//------------------------------//
// Alec Gets Settled In 
// Story: Ponies and Interdimensional Travel 
// by Lain_UX 
//------------------------------//

	"Okay, back it up. You watch a show for little girls, and people masturbate to it?"

Oh God. "No, well, yes. But the thing is-"

"That's all I needed to hear. Now where the hell is the ride back home?"

"One small problem. I have to build another, minus the tools I built back home that made it much quicker."

"...fuck..." He then proceeded to mumble about a 401K and kick over a chair. I wonder if Celestia thinks we're warmongers, after all the shit I destroyed. I still need to fix that wall though.

"So, who else is here?"

The entire gang was in front of Twilight's treehouse, the porch light on, and some crappy lawn chairs were put up for the four of us. When I say four, I mean me, Elizabeth, Alec, and Twilight. She was tinkering with my laptop to make it work. Taylor was busy using the bathroom, while my robot dog was resting near my feet. The dog was pretty cute in it's robot form, among every other form, the dog one was one of the most practical and cutest. The only two other forms was a motorbike and car form, neither of which has been fully implemented. As much as I wished for a bike to be here right now, that isn't going to be possible without my computer back home, which had an extreme amount of tools to work with.

What am I thinking? I had a six out of five bar connection back home, along with remote control and my tools to use. I had a webcam set up just right to monitor anyone coming into my room. Call it a deus ex machina, but nonetheless, if you were in my position, you wouldn't care.

I may need to hurry, because my battery was at 50%, and I'm not sure if there were any plugs in the immediate vicinity.

"No one else except the people that rescued you."

"I didn't need rescuing, except the rescue you're providing to get out of here."

"Ah, yeah. Good news, in the weird sort of way that it immediately follows after bad news."

"Spit it out boy, I still have my taser."

"Alright fine. I still have my laptop, along with a weird connection back to Earth. I'm not connected to a router of any sort, but instead the entire Internet with just a little more strength in my home. Meaning, I have full access to my computer and webcam, plus any technology built within a mile of my home. I haven't had this much power over utilities since, ever."

Alec blinked, and stared at me for a second. "English, por favor."

"I still have Internet access, plus access to every computer in the world, provided I have proper credentials."

"Could you pull up a video feed of your bedroom?"

"Sure thing." I got my laptop back from Twilight. I then started typing in my IP address and connecting to it. I had video of my desktop, and all it took was a couple of clicks to see what my webcam was showing. I turned it around and focused on random objects in my room, until I was satisfied with my webcam working.

"Great. Oh, God."

There were swarms of hazmat officers staring over my portal, while a couple was playing on my N64. I had full audio as well, so hearing them tear at each other for playing as Oddjob amused me.

"HEY!" I screamed at my mic, "GET OFF MY NINTENDO!"

They all immediately freaked out and started scrambling to find the source of the audio.

"Over here!"

They all crowded around the computer. It was a funny and creepy sight at the same time. Faceless masks in a mob around the monitor.

"I'll take care of it." said Alec. "I think I broke the portal when I came through. Now what you need to do is-" I slapped his hand and threw down the laptop lid.

"NO! Bad Alec. Bad."

"What the hell is wrong with you? I was this close to getting out of here! Don't tell me you want to tie me down here in your little fantasy land."

"If you flip the switch, then all thirty of those hazmats get in. Thirty hazmats is bigger than four humans and a robot dog. I made a deal, Alec. We're the only ones, and I'm supposed to get us out. If the government gets in, they'll probably bring world affairs into this whole thing. That isn't going to happen. For once in my life, I'm taking responsibility."

I blinked, but it felt like hours that I had my eyes closed. What used to be in front of me, Alec, Elizabeth reading a book on a lawn chair, the treehouse, that was all gone. Instead, I saw a pool and a huge mob of people. I looked to my left and saw the clock. It had the event and heat numbers, and the times for each kid. My heart was pounding out of my chest. I was at my first swim meet.

"Now son," my dad said, "do you remember your events?"

"Yeah dad. fifty free, one hundred breast, and two hundred IM."

"Great. Your fifty free event is almost here. Go and get them."

I smiled and ran over to the starting blocks. The smile quickly swept away as I got into line. I looked down at my feet and only saw the tightest swim suit ever. Not Speedo small, where it barely covered your crotch, but instead swim trunk size, but insanely tight. I was sweating bullets.

"Event number sixteen, heat one, on the blocks."

I swallowed whatever was in my throat and looked at the crowds. Dad was waving and jumping around. I smiled and waved back. I got on the blocks and looked at the water. Time slowed down as I assessed my opponents. High schoolers. At the time, I was just getting into high school, and had a less than average athletic ability. I shook it off and looked at the water again. The air horn blasted and I was in the water. I swam as fast as I could and flipped forwards. My legs reached out towards the wall. All there was, was water, no wall. Frantically kicking around for it, I ended up swimming back towards the other wall and finished. 35 seconds, not too good, but not too bad. The events that followed weren't as good.

