MLP: The Portal 2

Chapter 15: Nerves

Rainbow Dash began to stir, waking up. The morning light was streaking in through the window, and birds were chirping outside. In the midst of her sleep, she scooted upwards a bit, feeling Alex still fast asleep beneath her. She nestled into his arms again.

Suddenly, the door to his apartment opened up, and Twilight came in. Upon seeing them, she flinched suddenly, her eyes widening. Rainbow Dash looked over, saw her, and immediately woke up fully, pushing off of him and sitting back. This woke up Alex up.

"Aow! Ugh…" Alex exhaled sharply in some pain, rubbing his eyes as he sat up somewhat. Rainbow Dash's blush deepened as she stared at Twilight with wide eyes.

"What were you two doing?" Twilight asked, still in shock herself.

"Nothing." Rainbow Dash answered quickly.

"Well, I was sleeping." Alex said, scooting up to sit and rubbing his eyes.

"Sorry to interrupt, just… Starlight told me where the key was, so…"

"Nah, it's alright. What's up, Twilight?" He asked, brushing his hand through his hair and turning a bit to look at her.

"Rarity asked me to come and get you for the final days of rehearsal before the Pony Tones show." Twilight explained her reasons for coming.

"Oh. Oh, that's today! Okay, yeah, just let me get ready." Alex said with a nod.

"Attention, Come & Get Your Love, Find The Music In You, Night Changes. That's a pretty good lineup." Alex said, recapping with Rarity what the Pony Tones would be performing as they waited for the other members to show up.

"It's going to be quite a show. I'm very excited for it!" Rarity said with an eager clap of her hooves. Alex chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, so am I. Very nervous too." He admitted.

"Why are you nervous about it, darling?" Rarity asked, adjusting herself in her chair to lean forward a bit.

"Well, you know, I just performed for small stuff in the past, never anything quite like this. Either way, I get performance anxiety, you know? I always get really jittery and my heart starts racing just before a performance begins." Alex explained.

"Starlight told me that you're a very natural stage performer. Evan said something quite similar too." Rarity pointed out. Alex moved his head back and forth with a slight cringe.

"I mean, yeah they say that, and they're probably right, but I tend to just agree to disagree with that. I don't think I'm all that great, so…" Alex trailed off, letting his point be made. Rarity, for her part, found this quite surprising.

"Come now, darling, you have a wonderful singing voice. All of us in the group certainly think so, that's why we gave you some more prominent parts! Plus, Night Changes is basically yours." She explained with a giggle. Alex nodded and smiled a bit.

"Thanks, Rarity. I really appreciate it. I just, you know, kinda get a little down on myself sometimes, you know? My own worst critic, that sort of thing. So people say I'm a great singer, I just say, 'Ehh, I mean I'm alright'." Alex explained.

"I understand that, darling, and I appreciate both your honesty and your modesty. However, we still very much want you to perform with us." Rarity said, placing a hoof on Alex's shoulder. He nodded quickly.

"Oh no, I'm still gonna perform for sure, I'm just saying that if I make comments like that, that's the reason why." Alex finished. Rarity nodded.

"Alright. Well, agree to disagree then…but you're still a lovely singer." Rarity said with a smile.

"Thanks," Alex chuckled again awkwardly. "I'm just trying to keep up with the rest of you guys."

"Well, you might just end up outshining us, dear." Rarity said with a smile as the other members now started to pour into the boutique.

"Hey." Rainbow Dash said with a smile as Alex finally came. The two of them made their way down to a restaurant in Cloudsdale.

"Hey! How was Wonderbolt training today?" He asked, nudging her a bit. She giggled.

"It was good. Very intense training today since we have a show coming up soon. How was the last day of rehearsal with the Pony Tones?" She asked in return.

"Oh, it was great! We did two full run-throughs of the show, and it sounds pretty great." Alex said with an excited grin.

"That's wonderful! I can't wait to see it." Rainbow Dash said before they went into the restaurant and were led to a booth to sit at. They took their seats and got comfortable.

"This is a nice looking place." Alex said, looking around in approval.

"Isn't it? I've only ever been here once or twice, but I figured this would be a good place to have a date." She said, smiling a bit after finishing her sentence.

"Well, you were certainly right about that, and I'm happy that we're here now." Alex said with a smile.

"Me too." Rainbow Dash said, smiling back.

"So, you seemed to have slept well through last night, huh?" Alex said with a teasing chuckle. Rainbow Dash pressed her lips together and blushed.

"I mean… Yes, I did. Did you…?" She asked slowly.

"I did, yeah. It was nice." He said with a small smile.

"I agree. Probably should be more careful about Twilight coming in again though." She said with a small, awkward chuckle.

"Right, yeah. I'll change the locks." Alex joked.

"That should do the trick. Anyways, are you excited to be performing with the Pony Tones pretty soon? I hear Rarity's already working out the concert date." Rainbow Dash asked. Alex drew in a sharp breath before answering.

"I'm nervous, not gonna lie, but I think it'll do well. Just gotta get my nerves under control when I get up there." Alex said. Rainbow Dash nodded.

"I'm sure you guys are gonna do fantastic! I can't wait to hear you up there." She said with a grin.

"Thanks, babe." Alex said with a chuckle. Rainbow Dash blushed a bit.

"Heheh, babe." She giggled, repeating the pet name he had used.

"You don't like babe?"

"No, I do, I've just never been called that before… I can call you that too, right?" Rainbow Dash asked. Alex nodded with a chuckle.

"Absolutely."

"Alright…baby." She chuckled.