//------------------------------// // Behold the Price of Failure // Story: Skeletons of the Past // by Sturrn //------------------------------// Chapter four Behold the Price of Failure This Chapter is pending a re-write. I woke to a shaking sense, specifically Sturrn kicking the side of the bunk. He said he wouldn’t stop till I got up and addressed him. Easy, right? Much, much, MUCH harder than you think. Especially, when you’re used to sleeping in till eleven or twelve. “Sturrn” I said using my apparently permanent raspy dry voice “You better have a great reason for getting me up, before the sun has even started to peak.” “Well then” He said using a tone of indignation. “Let me tell you. I got you up an hour early because if you wake up with all the other guards you will have to wait for a shower or the bathroom. Then breakfast will be cold, and that is just no fun. After all that I’m going to PT you until you DIE...” He said, while keeping the creepiest smile on the whole time. Honestly it was just a special brand of creepy you only find at 3 in the morning at Wal-Mart. “Sturrn, I’m a skeleton. You do understand that correct?” He nodded up and down full of intent. “Good, then you realize I can’t sweat and getting dirty is difficult if I’m wearing robes all the time. Second I don’t have a digestive system so I can’t eat at all, that also means bathrooms are a non-issue. Lastly training might actually do something for me because honestly, it’s like I can feel my old body contained in these bones. Training may do something it may not but understand this” I got down on one knee and leaned in next to his ear and simply whispered. “I’m already dead, smart one. Good luck killing me again.” He just grinned sheepishly and mumbled “ohh” repeatedly. I got back up on both legs and for once examined my perspective. I looked down at Sturrn; not metaphorically but literally, really far down. “Hey Sturrn I got a question for you.” “Yeah?” “Do you think we could go to the tailor now? I really could use a tape measure.” “Well I can’t go right now, me being all fleshy and ALIVE I actually do take showers and eat but you can go without me. Just follow the path we went down last time and if you get lost just ask a guard.” “Okay then, I’ll go get my robes and we can start training right after deal?” “Yeah just don’t try and slink away from training when it gets too hard. Trust me it will get hard very fast so steel yourself.” God, this guy makes it seem like I’ll be running a marathon and immediately go lifting 400 pound weights. I walked for what felt like hours but couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. That is until I somehow, through the magic that is aimless wandering slammed straight into the door that I knew the tailor was behind. The door opened to reveal the same mare from yesterday night. “I knew if you were with Sturrn you would be up and about early, so I put in a late night to get your robes done.” “Thank you but you shouldn’t have stayed up just to get some of my stuff done. I could have picked it up after patrol; I do still have these robes.” I pulled on my old rags gingerly, almost half afraid they would fall apart on me. “Pish-posh, I couldn’t let you go out and represent the guard in that old thing. No, only the finest for our boys in gold.” Does she actually think I’m in the guard? Honestly, it would be better to just go with it and not draw suspicion. “Well thank you very much; I will put this to great use.” Well that wasn’t technically a lie. I’ll just conveniently let her continue thinking I’m in the guard. “I made you two sets; the first has a gold edged trim and is a little bigger so you can wear a set of armor underneath it, as long as the armour isn’t plate it should move and breathe freely, that will be your the patrol set. The second one is more simplistic like when you off duty.” We started to walk to a room I presumed housed my robes. “The main color of both sets is actually a rather difficult to obtain color. You see it looks like desert sand, the kind that is really brown but also a kind of orange. Well anyway I used that because it seemed like it would accent you well.” “I’m sure it will be fine.” Two sets and both were free just for being mistaken for a new guard. ‘If I still go out on patrol with Sturrn, technically I’ll be an unofficial guard. A militia, maybe?’ We walked into the room as she opened the door to reveal a kind of ‘library’ of clothes. Wall to wall on long shelves sat clothes, dresses and tuxedoes of all kinds and color. However in the middle of the room, a rolling hanger sat there with my robes being the only things on there. She wasn’t kidding about the gold edges. ‘Those edges look sharp enough to be used as a razor.’ “Well there they are, go ahead and try them on I want to make sure they fit perfect. A-a-are y-you, excuse me.” She quit her stammering just in time to give a cough that might have been to clear her throat or something. “I’m sorry about that, it’s just last night it was dark and you didn’t look as big as you do now. So as I was saying, are you done growing? I ask because I will have to adjust your apparel if you aren’t.” Am I done growing? I’m only 17…wait if I was in that case for a year before I woke up, then that makes me 18 going on 19. Can skeletons even grow? Probably not, unless I inject milk into my bones. I missed my birthday, that’s just saddening. “Yes, I am done growing. This is as big as I will ever get. Now for trying on the robes, do you maybe have a changing room or just a spare room?” “Now what kind of tailor would I be if I didn’t have a changing room? Well I’ll tell you, not a very good one. Changing room is that door over there.” She raised a hoof and pointed to an extremely ornate, almost too expensive to use door. “Thank you, I’ll be right back.” I grabbed the two robes and bid a hasty advance toward the door. Twenty minutes later and an ordeal with a piece of cloth almost getting caught in one of my rib bones, I was out of there. “Come back, if you ever need any more clothes!” I simply waved as I began my walk back toward barracks. It was right then that I realized, she said the gold edge set was made to accommodate armor. This means I could probably get some armor too. ‘Maybe something light but strong. She said plate was a no go, also it’s simply too heavy. Either carapace armor or chain mail, do ponies know how to make carapace? Better find out because if they do, I know exactly what I’m getting. A little bit later, I made it over to the smith just in time to avoid a pack of other guards. I don’t honestly need to explain why a ‘Diamond Dog’ is wearing clothes made for the guard. Especially when I would be ordering armor as well as getting some weapons, that’s a recipe for suspicion. I peered into the shop and saw no one. “Hello? Are my blades ready yet?” “Yes, just give me one second.” He stepped over into sight from behind a doorway on right of the workshop. “You’re the new guard I have been hearing about. I’ve been here for twenty years and have never seen a Diamond Dog here. I didn’t even know they let them into the guard to begin with.” Okay this is a recipe for disaster, word is spreading that I’m part of the guard. I’m supposed to be a foreign dignitary, time to start acting like it. “I’m sorry for any confusion. You see I’m not a part of the guard I am a dignitary of…” Damn what was the name of the dog area? Gem snap? Sapphire Island? I think he said Gem Fido or something like that. “Gem Fido, I’m here to talk to ponies.” “That’s weird; I didn’t think that Fido had a cooperating government. Then again, since only ponies with some serious muscle behind them could get there without getting kidnapped, makes sense that the info wouldn’t get out. Now with that gem embargo even less info is circulating. Anyway, what makes you look the part of the guard, you trying out?” “Well, I have been tasked with living like the ponies. Mainly to see if a peaceful immigration policy can exist, if dogs are capable are able to do the same jobs as ponies effectively. My position is to see if we can in fact be a part of the guard.” That story flowed pretty well I didn’t even need to think about it too much. “Okay then, well I’m glad that cooperation is trying to be sought by those inside of Fido. Now down to business, your sword and double ended axe is done. Quite the exotic weapons you have their, haven’t seen either of them except in books. That reminds me actually, are you selling that bit of beauty on your arm?” I looked down at my only possession that fit the criteria of ‘on my arm and beauty’. Well this could’ve gone much worse but this guy is prying a whole lot. Seriously though, my gauntlet? Is he that strap for gems, or is it worth a lot more than I think it is. I couldn’t rightfully part ways with it; the thing looks too cool and makes a great weapon. “Sorry but that’s a no go on the glove, it holds sentimental value. Now about my gear, you said it was done?” “Oh sorry about that, yes it’s done just follow me.” I followed him to the back of his shop as he listed what he did to my sword. “I put a hardened edge on the sword, you won’t be chopping through any stone pillars but it should keep its edge much longer. Also now the back has some added metal; since it’s a chopping weapon your down stroke will be a bit stronger, the blade will be slightly heavier now though.” We made our way to the back and right there, sitting on the anvil was my old blade. Unfortunately, I couldn’t rightfully call it ‘old’ to begin with. This blade was a work of art. The hilt was a steel handle; two black wires spiraled up from the pommel winding next to the other on the grip. The hand guard was a simple curve of the handle outward, so my hand wouldn’t slip forward onto the blade. ‘Not that it would hurt me any.’ If the handle was good though, the blade was incredible. The signature curve was still there, in addition to the already mentioned upgrades there was a groove cut slightly into the middle. The blade was a shining example of polished steel. “This sword is incredible, how did you make it in one night?” “You don’t know a lot about advanced pony smithing, do you?” I shook my head but honestly, how many ponies know about ‘advanced’ pony smithing, beyond the smiths themselves. “Well let me explain then. You see regular forges use the techniques you most likely have heard of already. Advanced pony smithing uses a special kind of forge; it’s very expensive but can produce result that would take a week in about 3 hours. The flame itself is an eternal dragon flame; that has been augmented with enchantments on the main forge body. This allows you to feed raw magic into the flame to get it hotter and speed up effects, almost like bending time. The magic comes from a very large fire ruby underneath the forge about six feet, the energy feeds up through a series of tubes to the actual pit. It’s a lot like the gem drives that power the really good airships. Only this is more efficient at making flames since it has a magically attuned fire to start with. This allows me to get grade-A flames, turning out grade-A work.” Wow that was hilariously complex yet simple. Apparently, gems are kind of like magic conduits that can be used like electricity. So all the technology that looks like it’s from the human world and runs on electricity, runs on magic here. Unfortunately I should stop my thought there, start focusing on the task at hand. “Thank you, I never knew any of that.” I used as honest and sincere tone for that as I could, it could easily be considered an insult. “You’re welcome but enough of that, you’re wondering about your axe aren’t you?” “Actually yes, I can’t wait and see what you did with it after that show of my sword.” That was the honest truth, if he could make my sword look both incredible and functional I couldn’t wait. That old axe probably looks amazing. “Disappointed you shall not be then. I started by fixing the axe heads, I was able to salvage a lot of material from them. Turns out the heads were made of titanium, really rare metal you got there extremely tough. I mixed it with aluminum for weight differential; titanium tends to be rather heavy by itself. As for the wooden staff element, I used some enchanted zebra wood for it so breaking won’t be an issue ever again. Lastly I used a technique I didn’t think would ever be of use until now. I hardened the four tips on either side of the axe heads; you should be able to penetrate any kind of metal armour, just don’t go fighting dragons like that griffin. This is still just metal, admittedly if you brought the hardened tips down on it, you might hurt one but I highly recommend against that.” “So tell me if I’m wrong but the enhancements go like this; the heads are very tough and retain the edge, the staff won’t break, and it has armor piercing tips correct?” “That is correct now let’s go get it, I’ll have you actually feel the thing and decide if you like it. Now follow me, I polished it last night and left it by the wheel in this room.” I followed him into the separate room and saw what I could barely recognize as my axe. The staff was a light tan brown with a cross sectioned texture for gripping it, the pattern continued across the whole line of wood making it look very stylized. What caught my eye though was the axe heads, they were a sandy brown color just a step down from being bronze. I distinctly remembered among my scattered human memories, that titanium and aluminum were steel colored. “Why are the heads that color? Aren’t the metals that make it up steel colored?” “Honestly that is what I thought but they changed that color in the heat, I promise it won’t impact performance but you have to admit it brings the whole thing together pretty nicely.” “Yes it actually does look really good, may I hold it?” “Of course you can hold it that is your weapon; I only fixed it up for you. Now let’s collect you two newest bits of gear and you can go out on patrol. It’s almost 7 o’ clock.” “Actually I have training with Sturrn today but I would like to put in an additional order. As you might guess guard armor is fit for me so I’m going