An endless void is where you find yourself continually falling, with every atom in your body wanting to split in a thousand directions as you pass through the barriers beyond time and space.
Yet, you feel no pain. You're no longer certain if you've been here for several seconds, or several years, nor do you remember how you even got here.
What you do feel, however, is a new thought creeping into your conscience; one that is not your own.

"Where do you wish to go?" Is the thought that enters your mind.
"The past? The present? The future? Or perhaps the reality that the Dark One rules...?" It continues.

"I want to see that reality." You attempt to say. Though you're certain that you said the words, you cannot hear yourself speak.
"Oh? How interesting. Very well, to there you shall go." The thought rings through your mind once more.
Wisps of light in every shade of grey begin to form in the darkness, flowing past you with great speed as they do so.
The wisps increase in number until they appear as one solid mass of swirling, unknown energy around you, forcing you to shield your eyes from the intense light.
A sound that grows into a deafening roar fills your mind, soon followed by the immense feeling of gravity pulling against your body.
Soon enough, these sensations come to an abrupt halt as darkness envelops your vision once more.
...
You hear the sound of waves crashing against a beach, along with the smell of the ocean filling your nose.

Opening your eyes, you find yourself staring up at a clear night sky. Many stars shine brightly overhead, as does the full moon.
Examining the moon more carefully, you find it to have the unusual appearance of what looks to be a unicorns head on its surface.
Turning your attention to your surroundings, you notice that you appear to be laying down in a small crater of sorts.
The crinkling and crackling of glass can be heard as you turn over to stand up. Looking closer, the crater appears to be made of what looks like melted glass.
Feeling confused, you stand up to try and figure out what has happened to you, with the sound of glass crunching under your boots as you do so.
Looking around, the sight of a moonlit beach is what greets you.
In one direction, the beach continues onward until it curves out of sight.
In the other direction, you can see a long distance down the beach, where you can barely make out what appear to be a few small lights in the distance.
The beach itself transitions into grassy slopes, which in turn transition into forest.
Turning your attention back out to the ocean, you find that it appears to stretch out as far as the eye can see, with no obvious islands that you happen to notice.

The first thing you decide to do is step out of the fragile glass crater and onto the soft beach sand.
Following that, you walk up to where the grass begins, in order to have a more solid walking surface. Then, you begin walking towards the distant lights.
Thanks to the exceptionally bright full moon, you can see very well despite it being the middle of the night.
Additionally, the air is somewhat warm, which is something you're thankful for, seeing as how you're dressed lightly with only a simple T-shirt and work pants.
While walking down the beach, the troubling reality that you have no idea where you are begins to set in.
Even more troubling is the fact that you can't remember what you were doing prior to waking up here.
The earliest memories that you're able to recall are from what you think were two or three days ago, which were just more of the usual... Get up, drive to work, grind the nine-to-five and repeat.
You continue to ponder your memories as you walk along the beach, until you notice something that makes you stop.
Coming from the direction of the lights, you notice another set of lights appearing from around a small curve in the beach up ahead.
At first, you feel relieved, thinking that people have come to find you. The more you stare and begin to make out the silhouettes, however, the more a sense of fear begins to fill you as you realize that whatever is coming can't possibly be human.

You turn around and start walking back towards the crater, unsure of what you should do.
Looking over your shoulder briefly, you increase your pace to a jog in an effort to buy you more time to think.
You reason to yourself that whoever, or rather whatever is coming, was likely attracted by whatever sight or sound produced the crater that you woke up in.
But are they friendly? Or will they be hostile? Such thoughts cycle through your mind.
Upon returning to the crater, you stop and consider your options.
In the end, you decide to walk the relatively short distance to the forest's edge, where you hide behind a tree and some shrubbery to wait and observe whatever approaches.
While you wait and watch the flickering lights draw closer, you hear the screech of some sort of night bird or animal in the distance. Likely disturbed by the lights, you think to yourself.
You feel your heart rate begin to increase as you watch what you now recognize as a group with torches drawing closer.
Again you hear the screech of that animal, now slightly louder than before.
Several minutes later, the group draws close enough for you to determine that there are five individuals.
You notice that they all appear to be wearing something, walk on four legs, and almost look like... Horses?
Though they appear similar to one, you know that they're most definitely not. Besides the fact that they're clearly intelligent enough to use torches, they are much smaller than a normal horse as you know one.
The question also crosses your mind as to how an equine could even hold a torch. As the group draws ever closer, though, you notice the torches appear to be hovering in the air.
Magic? The very thought sends a chill down your spine as you suddenly feel even more insecure and out of place.
Your thoughts are interrupted when you suddenly hear a masculine sounding voice call out: "Look! Up ahead!"
Suddenly, the group of five break out into what you recognize as a horse's trot as they close in on the crater.
Peeking out from around a tree, you watch and listen intently as the five gather around the crater.
At this distance, you can recognize that all five are wearing some sort of dark armor.
"What happened here? Is this what we heard?" You faintly hear the same masculine voice say.
"Look! The sand here was melted into glass, as if a meteor fell, but..." You hear a feminine voice trail off.
"That's true, but there's no sign of any meteorite fragments, just this glass. What do you think, Shine?" A different feminine voice speaks up.
"I don't know, but it's defi-" The masculine voice begins to respond, before being cut off by the loud screech of the creature that you heard before.
...Except this time, it sounded off from somewhere in the pitch black tree canopy near your location, causing you to jump in surprise.
You watch in horror as the five all turn their attention to your general direction, prompting you to look through the gaps of the shrubbery instead of around the tree.
"Skree! Skreee!" You hear the loud creature call out again. You try and look up in order to see what it is, but you can only see the inky blackness above you.
Adrenaline courses through your body as you turn to observe the five again, only to find that they are now walking straight in your direction!
You know that you have to make a decision, and make one quick!

