“Day 361, available supplies have dwindled greatly. We lost contact with Scavenger Team 3 last night. ST-2 returned this morning, empty handed unfortunately.” The voice of the pony speaking takes a deep breath before carrying on with reading the report. “ST-1 returned about an hour after, though only 3 of the 12 volunteers returned. The survivors say they were attacked by Specters while they were sleeping. One of the volunteers forgot to kill the lanterns, so they were like a beacon. The other 27 Scavenger teams returned unharmed with enough supplies for the weekly quota.” With a sigh of despair, the voice slams the report onto the table he was seated at. “Fuck! That’s the third time this month we’ve lost good ponies to the damned Specters!”
Another voice clears his throat and trots up right beside the previous voice. “Niveis, it’s alright. At least the survivors brought back some weapons.”
“It’s not alright, Dawn! I’m responsible for this Sector - for these ponies! Hell, I was apointed the new leader of Ponies by the Ponies! If I lose anymore, I may just be thrown out for the Specters!” The voice of a unicorn, Niveis, exclaimed. Putting his head on the table and covering it with his hooves, he sighs in annoyance.
Moments of silence pass and the second voice, Dawn, puts a hoof on his comrades shoulder for comfort. “It’s not your fault, everyone will understand. Now c’mon, you have a meeting with the other Sectors Overseers.”
Hesitantly, if not a little shaky, Niveis sits back up, taking a deep breath before standing up on his hooves. “Right. I still don’t know why they wanted to meet here, in Sector 7.”
“Well Sector 7 is the most secure, highly armed Sector in Equestria, if not beyond. Not the mention the capitol of the survivors of the Pony Race. Of course they’d want to meet here.” Dawn explained, grabbing his Boss’s saddlebag and putting it in himself. “I’ll carry your stuff. Now lets get going, the Conference Room will be opening up in 15 minutes.”
And with that, Niveis and Dawn left the Overseers Office and down the stairs leading to the main hall of Sector 7.
Sector 7 was set up a late 8 months after The Blackout. It was formed inside a deep, large cavernous cave. Enough room to fit 350,000 residents, and still plenty of breathing room for more. The construction of Sector 7 turned it from a cave to easily 20 times more secure then the Princesses Fallback Bunker deep underneath the mountain Canterlot was perched upon. The only difference was that this was no place for royalty - it was a place for survivors. A place ponies can live without worry of dying mercilessly to the invisible claws of the [name]. And today? Today is a meeting of all the other Sectors Overseers to discuss expansion of Sector 7, and the possible formation of an alliance to create an army of the different races such as, the ponies, the zebras, the griffons, the yaks, the dragons, and everything in between.
The reason for this formation is to advance on recently discovered Rift that the Specters flood from.
The Specters are truly heartless creatures from another dimension. They lurk in the shadows - they are the shadows. There used to be a phrase, something along the lines of ‘you never see the same shadow twice’ or ‘you never have more then one shadow’. That phrase carries no weight anymore. If you have more then one shadow, or a shadow where you shouldn’t have one, you’re already dead. These creatures are merciless and relentless, hell bent in killing any living thing they see. But unbeknownst to the Survivors of The Blackout, the Specters are evolving - they’re changing. They’re becoming more deadly then ever before...
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Trotting through the main hall, Niveis was greeted by countless ponies, who’d smile at and thank their leader. The one who kept Sector 7 above water since it was just a cave in the side of a mountain.
“Hey Niveis Eventide,”. A voice called from behind, “just the pony I was looking for! The other Overseers are waiting in the conference room for you. Though I do have some news you may not like.” The voice says.
Stopping, Niveis turned around to face the body of the voice. The pony was a tall, dark blue unicorn. “What now, Ajax? I’ve had enough bad news this morning.”
“Right... I am sorry to hear about that, it’s never easy to lose ponies under your watch.” Ajax says, sighing with a hint of sadness before continuing, “But uh, yeah the Overseer of Sector 11 is here as well.”
A moment of silence from the 3 passes, including nearby ponies looked at the group in terror.
“The Changelings?! Who invited them?!” Niveis exclaimed, practically loud enough for all of Sector 7 to hear.
Dawn held his breath for a second before beginning, “I know that sounds bad, but please don’t freak out when I say that I did.” He then shielded himself from a barrage of punches and prods, which strangely were never delivered. And then Dawn realized that Niveis was no longer in front of him.
