Beyond Infinity

I awoke with a yawn. My bed felt unusually soft and short today, but as I became more aware of my surroundings, I realized that I was lying on a couch.

"When the hell did I come downstairs?" I thought to myself drowsily. I glanced around, and saw an oddly shaped orange mass on the coach opposite of mine. "Who the fuck..." I started, then the memories hit me all at once. The shitty customer, getting fired, the speeding ticket, and finally, Scootaloo and her story. I laid back down for a moment, trying to soak it all in. As cool as it would be to live out My Little Dashie, I needed to get Scootaloo home. She was just a kid after all, and although I now had a fair amount of free time because I lost my...

I facepalmed hard. I still had to tell my parents that I had gotten fired. How the hell was I supposed to tell them that? And why? There was no way I could do it. I'd have to lie. Say I had been robbed and unfairly fired. That could work. Yeah, we'll go with that one. How the fuck could I let myself get into this mess? And on top of that, I now had to take care of Scootaloo for at least a little while. God only knows how fucking long it'll take me to get her home. And what if she couldn't get home? What if she got stuck here? I didn't even know how she got here, so I had no idea if it was even possible for her to get back. Whatever Twilight had done was obviously far beyond anything I could possibly do. And there's no way for me to even communicate with her or anyone else in Equestria; I would have to wait for them to come to me. That's how it happened in My Little Dashie right? Celestia just came and knocked on the dude's door. So yeah. That's it. We'll just wait for Celestia to knock on my door. Until then, she can just hang out here for a while. I wonder how I'll take care of her...does she need to go outside to use the bathroom? What the hell does she eat? I've only ever seen her drink a milkshake, and even then Babs just kinda took it from her. This is going to be difficult.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down. I needed to think about this rationally. I checked my phone. It was about 830 in the morning. Not an ungodly hour. My dad would be gone to work by now, and my mom would probably be in her office already deeply involved in her work. Ok. I could work with this. First thing I would do it get breakfast. Yeah. That's a good start. I'll think much better with breakfast. I quietly walked upstairs so as to not disturb Scootaloo. I closed the door to the basement, pulled out some bacon, and began to cook.

******************

Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a few times, and then looked around to get here bearings. She was in the strange man, what was his name, Dave? Yes, that was it. She was in Dave's house. "Where did he go?" she wondered. She slowly crawled out of bed and began to stretch. As she stretched, she vaguely remembered going to the window and only seeing the moon. "I wonder what this place looks like during the day." she thought. She walked over to the window, and pulled up the blinds. She gasped.

Scootaloo was now staring out the window at a huge expanse of grass. It was at least 100 times as large as the playground by the schoolhouse! At the far end and also covering part of the right side of the field was a forest. It looked mildly dense but much more inviting than the Everfree Forest. To her left was a small, short set of trees, and then valleys. She could see other houses far away in the distance. She turned her attention back to the field. It wasn't particularly exciting by itself; from where she was, she was on one peak of a valley. There was a small hill in the middle of the field that looked a little odd and out of place. But all the same, she was excited now. Who cares if she was in a strange new world; this could be fun! She wanted to go exploring! Maybe she'd even get her cutie mark!

"This is going to be awesome!" she squealed, and then almost immediately slapped a hoof to her mouth. Dave had wanted her to keep the noise level down. She didn't really understand why, but hopefully he would explain why soon enough. "I need something to do in the meantime." Scootaloo said quietly to herself. "But what?"

All of a sudden, she heard a yell from upstairs that startled her so much she fell down: "YOU WHAT?!?" It wasn't Dave's voice, so Scootaloo guessed that this was his mother.

"YOU FUCKING HEARD ME, I GOT FIRED AND I GOT A SPEEDING TICKET!" yelled another voice. Scootaloo was pretty sure this one was Dave.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS." screamed his mother.

"CALM THE FUCK DOWN. LET'S BE REASONABLE HERE." roared Dave. After that, their voices became gradually calmer and more quiet, and it was more difficult for Scootaloo to hear. She thought about going to the door to eavesdrop but decided it would be rude.

Scootaloo then noticed a large black box sitting on a shelf. It had some wires going into it and was very thin. The box was taller and wider than she was though. "I wonder why it's there..." she thought, curiosity flowing through her. Eventually it got the best of her and she walked over to it, not noticing the small black device sitting on the floor.

