Blaze of Glory

Shadow had been cleaning her new home and work space for hours on end, and even when Crescent did show up, a few hours into her own cleaning work to help, it still was a slow process. Now they stood back and looked at the newly cleaned spaces admiring the fruits of their hard work. Her forge, it’s surrounding area and her quarters were now clean as they could get it. They agreed that they were going to leave the store rooms for now and after checking the well close Shadow thankfully found that the well’s water hadn't been contaminated by the lack of care and time "So I guess that's it for tonight, whatever happened to that maid who was supposed to chip in with us?" She asked, wiping a bit of sweet and dust off her brow before settling back down into one of her metal chairs.

Crescent quickly turned back toward the forge to hide a look of slight annoyance "The Master had her and our messenger sent out on an "important" errand. They are not expected to return for several days" he said doing his best to not reveal his annoyance at the errand his Master insisted couldn't wait, he could never wait for an appropriate time to conduct his errands.

She could read the butler well enough by this point to tell he was annoyed, but was it at the errand, their Master, or both? She guessed she would find the answer to that as she spent more time at the estate "Well with luck the store rooms won't be as messy and ill be able to handle them myself tomorrow, besides I was hoping to fix the bellows first thing in the morning" she smiled trying to cheer him up a bit, though that left her with the issue of where she was going to acquire some fresh leather for the patches.

He shook his head as he thought about the time they had already spent fixing up and cleaning the basement "As we are stopping for the night as it is, I will personally ensure that Miss Fen is down here when we do get to cleaning them out. I am fine waiting a day or two if that is what it takes" he huffed determinedly before he thought about the other task she had mentioned “Miss Shadow what do you expect it will take to fix them?” he pointed to the bellows. He was used to keeping inventory of the estate as well as sending out all orders for any new material they needed, and that included all the materials for the multiple crafts-ponies that Blaze employed.

That was a long errand if was going to take days, she raised an eyebrow but didn't ask further into that instead choosing to concentrate on his question “I will need about a hides worth of soft supple leather as well as sewing supplies so I can attach the patches" so long as she didn’t let the task bore her to tears she had enough competence with a sewing kit to pull off the tedious patch work that was needed.

That got him smiling again “Is that all Miss? Miss Sharp has an ample supply of those materials, I will bring them to you first thing in the morning” He had honestly expected to be completely removing and replacing the old bellows.

She smiled lightly in return “Ok I guess I will be seeing you in the morning then..." A thought just occurred to her as she realized her room, all her spaces in fact, was missing something important "How am I supposed to know when to wake up? There are no windows down here!" this would be heavy detrimental to her ability to sleep and wake up on anything resembling a schedule, and unless she was vastly mistaken she would only be able to tell time at all by the melting of her candles.

Crescent looked confused for a second then he got what she meant "Have no worry miss, we will figure out some sort of timepiece for you to use down here, and I will personally wake you at first light each morning, when the staff is expected to wake up" It was one of his regular duties to ensure none of the staff slept in.

She nodded slowly, she preferred waking up herself but she couldn't think of a practical alternative, even if she got an appropriate hour glass or by some miracle, a sundial they would still be unable to wake her on their own "Thank you sir" smiling slightly as she did her best to accept not only the offered help but the change in her routine.

He truly appreciated how she used formalities even if they were not strictly necessary "No thanks are necessary Miss, I’m simply doing my job. Now get some sleep, I made sure you had all the linens you would need and a fresh mattress" he smiled as he headed up to main floor, he had to perform one last check of the premise before he would settle i to bed himself. In particular he wanted to walk through the kitchen, with the numerous incidents that arose from having Spice as their chef, he just couldn't find a way to trust that stallion.

When did he sneak all of that passed her? She wondered as he left her for the night. Once he was gone she quickly went to check out her new bedroom. As expected it was a stone room but this stone had a much finer finish on it making it a lot less like a cave and more livable. The floor had a copper colored rug covering most of it, which felt wonderful underhoof “Weird, they must really like copper, or maybe they think I do...” she idly thought as she went to examine her new bed. Her bed was still built into the back wall but it was at least twice the size of her old one, the rest of the room was bare save for its one candle lamp and the metal side table next to the head of her bed.

