Blaze of Glory

For the next two days Shadow practiced using her new weapons non-stop save to eat and sleep, luckily for her other nobles seemed to be awaiting the verdicts from the braver ones who had placed orders with her and had yet to send in their own; a point that drove her harder actually because she knew that as soon as they did her free time would quickly be eaten up.

She was getting good at using all three of her weapons in conjunction, she was beginning to feel much more confident with them. strangely she was beginning to figure out her own general form, the strange point being that she used her swords only as her last line of defence and depended on her tail for the rest.

As she was cutting down and skewering her dozenth dummy for the day, in the second floor sparing room, Fen came through the door. She had expected to work out by herself but instead she contented herself with watching as dummy number thirteen was systematically dismembered before shadow finally finished off the poor thing by slicing it’s neck in half  "You're looking a lot better than you did when we first met! I bet that worthless excuse for an assassin would be no problem for you now." She said appraisingly.

Shadow sheathed her swords and carefully rebranded her tails together as she turned to face Fen "Ah Fen, I was wondering when I'd see you again. We didn't really get the chance to talk as you defended the trash that took out my eye!" Her slightly jovial tone openly masking her contempt for the assassin. She was, obviously, still quite peeved, not just about her eye but her extra tail and embedded spikes, useful as some of them where she didn't like how they made her feel. On one hand she felt so much stronger but most of the time she just felt like some unnatural abomination or monster. She had, after many private screaming sessions in her room, come to terms with the fact that she’d likely get stuck with the enhancements and other additions for the rest of her life. But just because she wasn't going to do something harmfully or drastic like rip them off herself; didn't mean she was a hundred percent happy with them.

Fen couldn't look her in her eyes, mostly due to Shadow's spectral eye giving her the creeps every time she tried "I really am sorry about that, I prefer clean kills but Blaze was right, she did provide plenty of clues before she unfortunately passed. Hey if it makes you feel any better i'll gladly spar with you whenever I can, that way you can learn to kill faster and never have to worry about something like that happening again." She did her best to look friendly and unphased but still looked couldn't quite manage, that eye of hers was so disconcerting, it felt like it was looking into her soul whenever Shadow looked towards her. A part of her hoped Shadow wouldn't take the offer up as she dint want to be proven correct about that thing.

Shadow smiled a little evilly "It does actually. I'll take you up at that after our next job." She would look forward to a friendly chance to mop the floor with Fen. Her smile faded as she realised what she was thinking ‘Since when do I look forward to causing pain of any sort? especially that of anypony else?’ she thought with mounting concern about her mental well being as she added yet another thing into her growing internal list of how monsters she was becoming.

Fen wasn't looking forward to it on the other hand, Shadow was shaping up to become one hell of a bruiser, but maybe she would finally stop getting the creeps around her if she did spent more time around her, assuming her soul wasn't devoured or something. Fen quickly got off that lovely train of thought and went back to the original reason she had sought Shadow out "Speaking of our next job, Blaze is gathering us to go over the plan. Let me help you clean up this mess then i'll show you to our meeting room" she offered, they could take their time on the cleaning, the meeting wasn't for a bit; Nor where the others expected to be 100% punctual to such things. She quickly looked around the room and ,seeing the remains of numerous heavily dissected dummies, was thankful for the time. If nothing else, she sourly thought, she would be saving the group loads of daeum in replacement dummies.

Shadow trotted over "Sure, it's one of the rooms I have yet to find anyway" there was a surprising number of rooms in the small estate. They spent the next half hour cleaning up the training room being sure that only when the last splinter had been removed did they set out for the meeting. Shadow followed close behind expecting Fen to show her some strange secret or obscure part of the estate but to her chagrin they simply went down the hall a few doors when Fen want in one on the right "Really? I was expecting it in a back corner of the third floor or some place far out of the way" disappointment apparent in her voice.

