“I wemembah my time at Camp Dwiscoww. Wet fwuffy teww ‘ou, at fiwst I considewed it, dah wowstes’ moments of my wife. Wiff me hatin’ dah instwuctow especiawwy, Mw Dowwi. Buh wookin’ back at it nao. That camp gabe fwuffy memowies I wouwd nebah twade away, ‘ou see Mw Dowwi was one mean son of a bitch, buh he saw somethin’ in aww of us an’ unwocked it, a sowdiah.”
[Quotation from an conversation with a retired Royal Guard. At Sewer Rat Tavern, Leakytown]
For the week before my departure. I spent getting all of my affairs in order, and mostly preparing myself for training camp. When the rest of Seaside heard about our rescue, we became sorta local celebrities with people coming up to us asking if we could recount the event. When I told my parents and brother they were both surprised, telling me that this was going to be a massive change in my life, and were a bit sad I was leaving but still happy for me. Now today was the day I leave and I was in my room packing that last of my things, I had multiple sets of clothing, a small wooden painting of me and my family, some spending money, and of course the book. Now with it all packed I grabbed my bag and started heading out, and once their I saw my family, Aubrey, and even my old teacher Miss Jessy looking at me. Miss Jessy who when looking at her I noticed her bright red coat a little more grey, the same of her dark purple mane. Headed up to me speaking first.
“My student Emiwy, when Jessy weawned ‘ou wewe weabin’ I just had to come an’ say goodbye! Bestes’ wuck to 'ou!”
Aubrey was next to speak with her coming up and putting a hoove around my shoulder.
“Weww guess dis am goodbye fo’ dah next few months. Damn Stabwewot dah big city… Make suwe to bwin’ back a soubeniw! An’ Aubwey guess gud wuck as weww.”
Me and Aubrey chuckle a little as I approach my parents and brother and speak.
“Weww guess dis am goodbye fo’ nao…”
I could feel my Mom and Dad hug me as my mom speaks first with her getting a little teary eyed.
“Mawia knows she wiww nebah get used to ‘ou not bein’ hewe, make suwe to wwite to us once an’ awhiwe. Goodbye my daughtew!”
Than my Dad speaks.
“Be gud out dewe. Who knows maybe I might see 'ou, dewibewies to Stabwewot am common!”
Than me and my brother hug with me speaking.
“Nu be wunnin’ off to some middwe of nowhewe shithowe when am gone, otay!”
We both chuckle, and with that I start to leave waving goodbye to them heading to the recruitment office.
Once I get there I see a wagon with the symbol of Seaside on it (The symbol being the colossus overlooking the great sea) and a driver up front and one fluffy in the back, I also saw the recruitment officer by it with a list. Once he sees me he puts a check mark on the list and speaks.
“I thought 'ou’d wun ‘way by nao. Get in dah cawt, theiws’s stiww two am waitin’ fo.”
Getting in I sat next to the fluffy already in, he was a yellowish orange pegasus, with a white mane. As I sat I spoke.
“Nice to meet 'ou! My name am Emiwy.”
He speaks.
“Name’s Webewend, sowwy about my dad’s behabiow.”
Confused about what Reverend said about his Dad, he points at the Recruitment officer and than I get it. I speak.
“Oh, it’s otay.”
We continue to wait in the wagon and soon the other two fluffies showed up, one just came by himself and the other showed up with his entire family wishing him goodbye. Once we were all seated, the recruitment officer goes up to his son and speaks.
“goodbye my boy, I wiww awways be thinkin’ of 'ou.”
Reverend speaks, as the recruitment officer gives the signal to the driver to start moving.
“Bye Dad…”
And with that, we were now off. Looking out at the city people were watching us with a few cheering and giving gifts (Someone gave me a bottle of ale!) And once we got to the gate I could see the two hanged bodies of the kidnappers with the city gate open, we crossed the gate and left and I gave one more goodbye to Seaside as the gate closed, and I could no longer see the city. The next 2 hours were pretty quiet with us just getting to know each other, and talking about our expectations for training. The surrounding area was pretty quiet to, with us only seeing towns and villages, or the occasional caravan or traveler. As we kept going and going things were getting more developed, we were close. Than now with on a converging road I saw something most interesting, another wagon full of recruits that left me quite shocked.