She was amazed, she never thought she would find such a wonderfully large bed. She poked it with a fore hoof "So soft, I am going to be lucky to wake up at all in the morning" she chuckled as she got undressed. Carefully folding her clothes just like she always did back at the palace before she got into her wonderful new bed. She couldn't help taking a few minutes to reflect on how wonderful it was to finally be owned, and with that thought in mind she drifting off to dreams of her new life.

Celestia's sun rose in all it’s beautiful glory bathing the cloud mansion of the high nobility in it’s glorious glow. Down below the ever present clouds the new days light managed to dispel some of the previous nights gloom and once more provide what little light the commoners could ever expect to receive. Thankfully for the residents and staff of the Blaze estate, they were positioned at a higher point in the city so some of the rooms in the third floor managed to get some sunlight in the mornings and evenings which allowed Crescent in his third floor room to awaken on time each day.

When the faintest ray of light touched his face Crescent awoke, practically leaping out of his bed. His room was simple and functional, there was no art or trinkets just his bed rug on the wooden floor. His door was also made of wood along with it’s frame creating a freestanding effect as the rest of his room, window included, where made of cloud. His bed expectedly followed this theme and consisted of only enough wood and mattress to prop him two feet off the ground from floor to the top of the feather mattress.

With a practiced precision one might expect from such a prim and proper pony such as him he got dressed in a fresh suit and proceeded out his door to his first task of the day. With the maid out on the Masters errand he decided that he would start with Spice today, making his way down the two flights of stairs to his first floor room next to the kitchen. With a brisk knock, he barged straight into Spices room “It’s time to wake up Spice” he said matter of factly, leaving of the mister he would normally add as a subtle show of his feelings toward the unstable chef.

Spice’s room was a disorganized mess that one might expect from a colt, clothing strewn about and small collections of his personal spices scattered all over the place and unlabeled on top of it. His bed tilted toward the wall, because he had sawed off the wall side legs to achieve the angle and he was lost amidst a collection of blankets and pillows. As to complete the effect his small slit of a window was thoroughly bored off so that the sun could never have the chance to disturb his slumber.

He barely lifted his still helmeted head over the edge of his bed to look toward Crescent *mumble* was all the sound he managed to produce.

Shaking his head in general disgust “It is time to wake up and I will have your pay docked if you can’t manage to get into the kitchen and accomplish your job” his tone was that of the disappointed father talking to his child, a point he often felt when interacting with spice.

With a glare that was easily visible, despite his helm, he crawled out of his bed “Fine, I’m up. Did you really need to start the day with a threat?” he really had times when he hated the large stallion, and mornings counted as one of those times.

“Just start on breakfast, I’ll be back to ensure that it is finished on time” without waiting for a response he backed out and closed the door. The next member of staff he had the pleasure of waking was Sharp; He headed down the hall to her workroom.

Sharp had a room in the estate, she really did, but no one could remember a time when she actually used it, the popular theory was that she had completely forgotten where it was. As before he knocked and entered the room, finding it in much the same state as the previous day the only difference was that the petite pegasus was sound asleep in a pile of fabric directly behind her seat, he figured she fell asleep working again and simply fell backwards into the pile “Rise and shine miss Sharp, what have I told you about trying to work through the night?” he asked in a playful manner.

She rose with ease as she stretched to remove the stiffness from her joints but as was expected shining was not on her agenda “The same thing I tell you about finding me more work, don’t do it!” she was still angry about the additional workload he had dropped on her the previous day.

He smiled at her “Speaking on that, is miss Shadow’s attire coming along smoothly?”

She managed to yawn angrily as she got back into her seat “Yes its coming along, why do you think I pulled another all nighter, it wasn’t to admire Nightmare’s handy work! Her normal dress is done, the gown is in planning still” she pointed to a plain grey dress that was on her finished rack.

