MLP: The Portal

Chapter 10: Canterlot

"So, this is Canterlot, huh?" Alex said with an intrigued hum as he and Twilight went on a stroll around the city area. Twilight nodded with a small smile.

"Yep. I used to live here before I moved to Ponyville." She said.

"Oh, really? How was it?" He asked. She shrugged.

"It was alright. That was back before I got out much. I just kinda stayed home reading books and stuff." She admitted a bit sheepishly. Alex chuckled a bit.

"Okay, I gotcha. So you weren't hitting up any night clubs." He said in a bit of a teasing manner. Twilight scoffed and rolled her eyes at this.

"Definitely not."

"Yeah. Do they even have night clubs here?" He asked curiously.

"I have no idea." Twilight said with a small chuckle.

"Oh ok." Alex said, trailing off a bit as he looked up at Canterlot Castle.

As he stared up at it, he found himself feeling a bit small in comparison to the tall castle set up against the mountain. He knew full well who lived in there, and the thought of that made him a bit uneasy considering how close he stood to it.

"Alex?" Twilight tapped him to get his attention. Alex flinched a bit and rubbed his eyes.

"Sorry. Got lost in thought, I guess."

"Admiring the castle?" Twilight asked with a small chuckle.

"Something like that. Hey, does the princess know that I'm here again? That you brought me back?" Alex asked curiously. Twilight's eyes widened a bit at the suddenness of his question.

"Um, what makes you ask that?" She asked.

"I was just wondering. I mean, after that whole deal last time, I didn't think I'd be back here, so I was just wondering if she knew you'd found an alternative to the portal." Alex explained his thinking. Twilight cleared her throat.

"We haven't really discussed it yet…" She admitted. Alex hummed a bit.

"So that's a no. Okay. Just wondering." He said, not saying anything else about it. Twilight nodded awkwardly, not saying anything else about it either. This left a bit of an awkward silence between them.

Alex began to look around again, and he was beginning to notice that other ponies passing by were looking over at the two of them curiously; some of them were even talking amongst themselves about the two of them quietly.

Perhaps it was because he was walking with a princess…

"When was the last time you were here?" Alex asked. Twilight shrugged a bit, trying to think back.

"Not in a while. Why?" She asked.

"Some ponies are staring." He pointed them out with his hoof. When he did so, most of them turned away. Twilight still noticed it though.

"Oh. Sorry, Princess of Friendship doesn't come without its fair share of popularity." Twilight admitted. Alex hummed a bit again.

"Celebrity life, I'm telling ya." Alex joked. Twilight chuckled a bit.

"Maybe. So, I do have to go in a little bit to start planning for the Festival of Friendship. Are you gonna be alright on your own?" Twilight asked him. Alex nodded and smiled.

"Not without my binky, my blankey, and freshly warmed milk." Alex stipulated humorously. Twilight's eyes narrowed and she shook her head at him with amusement.

"You'll be fine. I'll meet you back at the bridge in a few hours!" She said before flying off.

"Alright, Twilight! See you in a few hours! Bring the milk!" He said as she went off. He chuckled a bit to himself before continuing on his way.

Alex continued on for a little bit in silence, looking around at Canterlot in closer detail. It was very clean and well kempt, and he found this impressive. All of the little sights and decorations intrigued him, and he wondered what was the history behind these things.

His thoughts then went back to the princesses: Celestia and Luna. Surely they would soon learn that he was back in Equestria, and that Twilight had somehow gone around her mentor's orders to bring him and Evan back here.

He wondered how he would perceived by them when this truth eventually did come to light. Would he be accepted? Or would they cast them out again? If that was what they wanted, surely they would find a reason for it.

Moving his thoughts along, he continued on to Rarity now. They had been discussing more and more lately putting the Pony Tones show together. Now that their set was beginning to be ready to go, the time was coming to actually perform it.

The idea of this gave Alex performance anxiety. With practice, he knew he was going to be able to pull off his part, it just made him nervous how much attention he'd likely be getting, since they had made sure to give him some solo parts.

However, as he stood at the bridge looking down at the water thinking about all of these things, his thoughts were interrupted by a mare coming his way and looking down at the water too. He glanced over at her, and greeted her with a nod of his head.

"Hello there." He said. She smiled politely, nodding back to him.

"Hi. I don't believe we've met. I'm Minuette." She introduced herself, offering her hoof out to him. Alex shook it.

"Alex."

"Alex?"

"That's my name, yes."

"Wow, what a cool name. It sounds very foreign and different." She said with a giggle.

"Heheh, thank you. Minuette is a cool name too."

"Thank you. So, what brings you to Canterlot?" She asked.

"I'm just visiting. I'm actually here with a friend, but she had to go. She used to live here." He explained simply, not naming names purposefully.

"Oh, who's your friend?" Minuette asked curiously.

"Uh, do you know Twilight Sparkle?" He asked. Immediately, her eyes lit up a bit.

"Of course I know Twilight! She lived not far from me when she was around. We recently got back in touch. You're friends with her too?" She asked.

"Yeah. She's been showing me around Equestria and other places around it, since I've never been here before." Alex explained.

"Ahh, very cool. Well, welcome! That's very cool. How did you meet Twilight then?"

"It was just one of those things that just kinda happened, total freak of circumstances, if that makes any sense. Coincidence." Alex explained in pieces. Minuette nodded.

"It happens, but hey, out of all ponies to run into just out of the blue, you picked a good one!" She said with a laugh. Alex chuckled too.

"Yeah, you're telling me."

"Haha, so you've never been to Canterlot before?" She asked again. Alex shook his head.

"Nope, this is the first time. Of course, Twilight told me a little bit about it before, but this is my first time seeing any of it for myself." Alex explained.

"Oh, wow. How are you liking it so far?" She asked, leaning against the bridge a little bit.

"It's nice. Very clean." Alex complimented with a chuckle.

As Minuette began to talk, Alex's focus was taken away from her as he noticed several ponies wearing armor were making their way around and seemingly coming straight for him. Alex's eyebrows furrowed, and he began to back towards the edge of the bridge.

"Excuse me, sir. We're gonna need you to come with us." One of them said as three of them had him cornered. Minuette began to back away.

"For what?" Alex asked, looking for a way out.

"It seems that you have unstable magic emitting from you." A fourth stallion with a long white beard said, approaching him. Looking at him, Alex thought that he looked like the pony version of a very generic-looking wizard.

"What now? Hold up." Alex said, stepping forward.

Immediately, the guards reacted by stepping forward and grabbing onto him, holding him down and restraining him. Alex grunted out in pain, looking over to his right and seeing Minuette shooting him an apologetic look before leaving quickly...