Fen grinned and laughed "That is exactly why Blaze had it built here, to throw people off after that time some guards, belonging one of the airheaded nobles, decided it would be a good idea to get us all at once" she laughed a bit at the memory “It is surprisingly hard to get that much blood out of cloud carpeting...” She trailed off absorbed in the memory as they entered the room. The meeting room wasn't particularly large but it had enough space for everyone. In the center was a round stone table which currently had a set of maps for a mansion and its grounds. Blaze, Crescent, Spice, Griff, Sharp, and Specter were already sitting and waiting when Fen and Shadow came through the door.

Griff in particular was shocked to see what had become his newest Sibling, he had heard of the news but this was the first he had seen of it, or her for that matter. He had to fight to keep his jaw closed as he stared at her metal parts.

Specter on the other hand had seen her before but now was far more interested in her. He started to look her over taking in the alterations with an approving eye, he could see her being much more useful now than when he had first laid eyes on her exiting the Palace.

Blaze smiled as the last pair took their seats "Good everyone's here, down to business" he pulled out a well done drawing of a well dress tan pegisi noble "Now our next job is going to be liberating a set of pre-empire scrolls for the home of one Shining Skies. Lord Skies ancestors kept these scrolls safe for many generations and now this worthless descendant is putting the whole set of them up for auction tomorrow. Looking at what we know about him, he already has a long list of backstabbing, money mongering, and generally oppressive behavior towards everyone he comes across. his favorite pass time used to be going to social functions purely to belittle his peers. But as most might have suspected, this has recently come back to bite him. In a matter of months his former peers have completely undermined his former business. Now with little notable income he has slowly been auctioning his family's legacy off simply to maintain his lavish lifestyle" He then paused for others to speak and to catch his breath after that rant.

Sharp spoke as she looked over the map "How are we approaching this one? Another silent smash and grab I assume" she hated stealth, it wasn't any fun and it took far too much unnecessary effort in her biased opinion. She much preferred it when things were loud and lethal, where her talents could really shine.

Blaze had a twinkle in his eye at her comment "No, we have something far more effective and unexpected in mind this time" he pointed to the main entrance "First, Fen will take out the guards in the front of the mansion” he pointed to the points on the map where the guards normally stood watch  “Then she will work on making more of them sporadically disappear for the remainder of this plot.” He then pointed to a spot on the road up to the manor "Specter will then drive up with Sharp, Spice, and Shadow in tow. Spice I need you to ready a particularly nasty poison to coat Sharp and Shadows weapons, something thick and red like blood please".

Spice nodded as he considered his resipies. "I have just the one you want, Blood Bane, looks like blood but causes violent hallucinations and high nerve pain, kills roughly two of every five I’ve seen and with those  in roughly three to ten minutes after introduction into the victims blood stream. Those it dose not kill will be knocked out in roughly the same time span" Luckily he had restocked his lizard bile this week he’d have to use up most of it cooking up poison he thought as he went over the list of ingredients he would need to brew the poison.

Blaze liked the sound of that, he actually wanted a small number of survivors this time around "Perfect, as usual Spice.” he smiled at the helmeted stallion “Once he gets the signal from Fen Specter will park up front and Sharp will enter through the second floor and let loose killing or at least poisoning to her hearts content. I dont want you to have any unexpected witnesses coming forth, so make sure everypony is dosed and keep out of sight" it wouldn't do to have a witness spole his planed performance with an accurate memory of events.

Sharp smiled for the first time Shadow had seen since she had met the disgruntled Pegasus. ‘And the others called my eye creepy!’ she thought as she averted her eyes from her and settled back to blaze as he continued laying out the plan.

"Shadow, you have a particularly important role in all of this, sharp give her that cloak" Sharp threw over a black ragged cloak with hood that fastened neatly over her work clothes. Blaze continued "You are acting as a reaper pony, you will calmly enter the front door then do what you can to scare the remaining guards, draw them all to you and then kill or poison them. I want you to act as calm and unwavering as you move in, sometimes simply seeming uncaring and unstoppable are all you need to bring somepony to their knees with fear" he then pointed to the few small rooms on the third floor "While all of you draw the attention of every pony within the manor, Crescent and I will infiltrate the third floor through this balcony" he pointed to the balcony off of the master bedroom "Griff will bring Crescent up to the balcony".

Both Crescent and Griff simply nodded at their tasks.

