The end of days has fallen on Equestria and time is running thin.
Equestria has come under attack by an alien race of gods as powerful as Celestia herself and Equestria is losing. This story follows a baker-turned-smuggler who recounts his experiences of the war while traversing Fallen Equestria in order to deliver a package to General Sparkle in Citadel Everfree. If only his journey ended there.
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.
The package was delivered by a scrawny looking Pegasus who looked like he’d seen too much. He didn’t say anything; he just gave me a box and flew off. I looked at the box and found a folder taped to the bottom of it. The folder had a note from princess Celestia saying that the package was to be delivered to General Sparkle in the Everfree ‘post-haste’. I figured since it was from the princess it would be worth my while to take the job, not like anypony else was going to.
I put the package in my saddlebag and checked my gear a couple times before heading out, ruined Canterlot isn’t exactly safe ya know. The High Ones as they call themselves make regular sweeps of the area to find hobos like myself for their midday snacks, and every one of them is worth ten ponies. That doesn’t mean you don’t get lucky every once in a while and bring one down though.
I can hear em’ making their passes, it should be about twenty-five minutes until they make it back to this area. I had to make my way through a debris tunnel quickly if I was to make it to red gate safely. The tunnel winds in every direction and has spider web lining; I ended up getting caught on some lumber sticking out of the wall a few, but nothing that should slow me down to seriously. I had to squeeze through some of the smaller parts of the tunnel where it had collapsed even further from buildings weight, which added to more lost time. When I reached the end I stuck my head out from under a sheet of wood to check the area. Everything seemed calm and clear; the streets are full of junk and garbage as usual while most of the buildings falling in on themselves. The sun was at its peak in the sky and the moon was just over the east horizon, it had been like that for three days now, the royal sisters must have their hooves full.
On my way to red gate I could hear them; their heavy wing beats gave them away like an adult dragon’s. Everything was off, they shouldn’t have been back for another ten minutes, I should have had plenty of time. I ran behind a slab concrete held off the ground by a lamppost and prayed to Luna that they didn’t see me. My prayers stopped short when I heard them land and start walking. The sounds of their armor shifting and rubbing against itself only helped to add to my fear. Then time stopped, I held my breath and got as close that slab as I could, maybe they hadn’t seen me. I was wrong; they ripped the slab away and as I fell over they kicked me into a wall. I didn’t have any time to think, so I acted instead; I ran as fast as I could, knowing it was hopeless. To them this was a game and when it was over they would drain me of my life and leave me to turn to dust.
I ran down a path on my left in hopes of getting into the sewers before I was caught. I looked for anywhere to hide, anything I could use to slow them down, but they weren’t even there. Nope, they were flying somewhere high above me waiting for me to get close to my goal, then they would shoot down and land right in front of me right as I got there. I had to come up with another plan; I dove into a broken window on my right and ran towards a door near the back of the building. I found a hole in the wall going down that I never knew about. I thought about where the hole might’ve lead, but that thought was cut short as fire came bursting through the door. I humped down that hole as fast as I could and crawled for what seemed like hours and by the time I made to where I thought I was safe, I passed out.
When I woke up I was covered in a cold sweat and my head hurt, my fault for not drinking anything in a while. I wondered how long I had been sleeping for until I realized it was pitch black. I lit my lantern and looked around. There were crystals all over the walls of the cave; I figured I must have been in the crystal caverns underneath Canterlot. I hung my lantern around my neck and chose to go towards one of the closer tunnels and make the best of it. I walked for a while until I heard something, it wasn’t a Masker, but the sound still worried me. When I got close to where the noise was coming from I saw a door. I went towards it and placed my ear against it; I heard clicking noises and muffled screaming. I gently pushed the door opened to see what was happening.
