//------------------------------//
// Ch.8 - Induction 
// Story: The Other Side 
// by MagnoliaThourns 
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The water-walking has drained all of my energy by what’s maybe three o’clock. I sit down for just a moment to rest. The next thing I know, you’re shaking me awake.

“Twilight!” You say, panic pulling your eyes wide. I push my head up slowly. Everypony’s here. “Are you okay, have you been here all day?”

You and the others are standing around me in a semicircle. Starlight holds three lanterns in her magic, which fade a gold light into the piercing dark. The moon hangs new in the sky, and the stars hide behind feeble clouds. You and all of them look quietly terrified. I stretch out and lay my face back on the mud. It feels like I’m still alone; the only two things that are anymore are the river and you. “I’m sorry guys. I just got so close, I lost my patience. I can walk pretty far now, but I don’t know how far I need to go. It could be kilometers, it could take days just to get to the other side! What if this isn’t a river but an ocean, what if I never make it across?”

“You will find the other side.” You say, pulling me up out of my misery muck. “From your destiny you can not hide.”

I sigh. My muscles ache and my empty stomach hungers along with the hole in my soul. Pinkie glomps onto me and rubs into the cleaner side of my face. “You’ll get there, you’re Twilight Sparkle!”

“Thanks Pinkie.”

“How far’d you say you can walk?” Applejack asks.

“I don’t know, not far enough.”

“How close to the fog did ya get?”

“I just walked with the shore, I was just training.”

Starlight asks, “Then how do you know you can’t make it to the other side if you haven’t even tried yet?”

“Well...”

Rarity says, “We can come back in the morning, darling, after a shower and a meal. Maybe you’re ready for it.”

“...alright. Lets go eat.”


We head to your hut, so I can melt the slab of mud off my left side. I don’t know why I never showered at your place before now, besides just not wanting to come back into your hut after training for fear of tracking too much mud inside. Your shower head and bathtub are cast bronze; heavy pieces of metallic warmth gleaming somewhere between gold and chocolate. The sheen eats through the cloudy streams that trickle down to the drain, rendering them only semi-opaque.

I remember your water silo and the trouble you had with it a while ago. In our letters, you talked about rebuilding one of the supporting legs that had been taken out by a timberwolf brawl. I sent you a new bubble level and a book on carpentry that week. I wish I had come down and helped you out directly. I can’t break the feeling that at any moment the water will cut off and we’ll find the silo smashed again. Not because of shoddy craftsmanship but because it was never rebuilt in the first place. This tub itself is already pushing it with how shiny it is. Any minute now, if I grew just a little more crazy, if the river called just a little harder, it would cease to exist and I’d be here over a drain on the floor. Or maybe the house itself would go with it; debris falling into the void….

These thoughts are useless. I finish washing and shut the water off.


You’ve cooked up a mushroom stew, filled with plenty of rice and corn in with the savory broth and chunks of mushroom. It’s good. You all talk but I can’t really tell what you’re saying. Words tumble out of my mouth but I can’t remember what they were once they’ve left. In a blink I’ve eaten and I’m so tired and stuffed that I lay my head down and fall asleep on the floor between you and Applejack.


At the river again. My head still isn’t clear, but I can at least make sense of what you’re saying now.

“It is three twenty, and we are here for you. It is your time to do what you must do.” You say, putting one hoof against my ribs.

I look at my other side to see half the girls, Applejack frets closest to me. Then to you; everypony else behind you and your gorgeous teal eyes. You nod solemnly, but with a peaceful upward tinge on your lips and slight crease of your brow.

You believe in me; the thought presses a trickle of hope into my mind. “Thank you, Zecora. Thank you, everypony, if I can’t make it then I’ll just swim back. We can try again later.”

“You can do this, Twilight, you can cross the river tonight.”

My mouth trembles. I nod, and let the quiet settle into my intestines.

I put one hoof on the water. It holds; the ujasiri feels less brittle than it did when I started, but even more off balance now. Like my weight is the only thing keeping it from being toppled over. It’s one side of a lever, a seesaw; the next step is a table missing a leg, the next the tops of loose marbles.

Quavering. I can’t loose focus. The fog creeps closer. I can hear you and the girls behind me, hushed but excited.

The fog licks over me. It eats the lantern light as my heart races. This is it. Adrenaline courses through me, devoid of fear this time. There’s nothing to see by anymore, but I don’t dare light my horn.


A pinprick glows far away. It crawls closer and closer, my breath rages out and in from shaking heaves; the air smells of salt and copper, my hooves tremble as they pick up speed despite me, legs moving on their own now, across something solid, cracking out clacks that don’t echo back as I gallop, I sprint, I have to get to the light that’s bigger and stronger, spreading out and gaining color—

Suddenly I’m there. I’m galloping over a plane of marble, with a marble ceiling high above. I slow down. The horizon is flat and unyielding. I whirl around hoping to see what I came through, but it’s only more marble floor stretching out endlessly. I can’t even tell where the light is coming from; it’s just diffused through everything.

