Valkardian was beating the stuffing out of the pony, literally, in every way possible. Shadow was still on dusting duty, so far most of the murals had been gory but this was special. Frankly, she had no idea what made the ponies so mad but they had tried to lynch Valkardian for it and were now suffering the concequences. Examing it all over again it appeared he taught them how to make a windmill to grind flour more effectively, as to WHY he would do so eluded her... Something made them mad about his appearance and some kind of royal pony had lead a mob against him. The result was the rest of the ponies were magically stuck to the ground unable to move while he absolutely throtted the royal. Little bits and pieces of him had come off, the mural was sectioned showing step by step what happened and frankly... It hurt to look at the mural. When it ended her master simply pulped the unicorn magically and left but not before taking quite a load of sacks with him. Flour? Had he seriously gone through of all that just to get some sacks of flour?

Lunchtime, grumbling and turning from the tome Valkardian shuffled down the hall, Shadow had been doing well, every night for the past two days she was his server at dinnertime. Frankly he was having dinner quite often now, eating four days in a row was quite new, usually he just used magic to maintain himself. Today though, today would bring something new, she had done well, narry a peep unless asked, he had something that NEEDED done and this would be the perfect time to start her on it. Maybe a bit too early but oh well, one must test the waters. Stalking the hall he found her, examining a mural he recognized quite quickly.

"Curious as to why I helped them, was attacked then reduced the one to jelly?" Upon hearing the voice Shadow nearly jumped from her hide, for whatever reason he liked to sneak up on her and always with a question. "Yes, why?"

"I wanted flour to make bread with, wheat, rye and barley does not grow down here naturally. Also, what they produced back then was far too course for my liking, I showed them how to make mills and power them with the wind in exchange for flour. However, the noble in charge after learning the secrets took exception to my nature and led a mob to burn me for the crime of demonism and sorcery." Leaning toward the mural and examing it further he stopped, read and leaned away. "Lord Scriptwrite. Yes that was his name." Pointing to a patch of writing Shadow looked, she had seen this wierd script all over the place but still could not read it. Frankly, this was the first time he had translated anything for her, up till now she was simply associating symbols with words she knew, like the wierd script over the kitchen doors. Walking away leaving her to think on it before remembering why he was there "Oh, tomorrow your job changes, I have more important things for you to do outside."

Watching him walk off Shadow could not help but wonder what that meant but there was one word which piqued her interest: OUTSIDE. He was letting her OUT of the mansion and out into... Whatever... A massive cave most likely. Still, she was going OUTSIDE! Dusting happily knowing that tomorrow would bring more freedom the rest of the "day" rushed by, more grusome murals, he did not have her serve him that night. Her own dinner was... Well it was wierd, she wondered if he was messing with him, a loaf of BREAD sat on the table that night. The servant brought it out and plopped it down with her mushroom stew, whatever it was made of... Black but most certainly not any kind of grainy smell or flavor that she knew. Still, it was good, along with the wierd "fruit preserves" that came with it, no butter but then again... If there HAD been "butter" on the table she would not have touched it, what kind of monster down here would be milked? A giant bug? None of that mattered, it tasted good and tomorrow she was going OUT!

Today was the day he let her out. Mistake? Maybe, with wings she might try to fly off but considering how deep they were it would get her nowhere. The slave could spend a lifetime trying to navigate this continent spanning labrynth of caves and tunnels and never get out without a healthy dose of luck, that and getting past more of his defenses. Collecting her after she was done with breakfast he led her to a pair of double doors. This had been hidden from her along with all the windows with a simple illusion spell till now, best to not let her get any ideas too soon. Then again letting her out was still too soon. Giving one of the doors a pull and stepping out into the cavern air Shadow followed. Before them lay his grand, immense garden, part food source, pleasure and alchemical. This was his pride and joy and it needed tending, servents were assigned already but some jobs were far to precise and delicate for skeletal hands to manage. Opening his mouth to begin giving instructions the words never had a chance to form, beside him a little bat was making the wierdest and loudest squeel and scree yet.

