Chapter 1 *Updated*

I remember the day it began; the day they came to Equestria and hunted us for our magic. The things I've witnessed It still haunt me in my sleep even though they happened over 13 years ago when they arrived. We had become small and weak due to the enduring peace princess Celestia had given us for centuries. We became complacent, the entire world lulled under a false sense of security that there would never again be war since all nations were unified under a living god; and with the return of her sister there was even less reason for war. Everyone was happy, even the changelings eventually joined the alliance after they realized how pointless fighting was and they became as prosperous as the other nations.

Then it happened, I was going about my business as usual decorating a cake for a client’s wedding when an explosion happened. I opened my eyes to see the windows at the front of my bakery had been completely shatteredalong with some of the wall they were attached to. I remember walking outside still dizzy from the blast, my ears were ringing and my vision was blurry; all the other business owners and citizens were gathered in a crowd. I don't remember what they were say, just that they sounded worried, scared even.

When I reach the inside of the crown I was at the edge of a massive crater. The thing was about sixteen hooves wide in diameter, but that's not what we were staring at. Inside the crater was a massive thing, it had wings like a Pegasus or Gryphon, but they were on fire. Its hide looked like a Changelings chitin plates, but there were horns and skulls carved into it that seemed to stare back at us. Its head was covered by a cloth that had strange letters written on it that made my head hurt when I looked at it. When it rose up, it stood on two legs like a Gryphon could and with its talons it clenched this massive sword. When it looked at us it didn’t have a head, just a mask floating under a hood. The mask was so white, almost like snow or milk. Its eyes were just black sockets in the mask, but I could feel it looking at me, I felt like was gonna puke. I can what happened next has stuck with me to this day; it leaped out of crater and cut down a dozen ponies with one swipe of its sword. I ran faster than a fat baker should have been able to run. I remember the screaming, I remember hearing all the hooves against the cobblestone roads. I don’t know how long it was until the guards, but they just added to the body count.

I woke up in my apartment in my bathtub under a pile of blanket. I don’t remember when or how I got there, I just knew I had made it. When I finally worked up thecourage to go to a window and see what was happening, I saw half of Canterlot burning and the Elite Guard, Equestria's only legitimate fighting force, had been called in and were patrolling the street beneath my home. I didn’t dare go outside knowing they had been called in. I turned on the news and decided to wait it out. The news said the monster had been destroyed by the combined efforts of princess Celestia and the Elite Guard, but at heavy losses. Even Celestia herself, our protector, had been injured and had control of the courts handed over to princess Luna until she was healed. I didn't know what to do and the news just went on about how each nation had been attacked by these things and would rattle off statistics about their losses. The Zebras had been hit the hardest, they lost 3 villages and a small town before they put the monster down with voodoo magic. The Gryphons lost one quarter of their army to the monsters and many of their leaders had fallen in battle. The Changelings suffered the least; they did so well by focusing all their magicon their respective queens and were able to beat the monsters down with near zero losses. Our best case was Ponyville, it was hit by three of the things and if it hadn’t been for the elements of harmony the town would have been lost.

I woke up the next morning to the static from my TV, I stayed up all night trying to learn as much as I could,it was mostly just patriotic music trying to lift our spirits. They didn't do a very good job of it.

Within Twenty-Four of the first attack, beams of light came down from the sky and burned away most of Canterlot and the standing guard units. The princesses were evacuated and the Elements of Harmony were moved to a ‘Safe Zone’. Those of us who survived the blasts wandered through the burned streets trying to scavenge what we could. Most of us ended up joining the Guard just because they had hot food and warm beds.

It was a full three weeks before the first battles happened. Giant Crystals crashed into our encampments and before we could even ready our spears, the monsters shot out of the crystals and began to go after our Unicorn mages. We put one of the them down through the concentrated fire power of a dozen Unicorns while the Earth Ponies and Pegasi militia kept it busy, but when it went down just disappeared and came back from the crystal. We tried to put it down again, but our mages were suffering magic exhaustion and the militia couldn't keep up with monster and were knocked aside. I was lucky to have survived, but I wish I hadn't. I watched it pick up a mage and suck the life force out of him. It was like a stream of pure light was being pulled from the mage’s eyes and mouth and when it was over all that was left a dry husk. They wandered the rest of the camp after the fight was over picking up any Unicorns they found and draining them. When they ran out of Unicorns they started draining the Pegasi who had fallen during the fight. Then, when they were out of Pegasi they started to pick up Earth Ponies. To my own dismay one saw me under a pile of canvas and food crates. Right when it reached for me with its claws the sun got really bright and then out of nowhere both princesses arrived with the Lunar guard and a dragon in tow. They fought for hours just to kill five monsters; they had to hold the monsters in place while either Celestia or Luna blasted their masks magic. Somehow that stopped them in their tracks, but at a heavy cost. Luna lost one of her wings after she killed the first one and then Celestia lost her left eye shortly thereafter.

I was caravanned with the rest of the survivors and Luna to New Canterlot, a fortress city guarded by Gryphons and Ponies, I learned that the Gryphons had been dealt the same kind of surprise attack we were. They discovered, that if you could break their masks they would die. We spent the rest of our time trying to figure out what they were and what to call them, somehow the name faceless won out.

Now here we are, thirteen years later. We hardly hear from the princesses; they’re holed up with the dragons and the changelings trying to wage a lost war with the faceless. The Elements of Harmony have a guerilla force in the Everfree forest and launch attacks at the invaders from there, but their numbers are shrinking. As for the other nations, I have no idea what’s happened to them. They all fled to Equestria to hide under Celestia and Luna, but that proved to be pointless since these things can stand toe-to-toe with the princesses and win.

Now I’m on my own, I left the Guard to pursue more ‘profitable’ matters years ago and now I mostly smuggle things in between towns and camps for the Guard; sometimes there are ‘special interest groups’, but that's pretty rare. Mostly what I smuggle is useless information, but it’s still risky business, and you wouldn’t be surprised at how crazy things have gotten. Ponies have turned on each other trying to make what life they have easier for themselves and their ‘families’. They form gangs that mostly steal and pillage the refugee camps, while the larger groups go after Guard outposts. The Guard is too busy to deal with them though due to ever-present threat of faceless incursions and the refugee camps are tired of fighting and just give up what little they have left in order to keep the peace.

I don’t know how much longer Equestria will last, but I got a package today that I’m supposed to take to General Sparkle at Everfree Citadel, one-hundred-and-sixty miles from my current location in Ruined Canterlot. I don’t have anything to live for except my job so I’m going to visit the worst combat zone in the entirety of Equestria to drop off a small box. Should be cake.

Author's Note

*Edit* Heavily edited this chapter to make it less wordy and sound more like it's coming from a normal person.
So this is my second fic I've written in 24 hours because my first attempt was terribly awful. So any helpful comments are greatly appreciated.