MLP: The Portal 2

Chapter 13: Band

"Hey, Starlight. Come on in." Alex said, letting her into his apartment on Earth. He looked around to see if anyone was behind her, but he was surprised to see that she had come alone.

"Hey, Alex. I heard what happened in Canterlot. Are you okay?" She asked as she sat on his couch. He nodded as he sat down where he had been and resumed his video game.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It just caught me off guard, but I'm good. I'm just taking a little break until the next visit. Did you come by to check up on me?" Alex asked curiously.

"Ehh, yeah, partially. Well… Twilight and the others have been doing a lot of planning for her Festival of Friendship, and, well… I kinda don't wanna do anymore preparations today." She said, phrasing her intentions specifically. Alex chuckled a bit.

"Ditching on your friends, huh?" Alex teased. Starlight blushed a bit in embarrassment.

"I mean…a little?"

"Haha, that's alright. So, what do you wanna do today?" Alex asked.

"Well, I was actually gonna go somewhere, but then I thought about you and figured you'd like to see it for yourself. You just have to promise not to say anything about it to anyone else." Starlight stipulated. Alex raised his eyebrow a bit, but agreed out of curiosity.

"Alright. So where are we going?"

"So the big secret that you didn't want me to know about is a mirror?" Alex asked skeptically, looking at it closely. There seemed to be nothing special about it.

"Well… Just follow me." Starlight said, approaching the mirror. She stepped into it and disappeared in a flash of light. Alex's eyes widened.

"Woah! Starlight, are you still alive?" He asked. He got no response, and stepped closer to it, "Okay… Well, here goes nothing then." He said before stepping through.

He came out on the other side of what he realized was a bridge, and he stepped out onto two feet again. Looking down, he saw that he was human, but not the same kind of human; he had blue skin.

"What the fr-"

"So this is kind of an alternate universe kind of thing," Starlight said. "I went ahead and gave you some clothes. What do you think?"

Alex looked down at himself. He was clothed in a white shirt, black joggers, and a blue hoodie. His shoes were like Converse. Alex turned to look at himself in the mirror, seeing that he looked more like a humanized version of his pony appearance.

"Looks good. Super weird though. How did you find this?" Alex asked. Starlight just chuckled a bit.

"Eh, that's a long story. I got some friends I'd like you to meet though. I think I know where to find them too." Starlight said.

Alex and Starlight approached the door to a house. Alex looked up at it curiously as they made their way towards it.

"What is this place?" Alex asked.

"You shall see." Starlight said as she knocked on the door. After waiting for a little bit, Maud Pie answered the door. Alex's head tilted curiously.

"Hey, Starlight. Are you here to hang out?" Maud Pie asked dryly.

"I am. Is everyone here?" Starlight asked.

"Yes."

"Great! Oh, this is Alex, by the way. Alex, this is Maud Pie." Starlight introduced the two of them. They shook hands.

"Nice to meet you." He said as they came in. Maud Pie greeted him politely.

"Nice to meet you too. All of Starlight's friends are downstairs. I'll let them know you two are here." She said, closing the door behind them and going around to the door to the basement. She knocked on it.

"Hey, Pinkie Pie. Starlight's here and she brought a boy with her." She called down the stairs. Alex and Starlight flinched at this.

"Okay! Tell them to come down! We're just about to start rehearsing!" Pinkie's voice called back up.

"They're ready for you." Maud Pie said to them.

"Thank you, Maud."

"You want some sodas?" She offered.

"I'll take one." Alex said with a nod. Maud handed them sodas before they went downstairs.

They stepped down into the basement which had been set up with a small stage, instruments and microphones all set up on it with speakers on both sides. Alex found seven girls all sitting on couches opposite of the stage.

They were humanized versions of all of his friends, plus one extra girl who didn't look remotely familiar.

"Hey, Starlight!" Pinkie greeted her with a wide grin, being the first one to come up and greet her with a big hug. Starlight chuckled and hugged back.