He stepped over and picked it up “Marvelous, I’ll bring it straight to her. I also require soft leather and one of your spare sewing kits, we have need of them to restore the forge”

With a quick roll of her eyes she pointed to a pile of leather “Thats what you want, and here” she tossed the extra sewing kit at him “Is the rest, now if you will be ever so kind and LEAVE, I can get started on today's orders and MAYBE have time to work on that stupid gown today” she then got back to work on the outfit she had been working on the previous night.

Grabbing the kit from the air and the leather from the pile he started for the door “Assuming Spice has actually made his way into the kitchen i will return with your breakfast soon”

As Crimson was making his way toward the door to Shadows basement, the staff coachmen appeared down the hall “Good to see someone who is already awake, did you require anything mister Specter?” he had to shift the items he was holding as they started to topple from his sudden stop. Specter was more adept at randomly appearing and disappearing than anypony he knew, himself included.

The unicorn smiled back “I don’t require anything but Blaze hopes you will join him in the meeting room, he wants to talk through another errand he is planning to attempt after the Gala" he said in his normal creepy fashion, which was somewhere between Crescent and Eygore.

That was a twist to his plans "So much for having a normal productive day” he sighed “Please tell master Blaze that I will join him as soon as I finish wakening miss Shadow...” before he had even finished Specter had disappeared once more.

Shaking his head once more he walked down past two more doors before reaching the one that lead to the basement. The darkness that greeted him posed a challenge he had not accounted for, he laced a free hoof to light the candles on the way down. After half a minute's worth of debate he decided to place his collection of items by the door and headed down to illuminate the space first, he would personally see that she had enough candles to light her rooms all day and night as soon as she started to turn a profit for the estate. Once the forge was visible he gathered up the materials and placed them on one of her work benches. With that finished he walked over to Shadows bedroom and, just as he had with the others, he knocked and entered her room “Miss Shadow, it’s time to get up”.

Dreams of metal craft floated through her head, beautiful swords and knives as well as more mundane things like the chairs and other furniture she would soon be crafting for her rooms. As she was picturing a particularly complex and beautiful braided cable she heard Crescent enter and speak. With a jolt she lept out of her bed landing neatly by her bed on all four hoofs “Good morning, I didn’t sleep in did I?” she was obviously still partially asleep, old reflexes kicked in that told her that if her masters were to wake her she was in trouble at the very least.

Crescent did his best not to snicker at the display “No miss, I have just arrived to wake you as I said I would last night. I also took the liberty of acquiring the materials you requested, you will find them on the workbench by the forge” he then turned so she could dress and get started with her own tasks “Breakfast will be ready in an hour, I will bring your dish down when it’s ready but I must apologize in advance if I’m a bit late, Master Blaze has requested my presence to discuss an errand”

That struck her as strange, this was the second time he had used errand and not elaborated on it. Normally she would suppress her curiosity, as it was unbecoming her station, but she felt slightly emboldened by how she had been treated thus far “I hope I’m not overstepping but may I ask what the errand is?” she looked particularly meek as she teed unfamiliar social waters.

Crescent shook his head “You may indeed ask miss, but I’m sorry to say that I don't know yet what his wishes are, I will find out when I talk to our Master about it” he said truthfully “Unless he feels the matter is sensitive I be sure to inform you of the details" too bad, he thought, I know it will be sensitive already.

Her smile returned a bit "I can't thank you enough. Well then, I will start on fixing the bellows. Hopefully it won't take more than a few hours too securely patch it so I can move on to the rest of the estate"

He returned the smile at her plans and headed off to have his chat with Blaze.

It took her a good four hours of intensive sewing before she managed to get the bellows safely sealed. After that she was finally able to test out her forge; Much to her dismay it took another hour after she had finished her lunch to properly kindle the aged furnace. When it was finally ready she set out to fix up the estate.