Blaze continued "Griff will then wait for us to come back and keep an eye out for unexpected company. Cressent and I will then enter and find lord Skies private stash and liberate him of his failed responsibility. Hopefully by this point most if not everypony in his house will be taken care of and we can more or less just walk out" Blaze was rather pleased with this odd but detect approach.

Shadow looked everything over as Blaze had gone over the plans "Master I have two questions. Is there anyone we shouldn't kill like a wife or kids? And once we have the scrolls back here what are we going to do with them?" She wanted him to be as specific as he could on their orders, no telling how her personal disability might interpret things otherwise.

Blaze was a little surprised that Shadow would so boldly ask questions on her first job, but took it as a good sign "No wife or kids, so far as we know he is a habitual asexual rock but if any of his servants don't fight back I’d say use your best judgement if they can go unharmed, as for what we will do with the scrolls; I have a spot in our personal archive for them. Historical relics we procure are kept there so they are no longer abused" they had amassed a good assortment of books, scrolls, and other archives over the years they had been operating, he was willing to say they had one of the most extensive in Baltimare.

Shadow was happy with both answers and simply nodded in response, she would wait till later to find out more about this odd collection they were sitting on.

Blaze waited a bit longer in silence to be sure no one else had questions before concluding the meeting with "Alight everyone is to be assembled and in position ready to head out within an hour!" Everyone cheered as they broke to prepare for the upcoming mission.

Just a few short hours later, Fen quickly walked along the roof of the Skies mansion, she had spent the last fifteen minutes scouting the outside and had identified half a dozen guards she’d need to remove for Blaze's plan to work. Coming to the edge of the front roof, she looked down. The first two guards would be the ones on the second floor terrace, they where unicorn spell welders by the look of their horns and lighter armor. The one of the left was a pale grey mare from what Fen could see and the other a deep crimson. Below them on the ground two earth pony guards, one a tall orange stallion the other a much smaller looking purple stallion, standing watch by the door and she had spotted just two pegasi patrolling the area. It was a simple and not overly imaginative sentry setup, this wouldn't take her long to break up.

She waited till both unicorns were facing away from each other, as they routinely did to survey their halves of the front entry and it's surroundings,before dropping on the crimson mare. She was surprised by the sudden weight on her back but could only make a wet gurgling sound as Fen's knife opened her throat. The grey unicorn started to turn to check on that odd nose but soon found that same knife sticking out of her head having buried itself through her eye. As they fell the two bodies managed a finale few twitches as they let out their last bits of life.

With the two unicorn sentries down and their friends still non the wiser she targeted the two pegasi roamers, thankfully they were highly bored and followed the same pattern as they went around, they didn't even fly on their route removing their biggest advantage. She nimbly hopped down the side of the mansion before dashing out of sight. After some quiet sprinting she found a suitable set of flower bushes near the path of one of them should pass by. It took only a little patience and the pegasus was in front of her, a pale grey stallion this time, an easy grab and slashed throat and he was bush fertilizer. His buddy, a bright blue stallion, soon came over to see if something was wrong and he suffered a similar fate, except that he did let out the start of a shout before it died out wetly.

Now Fen just needed to take out the pair of guards standing by the front door and her part would be finished without incident. She carefully crept back to the house, and silently slid along its wall toward the guards. The guards were nearly standing watch, yawning and nearly forcing each other into keeping awake, until they noticed several warm wet drips thumping them on the head. A point Fen had not considered was the blood from the unicorns had flowed and finally fell onto the heads of the last two guards. Her eyes dilated slightly as she watched the dark red drops splatter onto the guards heads rousing the sleepy guards. She knew she would need to act fast, recklessly so to prevent them from ruining the others entry into the palace, she started moving quickly toward them abandoning much of her caution for speed. The guards were just lifting their eyes to see what had been splashing them when Fen was finally close enough to bum rush the one closest to her into the stone wall behind him. Internally breathing a sigh of relief as she had caught the large orange one before he could react, now with him su wedged all that was needed was a simple twist of her head to bring her knife across his neck and have him add to the spattering of red before the door. The purple stallion was the first of the group to truly react, he managed to get his sword out and blocked her first quick strike. But as he attempting to sound the alarm she twisted and slid under his sword causing the guard to fall forward as she continued to twist her and brought her knife straight up using his own weight to plunge the knife into his brain from under his jaw.

