“Done.” Shadow fell back on a nearby couch, sighing at all the work he had done. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me Twilight had a fuckin’ owl, Jorge?”

“Was the name ‘Owlicious’ not obvious enough?” Jorge scoffed, walking up to the bookshelf. He placed a hand on his chin, inspecting through the list of books to see what he should grab.

“You’ve really gotten used to working, huh?” Shadow raised an eyebrow. “Last time I talked to you, you were the laziest person I knew.”

“You try going nearly a year without computers and games.” Jorge countered. “...Oh wait, you’re stuck here anyway…” He shook his head. “Yeah. At least they have TV in this world.”

“Seriously?” Shadow queried. “They don’t have computers, but they have fucking television? If that’s the case, then… where does Twilight keep the TV in this house?”

“HA!” Jorge instinctively shouted. “Do you even know who you’re living with?”

“Twilight’s always too focused on her books and magic.” Dash rolled her eyes at her human’s attitude towards his friend.

“The day Twilight gets a TV is the day I’ll eat my shoe.” Jorge boasted.

“That can be arranged.” Shadow smirked.

“Ooh, do I smell another bet coming along?” Dash smirked along with him.

“Considering he still owes me from the first bet…” Jorge turned around. “Why the heck not?”

“If I get Twilight to get a TV…” Shadow began. “Not only do you gotta eat your own shoe, but I won’t have to pay you anything from the first bet.”

“And if I win. You’ll owe double.” Jorge smiled evilly.

“That’s it?” Dash cut in. “Getting Twilight to get a TV. Pathetic.”

“Then what do you have in mind?” The two humans asked in unison.

“Instead of trying to get Twilight to get a TV…” Dash grew her own evil grin. “Shadow has to try to get Twilight out on a date.”

“Wat.” Shadow blinked. “First you get me living at Twilight’s, now you want me to date her?”

“Yeah. Even I didn’t expect that, Dashie.” Jorge added.

“What’s the matter? It’s only one date.” Dash’s evil grin grew more as she continued. “How hard could it possibly be?”

“Very hard, in case you didn’t notice, she’s not exactly happy with me daring Jorgy-Boi over here to try and take over Equestria. Even though… to be honest... I didn’t think he could, nor that this place even existed.”

“If it’s as hard as you say, then what makes you think you can get Twilight to buy a TV?” Dash questioned.

“Buying a TV seems easier to do, in my opinion.” Jorge replied.

“But don’t you want to win the bet?” Dash queried.

“Of cour—”

“Then, c’mon, Jorge. Let your good ol’ pal Shadow speak for himself.” Dash chided. “What do you say, Shadow? Either get Twilight out on a date, or you’ll still owe him.”

“I hate letting Jorge win, so... Fuck it. Fine, I’ll do the dare your way Dash.” Shadow groaned, knowing he was gonna be in for possibly the hardest challenge of his life.

“Deal.” Dash lifted a hoof, which Shadow grabbed a hold of. Hand/hoofshakes aside, the bet was made, and there was no turning back.

“I’m going to regret this…” Shadow thought aloud.

“Aw, c’mon!” Dash said in a reassuring tone. “Look at it this way: If you win, Jorge has to eat his shoe, and you won’t owe him anything. Doesn’t that sound like a good deal?”

“Not really.” Shadow shook his head. “How can I be sure Jorge will actually eat his shoe?”

“Do you know who you’re talking to?” Dash smirked once more. “I’ll make sure he eats his shoe if he loses.”

“You sure you want someone who ate their shoe eatin—”

Dash smacked his mouth. “Finish that sentence, and the bet’s off.”

“Then what are you gonna do when he eats his sho—”

“I’ll make him take a gallon of mouthwash.” Dash rolled her eyes.

“Wait, what?” Jorge went wide-eyed.

Dash looked at the wide-eyed human. “What, did you actually think you were gonna bring that shoe-infested mouth anywhere near me?” She scoffed. “You're crazy."

“That’s if I lose, Rainbow!” Jorge pointed out. “Do you really think Shadow’s gonna actually be able to get Twilight on a date?”

“If I can be fine dating you. Then I’m pretty sure Shadow has some chance of getting at least one date with Twilight.” Dash countered.

"Oooooh, torched!" Shadow snickered.