The wagon these recruits were in had the symbol of the city of Maximus (Maximus formally known as Cleveland, OH. The symbol depicted a Motor Soldier riding a raccoon, and stabbing a tribal through the neck during the conquest of Maximus.) And the recruits themselves I noticed were all “civilized” tribal’s (Civilized Tribal’s were tribal’s who had submitted to the crown, and were allowed to live in urban areas.) With the main thing identifying them for me being their short in the sides, long everywhere else haircuts. And the ritual scar each one had on there face. There was 4 of them in the wagon, with 3 of them chatting away but the 4th one sitting all gloomy looking down. Once they saw us they started shouting and one spoke.
“Wook othews!”
The fluffies in my cart also started shouting, with me just waving at them. Everyone kept being loud, with things getting pretty obnoxious, and even one of the fluffies bumping into me trying to catch a drink! Than when things started quieting down, I noticed something that shocked me even more… At the other cart I could see them Ga- Ga- GAWING AT ME! And not just that, I saw one of those idiots making a humping motion to the amusement of his friends! I bury my face in pure embarrassment trying not look, only to look up a few moments later once we make a sudden stop. We were here the gate of Stablelot toward before us, with us being so close I couldn’t even see The White Tower (Imperial Palace) when I looked up. We were the wagon infront, so when the Stablelot guard looked at us from high above the driver showed a piece of paper with a mark and so the guard gave a signal and a few seconds later the gates started to slowly open reveal the city inside.
Even though I’ve been here on many occasions, every time I return I’m still left speechless. The Wooden buildings were so large they cast shadows on the street, and the main road we were on had to be escorted as I could see hundreds going about there day. Those idiot Tribal’s in the other wagon seemed to be completely awestruck, and I couldn’t blame them that much. From the traders at the Seaside markets and just general knowledge, the city of Maximus is a far less populated and developed region so Stablelot probably makes even Maximus’s largest city look like a shantytown. In the distance I could see the two most prominent structures, first being The White Tower it standing tall and proud, and the next structure was the arena that despite it’s old age, was still in excellent condition. As we traveled throughout the city we slowly made our way to the most northwestern district (Guard and security District) and once there, I could see many barracks and armories with in the center being a large stone pillared fortress, Camp Driscoll. Stopping at the front of the fortress, I could see a few already empty wagons and once we grabbed our things a guard came to us and spoke.
“Come fowwow me! I wiww wead 'ou to whewe 'ou wiww be housed.”
Doing what we were told we start to follow the guard, approaching the entrance and seeing a statue of the Camp’s founder Driscoll. With me Paying respect I and everyone else enter seeing the main yard. The main yard was large and quite weird, there were several doors all around us with each one having different number. And after a bit more of looking and walking we are stopped in the center of the yard, and several fluffy helpers appeared and started giving us a slip’s of paper with mine having my name on it, as the helpers give us these slips the guard leading us speaks.
“Wewcome to Camp Dwiscoww nao pay attention! These pieces of papah ‘ou wewe giben wiww contain dah numbah of dah gwoup bunk ‘ou wewe assigned, an’ ‘ou an’ am gwoup am to wemain apawt of that bunk fo’ am entiwe twainin’ an’ possibwy… Fo’ dah west of am caweah. Dewe wiww be nu changin’ of am bunk, an’ if 'ou hab a pwobwem wiff that 'ou am mowe den wewcome to wawk 'way. So I suggest 'ou get to know dah peopwe in am bunk, ‘ou am owdewed to stay dewe untiw ebewyone an’ dah Instwuctow awwibe. Dismissed!”
Hearing this I look at the piece of paper and see that the number on it is a 6. I look at Reverend and he looks at me and speaks.
“3 what’s 'ou’wes?”
I speak.
“6”
reverend speaks with a slightly disappointed tone.
“Weww see ‘ou at twainin’ den!”
We wave goodbye to each other and I start walking to the door with a six on it but as I go I hear a helper speak to the guard.
