I awoke to the sound of sirens, and being the optimistic person I was, I assumed it to be my neighbors watching an old war movie. Reminded of the past, I looked at what I have accomplished in life as I got ready for the day, [i]"Let's see, there's my high school diploma, and I'm a yellow belt in karate. Is that it? Just a piece of paper and a brightly colored belt?!-"[/i] my train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the sirens cutting off abruptly, [i]"Why are my neighbors so loud?!"[/i] I thought to myself as I covered my ears to shield them from the gunfire and screaming.

Irritably finishing up my daily routine, I marched outside to give my inconsiderate neighbors a piece of my mind. Stepping outside I saw crashed cars, burning buildings, and chard marks on the sidewalk. The woman that was driving the the now crushed 'Emergency Evacuation Vehicle', was running for her life when a rainbow beam caught up to her, and transformed her into a living statue.

What I saw down the street confused me even more. Down the road were not human soldiers as I had come to expect, but an army of small horses sporting golden armor, and making up the bulk of the army that had now spotted me, were those same soulless unfeeling statues now staring right through me, and what seemed to be the leader was a large winged unicorn that was actually horse sized. a unfortunate contrast to her much smaller entourage.

It looked beautiful, with a white coat and a rainbow mane that flowed in the opposite direction of the breeze, all partially covered with magnificent golden armor. If I wasn't paralyzed with fear and confusion, I would have been left awestruck.

I was sure the commander saw me, and whatever rational theories I was thinking up for the sudden alteration of reality left me, leaving me little more than to dwell on my fear. Then the commander spoke in a loud, commanding, self-righteous voice, "Another one of the vile beasts! We shall cleanse him like the rest!".

I was frozen by a mix of horror, shock, and disbelief. However, I did manage to pinch my arm in hopes that this was all a terrible nightmare! While I was mentally screaming at myself to get moving, the commander flew into the air and was accompanied by six shining gems all of different color. Finally being jump started with adrenalin, I bolted in the other direction like a bat outa' hell! As I ran, the world around me was getting brighter, and my shadow was getting longer. Then everything went black.

[i]I was having a picnic with my family under an oak tree, in a open field on a hill, the field was dotted with flowers and the sky was clear of clouds. My family and I were having a great time, enjoying each other's company.

Then the sun turned blood red, and everyone began to panic. I on the other hand, was a bit annoyed that the conversation got dropped, because of something as trivial as the sun's color.

My mood matched the others when the oak tree caught fire. Everyone ran from under the tree, and into the sunlight, except for me of course, I was always the odd one out. I stood there staring at the tree, trying to decipher how it could have combusted so spontaneously. All the while I was mildly distracted by screaming that I assumed to be just the wind. Finally letting the mystery of the burning tree to rest, I turned to see what all the ruckus was about, and my heart sank.

Standing in a circle around me was the burnt corpses of my family rising to their feet. I found an opening and ran for it, only for the corps of my dad to grab me by the ankle as the others surrounded me. I looked down at my ankle to see it turning to ash and screamed for someone, anyone to help! I looked up, not wanting to see myself become one of them where I saw the moon rising in the sky, and blotting out the sun in a solar eclipse.

A booming voice similar to my own, echoed throughout the now crispy field, "Mortal, you will service this world as judgment, and in turn I will set you free from this hellish fate." At this point I would do anything to get out of here, so without a second thought, I nodded rapidly in agreement. Everything went black again,[/i]

I groggily awoke with every joint in my body feeling as sore as the day after an intense jog. Looking around I saw that I was in a field of apple trees, and surrounded by stones that didn't look like they belonged there. It didn't take me long to put two and two together; I had been trapped as a statue for who knows how long, and I was not happy about it. Putting my anger aside for later I decided to explore the field in order to find out whom, or what owned this field.

Eventually I found a barn with a farmhouse close by, walked up to the farmhouse, and knocked. I heard a southern accent respond from the other side "just a minute".

[i]"That was odd, am I still in New York? Not even the farmers speak like that when you're this far north,"[/i] I Thought to myself, and was interrupted by the sound of four hooves clopping. I immediately dreaded the worst, but tried to stay positive.

Thru the now open door I saw an orange pony roughly the same size as those military ones turning everyone to stone, but this one was clearly a civilian, so I tried to stay optimistic and simply said "Hello, do you mind directing me toward the nearest town?".

The pony before me was shocked to say the least, which gave me a good idea as to how long I have been a statue. Finally snapping back to reality the pony replied "You know, I had a golem that looked an awful lot like ya. Ya wouldn't mind if I did something real quick before I helped ya out would ya?"

"Maybe I can help you," I offered.

"No, no. I can handle it on my own, you just stay right there," The pony said with a hint of panic before she rushed to another room.

I didn't buy it, and prepared for a fight by grabbing a decently sized rock. The pony returned with a length of rope tied to the end of her tail, and on the other end of the rope was a lasso that she swung in an attempt to capture me.

I was ready. Barely dodging the rope I rushed the rock to the side of her head, and knocked her off balance. Sprinting off into the apple orchard I periodically took random turns and looked behind me to make sure I lost her. After a while I came to the realization [i]"I am so lost. How many apples do they need? You could feed an army with these... feed an army... Well I guess I've got my work cut out for me."[/i]