2nd Hand Nightmare

*CRACK!*   *BOOM!* The low rumble of thunder and a crack of lightning invades your dreams and brings out out of your deep sleep. You open your eyes and peer around your dark room. A flash of white through your window lights up your room for a split second, then goes away. Just in time to ruin your night vision. With a groan, you roll around on your side and close your eyes in attempt to sleep again. You feel yourself drifting deeper into the the dark recesses of your mind. Suddenly, with a deafening crash, you are thrown from your bed, and into the opposite wall of your room. A loud ringing noise is the only thing you can hear. You open your eyes and see a large, gaping hole in the wall where your bed was.

You try to get up, but your being pinned to the floor by something. Something big. Your bed. And a large chunk of wall. The cool, fall air seeps into your room as you try to wiggle yourself out from under it. With a great shove, you drag yourself out from under the debris. You look over your body for any outstanding wounds. Thankfully, its nothing but a few bruises. With a deep breath of the fresh, cool air, you turn to examine your wall. It looks as if something big scratched it. A large gash perhaps. The edges of the hole is blackened from heat. A small flame flickers to your left on a small bit of wall. You stomp on it to put it out. Sticking your head out of the hole, you try to see what hit your house. The only evidence of this ever happening, is the hole in your house, and a large hole in the middle of the street. Whatever it was, seems to have deflected off of your house. With a ping of curiosity, you turn to leave your room and look at the impact.

While walking down the stairs to the first floor, your muscles begin to ache. Once you get to the landing, you stretch your legs and back. Feeling a bit better, you walk through your living room to get to the front door. Your house has never been anything special. Just home. Not fancy. Just the way you like it. The moon reflects off of  the only picture you have. A picture of you and your roommate. (Who happens to be in Canterlot on a business trip.) You two have been the best of friends since about seven years old. You can only hope he's okay. After all, your country is at war. And trains get shot at all of the time. But all you can do is hope.

Unlocking the front door, (and tripping on the shoe rack) you stumble outside. Thunder rumbles again. Wait, there are no clouds for thunder. You don't think anything about it as you walk towards the gaping hole in the road. The hole is about five feet in diameter and three feet deep. There is smoke trickling out of the center of it. Most of it glows red with hot embers. Thunder rumbles even more. Looking up, the no clouds fact begins to seep in. This strikes you as odd. There is a flash of light. You look right, up the street. There is only street lamps. And left, your jaw falls open slightly with awe. Great flashes of reds, whites, blues, greens, and every other color lights up the sky in the distance. You see these colors streaking across the sky, and for not very far. These streaks are coming from opposite ends of an unused field. When the streak reaches the other end, it explodes in a huge flash. A realization hits you in the face like a train. It's a battle. Between the New Lunar Republic, and the Solar Empire. You have heard rumors from the townsfolk that the NLR has pushed the Empire back into the country, but you always thought that was impossible. You always hear on the radio about how your country is kicking the NLR's plot. But now you see through your country's lies. The battle has come home. Your home. Your village is the battlefield. Your home is the front lines.

You watch the battle in the distance for a few minutes. Suddenly, the battle doesn't seem so far away. You can see the soldiers. They're running. Running your direction. Towards your village. With a pang of fear, you bolt into your house. But, you want to see whats going on. You pull back the shades from a first floor window, and just in time to see a streak of green light fly across the sky. You watch it shoot up the street. But you will discover, it wasn't as high in the sky as you originally thought. Because just as it reaches the end of the street, it impacts the bell tower of city hall. With a flash of green, the entire roof of city hall, explodes into flame and rubble. After a minute or two, the entire building collapses in on itself. You hear the crash, and the crackling of burning wood. You begin to hear bloody battle cries and explosions. Eleven or twelve soldiers run up the street in retreat. All wearing the colors of the Solar Empire. Most of the uniforms are filthy and filled with holes. One of them carries a white flag with the insignia of the Empire. With a great scream, a bolt of blue light emits from his horn and shoots up the street. At the same moment, a streak of light grey hits him in the neck and he falls to the ground. Blood pools under the soldier. Dead.

Terrified, you run to the back of your house, throw open a trap door on the floor and throw yourself inside your unused basement. Maybe this place will protect you from the battle outside your home. The cries. The screams. They won't stop. They wont stop fighting.