//------------------------------// // Not A Summer Camp // Story: Dawn Of A New World // by Syzygys //------------------------------// After it all happened. The army had the upper hand. With no true leader to lead the ponies onto a winning war, the Royal Guard took beating after beating. After the Griffin alliance with Tirek's Lords, the pony resistance had practically given up. But, they kept fighting getting whittled and whittled down with each day that passed. How long, with they kept the suffering of their own species go on? I awoke with a cold sweat. It was strange, I hadn't woken up like that in three years. I stare around the room, other ponies are already up and about. They stretch and grab coffee. I pull my limp body out of my warm cot, not ready to face the punishment. The door swings open, and light pours in. It burns my eyes, and I shove my hooves in front of my face to block the light. "Hey, Thorn. You up?" I hear a pony from the next cot over ask. I twist my head towards him, blinking. Making sure I give my eyes some time to adjust to the light. I open my mouth, and feel saliva break away from the bottom of my mouth, "Does it look like I'm asleep?" I throw the covers on the ground. To be honest, I didn't even know the true answer to the question he asked. "Well, you look like a dead man walking. Just wanted to make sure you didn't kick the bucket during the night." He manages a smile. "I'm not dead, I'm alive and well." I turn my head and stare out the door with wide eyes, "Considering." The next think I know, a white shirt is being shoved in front of my face. "You don't really need to force me to get up, you know. I can take my time if I so please, Sensei." I never really knew another pony with a weird name like that. He puts a hoof around my shoulder. He leans over me and whispers in my ear, "Well, you've had to deal with enough beatings in this camp. Eventually your body is going to give out on you. I want to make sure you live long enough to see true light again." I have no idea why, but I break out into a deep smile. I toss a playful punch towards Sensei. "I never thought I'd be able to smile like that again." I throw the white shirt on. Of course, it was too tight. Ether the clothes you got were too tight, or too large. I stood up. Then, I over to my bag, Sensei follows suit. "So guess what I heard?" I bend down and start shuffling through the bag. "What?" He asks from above. "We're getting a Griffin today. You might want to work harder, I heard they are the hardest workers of them all." I pulled the last shirt back and soon yelled out. "Damn it! I can't find any pants!" I yelled that last part out louder then the rest. Everybody's eyes glanced in out direction. "Shut the hell up! Shithead..." I got kicked in the back, not hard enough to bring me down. So, it was obviously from Sensei. "Sorry, I'm just pissed off is all." Suddenly, the sound of hooves came closer. "If you wanted to search through my things." A large shadow came over me. "You could have just asked." I twist my head around. "What are you taking? This is my—" His hoof clasps my throat. He lifts me off of the ground, as I struggle and try to break free. I slam my hooves down on his. His face soon stretches a smile. His grip on my trachea tightened. My eyes became tunneling, when the thought came across my mind. I kicked him below the belt, right in the shin. His grip loosened, giving me some breath ability. I kicked him twice, the last time I kicked him so hard, I felt his bone scrap open against the skin. He dropped me, and stared screaming in agony. I lifted my hood up and clogged him in his jaw. His head twisted as my hoof came into contact as he fell to the ground, I grabbed his face, now droopy with the shot that I took, and kneed him in the teeth. Blood Immediately poured from his wounds. His body grew limp, and crumpled under its own weight. Now it was my time to kick him while he's down. I counted the times, one, two, three, four, five. I stood and turned away, "Don't ever attack me again." I managed to get saliva out of my mouth, and spat right on him. "Bitch." I walked past gawking soldiers. All who whispered about me. It took me until now to realize that there was someone at the door, I winked at him as I passed by. "Good morning, Captain." There are many camps that surround the areas. Evan of them are given a brand, mine is the Slave Labor Camp. Each camp will work day in and day out, depending on what job hey have. Along with slaves and workers, each camp is given a piece of an artifact, it is the lock on Tirek's cage. They are charged with the task of guarding it with their life. Once all the pieces are found to form an amulet, the lock will be broken on Tirek's cage and he will be opened and he will be released. Now, they don't have all the pieces. If they did, I and along with any other slave here would be dead. That's why there are scout camps, camps designed for the sole purpose of scouting for the missing pieces of the amulet. "A'ight you sorry lot! Line Up!" Sargent Applejack yelled aloud. All the ponies tumbled into their true formation, all by group. The sound of leather boots pounding the gravel traveled throughout the air. "Today is training day. As y'all know, you will be put up against another member from a different