Jorge glared at him, resisting the urge to snap back. He looked back at his marefriend. “But this is Twilight we’re talking about!” His vision snapped back to Shadow, then returned to Dash. “And this is Shadow we’re talking about!”

“Hey!” Shadow retorted. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

"I’m just saying Twilight’s too much of a bookworm to even think about dating.” Jorge answered. “Even more so now that she thinks of you as an idiot.”

Dash poked his arm. “Except you got the ‘bigger idiot’ tattoo.”

“My point still stands.” Jorge crossed his arms.

"So? Even with you being with Dash, I've still gotten more action than you!" Shadow boasted, smirking wildly as he made his statement. "I have hidden charm that can make anyone fall for me."

“Heh…” Dash chuckled. “I’m seriously going to doubt you’ve gotten more action.”

“Why’s that?” Shadow raised an eyebrow.

“No reason…” Dash inconspicuously looked around. “Just… gonna doubt it… That’s all…”

Shadow’s eyes widened. “Exactly how many times did yo—Nevermind, I don’t wanna know…”

“Yeah… you really don’t…” Jorge shook his head. “Anyways, I’mma head out. I have to do some shopping... "

Shadow smirked as something popped into his head. “Out of blea—”

“Shuddap!” Jorge covered his ears, running towards the door. Causing his friend to laugh at his attempts to flee.

"Good luck with the dare, Shadow!" Dash giggled, following her human out the door. “And FYI, we have plenty of bleach!”

The door slammed shut, leaving Shadow alone to himself.

Taking a deep breath, he sighed. "Well, I did all the things Twilight asked me to do... Now what?" He looked around, scanning his surroundings for something to keep him occupied. He got up from the couch, and walked to the bookshelves.

He surveyed through the vast amount of books, finding only one book to draw his attention.

“Fifty Shades of Hay, huh?” He thought aloud. “This better not be a ripoff of Shades of Grey…”

He opened the book, flipping through pages as he skimmed through the words. “Yep. It’s the same.” With a soft clap, the book was slammed shut, and returned to its home.

By the corner of his eye, he saw something purple walking by. He jerked his head to identify what the ‘something’ was.

“Oh… It’s you.” Shadow sighed a breath of relief. “For a second, I thought you were a midget barney, or something.”

Spike stopped in his tracks, looking back at him. “...What’s a ‘barney’?”

“...Nevermind.” Shadow muttered. “What’re you up to?”

“Nothing really, just gonna grab a snack.” Spike shrugged. “Seeing how you finished all the chores, I need something to do…”

“I know that feel.” Shadow admitted. “So… you’re not all pissed off because I took your job?”

“I was, but then I realized how much free time I’d have if you took over.” Spike replied. “So… Keep up the good work.” He raised his claw, doing the dragon equivalent of a thumbs up.

As Spike walked off to the kitchen, Shadow simply shrugged, and returned to what he was originally doing. He continued looking through all the books, coming across the likes of “The History of the Elements of Harmony”, “A Secret Life of Trees”, “1001 Ponies”, "Trees of the Eclipse", and many other books with large variety.

But then, he came across a rather large and odd book. As he pulled it from the shelf, he noticed it was seeming to be a magic spell book, along with a purple bookmark sticking out.

Being the curious man he is, he opened the book, stopping at where the bookmark was left. There were equations, formulas, and other things that were supposed to lead to something that caught his attention.

A transformation spell.

He looked at the equations, some were filled, others were either incomplete or simply needed the answer to complete it.

“DON’T TOUCH THAT!”

Shadow jumped at the sudden shouting. The book quickly escaped from his grasp, he quickly moved his hands in an attempt to catch it, only to make the book bounce around his desperate attempt to keep the book from falling. Soon enough, he was able to get a steady grasp of the book, huffing and puffing as he calmed down from the heat of the moment.

“The hell, Spike?” Shadow groaned.

“That’s Twilight’s spellbook! What are you doing with it?“

“Looking at it…” Shadow raised an eyebrow. “I can’t look at the book?”

“No…” Spike scratched the back of his head. “Twilight doesn’t let anypony touch her spellbook.”

“Why not?” Shadow tilted his head.

“I’m not sure.” Spike shrugged. “She just doesn’t like anypony touching it. You can even ask Go—… Jorge.”

“Well, Twilight’s not here, is she?”

