MLP: The Portal

Chapter 28: Making Plans

"Soooo, what did you two think about Ponyville?" Pinkie Pie asked them excitedly, sliding Alex and Evan cupcakes as she sat down with them, as well as Rainbow Dash, Starlight, Twilight, and Fluttershy.

"Heheh, it seems cool. It has that small town sorta vibe, like everyone knows everyone and everyone more or less gets along with each other." Evan described.

"That's exactly what it's like!" Pinkie said.

"It seems friendly enough. I mean, I haven't talked to anyone yet, but from what you've been saying, it sure seems pleasant." Alex said, glancing at the girls around the table.

"Did I hear you say 'yet'?" Rainbow Dash said, leaning towards him with a smile. Alex chuckled.

"Haha, yeah. I mean, now that I know that Equestria is a real place, I wanna have a look around. I mean, this is my first time in a new world and all." Alex said.

"We'd be happy to show you all that Equestria has to offer." Twilight said with a smile.

"What about you, Evan?" Fluttershy asked, looking up at him.

"Uh, yeah, I'll definitely be coming back. Just, you know, every once in awhile. I don't have as free a schedule as this guy here." Evan said, nudging Alex.

"Heheh, yeah. Since I got more free time, I'll be spending a lot of it here just learning about this place. Maybe find myself a nice female pony girlfriend, right?" Alex said jokingly, nudging Evan back.

"Heheh, sure man. You go right on ahead." Evan said with a roll of his eyes. Alex was about to say something to him, but instead, leaned forward.

"Fluttershy, Evan thinks I'm weird for getting a female pony girlfriend." Alex said with a wide, mischievous chuckle.

"How silly." Fluttershy responded with a giggle. Evan leaned back.

"Wowww." He said. All the girls giggled.

"You two are ridiculous." Twilight said with a shake of her head.

"Try the cupcakes now!" Pinkie butted in, her anxiety growing past the ability to wait for them to get to the treats on their own.

"Oh yeah, the pony famous cupcakes de la Pinkie Pie," Alex said, picking his vanilla cupcake up. It had glossy baby blue frosting. "It looks good."

Alex took a bite of his from the side, licking up some frosting in the process. Very quickly, his expression melted into approval and ecstasy. Seeing this, Evan tried his, and his cupcake wrought a similar reaction.

"Jesus Christ, this is really good." Evan said.

"Oh my gahf…thif if thooo good, Pinkie!" Alex said through his chewing.

"Thank you! Compliments while you're still chewing the first bite means it was really REALLY good!" Pinkie grinned proudly.

"Yeah man, this is probably the best cupcake I've ever had." Evan said.

"Same!" Alex agreed after swallowing.

"Another success!" Pinkie Pie grinned. They laughed at this.

"I gotta say, if you told me last month that any of this was gonna happen, that I would find myself in a place like this, I would've thought you were crazy." Alex said with a chuckle.

"You did think we were crazy, remember?" Rainbow Dash teased him.

"Haha, yeah yeah. I stand officially corrected." Alex said with a smile.

"As long as you admit it." She said with a smile.

"Now there's so many things that we can show you! You'll love Equestria." Twilight said excitedly.

"We can take the train!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Ooh! I call showing off Cloudsdale and the Wonderbolts!" Rainbow Dash called.

"I'd love to show you Manehattan." Rarity said.

"I just had an idea! We can take a visit to the Crystal Empire!" Twilight exclaimed, her excitement suddenly growing even more.

"Not to mention we have all sorts of friends to introduce you too as well." Starlight brought up.

"Right!" Pinkie Pie agreed.

"Sounds like we'll be busy, well, mostly you, but me too." Evan said to Alex with a chuckle.

"Don't forget, Rarity, we also have to gather the Pony Tones." Fluttershy reminded her. Rarity gasped a bit.

"Yes, indeed!"

"Oh, are you thinking about getting the group back together, Rarity? I'm sure everypony would love that." Twilight commented.

"Exactly. You know, Alex has a voice on him too; perhaps you would be interested in joining?" Rarity offered to Alex.

"Huh?! I thought you just wanted me to hear you guys all perform." Alex admitted.

"No, darling, we'd like you to consider joining us! What do you say?" She offered.

"Umm… I don't know… We'll just see the rehearsal first and take it from there." Alex said unsurely.

"Alright. Perhaps the others should hear you first too, and then we can make a decision." Rarity decided.

"I…"

"Dude, you totally should join! It'd be great!" Evan encouraged him.