In the end, you decide to simply reveal yourself and hope that these creatures are friendly enough.
As the group draws near, you step out from your hiding position, causing the five to come to an immediate stop. At this distance, you can now clearly see that these creatures are equine-like.
"H-Hey there..." You stutter, betraying your own fearfulness.
"W-What the hay is that?!" One mare cries out in surprise.
"It speaks!" Another says
"Did you do this? Are... Are you the thing we saw?! D-D-Don't try anything funny! I won't think twice if y-" A younger sounding stallion begins to say before being cut off.
"Enough!!" Commands a stallion that is slightly larger than the others, the one you recognize as the first voice you heard.
You can clearly see that this one has a horn on his head, one that is glowing with a light blue colored aura.
This very same magical aura envelops a lit torch that floats next to him, seemingly confirming your suspicion of magic.
The others fall silent as the unicorn stallion cautiously approaches you, before coming to a stop several feet away from you.
"You don't seem dangerous... Yet. Who are you? What are you? And what are you doing here?" The stallion asks you.

"I... My name's Anonymous. I'm a human, and... I don't know what I'm doing here. Don't even know where I am, really. I just woke up in that thing." You answer as you point toward the crater.
"What?! You just.. woke up in that impact site? Impossible! How are not burnt to a crisp?" The stallion questions you.
"I don't know! Really! I can't remember what happened that caused me to end up here... It's like there's a blank spot in my memory." You respond.
The stallion remains silent for several seconds as he thinks about what you said, before letting out a loud snort through his nostrils.
"This is very troubling... Even if you're telling the truth, there's no way for us to determine if you pose a threat to Equestria or not." The stallion begins.
You watch as a length of rope covered in the same colored glow of the stallions magic begin to float towards you, causing you to take a step back.
"Easy now. We aren't going to hurt you, but you need to be placed under arrest until the Princess can see you. You can explain yourself more later." The stallion continues.
"Hold those hands out together, please." He requests as the rope draws closer to you.

"Okay..." You say as you submit yourself to the group.
Holding your hands out as requested, you watch in fascination as one end of the rope coils around your hands like some sort of serpent, before tying itself into a firm knot, locking your hands together.
The stallion begins taking up the slack of the rope until it almost begins to pull on you. "Come on now, let's go." He says as he gives the rope a gentle tug.
You comply as you begin walking back towards the beach, with the other four keeping you surrounded from a healthy distance as they follow along.
Once back at the sandy beach, you begin being led towards the direction that these strange equines came from.
An awkward silence falls over you while the other four equines study you, clearly curious, while you do your best to do the same.
Despite the contrast between the bright torches and the dark night making it difficult for you to see, you are able to determine that there are two other unicorns here, as there are two other torches being carried by magic.
Following slightly behind you are the two others who you can tell don't have horns.
One of them you can definitely tell looks feminine, but with the other you're not quite sure. You can make out that the other one has what you think are wings.
You continue to study each other as you walk until you are interrupted by a smaller, sixth equine suddenly landing close to you from the air, startling you in the process.
"Nice work finding him." You hear the mare behind you say.
"Thanks!" The new one responds in an almost squeaky voice, one that is clearly female.
Looking closer, you notice that this one has webbed wings, reminding you of a bat.
"You're really funny looking, Mister Anonymous! Kinda like a really scrawny Minotaur! Hehehe!" She says to you with a giggle.
"Where are you from? Why is your name so funny? Why are you so funny? Are... Are you a mister, or a miss? Are y-" She continues before being interrupted.
"That's enough, Weaver. We'll have plenty of time to ask questions when we get back home, where we can also write anything important down at the same time." The lead stallion guiding you along says.
"Aww, okay..." She says as silence returns to the group.
"Mister is correct." You decide to answer a couple minutes later, prompting the mare to look at you with a smile.
"My name's Meadow Weaver, I'm a Thestral Pony! Nice to meet you, Mister Anonymous!" She cheerfully says.
"Nice to meet you too... Is that what you all are? Ponies?" You ask.
"Huh? You didn't even know that...?" Meadow Weaver questions.
"There will be plenty of time to answer questions of your own once we arrive at our destination, Anonymous. Please be patient." The lead stallion says.

