MLP: The Portal

Chapter 37: The Cause of Problems

Rainbow Dash landed at the Tree of Harmony, entering through the doors forcibly. They hit against the wall abruptly, making a lot of noise. The first pony to show her face to see what happened was Starlight, who was just one room over.

"Rainbow Dash? What was that for?" She asked.

"Where's Twilight?" Rainbow Dash demanded. Starlight paused for a moment.

"She's…in the library, I think. Is something going on…?" Starlight asked curiously. Rainbow Dash stormed passed her, heading upstairs.

"There's about to be." Rainbow Dash muttered as she continued upstairs.

She passed by Spike on her way to the library. The two nearly bumped into each other, but Spike stepped out of the way just in time to avoid crashing into her.

"Woah, almost hit you, Rainbow Dash. What're you doing here? Is there a friendship problem?" Spike asked. Rainbow Dash grunted a bit.

"Yeah, there is." She grumbled, continuing on past him. Spike watched her continue with concern, but shrugged and kept going on his own way.

Rainbow Dash finally reached the door to the library. She threw the doors open in the same manner, stepping in and letting them close by themselves behind her, all of which made even more noise than the first time.

Twilight, who was sitting and reading in her chair, flinched in surprise, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked up at an evidently upset Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow Dash, could you please take more care with the doors? We just had some renovations in here." Twilight asked politely. Rainbow Dash sneered a bit.

"You and I need to talk, Twilight." She said. Twilight's furrowed eyebrows now curled upwards in confusion and concern.

"Why? Did something happen?" She asked, leaving her place in her book and setting it down on the table next to her chair.

"Something did happen, with you and Alex, my new boyfriend." Rainbow Dash made clear why she was here. Twilight tilted her head a bit.

"Your new boyfriend? You two decided to start dating? What did I do about that?" Twilight asked, still unsure what Rainbow Dash was upset about.

"Do I really have to spell it out for you? You were hitting on him!" She pointed at Twilight. Twilight's eyes widened.

"Hitting on him? I, uh, no. I don't like like him like that, Rainbow Dash, he's nice and all, but I'm not interested. He's your boyfriend now anyways, I wouldn't hit on him." Twilight said.

"But you did! You kissed him! Right here!" Rainbow Dash shouted, pointing to her right cheek. Now realizing what was upsetting her, Twilight stood up and began to explain herself.

"Oh, no, Rainbow Dash, that's not what I meant by it at all. I was just thanking Alex for helping you and Rarity and Fluttershy back when all of this started. After everything that had happened, and how I worried I was, it was such a huge relief when I found out he'd been helping you all this time.

"That's all it was, I was just telling him how I felt." Twilight said.

"Telling him how you felt?!" Rainbow Dash shouted. Twilight rubbed her face a bit with a sigh.

"It wasn't like that, Rainbow Dash! I don't even want a special somepony." Twilight pointed out.

"You have a funny way of showing it, that's for sure." Rainbow Dash said, still on the offensive.

"Ugh, this is ridiculous, Rainbow. You know me, how long have we known each other? I would not even think about doing that to you. What did Alex say about it?" Twilight asked curiously.

"He told me what you did and said that he wasn't sure what it meant, but he wasn't comfortable with it." Rainbow Dash recounted.

"Well, then I'm sorry. And I can apologize to him too for making him feel uncomfortable. But that's all that I am guilty of." Twilight made clear where she stood. Rainbow Dash shifted a bit, taking a few moments to mull this over.

"So, you weren't hitting on Alex, just so we're clear."

"No! Sheesh, no, Rainbow Dash, honestly, it's silly that you would even think that." Twilight said, now starting to get defensive.

"Well, I wasn't there, I only could go off of what he told me, and it sounded bad!" Rainbow Dash pointed out.

"Okay, okay, let's not argue about it anymore. Obviously, we all need to get to know Alex a little better in order to understand what we can and can't do. We can sit down and talk with him, and I will apologize for giving off a wrong impression. Is that fair?" She asked.

"Yes, that's fair." Rainbow Dash agreed.

"Okay. I'm sorry." Twilight said, hugging Rainbow Dash. She hugged back after a bit.

"I'm sorry too, and…sorry about your doors."

"It's alright, it doesn't looked like you scratched anything. But you seemed pretty worked up."

"Yeah, well, you know…" Rainbow Dash awkwardly scratched the back of her head, her cheeks now flushed with embarrassment.

"Haha, I understand. So, you and Alex are officially dating now? That's really great! I'm happy for you both!" Twilight exclaimed with a grin.

"Thanks. It's still kind of a new thing. I'm really excited about it." Rainbow Dash said.

"I'm excited for you! I'm sure you two will be great for each other." Twilight said with a smile.

"Thanks, Twilight. I don't know why I ever doubted you." Rainbow Dash said. The two of them giggled a bit. Spike came in just then.

"Twilight, you need to come outside, right now!" Spike exclaimed, looking almost frantic.

"What's wrong, Spike?" Twilight asked.

"Princess Celestia is here!"

"What?!" Twilight exclaimed in shock, her horn glowing quickly. She teleported outside her castle doors.

Indeed, there was Princess Celestia stepping off of her royal chariot. Her expression was not a pleasant one as she stood before Twilight.

"Princess Celestia, you're here!" She said rather loudly, unsure what else to say as she bowed respectively. Celestia gestured for her to stand.

"I asked you to come to the castle two days ago, Twilight, which is why I'm here now. Unfortunately, you forced my hoof there." Celestia said with an irritated sigh.

"I'm sorry, Princess, I asked Spike to send out a letter explaining why I wasn't able to come right away." Twilight pointed out.

"I received it, but this matter needed to be addressed face to face."

"Matter?" Twilight repeated in confusion.

"It's regarding a guest that you've taken in: his name is Alex." Celestia started. Twilight's expression made apparent her surprise.

"How do you know about Alex?"

"Luna came upon him in a dream a few days ago. The details she discovered regarding his origins were quite concerning." Celestia explained.

"I apologize for not telling you, Celestia, but it was all so sudden." Twilight said.

"No excuses, Twilight. He needs to return to his own world and remain there permanently." Celestia said in no uncertain terms.

"What?! Why?!" Twilight demanded an answer.

"Since learning of being here, I asked for more research to be done, and what I've found are a series of strange and potentially harmful events that are directly linked to the portal that you've been using to transport him here." Celestia brought out.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, not believing what she was hearing.

"All this time that you've been opening the portal, Twilight, strange signals have been coming out of his world, leading to malfunctions and mysterious power outages in several cities. In addition, magic from our world has been seeping into his, which could pose dangerous consequences for those on the other side." Celestia explained.

"But…that can be fixed, right…? We can't- We can't just pretend this never happened after everything he's done." Twilight defended.

"I'm sorry, Twilight, but you'll have to." Celestia said before turning and leaving in her chariot…