Specter had been watching the unfolding carnage from atop his carriage, his vantage point was far from ideal but he was able to catch glimpses and Fen's final all clear signal. He smiled evilly glad to see things working so well for the first stage of the plan. He took up his reins and sped off to the manor his ghosts pulling the carriage swiftly and quietly. It was more illusion than anything but his ghost pony spell was his pride and joy, each looked like a pony he once knew and they had enough animation to them to do the simple task of pulling his carriage under his careful direction. Not to mention they were a lot faster then any pony team he had ever worked with, making them an idea tool for the groups regular jobs.

Inside Specters carriage, Shadow and Sharp were carefully dipping their respecting weapons into the bubbling blood like substance the Spice had whipped together for this job "Remember, all this needs is a drop to get into the victim's bloodstream and it will do the rest" both mares nodded as they finished applying the poison. The thick substance held true to the paints and blades giving them a ghastly look, as if they had already been stained with the blood of many victims.

Sharp looked over her dozens of needles with an approving grin “This will do nicely, let me get in first and take out a few of the patroles then you do your bit at the front door Shadow, that will create the most panic as the main group of guards start to realize they have no backup” she was full on grinning, she loved jobs where she could truly let loose and cause maximum carnage.

Shadow nodded as the carriage came to a silent stop, she knew well her orders to cause maximum fear and panic. Sharp fluttered up and out the trap door in the roof heading to the second floor as Shadow stepped out the side. As Shadow watched Sharp let out a small volley of needles through one of the larger second floor windows, shattering it before she dove in after them.

Shadow checked her cloak and hood as the first screams could be heard coming from within the broken window. She quickly walked up to the front doors and took a breath to steady herself before opening the large ornate double doors. The doors opened with bearly a creak reveling that the inside inside was dark and barely lit by mounted candles, seems The Lord of the place was being miserly with his candle useage, and the decorations were sparce lending proff to the point Blaze had mentioned about the noble selling off everything. As she surveyed the strangely meger surroundings she cought sight of the guards starting to form up before the main staircase. She started taping the hanging blade in her tail to draw the guards attention toward her.

All the group of guards could see was a hooded pony with a single glowing purple eye staring at them  from the darkness of her hood “HALT!!!” one stallion, who by his polished and complete armor looked to be the head of the guards, yelled at her.

Shadow just started slowly walking toward them, keeping her spectral eye trained on them for effect. The unicorn guards started throwing a volley of fireballs and lightning at her, but despite getting hit numerous times she just kept moving toward them as if unphased but inside was a completely different matter. As she calmly took hit after hit mer mind was a flurry of panic and suppressed pain 'What in Celestias name is wrong with me!?!? I can't do anything but keep walking!' She screamed internally. When she finally got halfway to them the front most guards decided to charge her as the unicorns fired a final volley of spells at her, a point she was glad of as she wasn't sure how much more fire or lightning she could actually take despite her body working without her control. When they got close to her she untangled her chain tail and struck at them from the sides taking the bold guards by surprise as this seemingly demonic weapon shot out from the monster in front of them and knocked over all three charging earth ponies. All the guards were starting to lose their bearing and were openly fearful as the intense pain of the poison started kicking in, screams were still coming from the second floor but despite this the head Guard still desperately called out “WE NEED HELP IN THE LOBBY!!!!” His shout slightly muffled by two floors worth of agonized screaming.

Two very green looking guards from the third floor rushed down to answer their plea but that was it, meanwhile Shadow quickly stabbed three more downed ponies with her poison coated tail, all of them immediately started writhing in agony and shouting about the horrible apparitions they believed were assaulting them. She poised her chain tail like a scorpions before finally drawing her two blades, the effect of her slow drawing her weapons and just as slowly unfolding them was the last straw for many of the guards who just started trampling each other in an attempt to escape. Shadow simply started striking at them, she didn't even bother blocking or parrying the blows of the few who wildly tried striking at her, many managed to find her flesh but most just drew a dull harmless thud from her armor as she poisoned each and everyone of them systematically. She vaguely noted how the blows to her armor sounded more like hitting hard skin then metal plates, a point she would record later at least thats what she concentrated on in between silent screams of agony as her body was forced to endure far greater punishment than it ever had before.