group. Thorn!" I turned my head around to acknowledge her presence. "You are ranked the best in your group, so you will be pinned against Tahir." She butchered his name, but he showed no sign of caring. Tahir looked like nothing more a runt, but the kid was nimble and could surprise you very quickly if you weren't prepared. I got a friendly, toothy smile from Tahir when I looked in his direction. "The winner will receive the prize." A Griffin was pushed out onto the field from a car. Tahir's eyes got huge, no way he was gonna give up a griffin. Soon after the other fighters got their match, me and Tahir were cuffed up. The two guards guided us into a small cabin. We got put into the "fighting arena". It was just dirty, bloody old mats, surrounded by wood walls. It smelled of faint mold in the room. Our hooves were cuffed to prevent us from trying to break free. We were thrown on the mats, our cuffs undone. A guard's voice came over the silence, "When the bell sounds, you will begin fighting. This is an unmonitored place, you can do anything to each other, as long as the end result is not fatal." The bell began to ding three times. The time for battle was now. I stood in my fighting stance that I was taught about in the war. Keep your self bent at an angle, shoulders forward, and your front hooves blocking your face, wait for your opponent to make the first move. Tahir had a different, more freestyle based stance. He faced me forward but look ready to strike, kind of a peek-a-boo style fighting stance. He lunged for me, I ducked under and swung my hoof into his stomach, knocking he wind out of him, leaving him to stop in the air. But, I see why he did that. He ended up positioning himself so that he landed right on top of me and began lashing out on me. I was able to block most of his hits, but some slipped through and slugged my face. With each hit that came in contact with me, I felt my energy drain. So I decided to slug him right below his chin, right in the Adam's Apple. I charged up the kick in my back hooves and slammed them into Tahir's lower chest. He went flying and his body slammed against the back wood wall. He went limp as soon as he hit the ground. He swung upward and flew around. He was dancing around the rim and jumped on me, laying in hit after hit, when I couldn't even get a good image of where the guy was. He slugged my knee and made me crumple, I flew the pain rush throughout my body, nothing I want used too. But he kept laying hit after hit and I knew I had to do something about it. I finally saw an exploit. He kept moving around to the same areas after he hit me. After he did one more round, I wounded up my kick and he flew into the wall and slammed against it hard. I saw he was bleeding out of his forehead, cuts and bruises littered his body and I'm pretty sure there were teeth laying on the ground. "Tahir? Come on, you can be down already!" I continued my taunting. Soon I was actually getting confused at weather he was okay or not. So I went over to him. It didn't appear as though he was breathing, at least, correctly. When I went over to him, with precaution as he could be playing a dirty trick on me. He suddenly swept my lug from under him. I tired to regain my balance but failed. I smashed my face off of the wall. Tahir kicked me in my shin and began smashing me into the wall. I began to actually let the guy get a beating on me. I was still gonna win anyway. Eventually, I felt his grip loosen. Now was my time. I kicked off the wall and did a backflip. I bucked Tahir into the wall and kept bucking him. I could hear the cracking of some bones. There's no way he was gonna get up after this. I punched him in the wall and it cracked. After one more kick, that I put all of my strength into. He went flying through the wall. He flew across the field and he skidded into the ground. I stared out the wall, that would eventually become another door into the dojo. I see his body twitching in the distance. "Well," I begin, "I assume that I won then." I hear my heart beating in my ears. I walk over to Tahir, his body looking mangled. I stretch my hoof out. "Need help?" He manages a smile. Even though one of his eyes were closed shut. "Nah, I think I'm gonna lie here. And enjoy the sun." With that, he passed out. I knocked on the door leading to Commander AJ's office. "So." I began as I stepped into her office, "Where is the Griffin?" She was taking care of what looked like important paperwork. "Your prize will be back at your tent by Lunch time." She didn't even acknowledge my presence. "You fought well today, I'm surprised. I'm considering not docking your pay for the "incident" at the dojo." AJ folded her hooves into her lap and swiveled in her chair. "I'm being serious, that was top notch fighting you presented today. Where'd you learn that?" It was strange, she seemed very intrigued by this. I was getting nervous. "Um... I learned it when I was in the army. I did three years of service and had time to polish my fighting skills." I was getting nervous , I could feel beads of sweat forming on my forehead. "Can you do that type of fighting with a weapon?" "Um, why would you want to know that?" I felt weird know, trapped, and constricted. "Well, we need a new weapons director. If you would be willing to offer your services