"Aww..." Meadow Weaver complains as she looks at you with disappointment clearly in her eyes.
You give her a sympathetic look and a light nod, which seems to cheer the curious mare up a little.
The walk down the beach that follows is largely uneventful until you reach the small curve that the group first appeared from.
As you round the curve, you immediately see what the source of the distant lights that you first saw upon rising from the glass crater were.
A few hundred feet down the beach in front of you is a quaint little town or village perched on top of a small hill above the coastline.
Even from here you can tell that the buildings look old-fashioned and rustic, with warm light coming from the windows of most.
Down by the water are a couple docks where you see a few small ships in the moonlight, along with an odd shack or two that are also lit from the inside.
Eventually as you begin to draw near to the town, the lead stallion changes direction onto a dirt road leading up the grassy slopes towards the hill it rests on.
"We're going to enter the guardhouse nice and easy now, okay? I don't want you to create trouble and cause a big commotion." The lead stallion says to you as he looks over his shoulder.
"Understood." You respond.
As you approach the town, you happen to notice a few ponies that were out in the open galloping towards their homes or other buildings.
You notice figures appearing in the lit windows, and even a few wooden shutters closing.
Looking around you as you begin to pass by various buildings, you feel like you've stepped into a ghost town.
Soon enough, you arrive at a rectangular building that is somewhat larger than the rest, which isn't saying much considering most of them are surprisingly small in your eyes.
"Here we are. Please step inside." The lead stallion says as he opens the door, revealing a well lit interior. He extinguishes his torch and places it in a metal holder by the door before heading inside.
You do as you're told and follow his lead, nearly needing to duck under the doorway.
Stepping into the main room of the supposed guardhouse, you find it to be simply furnished. Though you don't have much time to look, as you're being led elsewhere.
Coming to a stop at a corner on the left side of the building, you find yourself staring at the unmistakable iron bars of a jail cell.
After opening the cell door, the stallion gestures you inside with the motion of a forehoof, which you obey.
Once you're inside and the cell door is locked, you watch as the rope tied around your wrists is magically untied, before being retracted through the bars of the cell door into a neatly wound coil.
"I'm sorry, but this has to be done to ensure the safety of everypony here. Try and make yourself comfortable, I'll be back to speak with you soon." The stallion says before departing out of sight.
Now alone in the jail cell, you ponder what to do next as you begin to faintly hear conversation taking place back in the main room.

With nothing else to do, you turn around and begin to examine the cell you're being held in.
As for the cell itself, it appears to be constructed with a simple stone floor, reminding you of cobblestone, with the walls being formed from roughly shaped stone blocks.
The first thing you immediately notice is a short, barred window, which conveniently is at about head height for you.
The second is what appears to be a simple wooden folding privacy screen, blocking your view of the rest of the cell.
Walking around the wooden screen, you find a simple wooden bench built up against a corner of the cell, and finally what appears to be some sort of squat toilet.
Having seen everything there is to see in your cell, you decide to go and look out the barred window.
Looking out into the moonlit surroundings of the town, you notice that you have a good view of what you assume is a small home, which is almost directly in front of you, and not very far away.
Faint warm light escapes from the curtain covered windows of the home, though beyond that you cannot see anything interesting.
Adjusting your position to look as far to the left as you can, you notice that a small crowd of ponies has gathered in front of the guardhouse, who all appear to be speaking to one of the ponies wearing armor.
Despite the fact that you cannot hear what is being said outside, you can see that they all appear to be worried, with several waving their forehooves around as they speak.
Besides that, the only other things you can see nearby are a few trees and several patches of shrubs.
Your thoughts and observations are interrupted, however, when you hear the raising of voices coming from the main room.