"Hey, Pinkie. Good to see you." Starlight said with a smile.

"Brought a new friend, huh?" Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle.

"Yes. Everyone, this is my friend Alex. Alex, this is Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and that is Sunset Shimmer." Starlight went around pointing them all out. Alex nodded.

"Hey there. Nice to meet all of you. Sunset, Starlight told me nothing about you. Good to meet you." Alex said, going over to her and shaking her hand. Sunset shook it with a chuckle.

"Likewise. So, I guess the big question is how'd you and Starlight meet?" Sunset asked.

"We've been friends for a little bit now. See, I'm not from where she's from. I'm actually a human too, but just a slightly different one, you feel me?" Alex explained quietly to her. Sunset nodded.

"Gotcha." She whispered.

"We're all still here too." Applejack said to them teasingly. They chuckled a bit.

"Sorry." Sunset said.

"Yeah. I was just looking around at this stage setup and the instruments and stuff. You guys got like a band?" Alex asked curiously, gesturing to all of the equipment.

"Yeah! It's an awesome band too!" Rainbow Dash said proudly.

"Rainbow Dash loves to toot our horn for us, but we play together very well." Rarity said with a chuckle.

"What about you, Alex? What are you into?" Fluttershy asked.

"Oh, the same stuff mainly. I love music." Alex answered, pointing to the equipment.

"Are you a performer too?" Sunset asked.

"Eh…uh, I mean, I have performed, I wouldn't exactly call myself a performer." Alex said slowly, cringing a bit at the question. Starlight stepped in with a chuckle.

"Alex is actually a singer. He's set to perform with an a cappella group." Starlight informed them. Immediately, their interest level rose.

"A singer, huh? Are you gonna sing then?" Twilight asked.

"We gotta hear you sing!" Pinkie said enthusiastically. Alex rolled his eyes and pointed at Starlight.

"I'mma get you for this man. Alright, sure, I can sing something, just give me some time to pick a song." Alex agreed with a chuckle, heading to the speakers. The girls chuckled a bit.

"You don't have to actually sing something if you don't want to sing something." Sunset said nicely.

"Oh no, everyone wants to hear me sing, so I'mma sing!" Alex said in a high pitched voice as he started rummaging through his phone. The girls chuckled again.

"Boyfriend?" Rarity asked Starlight at a quieter tone. Starlight quickly shook her head.

"Oh no. Just friends."

"Mhmm." Rarity giggled a bit teasingly. Finally, Alex got up.

"Is the microphone working?" He asked.

"Yep!" Pinkie nodded and gave him the thumbs up. With that, he started his song: Location by Khalid.

He came up center stage slowly in time with the music, moving his hands and fingers stylishly as he made his way to the microphone. He took it in one hand and began to sing, tapping his heel and allowing himself to get comfortable enough to get through the song.

Alex took the microphone off its stand and moved it aside, sliding sideways as the beat of the song kicked in. He began to walk around, dancing a little bit and moving his feet smoothly as he continued to sing casually, as though he were giving an actual performance.

As he continued on, the girls all nodded along and gave each other glances; it seemed they all had the same thoughts. Finally, Alex finished up and went back to the speakers, letting the song finish before taking his phone off.

"There." Alex said with a chuckle. The girls clapped for him.

"That was pretty awesome!" Rainbow Dash said in approval.

"I didn't realize you were such a natural performer." Starlight said with a giggle.

"Because I'm not." Alex responded with a sheepish chuckle.

"Nonsense, darling, that was wonderful." Rarity said.

"You should be, like, famous!" Pinkie grinned.

"Well, Starlight, looks like you just brought us a new band member." Sunset said with a chuckle.

"You want me to join the band?" Alex asked.

"If you would like to." Fluttershy said.

"I've actually always wanted to join a band." Alex said with a chuckle.

"Well then today's your lucky day, buddy!" Rainbow Dash said with a laugh.

"Alright, count me in. I just gotta hear what you guys sound like." Alex said.

"I think we can do a song real quick." Twilight said with a smile.