to the camp, they would not go unnoticed. I might be able to pull some strings to at least make your situation better." She gave me a devious smile. "Um. I could at least try." "Ah, I'll tell you when you can begin your new assignment, okay?" she isn't look very surprised. "That is all then." I turned towards the door and stretched my hoof out. "Wait!" She called. I cleared my throat. "Uh, okay what is it?" I cracked my neck, trying. To not show any signs that I felt like I was going to melt on the inside. "I uh." She pulled a red container out of her commander jacket. "I remembered how you smoke, so I got you a pack." She seemed awkward in this situation. "I was saving them for a special occasion, but this seems like good as any, right?" Applejack tossed the pack towards me. It flew in the air and I actually caught it with my bumbling hooves. "Thanks." Was all I could manage. I began to get a joking mood on, "You know, these go for a pretty high price on the outside. I could sell them if I was desperate enough." I could see her stifling a laugh. She tried to remain serious but she couldn't. "God damn it just light one up. And give me one of those will ya?" She pulled out a checkered lighter. I pulled out my packet of matches. I light us both one up. I took a long drag on cigarette. Now, I hadn't had one of those in so long I had forgotten what they first do. I practically hurled my breakfast on the floor. "Damn, been a long time since I had one of these." She twisted her's in her hooves. "So," I began staring at the wooden flooring, "How's the griffin? I mean at working." I puffed some more of my fag. "Ya know. Normal griffin worker, don't talk much, get the job done easily." She chuckled. "Hell, they do three times as much work in a day, then you do in two!" She began laughing out loud. "Shut your fucking face anus." She laughed harder at this statement. AJ grew red quickly, and her eyes bulged. She soon wrapped her hooves around her sides. "Holy HELL! After around 4 minutes of nothing but straight laughter, she quieted down. In the mean time I had finished my cigarette. "Nice one, private." She threw her left hoof on her desk, trying to balance herself so she didn't fall down. "You know." I said kicking the ground. "I never really thought at you would be this kind to some pony." She gawked at me. "You probably have no idea how cheesy that sounds." She put her cigarette down in an ashtray and picked up her paperwork. "You can leave now." In my mind I was breathing a sigh of relief. "I just have one question though." She looked at me. "I thought you had a treaty with the Griffins." "That is in fact true." Her hooves were folded on top of her desk, her serious tone was back. "So how do you get them to be slaves? Why? I mean, they're your allies so why use them like dirt?" "Well, what you have to understand is that, we send the griffins troops when they need them, and they send U.S. troops when we need them. So, sometimes we get to have griffin slaves. Not everybody agrees with griffin policy. They are dealing with a war of their own." She stared back down at her work. "Ah, that makes sense. Thanks." I turn away and twist the knob. "And Thorn?" "Yes?" "I'll see you around." I turned back one last time to see her expression. For the first time, she was showing other emotions then anger. She showed that she actually cared. "Yeah. You will." I managed a deep smile. With that awkward moment out of the way, I soaked out of her office, and onto the training fields. By the time I got to the mess hall, Lunch was in full swing. The sun burned bright in the sky, illuminating the ground and everything else. The quote, unquote training field looked like nothing more then a construction site. They said that was to disguise the camp. I walked into the mess hall, ponies of all sizes and shapes were here. Some were wounded, some were high ranking officers. The only problem with the mess hall is that, all ponies at the camp ate at the same time. That included soldiers, and slaves. Of course, fights broke out all the time. One time, there was a problem. One slave grabbed the weapon and attacked the guard. The guard died, and the slave escaped the mess hall before more soldiers came. He went attacked many men, slaves and soldiers alike. Whatever and whoever was in the range of his weapon. Now, the slave was caught, but before he was killed, he was made an example of. His skin broke open, and bones peeled through the skin and muscles. He then was left for death. When he didn't die, they came back the next day and beat the poor sod to death in front of everybody. Eyes gazed and peered my way. They all look away Immediately as soon as I caught their gaze. I spotted Sensei in the corner with Tahir and the new griffin slave. They waved me over, after I picked up my food from the counter. They gave me a smile. It was a small thing, but it was a nice thing do to a complete stranger. "Ey man!" Sensei greeted me by embracing me in a man hug. "Dude, you really did a number on Tahir! Holy shit! I almost didn't recognize the guy!" I sat down and acknowledged Tahir's presence. "He-he. Yeah... sorry about that, Tahir. But, man you put up one hell of a fight." He put his hoof up to silence me. "The fight was not all bad. You did do a number on me, but I can