirably over the years he had trained as a youth.

She took the compliment with a small smile, internally she had always thought she would be but she liked the slight reinforcement after all she had spent the latter half of her life being told she was a useless waste of space.

Crescent then turned from her "Now come along, it's going to a long day for you I fear" he said cryptically as he took a tray of food then headed out of the kitchen. Not too far from the kitchen was a small set of stone stairs heading down to a Basement sealed off with a rather large solid oak door. Crescent fished in his pocket and pulled out his key ring which dangled with a dozen or more keys "One thing you may want to update in this house miss, the locks and door knobs are in a rather sorry state. Plus me and the Master would appreciate a more condensed set of keys" still with some fiddling with the lock he was finally able to unlock and open the door.

She nodded at his comment, this place certainly needed a lot of work, everywhere she looked she could make out piecemeal fixes to the various metal fixtures and objects that lined the halls and rooms she had seen so far. She had been keeping a mental inventory from the instant she had set hoof inside the estate, she was determined to complete her Masters request with time to spare. She followed him through the door looking around the gloomy unlit room. Past the door was another set of stairs leading to a one and a half story Basement space, from this space there were other sets of rooms, one branch looked like it was purely for storage another looked like it might be a well and the last looked like a set of quarters. Everything was stone of course and covered in a thick layer of dust "I think I just got what you meant by it being a long day" she sighed.

Crescent looked around the dusty chambers as he started to relight the long untouched candles that normally illuminated the space "Indeed, but don't fret I will be assisting in the clean up as will our maid when she is done with her normal chores" he lead her to the living space which was a set of three rooms a dining/living space that still had a table and chairs, a wash room and a small bedroom.

Her jaw dropped as the enormity of the spaces hit her and she remembered his previous statement to Sharp "This can't all be for me?!? Can it?" The living space alone was at least four times the size of her old room, this had to be some cruel joke at her expense.

Crescent turned to her "It can and is, one of the reasons our master has spent no expense procuring the best smith he could was due to this long unused forge and associated spaces, it so annoyed him to have a full floor of his estate be useless just because it lacked an occupant" he smiled "So long as his faith in you is not misplaced, this floor will be yours to do with as you please, of course if you require more finishing you will either have to make them or have the master order them"

She had every intention to make such things herself, but that begged the question "What will the supply of material be like? If its ok for me to ask that is" She quickly caught herself after that question, she had almost let her excitement get the better of her once more.

Crescent nodded "A good question actually, now we are not anywhere close to how financially stable the palace is so until you start bringing in profit of your own we have arranged for a limited supply of raw iron for each week about five ingots worth once forged I believe" He wasn't perfectly versed in how smiths measured their materials but he could still guess from what the supplier, at the mine that their Master decided to order from, had indicated.

She nodded "That will cover the estate's maintenance fine, so I'll just have to get creative with the remaining ore when that is done. But what about the store rooms? is there anything left over from before it ran into disuse?" She knew she remembered seeing some on the way down and metal was one thing that never went bad with age, well except for when rust got involved but even then she could salvage from that if enough was left.

He shook his head apologetically "Almost entirely coal, the two rooms for various metals are empty, but they are to be yours, so when you get to cleaning them any material found shall be yours, we just require you to tell us about it so we can keep account of things" he said as he finished dusting the table and two of the three chairs all of which were made of steel, likely a practical decision by the previous occupant as they were in a room connected to a forge. He then place the tray down and pulled one of the clean chairs out for her.

Shadow went over to the chair "Thank you" she gratefully and took her seat. She looked over the meal as he took his "Crescent, would it be ok for me to ask a question?" she asked nervously as she watched him.

He started serving the meal as he spoke "Yes I expect you have many, but I'll answer one if I'm able" he loved having someone who was polite to talk to for a change, all the other house staff had their own quirks and crazy points, so far this young slave had only acted like a truly refined lady. Sadly he figured, knowing the masters taste in staff, she would soon manifest some level of eccentricity.

She smiled shyly "What dose master Blaze do?" with her nervousness evident in her voice as she spoke.

Crescent took a second before he spoke "I was wondering if he had bothered to mention that to you" he sighed "Our master is heir to a name of minor almost vanished noble house, far as he knows the last of it" he motioned around indicating the estate “he had to earn all of this himself starting with just his name, which closed more doors then opened. But as for your question, he is a merchant, and one who is willing to take risk where others shy away" his pride evident in his voice as he described Blaze’s most defining point.

She nodded in understanding "Like gambling on a skilled smith who has yet to discover her mark" she said as she connected the dots.

He nodded "I see your very quick and perceptive miss, that will serve all of us well" they had kept eating as they chatted and by now she had already finished her portion "Strange, I was hopping miss Fen would be here by now so we could start but I see she is once more running behind" he shook his head "I'll dispose of this in the kitchens you'll find cleaning supplies inside your washroom I believe, I will join you when I'm done upstairs" he took the tray and headed back upstairs.

There was one thing she wanted to look at before cleaning. She walked over to her work spaces central feature, a large stone furnace that was the heart of any equestrian forge. Hers it seemed was a century old version, but despite its obvious antiquity it still had everything she needed, the previous owner of the estate must have had a guard to arm or something because the many rusted tools that were left spoke of a fully functional forge that could churn out armor and weapons on top of the more mundane items she might have expected.

The furnace itself was dead center in the room and looked like it could hold a inferno several times larger than she was. The top curved inward to the foot diameter chimney stack, which must be at least a full three and a half stories tall she realized looking up. Connected to the main furnace was a large set of bellows, that it used to fan and control the flame, would need to be replaced or at least repaired soon but other than that and some cleaning she could get this whole thing roaring once more with little effort. She smiled at the thought as she headed back to her wash room to get her cleaning supplies.