Finally the screaming had stopped, and all the guards she had taken on lay still at her feet, she finally let out a scream of rage and pain before her back legs gave out. Slowly she sheathed and re-braided her weapons. She was extremely hurt, all the spells had really done a number on her bones and hide as had the blades and spears of the panicked mob at the end, in fact she grudgingly attributed her ability to perform entirely on her masters exact orders, which he had drilled into her multiple times to ensure she remembered, on how she was to perform she simply physically couldn't disobey even when she wanted to cry, or curl up in a ball and die to stop the pain that was still throbbing within her entire being. Her back legs hurt so bad she was sure at least one of them was broken, and she bet there were a bunch of other broken and bleeding things in her that she couldn't feel as a sickening numbness started setting in. But now her orders were fulfilled and that linchpin of hardwired obedience was gone she finally could collapse to the ground among the twitching, passed out, and occasional dead bodies; and pass out into comforting black oblivion.

About the time that Shadow knocked down the second set of charging guards, Griff was gliding in to drop Crescent down onto the empty unlit balcony of the master bedroom, Blaze had already touched down and had been waiting on his butlers arrival. Griff flew up to the highest point on the mansion and started his watch of the grounds.

Blaze slowly opened one of the cloudy glass doors to the bedroom “Come on lets get this over with” he whispered to Crescent, who nodded and drew his scimitar from it's large sheath on his back. The room was empty and visibly ransacked, seems the lord had left in a hurry. The pair started picking the room apart, all the intel pointed to the stash being in this room. Things started getting desperate when the screams started fading “Clever little lordling” Blaze growled in frustration before Crescent finally stumbled on a lucky break “Master Blaze, the wall on this side of the bed is far thinner than the rest” he started taping the wall, finding the shape of the thin portion.

Blaze started looking for a trigger in case it was a secret door, but Crescent had other ideas. After tracing out the rough area of the door Crescent simply Slashed at it with four depth strokes of his scimitar. After a seconds hesitation the thin portion simply fell backwards revealing the expected passage “Good job Crescent” Blaze complemented as the pair entered the passageway.

The two slowly stalked through the hall, it was barren, mostly just occupying the space between the inside and outside walls. After some time they finally ended up at another door, listening close they could hear indistinct voices coming from behind it “Want some help Blaze?” both spun around in shock only to find Fen standing behind them smiling.

Blaze shook his head in mock disgust “I really hate it when you do that Fen, but yes back up would be nice” she was supposed to have gone to guard the carnage but he supposed it wouldn't matter now.

Crescent had turned around and backed up to the door and with a nod from Blaze he bucked the door off its hinges and a foot into the room.

The room was another normal room, but they had gone through the only entrance to it. It was well furnished, Lord sky it seemed liked his panic room to be comfortable, also there were several heavy locked chests and bookcases in the room.

Lord Sky was quickly standing behind his last four guards “Kill them, fools!!! Or by the empresses I will be sure your hides will burn in their place!!!” after all that had befallen him he would not simply alow these bandits to rob and murder him.

The four pegasus guards charged the three theifts with swords drawn and the determination of those who fully knew they had nothing to lose even if they did parish. Crescent took the Center two parrying both blades with his large scimitar and effortlessly knocking them back towed their lord. With them now firmly on the defensive he started in on them used varying strikes so neither could tell when one or the other were going to get hit or even how hard the strikes would be, soon he was getting cuts in under guard and between plate as the pair was losing more and more ground and balance.

Blaze sidestepped the one on the left before bucking the pegasus in the flank, allowing a slight gash on his own side as the guard twisted in mid air and slashed him. he then caught the sword that the guard held in his mouth and yanked it free with his fore hoofs. he discarded the blade before striking at the guard where his face was exposed, knocking a few teeth to the floor. Finally he finishing with a haymaker which knocked the guard out.

