On the Other Side

by Gumo

Part One

Starting your second semester of college would have been daunting enough without everything that has been going on as of late. You’ll have to declare a major soon, classes are only going to get harder, and your grasp on childhood has been slipping away more and more. What better way to come to terms with this than by holing up in your mother’s house as you pussyfoot around paperwork and applications?

You’ve been staying here for a few weeks now. The first semester came and went and you’ve moved back home for the time being. It’s more comfortable and cuts down your expenses tremendously. You don’t even have to be pretending to be looking for a job considering you’ll be moving again in a few more weeks.

Currently you’re sitting in the kitchen. It’s early morning and Mom is frying up some bacon. Wrapped up in your blanket and sipping at a cup of coffee, you’re trying your best to ignore the list of majors in front of you on your laptop. When you were a kid what you wanted to be when you grew up was a fun question. Back when being a firefighter or an astronaut didn’t sound grueling and you thought the president was a cool job to have. Now you’d rather not think about the question.

As Mom sets down a plate of far too much food in front of you she mercifully doesn’t ask the question again. Maybe she’s respecting your awkward, wishy washy angst or maybe she’s just tired of hearing her daughter disappoint her. If she’s not going to press the issue, you won’t press either.

After a moment she does try to break the silence however.“Have you watched that video yet?”

You hastily choke down the bite of egg covered toast in your mouth, coughing a bit as you go to reply. “Nah, not yet.”

“I think it’s fascinating that they’re sending over students your age!”

Giving her a nonchalant shrug you resume your assault on the plate in front of you. You’ve never really been all that involved with the whole “portal to the other reality” stuff. Sure, at first everybody was freaking out about it. But after a while it’s become sort of a distant thing that the government is handling. Or, at least, says they’re handling.

It happened a few months ago. You were in the middle of Bio when the news broke that strange people claiming to be from “Equestria” apparently stumbled from a portal in the middle of Vancouver. This would be nothing more than a low effort prank from from Canadian bronies if not for a curious Mountie didn’t stumble into the portal while investigating the scene.
Long story short, it’s a real portal to a real world. That world just so happens to be very similar, if not identical, to the world of a cartoon show called My Little Pony. Needless to say everybody was a little up in arms for a while. Debates over the religious and scientific ramifications plagued every outlet of media for a while before everything sort of faded from the public eye. Even the most interesting, world shattering happenings are given fifteen minutes of fame.

The United Nations wound up formally recognizing Equestria as its own sovereign nation after a while. Despite some awkward barriers along the way, like explaining why some humans willingly eat horse and why that shouldn’t be reason for concern, relations got pretty stable after a while. Equestria even wound up sending over a diplomat to live among humans, and several countries in turn set up embassies in the magical pony kingdom.

Now, it’s not like there’s pastel ponies running around Earth. Nor are there awkward looking humans in Equestria. All evidence points to the process of traveling to a different world alters one’s form to that of a species of comparable intelligence in that other world. So a human would turn into a pony and vice versa most likely. A strange system, but one that makes sense in the same way having Equestria be a part of the United Nations makes sense.

The video your mother refers to is of a young woman going by the name “Breezy.” Breezy is one of a few Equestrian college students who has been allowed to study abroad on Earth. She has seemingly become the poster child of this new diplomacy campaign aimed at the college aged people of America.

Similar programs have already cropped up across the globe. The United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Canada, and Sweden have all allowed for exchange students to both go to and come from Equestria for a while now. However, with semesters in both worlds coming up quickly, it seems America has jumped onto the bandwagon. Breezy’s video is an ad talking about the virtues of the program, her experiences on Earth, what it’s like in Equestria, stuff like that. At least, that’s what Mom has said.

Despite your relative distance to the whole situation, Mom has been following everything like a hawk. She feels as if she’s living in the most important age of human history thus far. “If other realities that were once just fiction to us exist, what else could be out there?” She’s a hopeless romantic on the subject, often sending you article upon article of information that you either already knew or never really cared about. At least she’s got a hobby now.

“Well, you should watch it soon,” Mom implores “she’s going to your school after all!”

“And I’m sure the last thing she wants is to be treated like some alien celebrity. I’m just going to let it be.”

Mom shrugs off your veiled laziness and returns to her meal. You welcome the silence with open arms as you quickly finish up your food. With that out of the way you drop your plate in the sink and go flop on the couch.

You’re forced to move over a bit when Mom comes out to join you. She turns on the television, idly surfing through the guide for something interesting to watch. “Do you think any of your friends are going to try the exchange program?”
“I don’t see a reason as to why they would.”

“The accreditation of Canterlot University is on par with many of our top colleges! Not to mention the program covers basically all of your expenses. Along with the allure of seeing a new world, meeting individuals from a different universe… And your student loa-”

“Jeez Mom, do I even have to watch the video at this point? You’re selling it as much as she would!”

“I’m not trying to sell you on anything,” she says with a subtle eye roll, “I’m just saying, it could be a tempting offer to a student looking for something new.”

“You’re not even close to subtle Mom.”

“I’m your mother, I don’t have to be.”

With a soft sigh you sit up. Looks like she’s still going to be pressing things, but in her own weird way. Except instead of pressing you to find a job and declare a major, she wants you to study abroad in a magical cartoon world. Typical mom stuff. “I’ll consider it,” you say, if only to get her off your back. She seems to be content with that answer, for now at least, giving you a little shrug as she begins to watch The Price is Right.