tell you didn't want to be beaten again." If you do not do your task around here you are beaten in front of the rest of the slaves. The griffin looked up every now and then. "Hey, Thorn, see if you can get one word out of this kid. We can't do anything." Sensei chuckled. "Maybe he's just afraid of ponies with bandages all over them." I snickered. Tahir looked hurt. "Sorry, man. It's just that, it's pretty funny. But yeah I'll shoot." I finished the last bite of my small portion of food and turned towards the griffin. "So where are you from?" No response. I put my hoof on his shoulder, "Hey buddy, you a'ight?" He just barely moved his eyes towards me. Sensei spoke up, "Maybe he don't speak pony." That might have been true, the Griffins did have a very different language then us. "You know any Griffin, Tahir?" He shook his head no. "Thorn?" I thought about it for a minute, "I know some." I cleared my throat. "Jakai Venatk Unkablim?" The griffin payed attention to me. "Shakir Blehnti" Tahir and Sensei's eyes got wide. "Well, I'll be damned!" Sensei slapped me joyfully on the back. "Now, what does that mean?" I smiled for being the center of attention for once. "His name, it's Shakir Blehnti." I thought of two over sentences I knew. "Vak'in budetur Debinteh?" "Grundlti'e." "Vhintdti F Hugtybianu?" "Da." Everyone spring me looked surprised at what I and just done. They looked at me like Jesus himself. I could tell they wanted to know what I was saying. "I asked Shakir if he knew any pony. He said little and I asked him if he thought he could learn some. He said yes." Tahir and Sensei cheered. "Nice! When can we begin teaching the poor soul? Soon?" I nodded happily. "So, did you hear the commander bragging about your victory? Sounds like it's the talk of the town." I gave him a puzzled look, "Well, you're new to this so I don't expect you to know all the details. When somebody wins, the commander— in our case, AJ, and the pony who won, both get bragging rights against the battalion thus won against. But, it turns out your fight was he shortest, so you get bragging rights against all battalions, but only you. Not AJ." That's why AJ was so nice to me! "Wow, all that from winning a fight?" "Yep. Those are the rules." E realized the griffin was listening to our conversation. "F-f-fight? That be?" This time, my eyes grew wide as well. "Shit... quick. Thorn! Do you know. Screw It! We will tell you later, okay?" It took me until now that my breath was getting heavier and heavier. I tried to control it. I guess I was too excited. He smiled and nodded. I patted him on the shoulder. I was talking to Sensei later that night. "Thorn. Thorn. Wake up." My eyes jutted open form my restful slumber. He had a great smile on his face. "This better be good." He seemed to be uncontainable. His joy was very high and I could feel it radiating off of him. "Look, we need to escape." I couldn't resist stifling a laugh. "You are kidding me right? This place is like a prison fortress, there's no guarantee we can get out, at least alive. If we do manage to run away, they'll send a search party after us and then what are we gonna do? They won't stop searching for us. If we manage to get to a camp of the Royal Guard, we will reveal their position and then they'll be wiped out. Once the party finds us, we'll be beaten, made an example of, they might even hang us." Throughout the entire explanation he never lost his joy. "Look what I have..." There was a mocking tone In his voice, he pulled a black thing out of bed-sheet. It was a walkie-talkie. "When went for my fight, the guard dropped it. The other guy didn't notice it, what a dumbass." He laughed. I just stared straight ahead. "So, Einstein, what's the plan here?" I was about smack him in the face for being such an idiot. "Well, the ponies have to have a radio program, right?" I nodded, "So when we find said radio station, we call them and tell them our location. Simple." "You forgot, eventually the guy is gonna notice his missing walkie-talkie, so when he realizes it's gone, he's gonna look for it. He's gonna search everywhere for that walkie-talkie. Everywhere. So he's gonna find it and we'll be busted. I can already think of a better plan." "Care to elaborate?" "Well, commander AJ wants me to be the weapons director. If I have tis job I'll have access to the weapons cache. But only for a limited time. And not at night. We would need to find a storage place for all the weapons before the dark came, and then, when we needed them, we could arm those who are on our side. Then we would be able to break out." Sensei scratched his short, stubby, beard. "Hmmm. That sound like it might work. Yeah, you are on to something here. I also have a hidden weapon, I'm not gonna name the exact spot but I can show it to you sometime soon. I think it might aid in our situation." I turned over, "Hey Thorn?" "Yes." "We're you always a slave, after the incident at the Equestrian army?" I thought of the best way to say it. "No, stuff happened in between, let's say I've payed more for my crimes hen anybody." "Will you tell me?" "Perhaps tomorrow. Also what's your last name?" "It's Bright." Thorn felt a jab of pain at his side. "Ah, thanks, goodnight." "Night." Thorn was hoping to get sleep that night, but he didn't sleep one wink at all.