Chuckling to himself, Ajax bumped Dawn on the shoulder. “He left towards the conference room half way through your little confession. He’ll be fine though, he knows that if he goes off at the Changeling, it’ll ruin our rep. Everything will be fine.” And with a flash of his horn, Ajax flashes away with magic, leaving Dawn there alone, the centre of attention of all the ponies that overheard the talk of changelings. Clearly they all wanted answers, and all Dawn could manage was to say, “Oh boy, here we go.”
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Niveis stood there, staring at the door to the conference room. Unsure how to feel about this. He knows that this meeting is important, but he almost just wants to call it off, or at least not participate. But unfortunately, he just had to stow those thoughts away. Taking a long, deep breath, Niveis pushes open the door of the Conference room. In each of the 6 seats was the Overseers of each respective Sector, and at that, race. From left to right, there was Noura, The Overseer of the Griffon Sector 9. Cadmus, newly appointed leader of the Dragons, who are held up in the dragon lands. Yeshua, Overseer and leader of the Yaks, Sector 16. Princess Skystar, Leader of the Hypogriffs and seaponies, Sector 3. Zeke, Overseer of all of the Zebra colonies, also known as Sector 12. Next is Hidden Flame, Overseer of the small Kirin race, Sector 2. And finally Azul, newly appointed Overseer and Queen of the remaining Changelings, Sector 11. There was only 1 empty seat, and that was Niveis'.
Niveis pulled out his chair and sat atop it, clearing his throat and breaking the silence. "Welcome everyone, to Sector 7. I hope you all found the trip here safe and smooth."
"Ha! Barely! We were surrounded, but scorched our path here! Those Specters hate the light of our fire!" Cadmus exclaimed, in the very forward and intense way dragons usually speak.
"It went well. Thankfully those things can't fly, so we were able to fly through the Eternal Storm." Noura explained, showing were bruised and battered wings to show the effort put into such a feat.
Azul cleared her throat and stood up, looking at and speaking directly to Niveis. "I lost two good drones coming here. This better be worth it." A moment of silence passes, until Azul speaks up again, "Are you even the right pony anyways? You don't look like what I'd imagine the leader of ponykind would look like." She says, mocking Niveis.
"I didn't invite you here Azul, that was my secretary. I'd kick you out if I could." Niveis shoots back, not even looking in the Changelings direction once. "That aside, we're all gathered here today to form an alliance. As I'm sure you're all aware by now, a Rift has been detected. We're not sure exactly where yet, but I have my top scientists from all the Sectors under my watch working out how to pinpoint its location, and how we can destroy it," Niveis explains, with the full undivided attention of all but Azul, who was staring at the ceiling sighing silently. "Now I don't know how long it'll take to find it, but once we do and have a way to take it out, I suggest we should use our combined forces to beat the Specters back and at the very least, contain the rift. Any comments or questions so far?" Niveis asks, and less then a second later Azul chimes up.
"Yeah. What makes you certain this 'rift' or whatever can be contained, let alone destroyed?" Azul questions, already sounding bored out of her mind from this meeting.
For the first time, Niveis looks a the Changeling, if only for a few seconds and says, "I'm not certain of anything. Even if we can't get rid of the rift, this alliance will be beneficial to us all. As much as I'd hate to say this next part, I have to." Niveis says, preparing to talk of the terms of the Alliance. "As you all know, Sector 7 is the largest and most secure Sector. With as many body able ponies as we have, we can send some volunteers to other Sectors to help them with their problems. The less problems we all have, the stronger we'll all be in the fight for survival against the Specters."
"So you'll send us ponies?" Azul asks, her attention clearly caught.
Sighing in annoyance, Niveis nods and then looks to Azul, but with more of a concerned look. "Yes, that includes Sector 11. Your Sector."
"We have a deal. After this conference, I'll list off the kind of ponies we need. So hurry up and make this quick." Azul added, now more in a rush then anything.
"Right... Anyways, does anyone else have any other comments or questions regarding this alliance?" Niveis announced, which was met with silence. Until Cadmus spoke out.
"Your ponies won't be able to survive the Dragon Lands. I'll ask for metals instead. We need to make doors for the Caverns, which is the first for us Dragons." Cadmus explained. Dragons have gotten by pretty well thus far, since they live in caverns full of lava so there's always plenty of light to deter the Specters.
"Yeshua has question too," Yeshua began, "We need food and doctors. Can Niveis provide those?"