to need some made. Do you make carapace armor?” “Carapace armor?” He put a hoof up to his chin for a moment before lowering it once more. “Sorry, I know a lot of different kinds of armor but I’ve never heard of carapace. Is that a special style for Diamond dogs?” “No, I heard of it from someone. They said it was top notch stuff. Either way, I’ll just put in for a chain mail shirt and some shin guards please. First a couple questions though.” I honestly didn’t know if additional gear would have to be bought out of pocket or was taken care of. Also I still don’t know my height, this guy… ‘Actually he would be a stallion if I’m not mistaken’. This stallion seems to be really big for a pony and he is still short compared to me, I tower over him. Should have measured at the tailor’s, which would have been much easier tape measure and all. “What would the questions be?” “First, will any of this be paid out of pocket? Second, do you have anything I can measure my height with?” “For your first question, no all services I provide to the guard that pertain in any way to active duty are free. Your second question was if I had anything you can use to see how tall you are, correct?” I nodded a confirmation. “Well, I do have a yard stick here but only one. That axe is about 67 inches long, so prop it up next to you and I’ll use the stick from there. Sound good to you?” “Let’s step out of the shop for this. By the way, if I’m this tall and you ponies are shorter, why do all the doorways and ceilings still accommodate me?” That question had been plaguing me since last night, walking out of the doorway after taking my things and walking onto the grass had made me remember it from earlier. “Well by my estimate you should be about as tall as Celestia, give or take a couple inches. She needs access to every building in the castle, only seems natural they would be built to accept her entrance. Now, lean your axe up and hold still.” He popped open his wings and hovered up a few feet, suddenly putting the measuring stick on the tip on my axe. He stared at the number for a couple seconds before dropping back to earth. “You are 6 feet and 10 inches tall. So for that armor, I’m going to need you to take off the robe and let me get some measurements.” That is not good, I hadn’t thought of that. I’m going to need an excuse and quick. Also on that note, DAMN I’m tall! I should tell Sturrn before we start training. “Well actually I’ll be wearing the mail with this set of robes.” I tugged at the golden edge of my patrol outfit. “So what if I just give you this and you use it as a measurement?” “Well I guess that might work, though why not let me get some measurements in case you want something else in the future?” He really wanted to pry into this. Ponies are rather nosey; know that I think about it. “I can’t, it’s kind of personal.” Pansy-ish but it should work, worst possible thing is he thinks I’m a hairless diamond dog. Really how bad could that be? Just a hair… fur deficiency, let’s just go with hair because fur sounds weird. “Oh I’m sorry; it’s a dog thing that’s my bad I didn’t know, sorry.” Okay that went better than being a hairless dog; he just thinks it’s a cultural thing. “It’s okay you didn’t know. So are we all done here?” “Well, you still have to give me something to measure.” Wow I can’t believe I forgot, we literally had just been talking about this for a minute now. “Okay I’ll slip into the polishing room and change, this gold trimmed robe is specifically tailored for armor to be worn under it.” We both walked back into the shop as I took a right into the polishing room. A couple minutes later, my casual robes were on. Unsurprisingly, it was quite comfy; they must have different kinds of cloth here. This stuff would be unbelievable if I actually had skin, even just my bones feeling it was great. ‘This stuff is so soft; I just want to curl up in it and sleep. Do I really need to go to training? Yeah I probably do, I won’t be able to face Sturrn again if I chicken out.’ I passed my patrol outfit to… I never really got a name from him actually. “Hey! What’s your name? We never really told each other.” “My name is Molten Steel, fourth generation smith here at the castle. What can I call you?” “My name would be Rorke Chardstone.” I started out the door before turning around. “I’ll be back after training to get my armor.” I walked out again and started off toward barracks once more. After a few minutes of walking and my new weapons in hand, my temporary home came into view. However what really got me, was all the thrashing noises I could hear from inside. I walked up to the door and grabbed the handle, opening it just in time for a pony in armor to fly through it and slam