Not wanting to subject yourself to such a boring block of television, you head back to your room. The springs of your bed creak as you flop onto it. Everything in this room has been in here since eighth grade and the age is beginning to show. You pull out your phone, idly checking your Twitter feed just to get frustrated at seeing your friends enjoying their break. Maybe you should have taken a few invitations more seriously.

Quickly fed up of seeing your friends on ski trips or visiting family up in New York, you instead open up Youtube. Instantly you’re bombarded with a myriad of colorful, clickbait thumbnails of random content. With not much else to do, you decide to check out that video after all. Yeah, you just made a big fuss about it with your Mom, but if there’s anything you’re good at it’s being a fickle bitch.

The video is pretty simple. A blonde woman stands against a gray background talking in an overly excited tone. She’s apparently an “Earth Pony”, not to be confused with a pony from Earth but one without wings or a horn, and came to Earth about a month prior to the filming of the video.

As you expected most of what she says is something that you mom has already raved about. Breezy thinks Earth is exciting, she especially likes all the new places she has to visit. She also takes time to brag about how great Canterlot University is, and how good it will look for any student to join the program. There’s a good chance this part is scripted, although the stuff about being on Earth did feel kind of genuine.

There’s not much in the video that you hadn’t heard already. The most you really get from it is that the pony turned human seems to be happy going to a school on the east coast. Yet, despite not really having taken much from the video, something still compels you to leave a comment. Maybe it’s the fact that looking in the comment section you see that Breezy, or whoever manages this account actually replies to comments somewhat frequently.

“Surely not all majors transfer over to Canterlot University. Are there any students that will be turned down?”
You aren’t sure why you asked the question. Even as you stare at the comment you aren’t sure if it’s anything but curiosity driving you. Maybe something about your mom’s nagging is to blame. It’s an innocent question at the very least that will probably go unanswered.

However, only about fifteen minutes after you asked it, you’re notified somebody has replied to your comment. Curiosity piqued, you take a look, only to find the manager of the account has replied.

“Well, I’m not sure what kind of students they’re looking for officially, but I can’t think of a ton of majors that don’t transfer over. I know that things over here aren’t as clear cut in terms of finding what you’re best at, so I can imagine that we’ll have some applicants who haven’t even declared a major! That in itself sounds pretty exciting if you ask me! I’m almost envious of students like that! Hope I helped some!”

You stare at the comment for a bit, rereading it a few times. If you didn’t know better you’d almost swear this was an elaborate set up by your mother to get you interested in the program. Shaking your head you set your phone aside and grab your laptop from the foot of your bed. At first you aren’t sure what to do, but then you decide to just bite the bullet. You google “Equestria college exchange program” with a sharp sigh, hoping that something pulls your attention away and you don’t wind up proving your Mom right.

It’s now two weeks later. You’d have packed up all your belongings at this point, but all you have is a single bag of personal belongings. That’s because that’s all you’re allowed to bring. You can’t even point to one specific thing that made you sign up in the end. If you had to say, it’s more a bunch of different, small things all mixed together. It’s muddled and kind of confusing, but you’re going through with it now. You’ve been accepted into Canterlot University and all.

You look yourself over in the mirror one last time before heading out. It probably won't matter too much considering you won’t be on Earth after today, but going out is going out. Your hair is still a little frizzy despite your best attempts to quell it. You’ve tossed on a plain white shirt, jeans, and a pair of sneakers. Funny enough, this is basically what you’d wear any day at school, so it’s kind of fitting. Satisfied with your half decent look, you leave your room.

Mom was ecstatic to hear that you applied and was on cloud nine the moment you showed her the acceptance email a week ago. Now, as she’s about to see you off, she doesn’t seem to want to let go, literally. She’s got you in a vice grip of a hug, squeezing you tight as you get a little too much of a whiff of her cheap perfume. When you left for college the first time she wasn’t even this emotional. But it’s probably more than just you leaving again that has her emotional.

“Don’t forget to write,” she reminds, not loosening her grip.

“I won’t, I won’t,” you assure as you try to get some breathing room in her inescapable hug. Normally you’d just text her or something, but your phone is one of the things you aren’t taking into Canterlot for a variety of reasons, one of which being the lack of cell towers. However apparently you’ll be able to send out letters and even get letters from people on Earth.

“I expect to hear everything about what it’s like!”

“I’ll take good notes for you,” you joke, rolling your eyes.

She mercifully loosens her grip, allowing you to wriggle into freedom. You grab your old gray backpack and sling it over your shoulder. Today’s the day everything is going to change. For the better or for worse you still aren’t sure, but things are going to change. As you walk to the front door, you look back at your mother.

“Bye Mom,” you say with a short wave.

“Goodbye Lou, don’t forget about me while you’re having fun!”

Rolling your eyes at the corny nickname that has stuck with you since childhood, you open the door. “It’s Louise,” you correct out of habit. With that you walk out the door. There’s a soft thud as you toss your bag into the backseat of your beat up Toyota. Hopping in the front, you take a minute to gather yourself before driving off towards the address you’d been given. It’s time for orientation.

Author's Note:

This is the first part of my little story. If you're interested, the second part should come up pretty soon (seeing as how it's already written). Any thoughts or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Next section we get into the pony stuff, so if you're holding out for that, you're in luck.