//------------------------------// // None who Live can Survive the Flame // Story: Skeletons of the Past // by Sturrn //------------------------------// Chapter Five None who Live can Survive the Flame This Chapter is pending a re-write. The world was a void when I first opened my eyes, darkness everywhere I looked. My own body wasn’t even visible until a small light came into existence on the far side of the endless void. The light crept closer until finally, it flew past and other objects followed. All the objects were the same but portrayed different things, one thing they did have in common though was the original Rorke was in every single one of them. Like miniature movies each of them had what looked to be memories, I stuck my hand out and grabbed one causing my vision to fade again. I opened my eyes… again but instead of the dark abyss from last time, my eyes were greeted by a room fit for royalty. The walls were made of finely cut sandstone with large clear windows spaced evenly along the smooth wall, allowing sunlight to pour into the room. Blood red curtains hung to either side of each window. Throughout the whole room were gems, bookcases, and varies furniture in the droves. However as soon as I tried to get up, I found my body couldn’t move and I was stuck in bed. That is until my body got up on its own. My legs swung over the edge of the bed on to the floor revealing them to actually have skin. My legs carried the rest of my over to a table with a mirror attached to it, revealing more of my body. My face, my chest, and my arms really everything had SKIN and FLESH on it. ‘At least he’s wearing some underwear… loincloth thing.’ The whole experience was like being a spectator and seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. I did recognize the face though even with the addition of skin tissue and hair, it belonged to Rorke. ‘Okay this shouldn’t be a surprise, I struck a memory in that void and now it’s playing with me as its only viewer.’ He opened a drawer and pulled out a thick bristled brush, which he immediately began using to straighten the hair on his muzzle before placing it once more into the drawer. ‘Self-grooming is another thing I don’t have to worry about with my new body, no more shaving for me.’ As Rorke got up another Anubite in robes much like the ones from the museum burst through the door, speaking so fast I couldn’t begin to tell what he was saying. “Solaron calm down and tell me, what are you trying to say?” Rorke’s voice was full of authority but not really gruff or agitated, just powerful. “I’m sorry your holiness; I was attempting to tell you, a new breakthrough has been found on the temple line and is being repaired as we speak by the priesthood.” “Solaron how many times do I have to tell you, it’s simply Rorke and if you insist on the use of a title then please use Sand Priest Chardstone. ‘Your holiness’ makes me feel old and I’m only 36 years old. Also, you know as much as I do, that the line breaks all the time, it’s no need to sprint to my home and alert me” “Yes of course, I’m sorry your holi-“He coughed a bit to cover up his imminent mistake, Rorke smiled a little at this. ‘So that’s what smiling looks like on an anubite, wish I could smile.’ “I’m sorry Sand Priest Chardstone, now would you like to view your schedule or have me read it aloud as we begin?” “Read aloud if you would please, it seems by the sun I have slept too long. Just let me grab my robes and we can make for the temple. Do I have time to sit and eat or must it be taken with us?” Solaron didn't answer immediately. The two anubites headed out of the room through a wooden door and after a walk down some spiral stairs were out of the house. If Rorke’s room looked good then the world outside of it looked incredible. The cityscape looked like a desert version of Rome, sandstone columns and cyan accents were everywhere. Gold was interspersed throughout the area as well; it made Canterlot look tacky in comparison and from the looks of the anubites walking around it hadn’t gone to their head like the Canterlot ponies. The two were walking through an alleyway when Solaron began to talk again “You have time to sit and eat your meal in peace. Now your schedule today will look like this. Its eight thirty two right now, you will be delivering a speech in the market column at nine thirty after that we must be heading straight back to the temple for a sermon at ten o’ clock sharp. Should those two necessities be completed early, you will have your optional tasks to attend to should you wish it so. That will include talking with Princess Celestia of Equestria, visiting the families of those killed in a caravan raid last week, and finally your afternoon ‘appointment’” He gave a wink to Rorke when he said appointment, apparently Rorke has a date. “With sand priestess Galina.” “Thank you, it is troubling to see the Ajax have become far bolder in their attacks. Tell the princess that I shall be there at three, I will be seeing Galina at four, and I shall bring my condolences