MLP: The Portal

Chapter 36: Arrangements

"Thanks for taking me back, Twilight." Alex said as the two of them made their way back to his apartment. It was later in the day, and the sun was already going down.

"No problem, Alex. So, I hear that you and your friend Evan have joined the Pony Tones. That's exciting!" Twilight said, nudging him a bit. He chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm curious to see how that's gonna do. I'm gonna make a playlist of songs tonight that would work for a cappella, and then meet with them tomorrow to see what songs we'll end up doing." Alex explained.

"I look forward to hearing what you come up with." Twilight said.

"Thanks." Alex chuckled. The two of them arrived at the door to Alex's apartment at this point.

"Hey, Alex?" Twilight stopped them for the moment. Alex glanced over at her as he reached in his pocket to get his key.

"Yes?"

"I know we've said this before, of course, but I just wanted to tell you face to face…you know, just, thank you for everything that you did to help our friends out when they were here." Twilight reiterated.

"Yeah, of course." He nodded with a smile.

"I just, you don't understand how worried I was when it all happened. I was… I was worried that something bad would happen to them and it would be my fault… It's impossible to explain how meaningful it was." Twilight expressed.

"Yeah… Uh, I don't really know what else to say, heheh. You know, it was nothing really, you're welcome." Alex nodded.

Twilight smiled a bit and nodded in return before stepping in and giving Alex a hug. Alex returned the hug slowly, feeling sort of strange about it. They hugged warmly for a bit, before Twilight tapped him on the shoulder, and then gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Stunned, Alex leaned back, unsure how to react. He did his best to hide his surprise, and Twilight didn't seem to take notice of it; she simply smiled, not saying anything else. Alex turned back towards his door, fumbling to get his key out of his wallet.

Questions began to circle in his head; what was going on? Why did she do that? What were her intentions? He stuck the key into the door and turned it, but it was jammed, and he had to shake it and force it open.

The sweetness of moment quickly faded into awkwardness…

"Alex! Where've you been man? We've all been waiting on you." Evan asked as Alex stepped into Rarity's boutique, where all of the other Pony Tones members were waiting for him.

"Sorry, my ride was a little late." Alex explained, adjusting his mane a little bit as he closed the door behind him.

"It's quite alright, darling. Would you like some lemonade?" Rarity offered, gesturing to some drinks set up on a center table.

"That sounds great, thank you." Alex nodded, taking a glass for himself.

"Did you find new music?" Fluttershy asked. Alex nodded, and took a sip before continuing.

"I did! I went through my playlist and put together a list of potential songs that we could do, based on the ranges that you all have and making sure that you all get a chance to have a solo, you know?" Alex explained.

"That sounds perfect." Torch Song said.

"Thank you for being so considerate!" Rarity grinned.

"Sure. So, we can pick out just some random ones, because I have almost 50 songs for us to choose from." Alex revealed. The others' eyes all widened a bit.

"That's a lot," Toe Tapper said. "Maybe we can choose 3 or 4?"

"That sounds fair. Are we all in agreement with that?" Fluttershy asked. The others all glanced at each other and nodded in agreement.

"Alright. Here's what I'll do, I will hit the random button on my playlist, and choose from just whatever comes up." Alex said. The others all nodded once more and listened quietly.

Alex hit the Shuffle button on his phone, and played the music out loud so they all could hear. Quickly going through the first few songs that played, they listened to Attention, Come and Get Your Love, and Night Changes.

"These all sound like good songs for us to interpret." Rarity said with an approving nod.

"Well, that was easy." Toe Tapper said with a chuckle.

"Haha, that's a little short for a show, isn't it?" Torch Song pointed out.

"Well, it doesn't necessarily need to be that long." Fluttershy said.

"I thought we were gonna keep that first song you showed us, the 'finding the music in you' one." Evan said.

"I don't see why we couldn't. That'd make it, what, 15 minutes or so?" Rarity estimated.

"That sounds ideal for an a cappella show, actually." Alex said with a chuckle.