The work and even the days to follow flashed by as she started her new life. Sadly there wasn't a single order for anything new from her yet, but after seeing the estate she wasn't surprised by the laundry list of maintenance items she had to keep her occupied. She fixed doors, fences, accents and anything else that had metal in it, so far as she could tell none of it had been touched in over a decade. And contrary to expectations, she loved every minute of it, she finally felt like a true craftsmen instead of a useless assistant. Sure in those days she rarely left her spaces to venture upstarts, as true to his word Crescent had everyone bring the broken metal to her, and if she did it was because something needed to be fixed while it was still in place. As a result of that she had many days where she missed seeing either the sun or moon but that was a small cost, so far as she was concerned right now.

Finally the night of the Galla came around. In the morning Sharp actually came down to see her and, as she had promised, had an elegant and simple sliver evening gown all ready for her. As Shadow tried it on for the final fitting Sharp couldn't help but comment at what she believed was her biggest disappointment with the dress "I know the whole metal thing may be a bit too obvious but no matter what I tried I just couldn't envision you in anything non-metallic; in fact for the first two days I tried every color I had in stock and in the end I just went with the inspiration." She said slightly frustrated at settling no matter how well it suited Shadows coat and unusual mane.

As if he had materialized a bit behind Sharp Blaze had snuck in so he could see her final fitting "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself Sharp, it looks absolutely beautiful on her" Blaze said as he looked the gown over taking in every detail and admire in the craftsmanship.

She spun around and glared disapprovingly at her Master "Like you're a good judge for taste and beauty!" She accused him, after all he liked to wear the same old out of date sute all the time and never accepted her offers to help update the ratty old thing.

He just waved the insult off "Well even so I am sure most of the rich and noble snobs we are going to mingle with will be under the same impression. After all you designed the clothes many of them are going to be wearing, and no one wants to start a war on a stupid fashion insult" he continued grinning as she just looked even more upset with him. He did his best not to laugh, as much as he loved making jokes at his staffs expense, he also enjoyed his continued capacity to live on the mortal plain.

Shadow just looked between the two in horror wondering why on earth the seamstress seemed to be on equal turns with her Master, she seriously suspected that everyone here at the estate was insane. She had never seen such disrespectful behavior from a slave or servant, and it continued to utterly boggle her mind. She just had to wonder if this was the social normality in the outside world? But even with that bit of confusion, she did look her master over, he was in a standard black suit but his shirt was a dark crimson, it did look particularly good on him she thought. As she was examining Blaze Sharp had turned back around and looked at the final points she had needed to check and then finally gave Shadow the nod that everything fit her correctly, she carefully stepped down from the slightly raised platform that Sharp had brought down for the fitting.

Her Master gave her a quick grin "We'll come on my Beauty, our carriage is already outside and waiting to bring us to the Galla" he took her hoof and lead her out to the main hall. Not far behind the pair Crescent had seemingly materialized and was falling next to Blaze as they exited the estate "While we are gone I leave you in charge of the estate and its affairs as usual Crescent, I trust everything will stay safe and in order until I return" he wished he could do that little trick of Crescent's or even how the butler and coachman could pull it off in the first place.

The large stallion nodded as he continued to follow parallel to them "You have nothing to worry about master Blaze, the estate will be as you have left it upon your return. But as to the run of the estate this day Master, is there any expected affairs you may have in mind when you say that? Or perhaps you have something more unexpected in mind?" his master was known to dump important matters on him during outings such as this, or simply leave the butler at a moment when he knew perfectly well that everything would be going incredibly wrong later in the day.

Blaze thought a moment before shrugging "Hopefully it will just be the safe return of our maid and messenger, they are taking far longer to return than I am comfortable with" he looked genuinely concerned at the pairs lateness "Other than that it promises to be a quiet day and I trust your judgement and abilities should, empresses forbid, something goes wrong" he wasn't one to normally make an oath involving the diarchs like that, he had seen too much in this world to believe them anything beyond immortal and powerful certainly not gods, but in his business it was never good to simply ask for bad luck to fall upon himself or others around him.