"Ah!" Scootaloo said as she tripped over the small device. As she did though, the large black box came to life. Scootaloo gasped. There were two men and a women inside the box! They seemed to be arguing about something called a Tebow. Scootaloo was transfixed by the sight. How did they get in there? Was it possible that more people were stuck inside the box? This world was getting stranger and stranger, and yet Scootaloo's curiosity grew.

"Well, when I tripped over this device...the people came on!" she said to herself. "So if I press it again..." experimentally, she pressed a button. The image of the three people arguing immediately morphed into a new scene. Scootaloo couldn't quite tell what was going on in this scene, but the image had her mesmerized.

"What the heck is this thing?" she said, intrigued. She pressed the same button she had before. The image changed again, but this time she also noticed a number in the corner; in this case it was 61. Suddenly the number vanished. Determined, Scootaloo pressed the button, and watched in the corner. The image changed, and now the number 62 appeared. "I get it!" she exclaimed. "Each number goes to a different picture! I wonder how many pictures there are here..."

***************

"...and that's what happened." I said, out of breath. My mom and I had just finished arguing over my day yesterday. Apparently I'm irresponsible, immature, and I'm going to amount to nothing if I keep this up. What else is new, am I right? In any case though I had to keep my mom distracted; I had heard Scootaloo's yell and I had to improvise to cover that one up. Fortunately, I don't think my mom noticed. Unfortunately, it also resulted in the conversation we had.

"So what's your plan then?" my mom said in a far-too-controlled tone that suggested bloody murder if I said anything other than the right thing.

I sighed. "I don't have one yet. I just want to relax and calm down. I don't know where my head is at right now and I'd like some time to figure it out."

My mom also sighed. "Look David, you know your father and I just want what's best for you. You can't do things like this. You cannot afford this right now. Tomorrow, I want you to go out and start looking for a new job."

"We'll see." I said, eager to end the conversation and eat breakfast. I wanted to just eat and be done with it so I could figure out a plan for Scootaloo. I still couldn't decide if I wanted her home as soon as possible for her sake or if I wanted to spend time with her for my sake. "I guess until I hear something from Equestria, I should just treat her like a guest." I thought. "I...I'm just gonna go eat and figure out a plan or something. I dunno." I said to my mom.

She gave me a disappointed look. "Fine. Go." I took my plate and walked to the basement, closing the door behind me. I heard the TV, which confused me. "I hadn't been watching TV so how...." Apparently Scoot had figured out the modern marvel that is television. Fantastic. This can't possibly go wrong. No sirree. Not at all.

I walked over quietly. She hadn't noticed me enter the room; she was completely entranced by the TV. "Having fun?" I said.

She jumped a little out of surprise. "Hey Mr. Dave! What is this thing?" she asked excitedly.

"Mr. Dave?" "It's called a television. Don't they have them in..." I quickly stopped myself, not wanting to remind her that I knew more about her than I was letting on. "In wherever it is you're from?"

Scootaloo said "I'm from Equestria. Well, Ponyville, but that's in Equestria. And no, I've never seen anything like this! It's so cool!"

I shrugged. "Yeah it's alright I guess." I checked the channel she was on. The HUB was 130, and she was already at 113. I needed to change the topic. "So Scoot, I need to ask you. What exactly do you eat?"

She stopped pressing the remote and gave me a quizzical look. "Well...I could really go for some bacon and toast if you don't mind! I love Bacon!"

I immediately gave her a huge grin. "Bacon I can do. You and I will get along just fine as far as food goes then. If you don't mind, though, can I put something on the Television? I like to watch a particular show every now and then."

Scootaloo nodded. "Sure, I don't mind." I flipped the TV over to ESPN, which was safely in the 50s. No chance of her stumbling onto herself easily. First Take was on ESPN, and predictably they were arguing about Tebow.

"Skip, you know better, this boy CANNOT play football. Tebow has no future in this league!" yelled Stephen A. Smith on the TV. I turned to go upstairs and get the bacon, but before I could leave, Scootaloo quickly burst, "Hey, this is what first appeared on the television! What's a Tebow?"

"Eh, don't worry about it, he's not all that special. He's just someone people like to talk about." I replied. "I'll find something we can both enjoy to watch. Here, let me grab the bacon." I went upstairs and threw the package in the microwave. I didn't know how much she'd need but I figured whatever she didn't eat would go well with my eggs. I brought the bacon downstairs and saw she was back to flipping through channels in a bored fashion. I quickly checked to see what channel she was on. She had made it to 134 already, but she didn't mention anything about The HUB, so it looks like she caught it on a commercial. She turned at the smell of the bacon.