Shadow was bouncing, bouncing in place, wings flared out, excitement, pure, unrestrained excitement, what lay before her was why she loved to explore. A wall sealed this part of the cave off in the far distance from bottom to top but between the two... A forest, a forest of giant mushrooms, some kind of "trees" that had long, draping moss for instead of leaves. Some mushrooms went up to the ceiling, swaying gently, the ceiling of the gave glowed widly with blue moss and fungi. Everything was glowing actually, the ground was covered in vast sheets of something that glowed green, violet and other pastel colors. Plants, oh the plants! A brook bubbled in the distance leading to a large pond that snaked along a wall. Were those crops? On one side neat rows of mushrooms were being tended to by servants, a beautiful polished granite walk way led off into the distance towards the wall. So much to see, so little time!

Bouncing into the air his slave flew off quickly zooming one way then another, seeming incapable of making up her mind which way to go first. Squeeling, she zoomed up to a tree and began blathering and asking questions a mile a minute. Touching the moss that served as grass, sniffing the "flowers" that grew, poking, prodding, one of the fruit trees he had created though seemed to become a focal point for her attention. Grabbing a fallen one and smelling it she promptly blitzed up till she was in his face and asking a million questions about the fruit. Was it edible? What was it called? Name of the tree? A look of unbridled joy was firmly written on her face as she zoomed off to keep examining his garden. *Sigh* With a flick of the hand she appeared before him, held firmly in a magical grip. "You will be TENDING my garden and crops, your jobs are listed on this scroll, it is written in Equish so you can understand it. Follow the instructions to the letter and..." She was vibrating.

Shadow could not contain herself, the moment Valkardian said SHE was responsible for the garden, tending it! She could not contain herself, though held firmly by some invisible force she could not contain her joy, with a loud happy scree she was vibrating in place. All she could do was cheer "yes, yes, yes" over and over again. But wait! That meant she was responsible for the pond too! "Are there fish in the pond? What about crayfish? Are there animals that need tending too as well?"

Now the garden was his pride and joy, the pond stocked with cave fish and all manner of critter, but he had never gotten THIS excited over tending to any of it. True, great enjoyment was taken from this simple task but this crazy little bat slave of his was going over the top. "Yes, here." Dropping her uncerimoniously from his magical grip she immediately bounded up to him and snatched the scroll from his grip and began reading. "You will also need this..." A leather pack floated over to her. "Everything you need is in there, also there is a book detailing that is poisonious, if I catch you eating from my garden without permission you will be punished. Your lunch will be brought to you HERE, there are three crystals in the pack, the white one will produce a bright white light if you need it. Blue will aid you in some tasks, its all in the scroll. Use the pink one for questions. Oh, wear this." An amulet quickly found its way around her neck, it was quite elegant, silver chain with blue gem inlays. "That will keep you "safe" in the event you piss off my fauna or flora. A servant will retrieve you when the day is over, you will probably be at this for the next week or two." With that he walked off and left her there giggling in glee.

This was the best day of her life! She had come here to explore, been made a slave but now she had a book and was ordered to tend a garden that from what stories were told... DWARFED the royal gardens in Canterlot! Not only that! But she was also given leave to learn all about it from the book! Better yet, Master Valkardian had even given her a really pretty amulet to protect her! Maybe that should cause some worry as to what was in the garden but his parting words about "not pissing anything off" just meant he was concerned! It also meant she was not due for the chopping block anytime soon! Trusting her to a task that admittedly could not be done by the servents meant she was becoming more useful, maybe even indespensable! The scroll was quite long but detailed, apparently it started with the plants from the door and went out, there was even a map of the garden in the bag, basic though, no doubt to NOT help her if she tried to escape. Judging by the far wall... That would not be possible without GREAT effort.

Skimming the book as she worked proved enlightening, it was a VERY thorough, detailed book complete with hand drawn colored pictures. Bound in leather and in perfect Equish... WHY did he have a book, obviously written by himself in EQUISH when EVERYTHING she had seen so far was in that wierd alien script? The book was too old to have been made recently, did he have one made just in case one day? Still, her duties were easy, too easy even. Servants had already kept the garden in perfect health, her only job was to sow some seed or dust here and there, snip something back, collect two or three of this and that. Once in a while a servant would come by and collect the snippings and leave with them. Shadow had to admit, the glowing moss was soft as could be, made weird rippling, glowy colors as she walked over it though. Kind of enchanting really, then again the whole scene around her was surreal, turns out the tree was quite safe and was probably part of that weird fruit mix she was given.