Shadow wasn't stupid, she could tell that there was a subtext to this conversation that was intently hiding several key details from her or maybe outsiders in general, but despite her aching curiosity she bit her tongue. Try as she might She just couldn't or maybe wouldn't break her years of training and question her Master when he obviously was keeping something from her, he must have his reasons after all some part of her reasoned. So unlike the night before with Crescent she simply hid her curiosity and continued onward toward the waiting carriage.

They followed the short cobblestone path from the estate to the carriage "We'll here we are" he helped her into the waiting carriage, as befitted a gentlepony, before signaling to the coachman that they were ready to head out and with a lurch the carriage started moving as the highered ponies started pulling it "Now it won't be long till we arrive, the Gala this year is being held at the hanging garden" he moved in a little closer to her "Between you and me the non-pegasi nobles were getting tired of being unable to attended hence why they had it on the ground this year, to gently appease them and quiet them down for another few years" he said conspiratorially before pulling back and relaxing back in his seat "But enough about those old fools, how has your week been? I like my staff to be in positions that they like, except Sharp. I couldn't put her anywhere else much to her chagrin" he chuckled lightly "That has been one of my secrets to having more productive and happy house staff" and far more loyal ones he mentally added to himself.

Well that continued to explain a lot about the grumpy seamstresses, or at least it was another piece to her puzzle "My week has been wonderful, Master. From my living spaces to the forge and especially the work, it has been a dream come true. I had only hoped for such things in my wildest dreams!" she smiled and beamed toward the pony that had made all if this possible for her.

Blaze looked at her curiously inwardly dreading something he couldn't trust her with yet before inquiring further "Not missing your family or friends? That's usually the first concern I see in new arrivals. No matter how much they like it, I've had to reject numerous slaves because they couldn't reconcile their loss of family and slipped into depression" he was pleased at her happiness, he really was but he wanted to be sure it wasn't a front, he couldn't hold onto her or fully trust her if she had any lingering reservations.

She shook her head laughing sadly "I had no friends till I came here, and as for my family, I saw my siblings sold to people and jobs they love years ago and I never knew my parents very well, only as long as it took to pass on our family's secrets in fact, so no loss there. But thank you for your concern you are unlike any master I have seen or even heard of before" she smiled even as that line of thought planted a tiny seed of doubt in her mind, when in all of the history of the empire or beyond had anything stayed perfect forever?

Blaze looked rather impressed at that "That is quite the compliment, I actually can't think of any higher as it is a point I have always prided myself on. Well that and unpredictability, but you'll see more of that particular virtue in the future I'm sure" he smiled, borderline evilly, at her.

That last bit hit her with a sense of grim-forbidding, especially the underlying crepiness of his smile, like she would learn to hate or just plain dread the meaning behind that statement, but like always she buried such concerns away as pointless and trivial to one in her position. If it hadn't been so natural she might have been concerned how easily and almost automatically she did things like that around her Master.

As the coach rounded a corner draped by groups of hanging trees that had grown over a large fence made of brick and spear like iron fen wing on top of that they could finally see their destination and the other coaches dropping off the other party goers at the front gate. The hanging gardens where once an old parade ground that had long ago been repurposed into a garden but some of the statues and of course the fencing were still left when the guards moved to a more lofty location to live and train. The entirety of the plant life was night blooming to make up for the lack of use during the long dreary days and as a nod to the goddess of battle who used to lay claim to the land, even the hanging trees that gave the gardens their name had been long breed to live and grow with little light. Both Shadow and Blaze quickly noted that for this party the nobles had arranged for that theme of the night Empress to be further exaggerated by adding dark blue and black decorations, even adding some statues of nightmare moon herself and anything else they could find to put the night goddess's mark on; The main carpet that stretched from one end of the party to the other was even a dark blue with nebulae and stars much like how the missionary's had described the empress's mystical mane to be.

Their coach arrived and joined a small precession of other coaches that had arrived before them. This looked like it was actually a fairly sizable event, much as she had feared it might be. "Master, I have not been trained for this type of engagement. How am I supposed to act?" She asked nervously desperately wishing she could spend the evening hiding behind her master despite how comical that notion would be for a pony of her stature.

