“How long does Shadow’s tattoo last, again?”

“For the next couple of days, unless he does something to redeem himself in less time.”

“Alright. So, I have an idea to surprise the—”

“No need. I already have something planned out.” Twilight smirked, turning her head to look out the window.

“Really?” Ish raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“Just follow my lead.” Twilight blatantly stated.

If it was one thing Ishtaba hated about anything, it was people— or in this case, ponies— being vague. It required him to try to think of what they were trying to imply or what details they were trying to omit. It required effort, one thing he wasn’t known for doing too well.

“Fine.” He laid back, crossing his arms. “How much farther are we?”

“Not much longer.” Twilight estimated. “We should be there in a matter of minutes, at this rate…”

“‘Aight. I’m fine with that.”

“We’ve reached our destination.”

“Alright. Don’t walk out until I call you.” Twilight commanded.

“But if you call my name, you’ll ruin the surprise!”

“I’m not gonna call your name!”

“Oh, right. That makes sense,” Ish sighed a breath of relief.

As the doors slowly opened, Twilight quickly turned her head back.

“Quick, move out of the way, so they don’t see you.”

The doors in front of her began to reveal the three friends that she was focused on surprising. Rainbow Dash was more of an extra, as she was aiming more at surprising and or shocking the two humans.

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—”

Ish took a step out of the train, hearing all of Jorge’s chanting. “AYY JORGE! THE FUCK AM I HEARING ABOUT NOT WANTING ME HERE!?”

“Fuck... It just had to be him...” Shadow silently said under his breath.

Jorge looked up, seeing the angry asian stare down at him. His eyes widened, and his whole body started to shiver. Shadow looked to his side, seeing the shivering human. The fact he was reacting this way to Ish’s arrival, and not his own proved well enough how much he didn’t want him here.

Dash went wide-eyed as well, not because of Ish’s arrival, but more over Jorge’s reaction to his arrival. She’d never seen him look so scared in the one year she’d known him. She looked up at the asian, wondering just what has this human done to worry her boyfriend?

“SHIT!” Jorge cursed aloud. “IT JUST HAD TO BE YOU.” He pounded the floor under him. “OUT OF EVERYONE IT COULD’VE POSSIBLY BEEN… MY HORRIBLE LUCK BROUGHT THE ONE ASSHOLE I WAS HOPING NOT TO SEE HERE!”

Shadow took a step back, having never heard Jorge swear like he had now. He knew Jorge would overreact whenever he was angry, but he’d never had seen this.

“I think I’ll.. just go wait at Twilight’s place..” He said quickly as he walked away.

“WOW.” Ish shouted. “I’m offended,” He huffed. “I WENT THROUGH SO MUCH SHIT TO BRING THE STUFF YOU ASKED FOR, AND THIS IS WHAT I GET IN RETURN?”

“I WAS HOPING IT’D BE ANYONE ELSE BUT YOU!”

“...Nevermind, this looks like it’s gonna get interesting…” Shadow turned around, watching from a distance as the two humans battled it out.

“I GUESS YOU’RE NOT GETTING THE POTATO CHIPS I SAVED IN MY BACKPACK FOR YOU!”

“POTATO CHIPS?” Jorge raised an eyebrow. “...What flavor?”

In an instant, Shadow facepalmed. Unhappy with how the battle abruptly ended.

“Oh. It’s… uh… ‘fuck you’ flavored.” Ish retorted, digging through his backpack, and casually started eating the potato chips.

The two bickering humans heard a snicker, they turned their heads towards the source, finding it to be Shadow.

“AYY SHADOW!” Ish shouted, stretching his arms out in a hugging gesture. “WHEN THE FUCK DID YOU GET HERE?” He quickly interrupted himself. “Oh. Wait. Twilight told me… Nevermind.”

“Sup, faggot?” Shadow waved.

“Rude.” Ishtaba huffed.

“So, how’s being stuck in Equestria with us feel like?” Shadow asked curiously.

“Being stu—what.’

“Twilight didn’t tell you?” Shadow chuckled softly. “There’s no way back.”

“Shit…” Ishtaba groaned, looking down at his bag of chips. “I probably shouldn’t waste these, then…”

Jorge perked up. “Can I hav—”

“No. Fuck you.”

“So I’m stuck here in a world full of fucking ponies, and we’re the only three humans here!?”

“Sounds about right.” Jorge nodded.

“Where the hell are we going, anyway?”

“Golden Oak Library.” Shadow bluntly replied.

Ish turned his head to the prismatic mare walking strangely close to a certain human.

“AYY JORGE!”

Jorge turned his head to see the suddenly curious asian. “What is it now, Ish...?”

“HAVE YOU FUCKED HER YET?”

Shadow nearly busted into laughter at Ish’s question. If he was eating or drinking something, he’d likely have choked on it from trying to hold back the insane amount of laughter that would’ve spouted.

Twilight simply snickered, more effectively preventing her own laughter by covering her mouth with a hoof.

Jorge and Dash, however, reacted differently. Jorge simply went wide-eyed, softly clearing his throat, and avoiding to answer his question. Whereas, Dash just looked at him, her face completely flushed as she stared blankly at him. After a short time, she felt a hand softly pat her head, she looked up, seeing her human look at her. She shook it off, and decided to just ignore the asian.

“So you have!” Ish pointed a finger at them.

“Ish. It’s none of your business.” Shadow sighed. “Irritate Jorge all you want, but can you not make fun of his sex life?”

Jorge looked at his friend. “Thanks, Shadow…”

“If he has one...” Shadow snickered.

“Remember when I said ‘thanks’?” Jorge asked. “I take that back.”

“Hey, I’m doing you a favor, mate. I neither confirmed or denied you doing anything with Dash.”