Fen simply sidestepped the one on the far right kicked out his fore hooves and at the last second, anticlimactically let the guard impale himself through the chest on her knife.

Crescent was still fighting the old fashioned way he had cut down one of the two and had the last one going wildly defencive trying to just stay alive. Finally when the guard could no longer move his sword fast enough to block he was struck down by.

Fen walked over and ended the single knocked out guard’s life while Blaze calmly walked over to the oddly brave noble, who showed no signs of fear yet “Well Lord Sky, you had a good run but I won't let filth like you tarnish our history by openly selling it!” He said with the pure conviction of a crusader, even a underworld one like himself.

The tan Pegasus scoffed “I may not be a high noble, but you wouldn't dare kill me in cold blood” he was so confident in the absolute law of the Celestial Empire that he thought himself untouchable. The vary thought that these criminals would risk killing or harming him had not entered his mind even at this point.

Blaze just smirked “Hey Crescent, introduce our good lord here to your name sake. He is of no use to anyone now”.

Crescent stepped forward, scimitar at the ready, finally fear and realization was registering in the stuck up noble’s face. Sky looked around trying to find an escape from his imminent demise “I'll pay you anything you want, just spare me!!!” his voice trembled as he spoke and he tried to force himself flat against the rough stone wall.

Blaze shook his head “We will be taking what you have in this room, but beyond that I have no need of your dirty money” the thought of him trying to bribe him was at the same time funny and disgusting, he briefly considered taking him just so Spice could have a fresh test subject for his art.

With that last statement Crescent wound up and cleanly beheaded the former Lord Sky in a single cut.

Blaze looked over Sky’s body in disgust “Fools like him give nobles bad names. Now I want this room cleaned out of everything, make sure that we save the scrolls and anything else he may be hiding!” the three of them quickly stripped the room of everything. They found the scrolls easily, they also found several hundred astrum, some minor pieces of art they'd likely sell off and an old broken short sword which might be historically significant in some way.

Most of the loot was loaded onto Crescent, with the other two taking what they could and headed down to the first floor using the main staircase. So far the plan was going really well over all, it almost followed the plan Blaze had envisioned, which he knew usually meant that something was horribly wrong for them. But as they exited the mansion Blaze could only hope that this sudden sense of dread was misplaced.

The triumphant head group had soon glided down and loaded up the loot into the carrage. Sharp had found her way back after the guards went silent, and was now relaxing in her seat smiling and waiting to head off after a beautifully bloody night. On the other side Spice was snoreing away havering long finished his meger portion of this job.

As Blaze was about to get comfortable alongside the other veterans in his family he noticed they where one short "Where is Shadow?" He asked as calmly as he could. The stunned expressions of the group where more than enough answer for him "Scoure the building!" He ordered before leaping out and galumphing along the path she was supposed to have taken.

As he got to the lobby Blaze was able to survey the swath of guards that Shadow had delt with, more than he had anticipated when he gave her this. He was about to move on whe his hoof hit a familiar pice of rune enshrined weponry "Shadow!" He gasped as he followed her tail back to where she had fallen "Sharp! Get down here she's hurt badly!!!" He shouted knowing that the message would get to their medic.

As he waited for Sharp and the others to arrive he looked over his prize smith's wounds, she had obveusly taken far more damage than she sould have been able to endure. He was no expert by any means but his personal experience with burns, cuts, and broken bones told him that no pony could continue to stay awake let alone fight with the ones she had endured. It was now that he truly realized the extent of her submissive breeding "I told her to shrug off hits, to seem like she felt no pain as she took out the guards... She followed my orders, her masters orders, to the letter even when she shouldn't have when it could easily have killed her. Never before had he considerd the impact such forced obedience had upon her, and now the  crew. From this point on he would have to monitor everything he said to her especially the orders. He may have to even constantly monitor her during jobs just so he could supplement her lack of leeway and judgement... This would require some time to figure out he decided.

He looked back to her still pained face "I will figure this out, and find a way to overcome this" he promised her as the rest of the group started ariveing to recover the pair.