He smiled comfortingly at her "It won't be much, just stay with me and follow my detections. I have no fear that you will make a good impression, you're the most polite slave I have ever seen, I believe you may even start to outdo Crescent before long." It was actually a bit creepy how polite she was, he would have to find someway to fix that.

She chuckled lightly "Thank you Master" she knew she was polite by nature but she would have thought there were many that were more polite than her after all she trained as a smith not as a courier or any other job to which edict was important. With a her jerking stop the carriage finally arrived at the front gate of the gardens where a town guard in his full formal uniform opened the door and helped the two down.

After thanking the guards they quickly moved into the throngs of party goers that were amazed just past the gate. After they had comfortably pushed their way in, Blaze leaned close to her ear "Now I need you to keep your ears and eyes open, this is the largest den of cutthroats and thieves in the city, and anything said or done can be used if one only is creative enough"

She was confused by the stamens but still nodded doing her best to hear and see everything around her "Um Master I would have thought this was a place to make allies not enemies" all she could really see so far was talking and general merriment, which gave her ample opportunity to talk about the foreign concept her master had just given her.

He chuckled doing his best to stifle a full laugh around the nobles "You really weren't lying about knowing nothing about this were you?" He pondered several ways he could break this news to her but eventually settled on a shock treatment "I'll give you the crash course on who is who in the nobility and power players in our fair city. From there I believe you'll be able to the rest together yourself" first he pointed to a stubbly grey earth pony in a full white suit holding a decorative wooden cane at his side "That is lord Graze, he controls much of ground city and the city's food supplies. To relieve stress he takes pleasure in finding non traditional ways for the poor to pay off their rent . Such as torture, prostitution for the city guard and even combat practice for his own guard" she looked closer at lord Graze now, he was short had a black suit on and plenty of gold jewelry. The ponies surrounding him hung on his every word with what she thought was fear and apprehension.

As they continued further down the path Blaze pointed to an extremely over dressed unicorn mare, it actually hurt to look in her detection with how garish and brite her outfit was.She was covered in diamonds and quartz that shown with a inner magical light "That is lady Glare Stone, her family owns rights to most of the gem traffic inside Baltimare they also are well known for their highly "secret" ties to the platinum duchy. If she is told something, her friends in that duchy are as well within the week, so most of our nobles use her to send miss information to their heated rivals" she could even be seen craning her next to eavesdrop on those near her procuring just how obvious of a spy she really was.

Next was one she recognized long before her master pointed him out "You of course know lord golden touch. What you do not is this stallion diverts funds from the Storm Palace’s profits straight into his own account and has multiple ties to the black market slave industry. A point that I myself used recently to aid in my negotiations for you" she had always known that her former owner had something horrible that he was hiding, and now she not only knew that but how Blaze had managed to afford her. She guessed that was one of the reasons he wanted her to keep her ears and eyes open around the nobility.

Not too far away was another pegasus high noble “That is lord crush, despite his family's name being the overt smashing of things they are better known for their ties to the best assassins and saboteurs in the city, those who oppose them seem to disappear in a single night" the blue pegasus was dressed simply in a standard noble suit that made him blend in with the crowed and he positively exuded an air of self confidence and superiority that could be felt all the way in the next duchy

He drew her attention before pointing to the Stormair estates far above them and far off in the distance "Then there is our lord Lightningclaw Stormair, who ultimately controls the entire city with an iron fist. He is known for his hatred of the ground, which is why he is not here, it is said that he has never touched it for as long as he has lived. But he is far better known for his utter loathing of the Platinum family and by extension most unicorns; There is little he wouldn't do to undermine either of them them. A special point of note, his ancestors founded all five of the Storm Palaces renowned breeding programs." Blaze had them move on from there.

