Thing a day: The Big Boom.
I has having an average dream, the one that makes you think you're living an ordinary day until something extraordinary happens. The day was long, work was mindless, and it was only when I was driving back did the true 'dream' hit me. I had turned on my radio to hear the lottery numbers, card clenched in hand.
"And todays numbers are... Two," I glanced at the card. First number, two. Off to a good start, I thought, straining to hear what came next. "Fifteen," Check, I thought, verifying that. "Fourty two," I sat and watched dumbfounded as my card skyrocketed in value. "Thirty eight, Thirty nine." All five numbers, mine, I thought, dumbfounded. Now all that's left is the powerball.
"And the powerball of... Six." He finished. That's when my eyes were about to pop out of my head. A fully matching card. "And records show that... One person pulled any of those numbers." He paused, and I nearly fainted in the rush hour traffic. "Really?" He asked, and you could hear the disbelief in his voice. "Well, lucky winner, that's a One hundred Sixty-six million powerball, to one person."
That's when I woke up. I would have been angry, had it not been the way I was awoken. I had heard a loud explosion, which shook me to my core. I turned and looked at my dresser, to see it and my alarm clock also shaking. At least it means i'm not shaking in fear, I thought with a chuckle. I waited for the shaking to stop, and then I glanced at my clock. "Three AM?" I asked aloud.
I walked downstairs and opened my door, peeking my head out. I can hear car alarms echoing in the distance, but otherwise it was eerily silent. My curiosity unsatiated, I went back inside, quietly closing my door. I went over to the TV and flipped it on. I was expecting that it was some factory or power plant explosion.
Then the TV said that Michigan was gone. As in, gone for good, gone. I sat down, stunned. "You heard right, Michigan has been erased from the map. The ground is still there, but without a single human being. We recieved word of an alien craft entering the atmosphere a few minutes ago, hovering for fourty five seconds, and then firing a prismatic laser, completely annihilating michigan. After the laser, they hacked our broadcast waves and displayed one message, which speaks to each individual in their own first language. Here the message is again, for anyone who wasn't awake for it:"
The image on the screen went black, and then lit up again. A purple, cartoonish unicorn rested on the screen, backed by a very space-age looking steel pannel. "Humans of Earth. I am Twilight Sparkle, captain of the Tower of Fall. We have studied Earth for some time, and have come to the decision that, as a species, you are despicable. Deubachery and Chaos run amuk in your civilizations, and evil is everyday. Thus, we have come to clean the world of your corruption. We have begun the 'Terran Relocation initiative,' Which will relocate your people to a hospitable environment, where you will be re-educated. Perhaps someday, you may return to galactic affairs, but for now, filth like your kind needs to be scrubbed off. We wish you luck, and au revoir."
With that, the screen went black, and the station didn't come back on. I turned off the TV, and stood. "So this is the end, huh?" I asked myself, before heading upstairs, and I reached under my bed, withdrawing a large hiking backpack. I got dressed, and packed my bag. I opened my door, pointed in a random direction, and I began walking.
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There are only a few safe places left today. My journies left me wandering between empty cities, nearly devoid of life, aside from the other random passerby. And there's been rumors of raids, where they land in smaller craft and hunt down individuals in cities already cleared.
When they first arrived, the military began to mobilize, and we actually thought we had a chance. But everything we threw at them was swatted away by some sort of protective force field. After nuclear weapons failed, most people gave up on fighting, and surrendered to a life on the run. After all, they didn't beam away food sources, only people.
But because of the lack of people, the infrastructure is collapsing. Electricity is out, and life is getting harder. And when the blasts became more frequent, some people turned to look for the government, only to find that they went underground.
Now, we move at night, and alone, to avoid detection. We keep the fires down, and use phones only in emergencies, because they're monitoring those too. Some people run, and some hide in the cities that have already been hit.
"But what's the point?" I ask myself. "It's only a matter of time..." But I keep running. No reason to make it easy, huh?
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"Hey, Ray!" I shout, seeing an old friend walking my way.
"Conner?" He asks, craning his neck to see. "No way! You made it this far too?" He asks, as we pull each other into a hug. "Finally good to see someone I know." He added, and I laughed.