Niveis nodded and tried to put on a more professional tone, "Yes to both of you. We have plenty of metal Cadmus and his dragons can haul. As for you Yeshua, I can provide you with plenty of food and a hoof full of Doctors and Nurses. Is that all?" Niveis asked, which was followed by silence. "Alright, good. On the paper in front of you is the terms we here at Sector 7 have thought up - what we need from each of your respective Sectors. All you have to do is sign your name and sector, with you approval of the alliance. Anything any of you need from us can be taken up with my Secretary Dawn." Nevies spoke, standing up, going to and opening the door conference room. "Now as the Overseer of Sector 7, it's my job to offer you all a place to stay for the night so you don't have to risk the Eclipse." And with that, all of the Overseers, including Azul much to Niveis's surprise, followed him.
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I was about an hour after Niveis set up living spaces for the Overseers to stay for the night. They had surprisingly all approved the Alliance, and listed their demands to Niveis's secretary, Dawn. All except for one...
"Knock knock, it's the one you hate." voice said from outside Niveis's office, knocking on the door.
Knowing the voice, Niveis sighed and put his research documents from his scientists away out of sight. "Come in, I guess." Only a second after him allowing entry, the door creaked open slowly. And there standing in the door way was Azul, Queen of the changeling. "Are you sure you're the right changeling? You don't look like the what I imagined the Queen of the changelings to look like." Niveis mocked, as he wanted to when Azul mocked him.
"I have my list of demands." Azul says, as if she didn't even hear him mock her.
"Then take them up with Dawn, his in the office at the bottom of the stairs." Niveis insists, pulling his documents out again assuming the changeling would leave.
"No." Azul says simply, "I only deal with those in charge. And as far as I can tell, that's you. Besides, I have information on a the rift."
Shooting his head up, Niveis looks straight at Azul in hopes she has information he doesn't already have. "Get in and close the door. You better have something I don't know otherwise this is a waste of time." With that, Azul did as she was told. She was the first to speak up again.
"First things first. I need 50 ponies who can handle mining and expansion to the hive. We also need a stable source of foo-" Azul was saying, though she was cut off by Niveis.
"I'm not giving you innocent good ponies to feed off of. That's off the table." Niveis interrupted, now sounding angered.
"IF you would let me finish, I was just going to ask farmers. We worked out a way to make a garden with rich soil and magic made sunlight. Since we can't use ponies anymore, we've resorted to 'normal' food." Azul explained, slightly offended by Niveis's outburst.
Genuinely shocked, Niveis shook it off and put his hoof out. "If that's all, we'll shake on it here and now. If your method is effective, you will tell us how to make that kind of garden. Ours are barely getting by."
"Deal." Azul replied simply, taking his hoof and shaking it. "About the Rift though, I think I know where it is."
TO BE CONTINUED?
Author's Note
Alright, so hi. This is my first story, and I have big plans for it. I do hope at least someone will find this interesting, because I'm definitely happy with it so far. I may make more short stories here and there, maybe even in this universe. Not sure when I'll write the second chapter, but probably a day or two after this story passes approval.
Well anyways, I'll be off. Thanks for reading!
Author's Note
Right so I know I'm not good at action but I attempted a tiny bit here in hopes I get better. I do hope someone finds this story I'm making entertaining because I'm proud of it.
Thanks in advance for reading, and I hope you enjoy it!
They Evolve
The roaring thunder of the approaching storm could be heard clear through the first few floors of Sector 7. The Eternal Storm. It appeared about a month into The Blackout. This storm was so vast, it could cover an entire continent. Since the storm began, it has shown no signs of letting up, and likely won’t for, well, eternity. Inside of the storm is easily the deadliest place you could possibly be, but not because of the neck breaking wind speeds or the constant thunder and lighting. But because thousands, if not millions of Specters followed the cover of the Eternal Storm. And no amount if light could save you inside of the storm because the darkness stifles the light with ease. Its impossible to survive in the storm, and likely never will be possible.
Despite the stillness of the sun and moon, there are still days and nights. The day is still dark as the sun is just barely over the horizon, so Specters are often encountered on the surface. Night time is called The Eclipse. This is when an unnatural cloud in the upper atmosphere covers up the light of the celestial bodies. This is when the Specters are most active. And most deadly...
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"Ugh..." Niveis groaned, sluggishly pulling himself into a sitting position on his cot. "I need to try to get some decent sleep eventually... If only I had the free time..." He complained.
It's been a quick 2 weeks since the Conference, but plenty of progress has been made. Thanks to the Intel provided by Azul, the newfound Queen of the Changelings, the Rift has been located. On top of that, all the demands of the Sectors have been fulfilled, and Sector 7 even got some dragons as heavy lifters who could transport stuff via the sky, rather then risk the dangerous ground.