"Well, then I guess our next step is to start working on putting a show together." Torch Song said with a chuckle.

"Really? Like, right now?" Alex asked with some surprise.

"Do you have any prior plans for later?" Rarity asked. Alex shrugged.

"Not until later, no. Hey, I guess since we have it decided, we might as well get into it now. I'm down." Alex said, going and sitting with them.

"Bro, that was so cool! We're gonna be famous dude, I can already tell." Evan said excitedly as they made their way back towards the Tree of Harmony.

"Haha, you know, it's already starting to come together pretty nicely. We're gonna have something really legit when it's all finished up. But then we gotta perform it, you know?"

"Pssh, we've performed before, we'll be alright." Evan said.

"Yeah, maybe, but we're joining up with a pre-established group now man. They've already performed before, which means that we'll be in front of a bigger crowd." Alex pointed out.

"Ooh shoot, you're right… We still got this though." Evan tapped him. Alex chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm sure we will. Once we've gotten through practice and everything, we'll be pretty much set. Hey, I'll catch you later man, I gotta go meet with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie at the Sugarcube." Alex said, beginning to slow down.

"Oh shoot, you double-dipping now? Good for you man, leave me out of it, but you do you."

"Ew, no man. Go home. Later."

"Later." Evan waved him off with a laugh.

Alex turned around and made his way back through town, heading towards the Sugarcube. At this point, it was later in the day, and soon enough the sun would be going down. As he started to approach it, he found himself approaching a mare that was waiting for him to get close enough to get his attention.

"Hello there." She greeted him with a smile. She had a British accent. He stopped for a moment, looking at her. She was a grayish sort of color with black hair, and a pinkish treble clef for a cutie mark.

"Hi," He stopped with a strange expression. "Um, do I know you?"

"I'm Octavia Melody. And you're Alex?" She presumed as they shook hooves. Alex nodded.

"Uh, yeah, that's me."

"Right? You met my friend, Vinyl Scratch, not long ago."

"Oh, oh! Okay, yeah, that wasn't too long ago." Alex confirmed with a nod.

"Mhmm. She told about you and said you two talked. I saw you just now and I was thinking 'That looks exactly like the stallion that she was talking about." She explained with a laugh. Alex laughed a bit as well.

"Ohh, okay, I see, haha. Yeah, she came and sat by me for a bit. I think she probably noticed my cutie mark since they're both kind of the same, and we just chilled for a bit."

"That sounds like something she would do, yeah. Are you a musician?" She asked curiously. Alex shook his head.

"Eh, not really, I just really love music, so that's probably how it ties in. I listen to music all the time. I can't really go without it." Alex explained.

"Ohh, that makes a lot of sense. Well, Vinyl and I are musicians. I do classical, and she does more…electronic arrangements. You should come to visit us sometime. We live in the corner over that way, you can't miss it." Octavia pointed down the road.

"Oh, that sounds cool. I didn't realize she was a musician, but I'll have to hear what you two have then. You said classical, what instrument do you play?"

"The cello. I've been playing it for a long long time." Octavia answered with a fond smile.

"Cool! I like the cello, it sounds very pretty. I'll see you around then, and maybe we can talk about that visit. I'm meeting some friends, so…" Alex said as he began to walk around her towards Sugarcube Corner.

"Oh, right, sorry, don't let me keep you then. It was nice meeting you, Alex! Take care now." She said, waving to him.

"You too, Octavia, stay safe." He said. Approaching the Sugarcube Corner, he saw Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie sitting at a table outside the restaurant, waiting for him.

"Heyyy, look at you, making new friends!" Pinkie giggled excitedly.

"Heheh, yeah, sure. She's just a friend of someone I met out on my walk."

"Cool! That's great!" Rainbow Dash said, smiling at him and gesturing for him to sit.

Alex cleared his throat, making eye contact with her for a few seconds. In those few seconds, she saw that Alex had something on his mind that they needed to talk about. However, he didn't say anything further right then and there as he sat at the table with them…