"Cool, thanks!" She ate the bacon enthusiastically while I ate my eggs. "Oh, sorry I changed it from your show Dave." she said.

I waved my hand dismissively. "It's no biggie. Besides, it's no fun to stay inside staring at the Television all day. I know you don't know very much about this place, but is there anything you want to do?"

She immediately responded, "Let's go exploring!"

"Exploring?" I asked.

She nodded gleefully. "Yeah, just look outside! It looks so pretty out there, and I want to go see what the world is like! There's a forest, and so much land, and it looks nice and sunny out so it's probably super warm and..."

I started laughing. "Slow down there, Scoot! You'll choke on your bacon! Sure, we can go outside, I wouldn't mind exploring."

Scootaloo quickly swallowed the bacon she was working on. "Oh, if you don't mind, do you have a scooter I can borrow? I love Scooters! I love riding them so much, I can do all kinds of tricks and stuff, watch, I'll go off that small hill over there!" During her quick surge of energy, she had made her way over to the window and was excitedly pointing at a spot in the distance.

I couldn't help but smile. Scootaloo was just so full of energy; it was infectious. "I don't know what's going to happen with all of this, but so far I'm not complaining at all." I thought. "I'll see what I can round up as far as a scooter goes. How about we finish breakfast and then head outside?"

Scootaloo nodded quickly. "Ok, that sounds good! I'm still kinda hungry anyway. This is going to be so much fun! I wish Apple..." she stopped herself hurriedly, and I could sense that some of her energy and positive attitude was starting to fade at the memory of her friends. I had to think fast.

"Don't worry, we'll be out there sooner than you think. I'll go see if I can find the Scooter, you go ahead and finish breakfast." I tried to give her a warm smile. She returned the smile but I could tell it was strained. As I walked away I sighed. I wasn't sure if I was doing ok or if I was totally blowing it. I couldn't really get a good sense of the situation. I guess I'd find out as time went along. Hopefully Celestia could figure something out though. Right now, that was really all I had to go on. I hoped it would be enough.

*********************

"And that's what we saw!"

"Interesting..."

Twilight, Spike, Cheerilee, Celestia, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom stood in Twilight's library in Ponyville. Cheerilee, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle had just given Celestia a quick walk through of the previous day. At the end of it, Twilight had explained what she thought she understood of the spell she had performed. "Spike had said it was a spell that would enable a pony to experience Astronomical Travel."

Celestia closed her eyes for a moment, lost in thought. Then she said, "Spike, would you please bring me the book you found the spell in?"

"Uh...of course Princess." Spike said. He found it quickly and brought it back, explaining, "I figured we might need it again given what happened, so I put it aside just in case."

"Good thinking, Spike." said Celestia warmly. Her horn began to glow as she skimmed through the pages, occasionally pausing on a page or two to take a closer look. "Ms. Cheerilee, girls, have any of you noticed anything odd about Scootaloo lately? Any changes in her behavior?"

Cheerilee and the remaining members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders shared a look. "Well...she has been kinda quieter than usual." said Apple Bloom.

"She doesn't seem as excited as normal." added Sweetie Belle."

"She's also been a bit more defensive I guess," said Apple Bloom. "Diamond Tiara an' Silver Spoon pick on us all the time but it seems to be botherin' her more than usual."

Everyone stared at Cheerilee, who had remained quiet during this exchange. When she looked up and realized that everyone was looking at her, she hastily cleared her throat and said, "What Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle said were both accurate. While Scootaloo actively participates in my classroom, she doesn't show the same enthusiasm she once did. I would like to be optimistic and say that she's just exhausted from her physical therapy appointments but I think I might be overly-optimistic in that regard."

"I see." said Celestia. Everyone looked to their ruler. She was still skimming through the book, lost in thought. The others began to share looks with one another, unsure of what to think. Suddenly, Celestia stopped skimming. She closed the book and magically placed it down on the table.

"Did...did you find something, Princess Celestia?" asked Twilight nervously.

"Yes...Spike, please write a letter." replied Celestia.

"Yes ma'am." said Spike obediently. "Um...who am I sending this to?"

Celestia looked him right in the eyes. "Address this letter to my sister."