MLP: The Portal

Chapter 24: Levitation

"Oh, come on, another knockout? You gotta be kidding me, Alex." Rainbow Dash groaned. Alex chuckled, setting his controller down next to him.

"Maybe if you learned to play a little defense, Rainbow, you wouldn't get hit all the time." Alex said with a shrug.

"But defense doesn't win games."

"It doesn't lose games either." Alex responded.

"Pssh, whatever." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and huffed a bit.

"He has a point." Fluttershy giggled a bit.

"I'm wondering, wouldn't a game like this divide friendships rather than bring them closer?" Twilight said in wonder.

"I mean, if you take it too personally, probably, but who doesn't love a little competition among friends? Me and my buddies get real into this game when we play." He said with a chuckle. Twilight shrugged and nodded.

"I can understand that. I'm sure Rainbow Dash would probably fit right in." Twilight said with a giggle.

"I don't know man. I think my friends might be scared to beat you." Alex said to her with a laugh.

"What? Why?"

"Just making a joke about your intensity," Alex said with a chuckle, getting up. "Can I get ya'll anything? I'mma grab a soda." Alex offered them. They shook their heads.

"No thank you." Fluttershy said with a smile.

"Alright." Alex nodded as he went to the kitchen.

"So, Alex, what do you do here? For work, I mean." Twilight asked.

"I'm a nurse. I work at the hospital downtown." Alex answered.

"Ahh, okay. Do you like it?"

"I do. It's hard work," Alex chuckled. "The hours are killer, but it pays the bills." He answered.

"I see." Twilight nodded.

"Not to be rude, Twilight, but he has been having some issues with his scheduling." Fluttershy brought up.

"Oh?" Twilight asked, looking at Alex. Alex cleared his throat.

"No, no issues. I just work the night shift is all. These two and Rarity have expressed some concerns about it because of how my schedule affects my sleep." Alex explained, popping his soda can open.

"I see. However, I know my friends, and if they feel the need to bring it up, it probably isn't good for you." Twilight said, coming to their defense.

"I know that. I'm aware of how my schedule negatively affects me. The fact of the matter is I just don't have a choice in the matter. I need the off days, and this is just the necessary trade-off. As I told them before, I appreciate the concern, but I simply can't afford to change it." Alex said.

"I understand. You have to do what you have to do." Twilight said with a nod. Alex nodded in response, and then his phone began to vibrate. He checked it.

"Sorry, I have to take this. I'll be right back." Alex said, retreating to his bedroom for the time being.

"Twilight, what was that? That was the chance to talk him out of it." Rainbow Dash pointed out.

"Rainbow Dash is right. That was a good time to say something." Fluttershy agreed.

"I know, but talking wasn't going to change his mind. You heard him, it's the money that's making him struggle, and that's something that talking can't really help." Twilight said as she shook her head.

"But…you do wanna do something." Rainbow Dash said, leaning a little closer.

"Of course. Alex helped you out a lot, and if he's your friend, he's my friend too. I'm sure with a little research, I can find a way to pay him back, and then some." Twilight said with a smile.

"You're the best, Twilight." Fluttershy said, giving her a hug. Rainbow Dash did the same. Twilight simply giggled.

"Alright I'm back. Sorry, work was calling and they… Am I interrupting something here?" Alex asked, setting his phone in his pocket.

"No, nothing at all." Fluttershy replied.

"Work called again?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yep," Alex nodded. "They want me to come into work tomorrow afternoon."

"And?" Fluttershy asked.

"I said sure."

"Oh." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

"It's alright. Evan's gonna be coming over anyways. He can chill with ya'll 'til I come back." Alex said.

"Evan's coming over?" Fluttershy asked, perking a bit.

"Yep. I'm sure he'll be happy to come see ya," Alex said with a chuckle. "Evan helped me out a little with the handful that was these three. He's my best friend." Alex said to Twilight.

"Ah, okay, well I look forward to meeting him." Twilight said with a smile.

"Mhmm," Alex hummed, sitting again. "Hey, listen, sorry for coming down so strong on ya'll. I understand your concerns, and I know you mean well, but it just isn't in the cards, you know?" Alex said to them seriously.

"It's okay, Alex. Don't worry about it," Twilight said. "There's something else that we'd like to do about it instead." Twilight brought up.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"Well, to put it simply-" Fluttershy began before Rainbow Dash spoke up.

"We wanna pay you back!"

"Oh no, you don't gotta do all that, Twilight. I can make that money back pretty quickly, just a few extra days here and there for the next few weeks." Alex said, shaking his head a bit.

"That's okay, we're gonna pay you back anyways. I can set money aside for you to help you." Twilight said.

"You really don't have to do that." Alex insisted. However, Twilight's mind was made up.

"But we're going to, so you might as well take it."

"Okay." Alex finally agreed with a nod.

"It's the least we can do." Fluttershy said.

"Yeah, I mean, you were crazy enough to help total strangers. They just happen to have magical abilities." Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle, nudging him a bit.

"Magical abilities," Alex repeated. "Right, you still need to show me those." Alex remembered. Twilight's head tilted back a bit.

"Yes, right."

"Oh man, I can't wait to see the look on your face." Rainbow Dash said with an excited snicker.

"Let's see it." Alex said, his full attention on Twilight now.

"Okay, um…let's see, what could I show you?"

"Maybe just lift something?" Fluttershy suggested.

"Sure. Seems easy enough." Twilight said.

Taking a quick glance around the living room, her eyes fell onto one of Alex's couch throw pillows. Concentrating on it, her magical aura appeared around it, and it began to float slowly towards them.

Far from surprised, however, Alex started to back up, and stood up, his eyes wide and looking more fearful than impressed. Seeing this, the girls grew concerned, and Twilight's concentration was broken enough so that the pillow fell to the floor with a plop.

"Are you alright?" Twilight asked quickly. Alex's eyes darted a little bit.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm fine." Alex answered, his eyes still wide with shock.

"He looks terrified." Fluttershy observed.

"I am…a little." Alex admitted.

"You're not supposed to be terrified! You're supposed to be like, 'Wow, that's awesome! You were totally right, Rainbow Dash!'" Rainbow Dash said.

"Sorry, I'm just…we don't have that here. I'm not used to seeing that." Alex said.

"You don't have any sort of magic here?" Twilight asked.

"Magic is a very iffy subject for some people. Some don't believe it exists, others do."

"And what do you believe?" Twilight asked.

"The only kind of magic I've ever heard of or encountered has been evil, the stuff of nightmares and horror stories." Alex said.

"Oh gosh." Twilight said with an exhale.

"Yeah. Considering you're from, like, another world, I imagine that's just an ability you have there. Just…don't do it here. You could really scare people, or worse, attract the wrong kind of people." Alex warned her.

"Oh, uh, okay." Twilight said with a swallow. The tone with which he said this to her all but made incredibly clear the seriousness in what he was saying, which scared them just a little bit.

"So, you believe us now?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, yeah, hard to argue with that." Alex said.

"Yeah. You're okay, right?" Rainbow Dash asked. Alex nodded, looking more relaxed.

"I am. Just thinking now… So, there really is a world of magical ponies called Equestria… Sounds like some weird cartoon or something."

"I assure you, it's as real as you and me." Twilight said, standing up.

"Do you think we could take him to see it?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Honestly, do you think he could handle it after how he just reacted to a little levitation?" Twilight asked.

"I could see it." Alex said. The girls looked to him again.

"Really?" Fluttershy asked.

"Sure. I mean, I need a little time to mentally prepare, but then sure, I'd like to see this world for myself." Alex said certainly.

"Okay. We'll plan for it then." Twilight agreed.