"Hey Niveis, Ajax needs a meeting with you." Dawn said, peaking into Niveis's room (and office). "He said not to keep him waiting because it's important." He continued.
"Yeah yeah, I got it. Tell him I'll be there soon." Niveis replied, letting out an audible yawn as we brought himself to his hooves. "Oh and get a message to Sector 12 that we'll send them extra assistance once the storm passes."
"Will do." Dawn acknowledged before speaking again. "And don't forget to grab some breakfast on the way to meet Ajax, I heard Mrs. Symphony managed to scrape together some good muffins."
Yawning and bringing himself to his hooves, Niveis says, "Good to know she can still manage making some good food down here. Well thanks for the heads up, Dawn." And with that, Dawn disappeared from the doorway and down the stairs. That's when Niveis realized he didn't even ask where Ajax was. "Shit. Looks like I'm going on a scavenger hunt, then..."
With one more, smaller yawn, Niveis put away some documents he left out overnight before heading out of his office, and down the stairs to the rest of the first floor of the Sector. Once down the stairs, Niveis's senses were attacked by the sweet aroma of muffins. "That's probably Mrs. Symphony's work." He says simply, trotting in the direction of the smell. Soon enough, we was face to face with the humble little stand Mrs. symphony put together for the morning muffins she had made.
Taking in the pleasant smell of muffins, Niveis sighs satisfyingly before saying, "Good morning, Mrs. Symphony. I see you manage to make some muffins."
The timid old mare looked up, joy in her eyes to see who she sees. "It's been a while since I've seen you around this side of the Sector, dear. Are you doing well? Are you getting enough sleep?" She probes, clearly concerned for Niveis.
With a short laugh, Niveis smiled and reassured her, "I'm just fine, Mrs. Symphony. How about yourself?" He then asked.
"Just wonderful, dear! And please, I've told you many times that you don't have to be so formal. Would you like a muffin?" Mrs. Symphony questioned, with a sweet genuine smile.
"I could really go for one right about now. What are you charging?" Niveis questions back, realizing he completely forgot to bring his saddlebag.
Pushing the biggest, plumpest looking muffin she had towards Niveis, she whispered, "One free cupcake for you, dear. You've been working so hard to keep us all happy, so you deserve it."
Taking the muffin in his hoof, put it up to his nose to once again smell the sweet smell he hadn't experienced in so long, he could feel himself getting hungrier by the second. "I don't deserve anything but I know you won't let me leave empty hoofed, so thank you. Have a good day, will ya?" Mrs. Symphony smiled sweetly and nodded before getting back to her other customers who were waiting. trotting away, Niveis took a large bite out of the muffin, and was attacked by not only things he hasn't had the leisure of tasting in a while, but it also brought back some memories of the good old days. Granted that felt weird for him to think because those good old days were from just over a year ago. Niveis could distinctly remember his neighbors, one of which was Mrs. Symphony, and her baked goods she'd give to her neighbors, and her usual colts and fillies that would turn up to visit the neighborhood granny.
Being shook out of his nostalgia, Niveis found himself face to face with Ajax. "Ah. Hi. I was supposed to find you, but looks like you found me first." Ne joked, taking another bite of the muffin.
"You need to get up to the Entrance, like, now. The spotters say there's a large group of ponies approaching slowly, and without any light to protect them." Ajax explained. "Which as you know, is impossible. any living creature without a light source would be shredded into pieces immediately."
Curiosity getting the better of him, Niveis stuffs the rest of the muffin in his mouth, which he didn't do consciously, as he bolted off towards the path to the entrance of Sector 7, and Ajax followed suit. Once they arrived there, the two guards wielding flamethrowers blocking the door looked at each other, wondering why Niveis Eventide of all ponies would be at the surface, but they cleared the way and opened the door anyways. As Niveis and Ajax crossed from the safe interior to the outside, thankfully heavily lit outside, one of the Spotters seen him and began to explain the situation.
"Sir, a large group of ponies without any lighting are approaching. I don't think they'll last out there for much longer, so what should we do?" The spotter explains and questions, putting his eyes back on the aforementioned ponies. Quickly trotting up the stairs to where the spotter was posted, Niveis takes the spyglass they were using and looked through it. Using a spell, he zoomed in with the spyglass.
Moments of silence pass as the group of ponies gets close enough to be made out. "Those aren't ponies..." Niveis stated, clearly disturbed by the sight. "Get the flamethrowers lit up, and get one of the dragons out here."