"You said it. How you've been doing?" I ask, leading us to one of my old safehouses.
"Pretty well." He said with a shrug. "Legs have been killing me, though." He added, causing us both to laugh. That's when we heard it: The low thrumming of their engines. "Raiding party," He said, eyes narrowing.
"Bet you I'll make it longer." I said, smugly.
He laughs. "You're on." He said, before we ducked into the structure.
I peer out the window, and sure enough, here comes six of them, these pastel ponies. Not only do they outnumber us, three to one, but they're also evenly divided: Two from each kind.
They calmly walked to the door, and an orange, unadorned one kicked down the locked steel. The two unicorns rolled in, and sent zaps at both Ray and myself from two devices on their backs. "Don't you have a gun in here?" He asks, hiding behind a crate, which was getting seriously pelted.
"Nonlethal, nonviolent. That's how I lasted so long." I replied. I rolled over to him, thankfully unhit. "Try these," I say, offering him two smoke grenades. "I can provide them a distraction. You smoke 'em, and then we can high tail it out of here."
He nodded, and I stood up. "Ever heard of aim?" I taunted, dodging shots flying my way, and then I rolled to another crate. "You missed!" I toyed. A few more similar calls slowly diverted the shots from Ray's position to mine, and then he threw the grenades.
"Grenade!" one of them shouted, but before they could move, the smoke began to pour out. "What?" another asked, before the room became full of a thick mist. "I can't see anything." called a third, and then the others affirmed that. When they began fumbling our way was when I rolled to Ray.
"Now," I said, standing, and I slowly crept to the door, him right behind me, careful not to alert them of our departure. It was only when we were outside did we realized they had stationed one of them outside. A butter yellow pegasus, flying by the door. When we emerged from the smoke, she screamed, a soft cry of terror, but loud enough to catch the attention of the ponies inside.
We held no bars as we flew down the path and into the woods. They were right behind us, blasting wildly. But, even for quadrapeds, we were managing to out run them. They were falling behind when I heard Ray cry out in pain. "I'm hit!" He shouted, stumbling into me.
It was my first time seeing anyone hit, and so I watched with morbid horror as my closest friend dissolved in my arms. "See you on the other side?" he asked, giving me a thumbs up as he disappeard.
"You know it." I answered, smiling back.
That's when I heard a soft snap beside me. "I think I heard something over here," a voice said. Slowly, I reached down, and picked up a sharp stick. I readied it, and just as I saw the briefest sliver of purple, I pounced, knocking the weapon off the back of the suprised unicorn, wraping my arm around her neck, and pressing the stick softly into her throat.
"Nobody move!" I shouted, and the five others froze.
"Twilight!" One of them shouted in worry, and I looked down in amusement at the purple unicorn I was restraining. Sure enough, it was the infamous Twilight Sparkle, the leader behind this genocide.
"Well, well, well," I mused. "Isn't this interesting. Call your friends off."
She regarded me coldly, and then nodded. "Go back to the ship, girls." She said. They began to argue, but a stern look from her had them scurrying. "Now you've got me. What do you do now, eat me?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at me.
I dropped the stick and laughed. "Why would I do that?" I asked, sitting down beside her. "I have no beef with you. I mean, you just vaporized my best friend, but I can only hope you were telling the truth with this whole 're-education' thing."
She cocked an eyebrow, but didn't move otherwise. "Why would I lie?" She asked, a smile creeping across her face.
I turned to look where she was looking, and saw the outlines of her five friends, all ready to pounce. "You really need to train them better in the art of stealth," I mused, before turning back to see her astonished face. "Yes, I saw them, no I'm not wanting to do something about it. All I wanted was a few more moments to enjoy home."
She looked around, and turned back to me, confused. "You live in the woods?" she asked.
"No, Earth. It's my home, It has it's own smell, it's own feel. I just wanted that a little longer. That, and bragging rights over my friend that I won the bet."
This got a laugh from her, and she smiled. "I like you, human. Let's hope re-education is easy on you." She said, before I felt a piercing feeling in my lower back.
As I dissolved, I looked to the sun, and smiled. "Space, the final frontier..." I whispered to myself, before everything went black.