“I guess not…”

“So what she doesn’t know won’t kill her, right?”

“I guess…”

“‘Kay then.” Shadow smiled at his win. He looked back at down at the unfinished page, and pointed at it. “By the way, what’s this all about?”

Spike got a hold of the book, investigating the page. “Oh. This is the transformation spell. She’s been working on this one for ages, she just hasn’t been able to figure out those last few..”

“Equations?”

“Yeah...”

“These are really simple, I know how to do all of them.” Shadow confidently beamed. “Maybe I could surprise her by finishing them before she gets back.”

“Really?” Spike gawked. “That’s great! Not even Jorge could figure it out!”

Shadow scoffed. “Jorge is an idiot. I on the other hand, am not.”

Spike walked to a nearby book stand, placing the spellbook down on it.

“Alright then. Let’s see what you can do.”

“What are we shopping for, anyways?” Dash curiously asked.

“Food, supplies,” Jorge listed. “Uh… what else…”

“Bleach?” Dash snickered.

“Nah.” Jorge shook his head. “We still have plenty of that.”

“Hm, alright.” Dash nodded, suddenly having an idea to change the subject. “So… What do you think will happen to Shadow?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like… Do you think he’ll be okay being in Equestria?” Dash raised an eyebrow.

Jorge stayed silent, thinking about his marefriend’s quesion. She looked at him with a worried expression, showing just how bad she felt for the new displaced human.

He took a deep breath, and sighed. “I’m pretty sure he’ll be fine...”

“You think so?” Dash queried.

“Yeah…” Jorge replied. “It might take him some time… but I think he’ll get used to living here…” He chuckled at a new thought. “I know I did…”

Dash looked at him. “What’cha thinkin’ about?”

“Heh…” Jorge huffed. “I was just thinking what would happen if someone else I knew would’ve fallen through instead of Shadow.”

“Why’s that?”

“I dunno, like, Shadow was almost fine being stuck here.” Jorge shrugged. “But, had it been someone else, I could imagine a lot of screaming.”

“More screaming than Shadow chasing you down?” Dash giggled as she recalled that moment.

“Three times more screaming.” Jorge nodded. “Seriously, if it was someone like Ishtaba, crap would’ve hit the fan.”

“What kind of name is ‘Ishtaba’?” Dash tilted her head.

“The same kind of name as ‘Godson’ and ‘Shadow’.” Jorge replied. “They’re just nicknames we know each other by.”

“Ah.” Dash understood. “So Godson was still your name, just not your actual name. I get it.”

“Mhm.” Jorge hummed. “On the bright side, at least I’m not the only human in Equestria anymore.”

“Were you starting to get lonely?” Dash teased. “You could’ve just came to me…” She got closer to him. “I would’ve made sure you wouldn’t get lonely…”

“Dashie, we’re in public.” Jorge reminded her. “And second, I wasn’t getting lonely, per se. Just, rather, unrelatable. Seeing how there are so many differences between my world and yours.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I mean… you have Fluttershy to relate to, since you’re both pegasi. Me? I mean, I’ve told you a lot, but being told something isn’t the same as actually being a part of it… I’m probably doing a bad job at explaining this…” He sighed. “But, you get the point.”

Dash nodded. “Yeah. I get it.”

“Yeah…” He nodded back. “So, it’s nice to be able to relate with someone who knows most of the things I’m familiar with.”

“Even though you don’t have most of that stuff?”

“Yeah, but, they were still part of my life, they had some impact.”

Dash nodded in agreement, before quickly thinking of something. “What would’ve happened if anyone hadn’t fell through the portal?”

“Well, I probably would’ve just ignored it, try to relate with you guys. Adjust more into living in Equestria.”

“And what about Twilight’s transformation spell?” Dash cocked her head to the side.

“Well… while it probably is the one thing that would change me from ‘the only human in Equestria’ to just another ordinary citizen of Equestria… I like my hands.” Jorge explained. “I’ve had them my entire life. And I’ve been using them in ways you seem to enjoy.”

Dash cleared her throat. “Shut uuuuuup…”

“I’m not wrong, am I?” Jorge inquired.

Dash remained silent, not wanting to admit defeat. Though deep down, she knew he was right.

“Am I?”

“No…” She groaned.

“Exactly.”