Walking back over, you lean against the bars of the cell door and tilt your head, making an effort to hear as much of the conversation as you can.
"-sn't negotiable! We can't just allow everypony to waltz in here and observe the... the human like it's some sort of exhibition." You hear the voice of the lead stallion from before.
"I know that he doesn't seem dangerous; I agree. But we can't drop our guard. We don't know what sort of magical powers he may posses, or if he's connected to the Illuminators." He continues.
"Do you understand? That's why I need you two to join in helping disperse the crowd outside away from here. It's for their safety. That's an order!" He concludes.
"Yes, Captain!" You hear two voices say in unison, before the sound of a door opening and closing is heard.
A pause of silence fills the air, which is broken by the sound of a heavy sigh.
"What a headache... Quite an eventful day for this sleepy little town, isn't it? Weaver, please come over here. You have an important mission." The lead stallion says, who you just learned is apparently a captain.
You hear the sound of gentle hoofsteps on the wooden floor moving a short distance before stopping. "Ooohh, what is it?" You hear Meadow Weaver say.
"Once I finish writing this letter, I need you to immediately fly to Canterlot and deliver it to the Princess herself." The Captain says.
"I know the Princess needs to be involved, but...! What's going to happen to An.. Anoo... Anooner... Mister Human?" Meadow Weaver asks with concern clearly in her voice.
"She will be able to determine better than anypony else if he is a threat to Equestria or not." The Captain answers.
"B-But... Won't he be banished even if he isn't a threat? You know the law." Meadow Weaver questions.
A long, drawn out pause fills the room, making you begin to feel uncomfortable over the things you're hearing.
"I... I don't know, Weaver. I'm well aware of the law, but you know as well as I do that there are exceptions made. If he's the only one of his kind here, he may be allowed to stay." The Captain says.
"Oh... I hope he doesn't get banished... He seems nice." Meadow Weaver says.
"Only time will tell. You understand why this needs to be done though, right? Can I trust you to deliver this message?" The Captain asks.
"Yes, Captain." Meadow Weaver answers.
"Good. Go get your saddlebags ready, then quickly eat and drink as much as you need to." The Captain orders.
"Okay." Meadow Weaver says, followed by the sound of hoofsteps moving away, then the sound of a door opening and closing.
Left alone in silence, your thoughts run wild as the threat of banishment and whatever that entails occupy your mind. You don't know what's going on, but it's not sounding good.
Several minutes later, in an effort to distract yourself, you decide to walk back over to the window.
Peering out from it, the only ponies that you can still see are three guards wearing armor, evidently successful in their efforts to disperse the crowd.
You continue to stare out the window until you hear a conversation once again taking place. By the time you move back to the cell door, however, all you hear is the sound of a door closing.
A few seconds later, the sound of hoofsteps grows louder, prompting you to take a few steps back.
The guard captain steps into sight, looking up at you as he comes to a stop a few feet away from the cell door.
"Well... I assume you heard most of that?" The captain asks you.

"Yeah. Some of it, at least. What's this about a Princess? Or banishment? And what about these... Illuminators? Is that what you called them?" You ask in return.
"You heard correctly. At some point in the near future, a chariot will be arriving to take you to the Princess of Equestria, Nightmare Moon. You will be judged by her." The Captain begins to respond.
"As for the talk of... banishment. That rests entirely on the judgement of the Princess. You see, we have a law here in Equestria, ensuring that the land is only for every tribe of pony. Nopony else." He continues.
"However, as you may have also heard, there are exceptions made to this. There are several ways another race may earn the right to live here, none of which should concern you for now." He explains further.
"Don't be afraid though. Even if you are judged for banishment, you will still be treated fairly. You may choose where you want to be sent to, with enough resources to establish yourself there." The unicorn stallion reassures you.
"Regarding the Illuminators..." The Captain pauses, his snout scrunching up in disgust. "If you know nothing of them, they don't concern you." He bluntly states.
A silence fills the air between you as you think about the things you were just told. While not exactly comforting, you can't think of a way to protest against it in any meaningful way. Or if it would even help you, for that matter.
"I... I see. So, uh... Equestria? That's the name of this land?" You ask in an effort to break the silence.
The Captain's eyes widen in surprise before answering. "Do you really not know anything about where you are? Back on the beach, you seemed to imply that you didn't even know about us ponies." He asks.
"No, I really don't.  That one pony, Meadow Weaver, told me that she was a... Was it Thestral Pony?" You ask in response.
"Yes, that's correct." The Captain responds.
"So... How many different types, or tribes, of pony are there? Are you a unicorn by any chance?" You ask, making note of the stallions resemblance to the mythical creature that you know of.
"Now wait just a moment here; How would you know that I'm a unicorn if you knew nothing about us or where we are?" The Captain narrows his eyes as he questions you.

How do you respond?