I saw a Pegasus mare tied to a table while Changelings took turns biting her. Then they’d go off to the other side of the room where I couldn’t see them. She just laid there letting them bite her, I thought she was dead except for a cry she’d let out every once in a while. I dug through my bag to see what I had that could help her; I had my lantern, the package, a stick of dynamite, and my knife along with some food and water. I decided to burst in and get them to chase me to where I could use the dynamite on them…
I’ve made a lot of poor decisions in my life, this makes one of the top ones; never have I been so scared twice in one day. I could hear their clawed hooves scraping against the stone floor behind me while I fumbled with my explosive. This was one of those times where I wished I was a Unicorn as I tried to light the fuse with my lantern. I took a sharp turn into a narrow tunnel, which turned into a dead end. I lit the stick and through at the entrance and covered my ears. I was relieved to hear panicked shrieking and clicking followed by a loud BOOM!
I went back to the room to see if that Pegasus was alright and when I got there I found her wriggling around trying to get free. I tried to cut her free with my knife, but she would scream and writhe around. I didn’t want to hurt when she’d move so I figured I’d let her tire herself out before I cut her loose.
While she struggled with her bonds and glared at me I wandered onto the other side of the chamber. In the corner was a pool full of green slime that had a pulse, almost like it was alive. I grabbed a rock and threw it in; I don’t what I expected to happen, but nothing did. When I turned around to check on the Pegasus, she was completely out. I walked over with my knife and cut her loose, I moved her legs to her sides and treated her bite wounds with what little supplies I had. I hadn’t been keeping track of time, but it was a long while before she woke up. I remember being tackled and hoofed in the face a couple times before I bucked her off me. That crazy Pegasus tackled me, I mean she has had a pretty stressful day, but so have I!
“Hey, calm down!” I yelled trying to regain control of the situation.
“NONONONO! I will not be food again!” She cried. She was glaring daggers at me. Oh look, there’s my knife.
“Listen just calm down, okay? I’m not going to hurt you, just calm down and give me back my knife. Please,”
“No, you’re one of them! You’re just doing this to get my hopes up so I’ll taste better or something!”
‘I wonder how long she’s been down here for to come up with that crazy idea.’
“Listen, I’m not one of them, if you would just listen instead of-“
“DIE!!”
I had no idea she was going to charge me. She was coming right at me and I was just standing there in shock, she was going to try and kill me, then she stopped. Her face went pale and she was staring at something behind me. I turned around to see a Changeling crawling back into the room. Its carapace was all cracked and covered in green ichor; its wings had been burnt or torn off by the blast, there was hardly anything left of it, even its fangs were broken.
“Disgusting,” she said as she walked up to it.
“What do you think you’re doing?! Get away from it!”
“Shut up.”
‘Yes ma’am!’
“You think you can tie me up and use me as food?” Her voice was harsh and icy. “You think that because you’re cut off from your queen that you can torture innocents?”
She pulled the changeling close to her and stared into its eyes while she drug my knife across its horn. She slipped the knife in the bug’s crack hide and twisted it. The Changeling shook and screeched until it stopped moving. The Pegasus pulled the knife out and looked at me with tears in her eyes and put the knife on the ground. I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t know if I should say anything at all and right as I was about say something she ran out the door. I ran out to see which way she went, but she was gone.
After I gathered my knife I moved further into the caverns. The thoughts of being lost would come and go, but after witnessing what I had just seen I didn’t think about getting lost as being a bad thing.
My lantern was starting to die and I hadn’t seen any oil or candles around. I started to worry about how I was going to get out; I started to panic and I started running because of it. I ran until the light was gone and I couldn’t see where I was going.
I moved through the darkness inch-by-inch while hugging a wall until I hit an opening. I turned the corner and continued to follow the wall with nothing but my thoughts and the sound of my heart beat humming in my head. I started to get scared again, thinking that I had run out of luck; three close calls in one day and then my lantern dying on me, that’s just screams outa luck. Then I looked up, I could see the moon. There it was, right in the center of the hole, and coming down that hole was a ladder.