into me. Hard. I slammed onto the ground with the guard still on top of me; whatever threw him must be pretty big. “Get up, you pitiful excuse for a guardstallion! I’m not done beating the prejudice out of you. Now, what exactly is wrong with my choice of company? I think you said something about ‘that bucking mongrel disgracing the castle with his filth’! Sturrn stepped out of the doorway, looking at the dazed guard as I pushed him off my chest. “You useless sack of hydra excrement, first you dishonor the guard with your blatant racism. Now that the victim of your shame shows up to train and better himself, the first thing you do is use him as a crash mat!” The unfortunate guard was effectively cowering in front of Sturrn. This was definitely a different side to Sturrn I hadn’t seen. He did say he kept his two lives separate though. “Recruit, you have 5 seconds to right yourself and get back in line or you will be ejected from the guard!” That seemed to get the stallion’s attention; he stood up quickly and ran back into the barracks in less than 3 seconds. “Get up Rorke; grab your weapons and put them in the footlocker on the right of the bunk, lock it up when they are in there. After that, get in line with the other guards.” Damn, I don’t want to get in any sort of conflict with Sturrn, he’s kind of scary. I did as Sturrn told me and put my gear away, I decided keep the gauntlet on. The axe and sword can’t be hidden easily; my gauntlet however could just be thrown into a bag and stowed away. My return to the line was met with the beginning of a lecture by Sturrn. “Stallions, recruit Tempest has dishonored himself and every stallion in the solar guard. I have tried to help him, I have failed. I have failed because YOU have not helped ME. You ponies have not given recruit Tempest the PROPER motivation. So from now on whenever recruit Tempest bucks up, I will not punish him, I will punish all of YOU!” Honestly, this feels exactly like how I would imagine training in the army to be. “As I see it, you all owe me for that one remark!” Sturrn walked right up to the guard that still had a bit of grass on his armor. Coincidently he happened to be one guard over. “Rorke is right next to you, why don’t you peek over this stallion and get acquainted. Rorke and the rest of these recruits will be doing pushups while you stand and watch! Recruits assume the position, that means you too Rorke.” This is going to be either really easy or just as hard as doing a push up in my old body. I got onto my hands and after a moment of awkward bending, was leaning on my toes. Sturrn walked over to the middle of everyone and began. “One!” I lowered myself trying desperately to remember how to do these properly but the memory was lost on me. “Two!” I lowered again and looked behind me for a second. My robe had ridden up and was revealing my feet, no one was looking so I didn’t think too much of it. “Three!” My posture seemed to get a little better until I saw Sturrn walking over to me but instead stopping in front of Tempest. “Recruit Tempest! I’m pretty sure that Rorke is still emotionally shattered that you would say that without even talking to him. You have ten seconds to drivel out something that sounds like a heartfelt apology, if you don’t the next 24 hours of your life will be dedicated to doing pushups until you move the castle itself.” He mumbled something but it didn’t seem to please Sturrn very much. Actually he seemed to be getting angrier. “RECRUIT! You will cut that line of crap you just spewed onto my hooves and address Rorke, your apologizing to him not me! Five seconds left!” ‘Wow this guy is stupid, he is actually sitting here contemplating whether to apologize or not.’ He finally relented. “Fine, Rorke I’m sorry that I said that. It was truly unfair of me to assume that you were disgracing the castle or were in fact unclean in the least.” “Now was that so hard? Get on your hooves; you are going to be doing pushups with everyone else. After that we are all going to the training grounds.” Six hours later and I was the only one capable of further exercise. ‘Thank god for being unaffected by fatigue or pain.’ The only other pony that was still able to keep up was Sturrn and even he was starting to slow down. He caught up to me for a little chat on the way back to the barrack. “Rorke you may want to ease up, most ponies can’t do what you just did on their first day of training. If I didn’t know the ‘truth’ I would be pretty suspicious.” “Don’t worry Sturrn, I have it under control. What do we do now though? Little off note but also, do we have patrol tomorrow?” “Yes, you and I have patrol because another sergeant will be training the recruits tomorrow.” “I should go get my armor too.” “What do you mean armor? When did you go get armor?” “I must have forgotten to tell you, everyone thinks I’m a guard. Only the smith pushed the issue, so I told him the thing about me being a foreign dignitary from Gem Fido here to study pony life.” “Okay just stop trying to draw attention to yourself it’s making me nervous. I don’t like lying to the ponies and if word reaches the princesses, I don’t know what will happen. I’m going to go take off my armor at the barracks and go get some food, meet me in the mess hall inside the castle later.” “I’ll see you in an hour or so, you’re going to like my patrol outfit. It has a sharp gold edge to it and looks good with my new weapons.” “You’ll have to show me then.” With that he walked through the door to the barracks. Only then did I realize we had been sitting there just talking the whole time. I immediately started off toward the smith arriving there in just under five minutes. I poked my head through the doorway. He wasn’t in sight so I called out to him. “Hey, Steel I’m here for my armor!” He immediately poked his head out of the polishing room. “You’re a very timely dog, you know that? I literally just finished polishing your leg guards; the chain mail was really fast because I have a load of steel loops just lying around.” “If the mail was fast then why are you just finishing the guards? Didn’t you say the forge speeds up the process?” “Ooh you’re a smart one, very perceptive. I had to look in the library for diamond dog anatomy to see if your legs differed in any way that would have made me shape the metal differently. As you probably know, the legs curve in a slight almost ‘Z’ type form. I wish you had told me that but no problem, so it is curved at the bottom also to account for the point where your feet turn into legs.” “You really did your homework, sorry about not telling you. Can I see them?” “Actually, I have somewhere to be tonight. You will need to take your robe and armor on the go.” We wordlessly shift through the shop till a couple minutes later; I’m clad in my patrol robe and armor pieces while being rushed out the door by a nervous pegasus. I actually felt more protected with the pieces of metal strapped onto my bones. He had rushed out the door so fast I didn’t get to examine the pieces of metal at all. I ran over to a nearby tree and sat down behind it. I pulled the cloth back on my robe to reveal the piece of metal strapped to the middle bone of my leg. It was a simple set of greaves really. The color was just raw steel, nothing outstanding like my weapons but what are you going to do. My chainmail was just steel loops linked together but it intertwined between some of the layers in front of my robe. So now if someone saw me they knew I had armor on. Springing to my feet I made for the mess hall to meet up with Sturrn again. After getting lost twice and thirty wasted minutes I finally found Sturrn sitting at a table with a couple of the other guards. He turned around and waved me over. “Hey Rorke sit down for a bit, we’re having some drinks.” That ended up being the single most awkward moment in my life. Turns out, Sturrn was right about being able to hold his liquor but everyone has their limits. His came when the trio that I now knew as Flamberge, Sturrn, and Starfall ordered shots of vodka from Stalliongrad. The toasts that were made can only be described as less than family friendly. Only about 20 minutes before Sturrn and I left did either of the two guards ask about me not eating or drinking anything. A quick lie was needed; it never came unfortunately. Luckily however, Sturrn passed out and the other two asked if I could bring him back to the barracks. I agreed as he was hefted into my arms and we set out for the building that promised a good night sleep. We got to the door and as I walked down the aisle of bunks making my way to Sturrn and I’s, the other two guards split off toward their beds. I hefted the stallion up to his top bed armor and all, taking off his armor would have been kind of weird really. Unfortunately with him most certainly assured a hangover tomorrow I had no way to wake up early. Then I realized that was for his benefit not mine, if I woke up early then I would get him up but if not then it was his fault for getting drunk in the first place. I took off my armor though and placed it in the footlocker; I had to make a conscious effort to not let anyone see my body while I took off the greaves and mail. Finally free of my protective layering, I hopped in the bed which thanks to me curling my legs slightly could hold my whole body. The conscious world slowly started to fade and the dream world of Rorke’s memories floated in to fill the void.