"Sir?" The spotter asks, "What do you mean? What else could they be?" Hoofing the spyglass back, Niveis, now actually shaking ever so slightly, quickly hurries down the stairs to Ajax.
"Ajax, you heard me. Ready the flamethrowers and get a dragon out here. Those are Specters, not ponies. Look for yourself if you don't believe me." Clearly in a hurry, Niveis made his way back to the door. Before Ajax could even say anything, all the braziers, candles, and lamps were blown out simultaneously. Stopping dead in his tracks, Niveis turns back to face Ajax while lighting up his horn for light. "What just happened? Get those lights back on!"
"It may be too late for that!" The spotter from before exclaimed, "T-they teleported or something, they're roughly 20 feet from the ga-" Before he could finish, one of the seemingly 3D Specters launched itself at the spotter, knock him out of the tower and hard onto the ground. The Specter, now truly confirmed 3D to Niveis's eyes, were nightmares to behold. They were vaguely pony shaped, made of a pulsating black, almost smoky substance with a mouth for a face, with countless rows of razor sharp teeth that were the only non-black thing on them. And that's when it looked at Niveis.
Letting out a blood curdling screech, one that could alone give you nightmares, it lunged at Niveis. Luckily for him, One of the door guars from earlier lit the Specter up with his flamethrower. The Specter went up in flames, screeching as if in pain as it slowly dwindled away into nothingness. It seemed as if they were still susceptible to light, and predominantly fire at that.
Stumbling backwards, Niveis bee lined it to the door with Ajax by his side to go get reinforcements. Luckily, they already arrived. However, Niveis and Ajax were forced to stay inside, despite them both wanting to help to reduce casualties. Unfortunately for them, they were priority assets...
"The hell was that?!" Ajax exclaimed, clearly panicked.
"The Specters..." Niveis began, more calm now, "The fucking Specters aren't just shadows anymore. But how does that work?" He questions himself, more then Ajax.
Pacing back and forth, Ajax looks at the door separating them from outside. Beyond the door the yelling of ponies and the flamethrowers could be heard, as well as the screeching of the Specters. "This is a whole new ball game. Our tactics to defend against the Specters has to be updated, and now!" Ajax suggests.
"But how do we know it's just these ones that happen to be... 3D?" Niveis says, truthfully doubting they're the only ones.
'We don't but it's safe to prepare anyways." Ajax began, as the roar of a dragon could be heard from outside. Finally the heavy weapon arrived. " Hell, lanterns and brazier won't work anymore because they were just blown out! They couldn't do that before!"
"Alright, alright! Let's get back to the main hall. Pull out the electric lights, we may have to use those instead, despite being as low as we are on them." Niveis demanded, making his way back towards the main hall.
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When Niveis and Ajax got to the main hall, Ajax was only just now being hit by the severity of this new situation. Niveis however was surprisingly calm, or at least he was on the surface. "Ajax, get a team to haul out the electric lights. We only have a few, but we have to make sure the entrance to the rest of the Sector is lit up and safe."
"You don't think they'll actually get this far, do you?" Ajax asks, still panicked and physically shaky.
"No, but it's better to be safe then sorry so get it done. Now." At this point, Niveis was in more of an authoritative commanding state. His mind was flooding, and he could feel the adrenaline from the events, as short lived as they were, dying down. "I just hope there aren't a lot of casualties... Hopefully none."
"Don't dwell on that too long if there is. They would have died defending their home and one of the last safe spaces for ponies." Ajax advises. He'd know that dwelling on the dead would slow you down, as he would often be on the frontlines of many battles before The Blackout around fallen brothers and sisters.
"Niveis? Ajax? What happened?" Dawn asked, coming around the corner and in front of the two, "First a bunch of guards with flamethrowers rushed up top, and then you two turn up looking like you've just seen a ghost?" He continued to question. Looking them up and down, he could tell something was up.
"Get to my office and get ready to send messages. We need to alert the other Sectors immediately." Niveis vaguely explained, speed trotting past Ajax and Dawn and towards his office.
Catching up to Niveis, Dawn looked at Niveis more afraid then concerned. "Are you not going to tell me whats going on?"
"The Specters are... Evolving. They're now 3D." Niveis explains, not stopping to wait for Dawn as he had a job to do.
Stopping in his tracks, Dawn looks on with frightful eyes and a horrified face. "They're WHAT?!"
TO BE CONTINUED?