to the families at six. What is being done by our military to stop these attacks?” “The legion is marching one thousand anubite warriors into the desert; they should be at the Ajax stronghold by next week if the winds are favorable. Rorke I need to tell you this, you know as much as I do that we keep killing the Ajax and they keep coming back. They come back stronger and in greater numbers, last year we only had to send out a hundred warriors. What do we do when we have to bring up the whole army to win? What if that isn’t enough and we lose or are forced to bring up every able bodied anubite to fight? The Ajax don’t have any feeling Rorke. They are like locust, uncaring for the individual, only for the whole system.” They finally made it out of the long alleyway and into a crowded street just in time for Rorke to begin his rebuttal. “I understand your fear Solaron, but the priesthood is working as hard as it can to find something anythingthat will beat the Ajax for good. There is the temple, let’s go in-“ Rorke was cut short by a high pitched yelp and a clearly female voice screamed. “Stop THIEF! He took my money!” The voice had come from far left of the street. Rorke’s body tensed up as he scanned the crowd and saw the offending anubite. “Solaron go into the temple and get a couple guards, this thief will need an escort.” “Yes sand priest Chardstone, right away.” Solaron ran off toward the temple as Rorke rand toward the other side of the street keeping an eye on the thief as he ran. ‘I will only have a single chance to stop him before he can get away from me and that female.’ Looking through his eyes had really been quite an experience so far, but now I finally got to see where Rorke got his memories of fighting that saved me from those guards. He dashed across the street and was on a collision course with the thief and right as they would have passed each other, Rorke put his arm out and directly in the path of the criminal. Needless to say he went down. Hard. The thief slammed right into his arm as he was looking back to check on his victim, only to meet the crook of Rorke’s arm the instant he turned forward. He immediately left the ground and was flying toward the ground ready to impact back first. Which he did causing him to immediately curl into a large ball and groan loudly. ‘That was incredible, but I guess he gets his weapon expertise later on in life.’ “Let that pain remind you of your crime.” Rorke put his foot down over the thief and pushed him onto his stomach, keeping him in that position and relieving him of his stolen money while he waited for a minute till the guards arrived. Another anubite came over from the crowd that had circled around Rorke after the guards left. “Thank you sand priest.” The clearly female anubite said. Really they looked just like humans accept for the obvious addition of hair all over their body, jackal heads, and their leg structure. “I’m truly grateful to you for saving my money.” She gave him a light kiss on the right side of his muzzle to accent the point. “Oh...um...uh… Yes well uh… Your welcome, I was happy to help.” ‘It seems Rorke isn’t too confident with the ladies.’ The ‘woman’ walked away leaving Rorke to return to his venture of following Solaron into the temple. The sequence of events ended there however, the world went black again before it filled with light. I saw the wooden bottom of Sturrn’s bunk over my head as I lay in bed. My sleep wasn’t interrupted by him kicking the bunk but the sound of what I assume to be Sturrn emptying his stomach contents. I did a quick check under my robes and found that I was in fact still in my skeletal body which was oddly relieving. My legs found their way to the floor quickly after words as I strolled over to the bathroom to find Sturrn there; doing exactly what I had predicted kneeled over a toilet ridding himself of everything in his gut. “You know Sturrn; I thought you said liquor wasn’t a problem? It only took a few shots to put you down; I don’t think you told them I was a living skeleton of a dead race so that’s good.” “You know what Rorke? I don’t care, I feel like shit so you can take that fancy glove and jam it straight up your…whatever skeletons have! I don’t know, stop making me think!” He obviously wasn’t in the mood to talk so I left him alone, and just stood there making sure he didn’t fall asleep IN the toilet. Since Sturrn usually got up before me, he always had his armor on before I woke up. This was really the first time I had seen him without it on. I took in the visual info and found that he was a dull white with a purple mane, his cutie mark being a drill instructor campaign hat with a…riding crop behind it. ‘Oh that is too funny; I probably shouldn’t tell him what those are in my world’ “Okay Rorke I think I’m all good, shouldn’t have gone drinking with patrol scheduled the next day that was a stupid move. It’s five forty right now so we have an hour and twenty minutes to burn. Go get your gear on and weapons fitted after that meet me in the mess