“Anothah wagon has awwibed mistah, dis am dah finaw one fwuffy think. buh wet fwuffy teww 'ou dis one am intewesting!”
I wonder what was interesting about it? Getting closer and closer to my bunk I look to see if anyone else was going in the same direction as me and someone was. It was that gloomy Tribal boy! Getting a better look at him I noticed that he was an earthie (same as me!) with a dark silver coat and black mane. Also was his scar which was two white circles surrounding his right eye. As he starts catching up to me as I look at him and speak.
"Hewwo bunkmate nice to meet 'ou, my name am Emiwy!
He looks at me for a few moments before finally speaking.
“name’s Daw, nu get in my way.”
That was rude! I look at Dar with feelings of shock and anger, but I hide it. Once we reach the door I open it, to see who was inside.
Inside the room we saw it was pretty small, with there only being 4 beds and no furniture. But there was one thing though… My third bunkmate! I first noticed he was pretty big, with him being around 50% the size of a toughie. He was a unicorn with a greyish white coat and a light brown mane. He was also a lot older than us with him being at least 10 years old, and the lower part of his face had some excess hair that made it look like he had a beard. When he looks at us he rises with excitement speaking.
“Finawwy! nice to meet 'ou both, name’s Chawwes!”
Charles comes up to me and shakes my hoove and when he goes to Dar he rejects his hoove shake and Charles speaks with a playful sarcastic tone.
“Somebody wakies on dah wwong side of dah bed? C’mon!”
Dar rejects him again with a now visibly annoyed face, and Charles smiles fades and seeing this I speak.
“It’s su nice to meet ‘ou Chawwes! My name am Emiwy an’ that sad sack obah dewe am daw.”
Charles gives me a smiles as he speaks.
“Whewe 'ou fwom?”
I speak finding an empty bed to put my bad down.
“Seaside, 'ou?”
“Oh Seaside, Chawwes saiwed dewe a few times befowe it’s quite nice! Am fwom WongTwee wittwe up dah coast nowff fwom hewe.”
I put my bags down and talk to Charles.
“Ou know how to saiw, that’s awesome!”
Dar finds a bed and put’s his things down than it’s in it, as Charles looks flattered and speaks.
“Thanks! Chawwes has been saiwin’ since I was a cowt.”
I speak curious about why Charles joined up.
“What made 'ou sign up?”
Charles speaks sitting on his bed.
“Quite dah opposite actuawwy, dey wewe dah ones to come to me. Intewested about my expewience at sea. Chawwes was shocked, I thought dey nu did pick anyone obah dah age of 5. Buh when dey showed me dah benefits I decided why not. 'ou?”
I speak, also hearing talking from outside.
“Oh it was a chiwdhood dweam of mine! At fiwst dey actuawwy wejected me fo’ bein’ a woman, buh when Emiwy sabed dah cousin of dah king dey wet me in!”
Hearing this Charles rubs his chin and looks at Dar and speaks.
“It was pewsonaw, dewe’s daw’s answew!”
Charles looked a little made and was about to speak, but just then we heard footsteps coming from outside. Our 4th bunkmate is here, I wonder who it is! I could see the door open and finally we saw them for the first time.
The first thing I saw of them was their bright blue cyan eyes, hairless black skin, and sharp fangs. It- It- It was a Bug! Me, Charles and even Dar all went to the back the room and seeing this and the bug noticing our fright gives an embarrassed looks as they clean there glasses and speak.
‘“Oh no! I’m sorry if I scared you!”
Dark speaks.
“What dah heww am 'ou bug!”
They speak.
“Oh! Hello my name is Ix, and just to let you know I’m not a “bug” my people are called changelings and we come far out west.”
Changelings!? I remember a passage in the book, it was brief description about Soul’s journeys outside of Motor and it described him running into things called changelings. Wow! All of us go up to them and I speak as I do.
“Weww nice to meet ‘ou Ix! my name am Emiwy, that’s Chawwes an’ obah dewe am Daw. Wewcome to ouw bunk!”
Ix speaks putting their things on the last unclaimed bed.
“Well nice to meet you all, it’s good to know that I’m also not the only girl in here.”