She nodded, honestly surprised at their lords possible hatred of her race "The teachers always told us we owed our lives and legacy to the Stormair family as they were the ones who decided our ancestors could become something extraordinary, far above the standard pony" she recited from memory, it was a common point of redirect amongst the breeding programs

Blaze chuckled at the obvious bit of propaganda "More like they hated dealing with outside unicorns for metal work and enchantment so in a particularly bold move, they enslaved their own. After that they had the idea that they could use selective breeding to further improve their wares and thus killing two birds with one stone. They only have to deal with subservient unicorns and they make their chunk of the empire more profitable" he pointed out losing any trace of humor.

That gave her pause, as she considered the possible ramifications should her masters version be right "That can't be true? My entire line based on a stupid rivalry that stretches back to even before the empire was formed?" She said as she finally settled on trying her best not to believe the sound logic he had just presented her with.

Blaze shrugged as if indifferent to the whole thing "That is my own personal theory on how your line was formed. I also believe the other four programs had similar reasoning behind them when they were started" as they had been speaking the pair had moved to the center of the park and by extension they had reached groups of gossiping nobles that Blaze actually had an actual interest mingling with "How about this, as I just gave you way too much to think about, how about you take a rest on that bench over there while I attempt to wade through this sea of small talk" he then pointed to a nice stone bench bordered by scores of night flowers in full bloom "I'll wave to you when I need you to come over" he then forced his way into the nearest group, a tricky and quite forceful maneuver to witness, before he started chatting up acquaintances and contacts alike for information.

She nodded as he left her and faded into the group of ponies "Yes Master..." sighing as she went over and sat like she had been directed to, on the bench. She kept an eye open for her masters signal but otherwise sat there pondering what she had just been told. It made far too much cruel sense for her to just forget it or find any logical argument to debunk it. As she continued her own internal battle her eye caught sight of something strange that was set up across from her, a large sundial that was glowing pale blue.

Shadow sat there her eyes transfixed by the sundial in front of her, she slowly stood and trotted over to it. She had never seen its like before, it had all twenty four hours around its edge and the central wedge had been replaced by a low pyramid. Around the border was a spot for every day of every year separated into their months. On top of that the background was a lightly glowing dark pale blue which she bet meant night. the shadow from the pyramid twisted and split so that it would not only fall on exactly the right time but also the correct day "It includes everything one would need for keeping time all year long in one place" she said in awe as she continued to zone out at the sight of the enchanted timepiece.

It was then that Blaze stepped into her view, he had been trying to signal her for several minutes before he finally had to just excuse himself to figure out what was wrong with her "Hello, Equestria to Shadow!" He waved a hoof in front of her face, trying to get her attention “Are you there? what is wrong?” he then tried to outright poke her.

She finally spoke after several firm pokes "Hi, Master" she said still fixated on the wondrous timepiece "What kind of sundial is that Master? I’ve never seen anything like it "She sounded distant as if in a trance.

He raised an eyebrow before looked at the clock "That is an eternal dial, most find it too gimmicky for everyday use but I guess the decorators thought it would fit with the Nightmare decor" He looked back at her questioningly "Is there something wrong with it?" He was beginning to forget he had left several nobles waiting on the two of them as he focused more and more on his slave odd behavior.

She slowly shook her head "No something is right, something is very, very right... Would it be ok if I took a look at it, a close up hoofs on look?" She practically pleaded with him, still never letting her eyes leave the dial.

He looked around a bit before finding someone of use finally finding one other the higher up servants working the party and passing some money to him "It's yours now" he said simply wondering what this would lead to.

As soon as Blaze had uttered those words she snatched it from where it placed with telekinesis pulling it close for her to see it. It twirled in front of her before she concentrated what magical muscle she had on it and the whole dial exploded in a ball of grey-black magical energy.

Blaze and several of the close by nobility took a few steps back expecting shrapnel to come flying at them in a hail of deadly rocks. But instead the parts were all intact just disconnected from one another, even stranger they were still acting as if they had been a single piece.

She could see all the parts now and the more she concentrated the more details popped up, she could see dimensions, materials even the flow of magical power that filed it. Without realizing it she had refined her telekinesis to read objects she held with it, and it only ran on her pure belief in her own innate ability to understand every portion of the device.

