Rivet's Short Story

Rivet was born to two earthponies who tended an apple orchard on the outskirts of Symphorium. She was the eldest of four siblings, but was the frailest compared to her two earthpony brothers and her baby sister. She was never strong enough to help out in the orchard. Instead she would help her mother with odd jobs around the house and help take care of her baby sister. But as the days went on Rivet began to find her daily life unfulfilling. Being the only one in her class without a cutie mark when she is 14 doesn't help much. Soon she began to fall into a deep depression. One day, after seeing how down Rivet was feeling, her mother decided to bring her along on her weekly shopping trip to Symphorium to try and cheer

There, was her mother, standing over the bloody and mutilated carcasses of her father and brothers. Her beautiful white coat stained in the blood of her family. She was feeding on the body of her once beloved husband. Rivet couldn't help but let out a loud gasp. As soon as she did her mother ceased the feeding and quickly turned her head to face her now aghast daughter. She had visible wounds along her face and neck, from the struggle with her husband, and her eyes glowed with a sickening green energy. Suddenly she lunged forward at Rivet but using her wings she quickly slid to the right and avoided the attack. She was trying her hardest to speak to her blood-soaked mother. Though she was only being answered with moans and grunts of effort as she continued to attack Rivet. After dodging a few more attacks Rivet ended up by the doorway to the kitchen. She quickly darted into the now foul-smelling kitchen as fast as she could. She noticed a pot of soup on the stove and a bloody blanket on the table. She recognized it as the one she had wrapped her baby sister in before she left for work that morning. She was trying not to think about what happened to her family as she grabbed the largest kitchen knife she could find. She ended up knocking over the entire rack as she grabbed the blade in her panic. She was just in time as she saw what was once her mother galloping through the doorway at full

She ran all the way back to the repair shop in Symphorium where she met up with Sprocket once again. Whenever he asked her where her family was and what had happened to them she wouldn't talk about it. He could see the pain in her eyes and knew they were gone, so he didn’t pry any further. They gathered up what supplies and food they had and began to make their way deeper into the city with the others. There was a short time of calm after hearing news of Typhon being sealed away. The city had put a magic barrier in place, protecting it from the awful world storm outside. The survivors formed small teams that were tasked with scavenging outside the barrier for food, survivors and other supplies. After a few days the ponies in charge announced they have come up with a plan to save everyone, but gave no details. After hearing of this plan Sprocket volunteered for one of the last scavenging runs. Rivet was waiting near the barrier for Sprocket's team to return as it had been a few hours since they left and there was no sight of them. Suddenly the world storm worsened and a giant wave of water washed over the cities barrier. The barrier suddenly began to weaken and flash. Rivet didn’t know too much about magic, other than its uses in engineering, but she could tell the barrier was about to fail and the whole city would be wiped out. She was worried and wishing Sprocket's