I’m about to start freaking out because I’m alone with no way back, but then a voice right behind me says, “Hello Twilight Sparkle.”

I whirl around and see a pony at least four times my height. She looks down from her long neck and tall legs. She has no mane, no tail that I can see. I think her coat is a brownish peach until I realize her skin stretches furless over muscles and bone, giving them incredible depth. There are no wings on her side, no horn on her head. It rushes out of me before I can trap it in my mouth, “God?”

Her brown eyes bore into my soul and her power ripples through me; I am but a leaf in her wind. “No. Closer to an angel, at most. You have wondered before why Celestia and Luna, Cadence and yourself are the head of the monarchy but only labeled as Princesses. I, Twilight Sparkle, am the Queen.”

I open my mouth. Silence tumbles out.

“Do not be afraid,” she says as she leans down, her squarish muzzle gaining the mottled texture of skin, the veins in her hairless ears shining ruby streaks through the amber backing, her imperfect, immaculate teeth glimmering like mother of pearl as she opens her mouth and bites straight through my neck.

The severed head thumps onto the ground; the rest of my body collapsed below me. I feel numb. I stare past my hooves at the bloody mess below. Step aside and circle it; it happened so suddenly that I didn’t have time to be afraid. The body on the ground is me, but it’s the old me. The horn is shorter, the barrel has no wings attached. My face is more stubby-looking than I’m used too. “You killed me?” I ask, voice whispering out.

“A part of you. You no longer are who you once were. Come here. I want to show you something.” She sits and stretches out a hoof. I walk forward and tap it with my own, and energy surges through me.

Then I dissolve into an incomprehensible experience. I can only feel different things happening. I recognize patterns, energy leaving me and going into small bodies in a bubble, chains coming together and matter moving around, longer chains unzipping…

The Queen melts into my vision again as the experience fades. She sets her hoof down and asks, “Did you understand that?”

My mind races over the odd feelings. “I’m sorry, no. I don’t know what any of that was.”

“I showed you that so you will know that I am the Queen of life. I sprout the seeds and grow the trees; I will everything, every protein, acid, lipid; organelle to do their jobs in every cell of every living thing. You felt us supporting only one cell during mitosis.”

I stare. Her eyes look like rims of burnt sienna glowing around black holes; shining chocolate and black walnut. “You’re— you’re biology itself!”

She smiles, and nods. “I am the keeper, the Queen, of biology. Of course it is more complicated than that vision showed you, mostly I give energy and the cells respond as they need to.”

“You do that for every cell on the planet?”

“Yes, it is a vast experience. Now, Twilight, do you know why I called you here?”

“No.”

“You are an Alicorn now. But you have yet to realize your full potential as the Princess of Friendship.”

I look down at the sloping muscles of her chest so I can avoid her eyes. “Yes. I’m sorry, I just—”

“It is not your fault. Celestia ascended you, but she did not grant you your full powers. Only the body and magic of an alicorn. This Twilight,” she held up a hoof and gestured to the odd world we inhabited in the moment, spurring me to look back and see my dead self again, “is the rest of your induction.”

I lock eyes with her. “I don’t understand.”

“You have felt like there is a piece missing. Some part of you that you lost. And it will never come back. A sliver of your soul has died. It was never lost but decaying inside of you, rotting more with every day; I have pruned it for you.”

“The old me? That’s what was holding me back?”

“Yes. Your life has changed much and you need to accept this. You were surprised by these new-found responsibilities and your identity as a princess is in direct opposition to the pony you used to be. Mourn for it if you must, but let it die in peace. You will never be her again.”

I tremble, the craziness of the situation wearing off a bit. “But I don’t know how to be a princess, and I’m barely even doing anything—”

“That is going to change. I called you from the Everfree partly because I wanted to set you up with Zecora. If you two had spoken sooner this would’ve taken much less time. The yaks and the leader of the dragons have become allies, the changeling kingdom has been reborn as friends. Even the griffins have begun social reform beneficial to Equestria. Zecora can show you Zebrica, and you will bring warm relations to many more lands. You will spearhead a new era of interspecies peace. This is your true purpose, to befriend the nations we have so long struggled against.”

“But. But I don’t know how to do that, I don’t know how to be a political leader.”

“You will learn fast. And you know much already. You are well studied in almost everything, and you can plan for hundreds of contengiences. You could learn an entire culture in a few weeks if you needed too, as well as strategize well in the event of war. You have gained great understanding of friendship and interpersonal connections. Your knowledge of magic and science will allow you to keep a level head and give you the tools you need to quell any hostility, as well as ingratiate you to other educated rulers. Your experience as a normal citizen will keep you humble and give you a clear perspective. The only thing you are missing, Twilight, is confidence. You must trust yourself.”

I stare down at my fetlocks. It’s not reassuring at all to hear that. I feel the tip of one massive hoof graze my shoulder. No vision comes from it, but it comforts me a little.

“Twilight.”

