Another

"Aaah..."

"Aaaaaaaaaah!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!"

Probably, I'm dead.

That was the only thought running through his mind as Hiro fell through an infinite blackness; a dark, swarming hole filled with the unknown and the dangerous. This was nothing like a dream, because the wind cut into his body fiercely like a knife, the experience very, very real. Why though? He had no reason to die. Kirigaya Hiro was an ordinary boy who had been attending a boarding school in Manhattan for a year and a half running, and so far, nothing had killed him so far. No accidents, no murders, nothing. So, in all honesty, there was no way he could be dead. But there he was.

Why?

He had no choice but to face the impending darkness below.

Why is this happening? Why?!

"Ah--"

And he woke up. The alarm clock beeped 7:30 AM, and some sunlight was filtering in through the shades of his dorm room. Despite the terrible nightmare, there was no cold sweat, no racing heartbeat, no heavy breathing.

Just the calm of the sun.

..No, there wasn't any calm. Hiro looked around wildly to find that, despite the similarities, he wasn't in his dorm. The bed he was sleeping in wasn't the slightly rigid, light blue mattress with layers of thick blankets, but something that oddly resembled a sofa - given, it was a little smaller than he was used to (was that hay on the interior?) and what looked like a colorful, fluffy towel spread over him. It, too, was fairly small, and just barely stopped at his shins, the ends of his pants and his socks visible beyond.

"Where.. where am I?"

Hiro had a soft spoken voice, but a clear one. It rang, slightly, in the empty room, save for some boxes and barrels stacked in the corners and a random assortment of furniture around the place. His body ached all over, he'd noticed, as if all his muscles had been completely exhausted the night before doing something he shouldn't have. The maroon-haired youth felt a terrible fatigue wash over his entire being. Despite his body screaming in protest, Hiro strained himself to stand from the comfortable, but dusty sofa sidling along one of the walls of the room and stretched. Finally over his initial tiredness, he observed the room around him in further detail.

Really.. where is this place?

The sun filtering in through the ragged curtains.. it was different from the light he was used to. But he wasn't sure how. The beams of light weren't superficial, but at the same time, they seemed much more tangible, much thicker than regular sunlight.

It's like I've left planet earth completely.. but that's not possible, is it?

Hiro observed the room in greater detail, his eyes searching for some possible reason why he was there. The room itself, as he already gathered, was on the shabbier side, barren and with a few cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, some dust bunnies huddled in the corners, if only distrubed by the various pieces of furniture and boxes lying around in an arbitrary pattern. Hiro's nose was filled with mixed scents - a sort of old, musty smell, but at the same time, a waft of chamomile and rose petals. If he didn't know better, Hiro would have assumed he was in a flower shop.. well, pursuing the matter at hand, however, there was a door on the other end of the room.

He brushed some hair out of his face and walked up to it. Even the doorknob was way too out of place for him - it was much lower than he was used to, and was oddly crooked, as if designed by someone who couldn't quite draw a circle right. Hiro reached for it when -

"Just a moment!"

A woman - put into better words, a female's voice, sharp and sort of singsong-y rang from the other side of the door, which Hiro's hand was inches away from opening. Footsteps approached from a small distance.. no, not footsteps like he knew them. They were more, sort of, clop-like, definitely harder against the wooden floor than his feet and socks. However, in wild desperation, the maroon-haired youth decided in an instant he really did not want to be caught then and there. As quietly as he could, Hiro took shelter behind the nearest stack of crates and hoped that the tip of his head wasn't poking out.

The door opened.

"Oh Celestia, I can't believe I forgot to order another batch of those! Let's see if any of these still have.."

The very first crate she removed, incidentally, was the one shielding Hiro's upper body. He tried very, very hard not to flinch, because what stood before him was so, so very odd that he couldn't quite bring himself to believe that it - she was actually there. Despite all the obvious differences, Hiro could describe in no other way other than with the word "pony." It was, in the very least, a creature on it's four legs with prominent equine-like features, like a snout, mane, and tail. But something was very, very off.

"Ah."

It wasn't a statement, just a remark, a reaction at best.

"You're eyes are huge."

That was a statement.

So, what's one to expect? Roseluck the earth pony, dutiful and proud owner of Ponyville's flower shop, screamed.