Blaze looked on, seeing his slave tinker with the device as her eyes were beginning to turn an energetic violet. The nobles were also taking note and gathering around this odd bit of entertainment, once the shock and panic over the unexpected explosion had died down.

Shadow finally worked her way to the central point that held the real magical source of power, a strange sphere that was originally hidden inside the central pyramid which consisted of alloyed iron, magnesium, and silver that powered the whole device "Master, I don't recognize this alloy" she pointed to the sphere she had been concentrating on "what is it? I see iron, magnesium and silver I didn't even think such a mixture could be accomplished" She continued examining it, finding the runes that powered it and slowly deciphering them as she waited. She really wished that she had been able to practice her enchanting more, she was far too rusty with her rune alphabet.

He quickly looked at it as he thought about the mix of metals she had said "It has no name, it and many other nameless alloys like it are just called dark metals. Simply because whoever made it is the only one who could tell you what it's made of" he said not sure why the name mattered to her.

Her eyes widened a bit at the term "Dark Metal?" She had never in her life thought anything besides the basic alloys was possible to make, this revelation opened up so many more incredible possibilities not to mention the magi-mechanical way this thing had been built was pure genius "I think I have a better name for it Master" as she turned her shifting violet eyes to her master.

He pondered that statement still not connecting the dots "And what name would that be" he asked finding himself deeply curious as to the climax of all of this.

As she spoke it emanated with a formerly untapped power "Shadow Metal" she then pulled loose large amounts metal from the area, mostly old iron and then rebuilt the dial. As she did she changed it, making it more precise in both timekeeping and it's magical sense of night, day and even adding sessions to it. When she was finished the dial floated to the bench where her master and the onlookers examined it, it no longer had it’s former pedestal just the simple circle that was most important to it. She had also used some of the iron to put a delicately designed touch of art to the blank stone depicting a lush forest around its circumference "It is perfect, that is a better time piece than anything we own, and just look at the precision at which the shadow glides across the surface" one of the nobles said and the rest were quick to agree with the first.

Blaze looked with pride at his slave, taking in her wonderful achievement and the self publicity she had just given herself when he noticed a detail she hadn't yet "Hey Shadow, check your flank" he pointed only barely seeing the new mark through the side of her dress.

She looked down and pulled back her dress so she could see better, it was three interlocked purple gears that faded to smoke as if being blown away at the outer edges. She couldn't help but cry as she muttered "Smithing, Magi-mechanics, and Shadow Metal" she whispered through the tears "I finally found it... after all this time" it was all she could do to not fall over in joy, not only did she have the life she had always wanted but now she was a whole pony at last.

Blaze stepped over to her "This is beyond wonderful, that is a most unique specialty. And now I don't even think I'll need to do any selling" he pointed to the group examining her refined work "you did all the advertising I could ever have wanted" he smiled and hugged her lightly.

She returned the smile and hug as she continued to sob with pure joy "Thank you Master!" Turning her now violet eyes to him. As she looked around her new power kept feeding her information as it had with the clock only now it was more passive, she wondered how long it would last before she would have to renew the new spell.

Blaze took a second to look over her newly colored eyes, thinking at how exotic and beautiful they now were "Come on, I believe we have already done all we needed and even hoped to do for this night" he offered a hand out to her "Go on grab your masterpiece and let's head home, I know you have lots to think about and soon you'll have lots to do as the outside orders flow in" he motioned to the mass of nobles examining her first public work.

She carefully exhumed her clock out of the onlookers "Yes Master" as she looked over her finished piece and took his offered hoof.

He whispered to her once she was close enough to hear "You know when we are at the house you can just call me Blaze, I swear between you and Crescent I'm drowning in prim decorum" he then raised his voice "Yes this work was by my own smith Shadow Amalgam!!! She is accepting orders via the Blaze estate, I look forward to your patronage" he gave a winning smiled before they turned and left the Galla.