My Little Pony: The Portal

Chapter 21: Intervention

Alex raised his head up a little bit, breathing in strongly through his nose as we woke up suddenly, just as he had earlier. It was clearly morning now, and he already knew that he wasn't gonna be able to go back to sleep for any longer.

He adjusted himself and sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes. He cleared his throat a bit, and turned to reach for his water bottle on the ground next to him, and that's when he noticed that Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy were all sitting on the couch, fully dressed, looking at him.

"Hey there. Morning." Alex said to them, sitting up a bit more and beginning to rub his eyes and fix his nappy hair.

"Good morning, Alex. How are you feeling?" Fluttershy asked. Alex brushed a tired hand back through his hair.

"Fine, fine. I assume Rainbow Dash told you about last night?" Alex hummed.

"She did." Rarity nodded.

"Yeah. You don't have to worry about me. I'm okay, really, I am. Everyone has a rough night every once in a while." Alex said, getting comfortable lying somewhat on his side.

"We're glad you're feeling better. It seemed pretty bad." Rainbow Dash said.

"Yeah...what's up?" Alex asked, sensing that there was something else going on here.

"Um...well, we've been kind of worried about you lately." Fluttershy admitted. Alex squinted a little bit.

"Worried about me how?" Alex asked.

"We understand that we're still fairly new here, and it would be inappropriate for us to try and impose our views on you, but we're simply voicing some concerns of ours." Rarity started out.

"Yeah...?" Alex raised an eyebrow.

"We think you should change your job schedule." Rainbow Dash said.

"Huh?"

"As I was saying, Rainbow Dash, we don't mean to impose, but we do feel that you should at least take it into consideration." Rarity reiterated.

"And why would I do that?" Alex asked.

"It just seems to us like you're hurting yourself, Alex. When you come back from a late night, you look really tired, and then you don't sleep well, and it just seems like more harm than good." Fluttershy explained how they all saw it.

"Even you know it isn't good for you, Alex." Rainbow Dash added.

"I never said that it was. I know it has a negative effect on me. My options, however, are very limited, and I'd much rather suffer through this than completely cut off my income while I try to find another job." Alex said.

"You don't have to quit your job, but couldn't it be possible for you to acquire a better shift?" Rarity asked.

"Yeah, I could, but then I'd have to work an extra day or two each week in order to make up the difference, just so I'd be making the same. They pay me extra for working nights, plus the overtime that I typically add onto it." Alex explained his reasoning.

"But you're trading off your health." Fluttershy argued, maintaining a calm and kind tone.

"The extra off days gives me time to recover, and then I'm able to get my groceries, and I even have quite a bit of free time to shake it off, spend time with my friends. Is it ideal? Nah, but it works, and I've made it work for me." Alex said conclusively.

The three girls chose not to continue the debate any further, nodding silently. Rainbow Dash let out a slight sigh.

"We just wanna help." Rainbow Dash said.