“Yes.”

“You are not the new ruler of Equestria. That position still sits with Celestia. You are an ambassador, a diplomat, Twilight. Your mistakes will not be irreparable. I realize you do not want this responsibility, but it has chosen you, Twilight. You must rise to meet it.”

I nod. And then catch on to something she’s said, “You set me up with Zecora? Did you make us fall in—well—did you make me have a crush on her?”

“Your deeper relationship with her was catalyzed by me, but it is still your prerogative. I can not see the future, Twilight, nor do I create it.”

“Why the Everfree? Why sleepwalking? Why not just pluck me out of the world one day?”

“I have my limits as well, Twilight. I can experience every cell that is, but outside of them I have little control. Think of it like a book. You can read about that world, and write things about that world, but you can not inhabit it. You can not pull the characters from the page into physical existence with you. That is the challenge I face; the Everfree is wild and the weakest point to puncture into. The most I could do was force it to send my call to you, and create the portal myself. I am holding open a slit through water for you, with my bare hooves. The magic Zecora taught you helped greatly, that was another reason I chose the Everfree. I am also hoping she will introduce you to Zebrica.”

“Alright. Okay. What about Celestia and Luna? Do they know you? What about Cadence and Flurry Heart?”

“I inducted Celestia so long ago that she does not think of it much anymore. I re-inducted Luna after her imprisonment on the moon, you can talk to her about me if you want. Cadence and Flurry Heart I have yet to call.”

“Luna knows about all of this?”

“Yes. If you had been open about what was happening, she might have helped guide you.”

“Oh.” My cheeks burn a bit. Everything feels silly all of a sudden. And while I think over it all I remember the night I tried to quell my sleepwalking by masturbating nine times in a row before I went to sleep. “If you can feel everthing, uh, when I… you know.”

“Yes, I keep your cells able to produce hormones for your libido. I have had millenia to experience masturbation, Twilight, do not be embarrassed.”

“Right. Well.” I cast my eyes around the odd world we inhabit, searching for a new subject. “Where are we right now?”

“I created this space for us to meet. We are in a world, dimension if you want, above yours, Twilight, closer to the genesis of reality. I have friends here, I eat, drink, and am merry here.”

“There are others? Can I meet them?”

“While my existence has become a secret by chance, I can not show you the rest of my world; we do not have time. I am still holding open the portal; there is life withering while we talk because I must focus so much of my energy here.”

I cast my eyes out over the endless plane. I want to see what’s out there, I want to explore and find the exit to this crazy place she describes, but I know I would never make it out. I comb back through her words, trying  to think through everything she’s said to me. There’s two things left to ask.

“I have two more questions. One, and I don’t mean this in a bad way, why are you bald?”

She bursts out laughing, a noise that spills out in beats and crashes through the air like an accordion. I smile, only a little afraid that I’ve offended her. She stops laughing after a moment, but keeps this doofy grin on her face below her brilliant eyes, and for the first time she looks pony. She rubs her naked forelegs together and says, “Why should I have fur?”

I surprise myself by not really having an answer to this, after everything that’s happened.

“Here, feel me.”

She bends down and presents the crown of her head. I stretch out a hoof and rub behind her ears. It’s smooth and odd, and feels like I might cut through it if I’m not careful.

I take my hoof off, and she leans back up, looking pleased with herself. “Smooth, right? It’s so much more sensitive too.”

“Right. It looks like it would be. I have one last question—a more serious question. Please, I need to know, will I die?”

Her smile falls back to it’s neutral, professional expression. “The other alicorns, as with you, are not truly invincible. You will never die from old age, and can take heavy bodily damage. But your soul is vulnerable to spiritual magic, and there is a physical limit. The direct destruction of the brain or heart can be fatal.”

“Wow. I always thought she and Luna were indestructible. So they can die, we can die. How long will it be before then? I mean—it’s going to happen, right? There’s a possibility I get poisoned with neurotoxin or stabbed through the heart. Is it certain, that it’ll happen, you know, naturally? Or will I have to… to work for it?”

“All things, in both our worlds, die eventually, Twilight sparkle. None of our magic can outrun entropy forever, even if it seems so. You will die one day. It will take a long time, I think. Perhaps millenia.”

I look back at the muscles slabbed down her legs, some large veins clearly visible and gently pulsing, and purse my lips. It’s a bittersweet thing. But I am glad I know that it will come, even if I have to be more patient for it than I want to.

“I know you are worried about the afterlife. I can offer you a glimpse of the other side. It will take little time.”

“What?” I pull my head back up to her eyes.

“I control the matter that gives you life, but your soul is out of my hooves. It’s farther on, Twilight, far from any of us here. Lie down please.”

Motionless trembling aches in my legs. I lie on my side and keep my eyes up at her’s. She lifts one massive hoof and lets it down on my shoulder, above the heart. I feel that pound of flesh stop beating. It’s heavy inside like a ball of gold lodged under my ribcage. Slowly things start to fade. I tumble through black until—