"Uuugh I'll think about it. I promise." Alex said.

"I hope you do, darling. It'd be a great time." Rarity promised.

"You can sing, Alex?" Twilight asked.

"He sang a little bit in the car when he was driving us around." Rainbow Dash recounted.

"Ooh! I wanna hear!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Uuugh now you've done it, Rarity." Alex laughed.

"So, you're the new guy, huh?" The little dragon asked Alex as he lead him up the stairs of Twilight's castle; the Tree of Harmony.

"Yep. I'm Alex."

"Alex, huh? That's a cool name, really different. I guess since you're from another world and everything." Spike said.

"Heheh, yeah, we don't have any 'Twilight Sparkle's or 'Rainbow Dash'es where I'm from." Alex answered with a chuckle.

"Right, heh. Well, as it turns out, we've got a LOT of guest rooms in the castle, so you're welcome to hang out here long as you want. Starlight's across the hall if you need anything, Twilight's a little further down." Spike directed.

"Cool. Thanks again man." He nodded, entering his room.

"See you around." Spike waved him off, leaving him alone.

Alex looked around at the large single bedroom, admiring the crystal walls and tall ceiling that made him feel strangely small inside the room. It gave the bedroom a sort of vastness to it, which he liked. He went ahead and set his phone down on the counter, and began to unfurl his bedsheets.

"Oh! I didn't know you were gonna be staying here, Alex." Starlight said, stepping into his door frame. Alex turned to see her, and nodded.

"Yeah. Twilight offered when I said I wasn't gonna be doing anything tomorrow and wanted to see more around Ponyville and probably Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash really wants me to see her hometown." Alex said with a chuckle.

"Oh, I'm sure. Sounds like tomorrow's gonna be quite a day for you. Is Evan staying here too?" Starlight asked curiously.

"Nah, he went back. His folks probably would've gotten worried if he'd not come home without giving any notice. Besides, I think he's still a little weirded out by this world. I am too, to be honest," Alex chuckled. "But my curiosity is more pressing right now." Alex admitted.

"I understand," Starlight chuckled, stepping into his room fully. "This whole situation has been strange, really. But we're glad you were there to help our friends out. This whole thing is kind of our way of saying thanks, in a way."

"And I appreciate that. As all this stuff goes on though, you don't have to worry about thanks though. I'm starting to see you guys as just my friends, you know?"

"Yeah. Of course." Starlight nodded and smiled.

"Hey, Alex. How do you like your room?" Twilight asked, entering as well.

"Oh, it's great. Thanks, Twilight." Alex said.

"You're welcome. So tomorrow, we'll take you to Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash wants to take you to a Wonderbolts practice while you're there." Twilight said.

"Alright. I'll just follow her lead then." Alex nodded.

"You ever flown before?" Twilight asked curiously.

"In airplanes, yeah. Why?"

"Well, you'll be getting a pair of wings tomorrow to help you get to Cloudsdale." Twilight said with a smile.

"You mean I get to fly?" Alex asked excitedly.

"Yep!"

"Awesome! I can't wait!" Alex said with a clap.

"Haha, it'll be fun. We'll see you in the morning for breakfast." Twilight said.

"Alright, goodnight, Twilight." Alex waved her off.

"Goodnight, Alex. Goodnight, Starlight." Twilight said to them before leaving the room.

"Night, Twilight." Starlight said to her.

"Man, I've always wanted to fly. This is gonna be cool." Alex said with a giggle.

"It will be. Hope you have fun tomorrow." Starlight said.

"Thanks. See you later." Alex nodded.

"Night," Starlight said, turning to leave. She paused in the doorway, and turned back towards him. "Hey, Alex?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"When you found Rainbow Dash and the others in your apartment, what went through your mind?"

"Umm… 'What the hell are these girls doing in my place?'?" Alex said strangely, chuckling afterwards.

"Right, yeah, ha. I guess what I'm wondering is what made you decide to let them stay?" Starlight redirected her question.

"Ah… I guess when I saw their faces after I initially turned them away, it got me thinking about how I would feel if it were me in a situation like theirs, and I got so desperate that I had to do what they did just to survive…

"I've learned that life is too short for regrets. It really sucks looking back at things you could've done to prevent something, and I've had my fair share of those times. So I figured if they really needed help, I wouldn't have been able to stop thinking about what I could have done if I were to do nothing." Alex explained his thought process.

"I see… Well, we're glad you did. Goodnight." Starlight said with a smile before exiting his room.

"Goodnight." Alex said, waving her off before closing his bedroom door.