hall.” “What part of the city are we patrolling?” “I don’t know yet that’s why you’re going to get suited up and meeting me in the mess hall. I’ll be taking a shower and probably barfing up a lung.” “Okay, see you there.” I made my way back to our bunk and popped open the footlocker to reveal all my new shiny things. Most likely none of them will get any use for a while but it pays to be prepared. I took a look around and saw that none of the other guards were even close to waking up. Taking the initiative I began to undress and redress quickly to limit my window of exposure to prying eyes. My new outfit and armor pieces fit just incredibly well together, although the chain mail felt a little tighter than last night when I tried it on. Quickly slipping my khopesh into the fold of cloth on my waist and grabbing my axe, I ran out the door heading for the mess hall. “Whoa, slow down young one. Where’s the fire?” I turned backward on the smooth path I was on and saw an old mare struggling to hold a watering can, right over some flowers I didn’t recognize. ‘She makes Granny Smith look like Applebloom, she is OLD.’ I was feeling pretty good after getting to rip on Sturrn this morning for drinking too much. “I was just heading for the mess hall, but would you like some help with those flowers?” “No no that’s quite okay; I’ve been the head of the Canterlot garden staff for thirty two years now. I can’t hand off my work to someone else, just because I’m having a bit of trouble with the can.” Old but stubborn, actually a really common pairing among really any creature. “Yes that may be so.” She had the tiniest look of smug on her face. “However, you have to know when to ask for help.” That wiped away her smug quickly. She thought on it for a second before putting the can down. “Those were some good words. I’m thinking it’s about time I retired.” That was a bit unexpected. “I just said for you to ask for help not retire.” “That is true but I’m almost a hundred years old and still working. I’m sure Celestia will understand my decision.” “Well that was unexpected but I hope you have a good time.” She finally turned around and gave me a look up and down. After a moment of appraisal she spoke again. “You don’t really see that many Diamond dogs in Canterlot. Are you a diplomat from Gem Fido?” “I’m a dignitary that is being embedded with the royal guard for diplomatic purposes.” ‘I hope I don’t have to spread that around a lot until someone important comes looking for me. “Well I shouldn’t be wasting your time; you’re probably a busy dog so I’ll let you go on your way.” “Well I guess I won’t be seeing you around. Enjoy your retirement.” “Thank you and I will.” After what seemed like an hour I made it too the mess hall. Once I found my seat, the waiting game for Sturrn began… “Hey Rorke I’m here, do me a favor and grab me a cup of coffee would you?” “I guess but what is with you being so chipper last I saw you had a hangover, also why are you here so early did you even wash behind your ears?” “I knew coffee would be here and up for grabs even if we only have twenty minutes left before the other guards wake up. While the reason behind me being here quickly is simple, I ran toward the cure all of hangovers.” “Let me guess this magical cure all for hangovers is coffee.” He nodded and walked over to the buffet line that was always set out for the guard. The hash browns and eggs weren’t out yet because the kitchen didn’t want them to be cold when the guards actually got up. On the other side though, the coffee and pancakes were in heavy supply. I proceeded to make my way to the coffee area to retrieve Sturrn’s drink; a short pony in a white chef coat came up to me with plans to interrupt my coffee retrieval plan. “I’m sorry sir but this food and drink is for the solar guard not for public consumption.” He held my gaze through the whole explanation, not an easy thing when you’re confronting something twice your size with weapons. “Well then soup spoon it’s a good thing that I’m technically part of the guard, even though I’m actually getting this coffee for Sturrn over there.” I pointed to the stallion in question, who could be seen eating whole pancakes in single bites. “Well in that case might I recommend the vanilla hazelnut, it has superb flavor and I know it’s Sturrn’s favorite blend in the morning after a night of drinking. On the side note, I know that the soup spoon comment was derogative but joke’s on you, my name actually IS Soup spoon.” I decided to ignore his bad name and focus on the issue. “How did you know that he had been drinking last night?” He feigned a shocked look even putting a hoof up to his head, prompting an over exaggerated fainting routine. He recovered quickly though and began to speak once more. “I am shocked that you would even think anything could happen in my kitchen without my knowledge. I saw my sous chef handing off some Stalliongrad vodka to a couple of the guards; they’re probably feeling that this morning.” “I know Sturrn is feeling it but I have to ask you