“But I wouldn’t mind you being a stallion.” Dash countered. “Heck, if you ended up being a pegasus. We could go flying around together!” She beamed.

“I don’t know.” Jorge shook his head. “There’s still a lot for me to think about and that spell. It’s not even finished, so we can’t just start talking about it as if it’s gonna be finished any time soon.”

“I guess…” Dash agreed.

“Jorge!”

Dash’s ear twitched at the sudden voice, while Jorge merely just stopped in his tracks. They both turned their heads, finding Shadow running up to the couple.

“What’s going on?” Jorge asked.

“Twilight just sent a letter.” He panted, stopping his sentence there. He bent over, placing his hands on his knees, attempting to collect more oxygen.

“And?”

Shadow pointed a finger up, signaling him to wait. After a few deep breaths, he stood back up. “The letter came with both good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”

“Tell us the good news, first.” Dash cut in.

“Figured you would…” Shadow muttered to himself, then quickly snapped back to normal. “Right, well. Good news is, Twilight closed the portal…”

“And the bad news?” Dash and Jorge asked in unison.

“Right before she could close it… something else came through, she didn't mention what though...”

Jorge and Dash looked at each other, almost worried at the thought of another human running around Equestria. And according from what he’s told her, the results won’t end up as calm as Shadow’s.

“And uh… She’s on her way right now.” Shadow added. “She’s on a train that’ll be here in a couple of hours…”

“Whelp. Time to play the waiting game.” Jorge randomly spoke, walking away with the shopping cart.

“Where the hell are you going?”

“To buy more bleach!”

“TOO MUCH INFORMATION, DAMMIT!”

“THAT’S WHAT YOU GET FOR ASKING DUMB QUESTIONS!”

Jorge, Dash, and Shadow arrived at the train station. They speculated on what could’ve possibly had fallen through the portal, though none of them could agree on exactly what was the most likely. With the odds of anything or anyone falling through increasing and decreasing as long as the portal was moving around, they literally had nothing to go on.

"Hey uh, Dash, this has been bugging me for a while…” Shadow spoke up. “Seeing as Twilight is a er... Princess... Shouldn't she have a castle…?"

“Y’know… I’m not entirely sure how that works…” Dash placed a hoof on her chin. “I mean, Celestia and Luna live in Canterlot… Cadence lives in the Crystal Kingdom… Those are all ‘high places’.”

“So what you’re saying is…” Shadow began. “Ponyville’s not ‘high’ enough for Twilight to get a castle in?”

“Yeah, pretty much…”

Suddenly, they could hear the loud “choo-choo” sounds of the train’s whistle as it got closer. Jorge simply pointed at it while calling it out.

As the train finally made its stop, the trio could hear the speakers turning on.

“We’ve reached our destination.”

The doors slowly open, though coincidentally, the door that was directly in front of the trio was the door that opened to reveal Twilight.

She stepped out of the train, and quickly pointed a wing behind her, as just the mere tip poked into the train. She pulled her wing back to her body, and smiled.

“So.” She spoke. “Did you guys get my letter?”

“Yeah.” Jorge answered. “According to it, you closed the portal?”

“Yep!” Twilight’s smile grew wider. “It actually wasn’t too hard. I guess it kinda softened up after having all that extra time to be open.”

“You weren’t gone very long, either.” Shadow noted. “Why did you come back by train?”

“Cause there was no way I was gonna carry what came out back home.” Twilight sighed.

“Speaking of which…” Dash cut in. “What the heck came through before the portal closed!? The suspense is killing me!”

Twilight turned her head back. “Okay, you can come out, now!”

Jorge and Shadow worriedly looked at each other, then looked back at the train.

“This isn’t gonna end well… is it?” Shadow asked, while he was worried of what exactly would come through that door. He was also decently calm about it.

Jorge, on the other hand, was having the completely opposite reaction.

He closed his eyes, looked up at the sky, and even went as far as putting his hands together, completing his praying stance. “Please don’t be Ish.” He chanted. “Please don’t be Ish. Please don’t be Ish. PLEASE DON’T BE—”

“AYY JORGE! THE FUCK AM I HEARING ABOUT NOT WANTING ME HERE!?”

Author's Note

Annnnnd that's the end of the three parter.

We now return to your regularly scheduled program.

...Or do we?