"Hey Tal, you awake?"

I snapped back to reality to see Taylor waving his hand in my face. I shivered a bit and answered his question.

"Yeah, just thinking about that crappy swim meet again. I really don't want to think about it for a long time." Well, I wrote down two-thirds of it for you, dear readers. You guys owe me.

"Oh, yeah. That kinda sucked didn't it?" said Elizabeth.

"Yep. Oh wait, where are my manners? Alec, let me give you a tour of the treehouse."


~~~


"And that's the bathroom. Any questions?"

"Yeah, wheres the part where I go home?"

"Alec, that isn't happening for a while. I still have to figure out how to get home in a one way portal. That isn't happening right now. Enjoy your time here, get a small job, and relax a while. Think of it as a vacation. Or retirement, minus the 401k."

"I guess I don't have a choice, but I'm going to make sure you actually build the gate instead of goofing off. I'm still your parole officer, and you're still under parole."

"Jeez, may as well marry Celestia."

"There's that name again. Do I get to meet her anytime soon? Maybe she can pull her weight, unlike some kids around here."

I ignored the retort. Well, I didn't really want to ignore it. I had a huge inside gag that would totally decimate Alec, but when Twilight walked in, the mood was a little lighter.

"I have important news for everyone involved here. Among the news, I have brought gifts from Celestia."

"Does that include food?" said Taylor,

"Yes Taylor, food."

Taylor pumped his fists up in down in the most quiet way possible.

"Since I'm the oldest, I get the news first, which state that I go home right now, right? Is my gift some sort of teleporation spell back home?"

"No and no. Since Tal is the most important person here, he gets the news and his gift first. Then his companions, then you. Tal is the only person working on the portal, so go ask him." She turned to me. She seemed less grouchy when she looked at me. She grinned and said, "Celestia sent you a letter. Want me to read it?"

If I haven't already stated that I had a crush on Twilight, I'll go ahead and say it again. Twilight is my biggest crush. Everything I have ever wanted in a girl is embodied in Twilight. She's nice and smart, quirky and cheeky, and is socially awkward like me. I kept on staring at Twilight as she asked me for her permission to read out my letter. It was getting awkward, but let me tell you a story. 

As getting her in the first place wasn't previously possible, I had to resort to human girls. Like the aforementioned Bryanna, and a...certain girl named Maddie. It pains me to write this, but I hate cliffhangers, and I want to get it off my chest as quickly as possible.

Maddie is a cute chick, one of the many on my swim team. Having gotten stronger and more confident, I looked over my 'choices' of women. One of whom happened to be Madison, Maddie, or Country, as Coach called her. Excuse the cliche, but the moment my eyes set on her, I was dumbfounded. I already knew her personality, but when you look at things through a love coated pair of glasses, she's beautiful.

As soon as I could get to my computer, I quickly Googled every possible tip or hint she may be giving to alert me to the fact she may indeed, actually like me. Many manhours that could have been spent on cancer or AIDS were spent on this one chick.

Having researched the entire Internet for ideas, I biked to swim practice with earbuds on. The song that was on repeat was, funnily enough, "You Spin Me Right Round." Anyways, I was too shy to talk to her, and that continued for a couple more weeks. Then, something happened.

I asked my friends about it in the locker room, as they were continually telling me to ask her out, and they told me that they didn't know. I asked Madison's friend, Alexia, about it, and a conversation like this went on.

"Lexi, do you know if Maddie likes me?

"Ohhhhh, MADDIE! TAL HAS A CRUSH ON YOU!"

I quickly burst out of the building and jumped on my bike. Fumbling for the lock with my sweaty hands I heard a friend yell, "SHES HERE!" at me, and my hands burst into even more sweat. The lock opened and I jumped on my bike. I went 88 miles back home with the reddest face I have ever felt and didn't discuss it.

Asking my friends about it only cued the most depressing sentence I have heard. "She thinks you're creepy." Serves me right, I guess. She was apparently only twelve and a half, and I was fourteen.

I had a complete face of apathy the next day, as I fumbled up the nerve to apologize for being creepy. She and her friend stared at me for a bit, and walked in the girl's locker room. I bought a soda and pushed the exit door.

"Why are you buying coke?"

"Oh, hey Alexia. Just buying this to calm my nerves, get the dopamine running again."

"You're weird, Tal."

"In all the right ways." I gave a weak smile and walked back out the door. I was amused to see the look of confusion on her face as I walked out. I saw Maddie on my way to the bike, but I didn't care. I asked my friend about it later, and they actually asked her about it. I was too emotionless to care, but the next words brought me up on my feet.

"She thinks you think she thinks you're creepy."

I understood those words. Those words helped. A lot.

"Uh, Equestria to Tal, hello?" said Twilight.

I missed that girl.