something.” “What would that be my vertically prosperous friend?” I’m pretty sure that he just called me tall but I’m not even going to respond to that. “How is it that you know Sturrn likes vanilla hazelnut after a night of drinking? Did you join him for a little partying?” “Hardly, I don’t drink more than a glass of wine, last gala though Sturrn and the stallions he was with last night got to go as participants and not guards. Needless to say, when one of them suggested a drinking contest none of them could resist. The morning afterward all three of them came in looking for something to wake them up. I told them water would help them the most and that coffee would actually be bad for them, but they didn’t listen. Now he thinks coffee is best, though why he likes vanilla hazelnut I don’t know.” I was about to thank him for the tidbit of info on my friend but was interrupted by said friend. “Hey Rorke, what’s taking the coffee so long!?”I turned back toward him and shouted. “I was having a little conversation with someone who doesn’t have a hangover, now sit down and wait for your coffee!” “You don’t have to yell jeez.” I had the largest urge to facepalm right then but it wouldn’t have made that comment any less stupid. “Sorry Spoon but it looks like we’re going to have to cut this talk a little short, his majesty the duke of pansies is waiting for his precious elixir.” “That’s okay um… I never got your name.” “It’s Rorke” “That’s okay Rorke, the conversation was good while it lasted, plus I have to get back to the kitchen my sous chef is probably freaking out. It’s funny, that Griffin pirate makes it seem like all Diamond dogs are evil but you’re a great example of the good ones.” “Thank you; just know you can’t blanket the whole species with only a few examples.” Lying to Soup Spoon was just the a bit difficult, even though we had only known each other for about five minutes. I turned and walked over to the table where Sturrn had already finished off six pancakes. I placed his coffee down which he immediately picked up and guzzled down despite the heat it still retained. “Well you ready to go? We have a lot of patrolling to do and I know I should say this regularly but, I hope we don’t have to arrest anyone today chasing them with a hangover won’t be fun.” ‘Whose fault is it that you have a hangover? Mister I can hold my liquor’ I decided delaying him would be a bit funnier though. “Wait, don’t I get anything to eat? I’m famished.” He got this smug look on his face; I could instantly tell my delaying plan had backfired. “I’m sorry Rorke, you’re right you should eat something you’re absolutely skin and bones.” I couldn’t resist the call to facepalm this time; his usage of pun technology was too great. I slammed my gauntlet over the left side of my muzzle in shame. “Wait, you actually shouldn’t eat before we go out. You know how food goes right through you.” The look on his face could only be called one of satisfaction. I took the time to slam my glove onto my muzzle again, a desperate hope that I could ride out the shame of this conversation. I put my axe on the floor and put my hands up. “Okay, I surrender, put down your puns and let’s get out there. Your just lucky pony puns are hard to come by.” My delaying plan backfired in the worst possible way. “Wait we can’t go yet, I still have a bone to pick with you.” “These puns are bad and you should feel bad.” “Yeah okay I’m done, let’s get out there.” After escaping the evil that was his terrible puns, we walked out of the mess hall just as other guards were walking in. We walked on the path past the barracks and out of the main castle grounds when I had a strange feeling, the robes I was wearing felt annoyingly tight. I pulled lightly on them but it didn’t relieve the feeling. Sturrn seemed to take notice of this immediately. “You know I was wondering back in the hall, why you put on your off duty uniform if we were going out on patrol. Did you forget that your other one was fitted to have armor underneath it?” “Yeah I did forget that. I’ll run back to the barracks and change real quick, hold my axe for me.” I turned to run back but was stopped by a hoof on my leg. “Two reasons you can’t go back in. One, its guard code that once you leave the castle grounds you don’t come back until your job is done. Two, if I have to suffer from this headache you’re going to suffer a tight robe, now let’s go.” I wanted to deny him the satisfaction of having a partner in suffering but just couldn’t do it. “You know if you hadn’t drunk yourself silly last night, this wouldn’t be a problem.” “Yeah well, you’re a skeleton so there.” This was a perfect time to break out the British accent. “Oh please my lord, don’t give me your verbal lashings, it hurts me so with your great technique for the spoken arts.” “You know what; I’m not even going to ask how a previously dead for millennia anubite can replicate a Trottingham accent so well.” Perhaps it would be best to actually tell him who I actually am. “Tell you what Sturrn, if we come to an area where there aren’t any other ponies I’ll tell you how I know about it, sound good?” He gave an “Eeyup” that could have rivaled Big Mac on levels of emotionlessness. ‘I’m glad I still retain all my memories of ponies or going about the world would have been more awkward than usual.’ Something must have been distracting Canterlot the last time Sturrn and I went on patrol, because a lot of the ponies in areas we walked in stared at me nonstop. I really wanted to jam my axe down this one pony’s throat though; she actually had the gall to SPIT on my robe as I walked by, must have been a dog hater. Luckily Sturrn picked up on that, and gave her a 500 bit ticket for ‘Harassment of a public servant’. Her face when she realized I was a ‘guard’ was incredible. By that point though, patrol was half over and we were entering the market sector of city when Sturrn and I heard a scream. “Stop that thief, he took my money!” If I wasn’t sure this was reality, then I could have sworn that my mind was still dreaming. I scanned the crowd and felt more like Rorke right then, than I had since being placed into his body. Immediately the thief came into sight from across the market, his erratic movements setting him apart from the crowd. “Come on Rorke, stop staring off into the beyond, we have to catch that stallion.” If I was listening to him it didn’t show at all. My mind was so far gone from that point; all I could think of was catching the thief. “Sturrn, hold my axe!” “What do you mea-“I dropped my axe and was already sprinting after the thief before he could even finish his sentence. I didn’t want my axe weighing me down; a sword would suit my needs perfectly, and for this I wanted my speed more than firepower. I remembered the line Sturrn had told me after the mare spat on me. “Stop right there, criminal scum!” The saying sounded vaguely familiar but I couldn’t remember it must not have been very important if it was wiped from my memory. I sprinted but the stallion that I saw was a unicorn and much faster in the crowd, he being a pony just forded the river of other ponies, I had to watch my footing to make sure I didn’t step on anyone. He turned a corner and a few second later I turned the same corner, just in time to see him head for the residential area of the city. Without the crowd to slow me down now I began to gain on him. He turned his head back and saw me coming up on him fast. A split second decision must have told him to try and slow me down, because he flipped a few trash cans over and sent them rolling toward me. I reacted quickly and jumped over them but instead of coming right back down I soared into the sky. I must have jumped almost twenty or thirty feet, because instead of landing on the street again, I had the distinct pleasure of making impact on the roof of a building. Now, running on a roof while your target is street level it just sucks it really does. I was jumping every so often and had to slow down to make sure I didn’t slip off. This caused me to start losing ground even with me being much faster than him. My saving grace came however in the form of an alley almost thirty feet ahead of him and on his left. It was perfect to stop the chase right there. We approached the time when I decided to jump from my position on his right, crashing down toward him fast. We both flew into the alley just as planned; I scrambled over to him and grabbed him in a tight hug to keep him from escaping. “Let go of me you bucking mutt, Princess Celestia will have your head for hurting an equestrian citizen!” Really? He was going to try and pull that card? Well two can do that. Still holding him tightly against my concealed rib cage, I began my rebuttal. “I honestly don’t think Celestia will care very much that I arrested a thief in her capital city.” “I can just tell them you stole it, who would believe a dog? Especially when I could just go to the guard and say you attacked me. So why don’t you just let me go and I’ll let you go?” “I’m really happy you say that because I’m actually embedded with the guard, my patrol partner is on his way here right now. In fact I think I’ll add ‘attempted subversion of a public official’ to your charges, for trying to blackmail me into letting you go.” He began growling until the growling became full blown snarling. “RAAAaaaahhhHH!” This sound began a new set of him trying to rip himself away from my grasp; all in all it was really a futile effort. I held his forelegs against his chest, keeping all leverage of strength out of his grasp. Unfortunately I forgot he was a unicorn, and at the same time it seemed he remembered he was one. I threw him against the adjacent wall to stun him and try to stop whatever spell he was attempting, but it wasn’t fast enough and my vision filled, first with his horn glowing and then a gout of flames consuming me face first. “HAHA! Take that, you mutt!” he yelled triumphantly before stumbling to his legs and making a break for the entrance of the alley. Sadly for him, the flames only surprised me for a second. I had already been in the movements of giving him a kick with my greaves, but when he moved the kick that would have impacted his mid-region actually hit his head. Needless to say he was dazed beyond reasoning. ‘Wait if he shot me with fire and I’m not feeling any pain does that mean it failed?’ I stood back up and looked down at my robes, and was greeted with a flame that was rising from my waist to engulf the rest of my robes quickly. “Crap.” Without the shock of pain dealing with the fire wasn’t really an issue, it did torch my robes though. They burned away quickly to reveal a new problem, I was standing there bare bones clad only in a chain mail shirt, some greaves, and my gauntlet. With nothing to hold it up my khopesh fell to the ground, I knelt down to retrieve it only to think of another problem. I was without my robes and a pony was all of five feet from me. Fate was on my side this day however, Sturrn arrived just as the last bit of my robes burned away. “Rorke what in Tartarus’ name happened to you!?” “Just put that thief on the other side of the trash can right there.” I pointed toward the steel cylinder and he moved the barely conscious pony over to it. He got closer to me and lowered his voice. “Now, what happened to your robes? How did you catch him you turned a corner in the market and I lost you.” I regaled him with the event of the chase; he seemed to like the part where I had jumped onto the roof the best. “So what are we going to do with you, because standing here with the thief isn’t an option. You definitely can’t walk back to the castle without something to cover up.” “I’m not sure; just give me a second to think.” I looked down at my bones and then toward the entrance of the alley. He was right, I couldn’t just stand there, and ponies would be coming home soon. My eyes shifted all across the alleyway for several minutes until they fell upon my steel made salvation. “Sturrn, what if I hide in the trashcan there? I think I can fit in it pretty well.” “That has to be the worst idea I’ve heard in a long time but it’s worth a try. I’ll take the thief in and then come back with your patrol robes and axe.” “Sounds good, wait what do you mean come back with my axe? Where is it?” The smith said the blades were made of titanium and that the metal was rare. Losing it wasn’t an option. He threw his hooves up. “Calm down, I left it with a merchant I know. Now get in the can.” A few minutes later we learned that even though I could fit in the can, there was simply too much of me to fit. We stood there anxiously for a while longer until he came up with a completely idiotic and risky plan that just had the right amount of potential to succeed. I took off all my armor and gauntlet first. Sturrn then took out his sword and began to implement the worst plan in equestrian history. In a flash of steel and a second of time, my right arm was severed from my body. Another second and another arm, I kept a close watch on the pony lying on the ground during the whole event. After a minute of chopping and several more outlining a plan to get me back to the castle, my body was in a pile at the bottom of the trashcan. I spoke from the bottom of the can just loud enough for him to hear me. “Sturrn let’s go over the plan one more time, make sure you got it, don’t want a mistake half way through.” “Okay, for the record, you’re the only person who has or can talk to me like this, so don’t go and get uppity with me. So first, I escort our unconscious friend over there into the dungeon. Second, go back into the barracks and put your gear away while grabbing your patrol robes on the way out.” He took a gasp of breath, before leaning back into the can to continue. “Third and lastly, take the robes back here, reassemble your body, and get back to the barracks in time to get some sleep and avoid another drinking binge. Correct?” “That’s perfect I like the no binge part, now get the plan rolling while I sit here and do my imitation of a Halloween prop.” He leaned out of the can just barely, before he shoved his head back in. “Is Hallow-een an Anubite thing? I don’t remember any part of the exhibit saying anything about ‘Hallow-een’.” ‘Crap, I forgot that all the holidays here aren’t the same as human ones. “I’ll tell you the whole story if we have time before the end of the day, if not then all will be revealed tomorrow.” He looked once more down the can before back up away, and putting the lid on the can. “That is just creepy the way his jaw moves without any skin, but the whole ‘only thing attached to my body is my head’ is way too much for me.” “Hey! I can still hear you, putting the lid on doesn’t make the can soundproof.” I waited a couple seconds for his rebuttal, but instead of words he just kicked the can almost to the point of tipping over. “Sturrn just take that pony to the dungeon and get back here so I can get out of this thing! Kicking it won’t solve anything, plus it smells in here so don’t walk.” “Yeah okay, I’m going, I’ll see you in a few hours so try not to catch anypony’s attention or get discovered.” I heard his hooves impact on the ground as he walked away, I also heard him say something to the thief but with the lid on and him being so far away I couldn’t make any of it out. Several hours later and Sturrn still hadn’t come back. The can still stunk of garbage even if there wasn’t any in it at the time. I was just contemplating the fact that, even with our limited time together, Sturrn and I had grown closer than my friends on earth ever were. ‘I guess you could attribute that to the fact that, I had never met any of them face to face ever.’ Suddenly however, the lid of the can opened, I was about to greet Sturrn and rag on him a bit for being so late with my robes. Unfortunately, the pony that I saw wasn’t Sturrn in any way, shape, or form. It was a lime green unicorn with a garbage bag in its mouth. A very feminine shriek came from the unicorn that is until it coughed loudly and tried to play it off in a very guy like manner. “Seriously, if somepony is going to throw away their Nightmare Night decorations, they should at least use their own trash can.” He set the bag down on the ground before reaching a hoof into my cramped quarters, and took one of my arm bones. He examined it for a second before speaking again. “Why would anypony throw this thing away? It’s in perfect condition and feels so real.” He reached in with both hooves this time and pulled out my rib cage with my head still attached to it. I was officially freaking out at this point, mostly that he would find out that I was still alive and alert the guards. “Now I see why they threw it away, all the bones are separated from each other. That’s too much work to put them all together.” He chucked my body back into the can before dropping his garbage bag on my head, and once more placing the lid on top. ‘This is just great, probably one of the worst moments since coming here, and that defiantly includes finding out that I’m a skeletal dog…thing.’ I lost track of time at that point, but my brain was telling me another few hours had passed. Time was drifting by so slow, it almost felt like it stopped before I heard steps from outside of the alleyway again, and then a voice came that I recognized well. “Hey, get off that trash can you rat!” he spat in an overly venomous tone. “I have a dead dog in there that” He snickered a little. “Needs some help pulling himself together.” The lid was lifted off before he spoke again. “Wait, did I get the wrong can again?” My voice was muffled a little by the bag on top of my head, but still made the point thorough. “Sturrn I’m in here, just get this bag off my head!” The bag was removed and my vision was filled with the image of Sturrn’s paper white muzzle peering at me. “There you are, now let’s get you out of that thing and get out of here. We have some work to do tomorrow and it’s almost eleven.” He didn’t look too happy about missing two precious hours of sleep, but I blame the idiot who set me on fire. “Yeah, just do me one favor okay?” He nodded before he started pulling my bones out of the can. “Seriously stop with the bone jokes, they are quickly becoming the bane of my existence.” He attempted to rebuttal but I was faster. “Don’t try and fool me, I heard the ‘pull himself together’ thing from inside the can. Just give them, up or you won’t have a happy Anubite on your hooves.” He looked depressed but gave in to my demands, before cracking another smile. “Fine but you have to tell me your whole story tomorrow during patrol, especially how you jumped so high earlier. I was a block away and still saw you flying through the air.” “Whatever you want just put me back together. I can’t do it myself, even though that would be pretty useful.” Only about a minute passed before I was once again at my correct stature. “Did you bring my robes? Your whole trip would be for nothing if you didn’t.”He gave a look of shock and indignation that I would even think that. “Come on, who do you take me for? Of course I remembered, now put it on and let’s get going.” I threw the clothing on, not paying much attention to it now that I lacked armor underneath. We were walking fairly briskly before we made it back to the castle at just past eleven thirty. Once more we made our way toward the barracks, arriving just in time to be very late for lights out. Sturrn had a pretty hard time taking off his armor and getting to bed. His hangover from the morning must have passed much earlier today, because he got into bed fairly quickly once he figured out where it was. I just waited a minute to adapt to the lighting conditions and then made my way into bed fairly easily. I laid there for a moment however, and pondered something. ‘If I’m a skeleton without need of regular functions or any feeling of fatigue, do I need to sleep?’ The answer never came to me because I decided to test it another time. Day four of my time in Equestria was coming to an end, and day five would be starting in about twenty minutes. The void of unconsciousness came quickly, as soon as I allowed it to.