Amongst all the other tools and things in the pack she found one of the outside compartments contained a leathery fruit snack wrapped in wax paper. He really was very kind to her despite it all, though something told her a good part of it was probably his own inattention and boredom. None of that mattered though, one additonal crystal tucked away even told the time! Assuming she knew how time worked down here and so it went on, each day, same royal treatment, then off to the gardens. Shadow loved every second of it too.

Sometime on what she figured was the fourth day Shadow found herself at the pond, taking a few minutes to explore it a little she found the water slightly warm and also... Full of life. This was one of many things that made her wonder, caves are COLD and DARK by definition, this cave was anything BUT. It was warm, bright and full of life, impossibly so. Magic or was there volcanic activity nearby that kept it warm? Both? The air was certainly clean from all the plantlife, walking along the edge of the pond she bumped into a servant by mistake. It stumbled to one side before turning to face her. Without thinking she uttered an apology to it seeing it was there throwing some kind of fungi out into the water for the fish and critters to eat.

"Parrdonn Misstresss." Shadow was floored. It spoke! THIS servant actually SPOKE! For DAYS she had greeted them, talked to them and tried all kinds of things to make them talk but none ever did! Yet this one was speaking somehow! The voice was slow, wispy and clearly female, hollow as if speaking through a tunnel and those ruby eyes... They had slits! None of the others were this unique! "Who are you?" Turning back towards her bowing its head "Ruby Althaxia." Turning back to its task Shadow kept examing it before a sick reality dawned on her: this was a bug pony. Had been... Looking at its jagged horn a memory flashed in her head: Her master had destroyed a hive long ago and cut down their queen... A queen with red eyes (the murals were VERY detailed) and oh... She understood what he had done with them now... They became more "servants" and this one... This one was probably the queen. "QUEEN Ruby Althaxia?" Testing the waters she got more than she bargained for.

The servant spun towards her, furry, hatered and pure rage burning in its eyes "Yesss, but no more, now..." The skeleton seemed to be at war with itself on what to do next. "Was queen, now servant of Master Valkardian, my liege, my lord, my... *growl* king." Backing away slowly its eyes followed her, reaching towards her amulet and praying it would keep this thing back the former queen suddenly seemed to be yanked away. "Doess mistress neeed annyythhingg..." It slumped back down and began to feed the aquatic life again, taking her chance Shadow muttered a quick "no" and fled.

It made sense now, perfect, terrifying sense: the other servants couldnt talk to her because they COULDNT, they were puppets on a string, they had no soul. This one however, THIS one had a soul TRAPPED inside it, fully aware of the world around it but BOUND to its tasks and incapable of lashing out, at least she hoped so. Thats also why he put her in the garden, the other servants were not just incapable of tending to things because they were not "smart enough" but because without the ability to THINK they COULDNT properly tend a garden like this. They were merely programmed to do as instructed over and over again except for one, a prisoner in her own "body," doomed to work as a slave out of spite or was it punishment? Whichever it was... Shadow had newfound fear of her master and also a longing hope SHE would not share the same fate. Her lesson today was "do not anger master."

The amulet had activated, he sensed it and just as quickly left his task behind and raced out to see what was going on, teleportation was impossible here, his defenses did not allow it; so much so HE could not teleport either... Well not ENTIRELY true. Stepping out and looking he easily caught side of the terrified little bat slave as she flew from one end of the cave widly to the other before setting near the fields. Glancing toward the pond in the distance he pinged the closest servants... Ah, that made sense, his little slave had met "the queen" in all her enslaved glory. It also meant she was just fine, most likely just shocked but that would fade. Deciding it better to leave her to think it over he stepped back inside and closed the grand metal door. It would give her something to think about if she crossed him, then again he only did that to his most hated enemies but she did not need to know that.

Commands were quickly sent out all the same, in one hour a servant would collect and bring her in for the day cutting it four hours short, guards would be added as well. A simple oversight on his part, so used to not being threatened in his own garden a little fact eluded him: while it was not dangerous to HIM it might prove fatal to her and too QUICKLY for him to respond. The amulet had been his precaution but thinking it over again it would be best to have some additional protection in place, just in case. That little bat was just too amusing and funny to have her die on him just yet.