Charles speaks.
“Am a woman!?”
I give Charles a slight kick to his arm, as Ix gives him an unamused face. Dar speaks going back to his bed.
"What’s it wike bein’ that out west? Daw heawd some cwazy stowies out dewe."
Ix speaks as me and Charles go to our beds.
“Oh I haven’t been out there in a long time, but to satisfy you’re curiosity. We changelings live in the area surrounding the ruins of Saint Louis, across the landscape we have several hives where we live and work and mostly try to follow the orders given to us by our hatch Queen. But that was a long time ago you see, I’ve spent a large portion of my life here at motor mostly as a land surveyor working for whoever doesn’t mind my ugh… “uniqueness” I was actually quite surprised when I was approached about being a guard, like I thought only fluffies were allowed that sort of job!”
We all look at ix awestruck and noticing this she speaks.
“You know, today has been a good day. Let me show you something cool! Any volunteer?”
I raise my hoove immediately and go up to her and speak.
“What am ‘ou goin’ to do!”
Ix speaks putting her glasses on her bed and taking a good look at me.
“Look at this!”
The most crazy thing happened next. Ix’s body started to transform, with it changing rapidly into… Me! The only thing that stayed the same was her eyes but it didn’t matter, me and everyone else was in amazement as it happened and Ix speaks sounding exactly like me!
“Hewwo my name am Emiwy, an’ am a fwuffy!”
Ix changes back and puts her glasses back on and as she’s about to speak we could hear a loud voice coming from outside.
“Attention ebewyone dah instwuctow had awwibed, get out to dah yawd in a singwe fiwe wine!”
We all start heading to the door and exit with me seeing a line already starting to form, we all ran to getting to a line and a few minutes later we were in it. Now in a line I couldn’t see that much, with the only thing I could see being some recruits pointing at Ix and speaking. Than finally coming out of a room and down a flight of stairs… We saw our instructor. He was an old unicorn with a fading dark blue coat and a fading dark green mane. Even with his old age he still wore a full set of Royal Guard armor, with the armor being iron plate the shined in the spring sun with red and orange stripes going down each piece. He and the guard from earlier were now standing infront of all of us, than the instructor attached a sword holder to his left hoove, took out his sword, than raised it up high and started to speak going back and forth.
“Wewcome to my house, my name am Dowwi an’ I wiww be am instwuctow. Ow at weast that’s what Dowwi thought, aww I see am just a bunch of pathetic weak wosews who wan’ to pway pwetend sowidew, su wet me teww 'ou dis, If Dowwi ow anyone ewse gibes 'ou an owdew, 'ou fowwow it! If Dowwi tewws 'ou to do 20 pushups, 'ou do it! If Dowwi tewws ‘ou go die fo’ am king, ‘ou do it! ow Anu fowbid if Dowwi just get’s bowed one day an’ asks 'ou to put on a dance, 'ou bettah goddamn do it! If any of dis twoubwes ‘ou ow makes ‘ou feew upset, hey tuwn awound an’ stawt wawkin’ Dowwi won’t judge 'ou. Nao fo-”
Dorri get’s interrupted when we all start hearing talking and laughter coming from the right of me, more specifically one of the Tribal’s I met on the other wagon earlier. Dorri put’s away his sword and slowly starts to walk towards the him. Once he get’s there, the Tribal the made the noise breaths heavily while Dorri just looks at him unamused. Than out of completely nowhere…
SMACK!!!
The Tribal falls to the ground with blood in his mouth as Dorri looks at him for a few seconds before slowly coming back infront of us speaking to us all.
“Any mowe jokestews! Bettah not be nao wet’s get bac- Actuawwy 'ou know what, 'ou pissed me off! 50 PUSHUPS AWW OF 'OU WITE NAO!”
And with that order all of us get to the ground and start doing our pushups, and I had a feeling that this was going to be a very long couple of weeks. Fin
thank you for reading my story! I hoped you enjoyed the introductions to Emily’s 3 other companions Dar, Charles and Ix, I can’t wait to write about all of them! I hope to have the next part done in at least a few days to a week, and of course constructive criticism is appreciated. May you have a good day!