“I might’ve prefered if you did…” Jorge muttered, only to get nudged by the mare at his side.

“Anyway.” Twilight cut in, finally reaching their destination. “Shadow, you got all those chores done, right?”

“Those and some.” Shadow vaguely replied.

Twilight simply nodded back, opening the door to the library.

“Now I see why it’s called the ‘Golden Oak Library’...” Ish thought aloud. “It’s a library… inside of a fucking tree!”

Twilight rolled her eyes at Ish’s stunning thought. Walking into her home, she noticed her spellbook was lying around on the book podium.

“Uh… Shadow?”

“Yeah…?”

“Why is my spellbook lying around?”

"Um… Because I put it there?”

“You touched my spellbook?” Twilight raised an eyebrow, her tone lowering as she stared at the Canadian.

"Um... Yeah..." Shadow slowly nodded.

“‘Kay, if you need me, I’ll be sitting on this couch.” Jorge bluntly stated. “If only I had popcorn, though…”

“But it’s just a BOOK.” Ish tilted his head. “What’s so bad about Shadow touching Twilight’s book, now?”

Dash climbed up on the couch, cuddling with her human. “Twilight doesn’t let anypony touch her spellbook. And by ‘anypony’, I mean anypony. Not even Spike.”

“And who the fuck is Spike?”

"I am." said the young dragon from afar, further confusing the confused asian.

“Baby Barney?” Ish dumbly thought aloud. He shook his head, returning back to the current issue. “But, it’s just a book… why is it such a bad thing?”

“Why did you touch my book, Shadow!?”

“To read it?”

Jorge cleared his throat, grabbing Ish’s attention once more. “Not entirely sure. All I know is that when I tried to touch it, Twilight nearly zapped my hand off.” He shrugged. “I think she said something abou—”

“I don’t let anypony touch my book, Shadow!”

“Why the hell not?”

“Any little mistake could ruin my spells!” Twilight explained. “I may remember most of my spells, but there are a lot of complex things in there that can easily be ruined!”

“Yeah. That.” Jorge added.

Suddenly, Twilight had a thought. “Please tell me you didn’t screw it up…” She ran off to the book, and began flipping through the pages as she searched for something. Then she came across the bookmarked page.

“Wait, I’m still confused. What did Shadow screw up, now?” Ish curiously asked.

“Don’t tell me you screwed up what I think you screwed up, Shadow…” Jorge sighed.

Shadow raised an eyebrow at the two humans, as their accusations were nowhere near what really happened.

“SHADOW!” Twilight shouted. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY TRANSFORMATION SPELL!? YOU’VE RUIN—Wait...Huh?”

Shadow walked up to the book, smirking as he got a good look at his completed work.

“You…” Twilight softly spoke. “You finished it…?”

Hearing that made Dash gawk in awe. She looked at Jorge, who looked back at her with wide eyes.

Meanwhile, Ish was still left out of the loop. “God damnit,” He groaned. “How am I supposed to make fun of him if he didn’t screw up!?”

Twilight looked up at the proud human. "H-How…?”

“It was kinda easy, really.” Shadow shrugged. “It had me a little stumped, I’ll admit, but once I got past it, I was able to crack the entire thing.”

Twilight looked at the page again in disbelief. Analysing all the equations, variables, and answers. They all lined up with what she needed them to do.

Her horn visibly sparked. “Wow. Guess you’re not as much as an idiot as I thought.”

Shadow quickly took a look at his arm, feeling a soft tingle. Finding the tattoo to be long gone.

“My God... it’s finally gone... Thanks Twi.” Shadow said quickly pulling the mare into a quick hug.

“WHAT!?” Ish shouted. “SHIT. I FORGOT TO MAKE FUN OF SHADOW’S TATTOO.” He quickly looked at Jorge. “WELL. AT LEAST JORGE STILL HAS HI—”

“Nope. Mine faded away a good ten minutes ago.”

“FUCK!” Ishtaba stomped on the ground.

Twilight was caught off guard by the human’s sudden embrace. “Y-You’re welcome!” She replied.

"Think he'll ask now?" Dash whispered into Jorge's ear.

“Nah.” Jorge whispered back. “He may have softened her up a bit, but I still don’t think Twilight would say yes if he asked now.”

Twilight slowly pulled away from the hug. “Just… Don’t touch my book again. Got it?”

"Sure... I can do that."

“Looks like he’s gonna win the bet, though.” Dash continued whispering. “If he keeps softening her up like this, she’ll definitely go on a date with him.”

“You want him to win, don’t you?” Jorge whispered with a growl.

“Yes and no.” Dash answered. “I don’t want you eating your shoe. But I wouldn’t mind if Twilight and Shadow got together.”

“Why do you want them to get together, anyway?”

“Well. Shadow just proved himself to be at least as smart as Twilight.”

“He figured out some equations, but I don’t think he’s smart enough to rival Twilight.”

“Kay, whatever. He’s not a total idiot like you are.” Dash countered. “Besides, I’ve seen the looks he’s given her. He has something on her. He just needed a little push.”

“One. I’m not an idiot.” Jorge retorted. “I may act like one sometimes, but I’m not.” He explained. “And two… If that’s the case, then your little plan will actually work.”

“Then you better start buying that mouthwash.” Dash chortled.

Jorge softly groaned, knowing he would lose the bet his marefriend forced him in. “Then I might as well start enjoying the little time I have to kiss you before I have to start using mouthwash for who knows how long…”

“Wha—” Dash suddenly found herself unable to speak, as her human softly pressed his lips against hers. Letting him continue their kiss, she threw her forelegs around his neck, making sure he wouldn’t pull back and leave her wanting more.

Meanwhile, as their kiss got deeper and more passionate, everyone else simply stared at the couple.

“Are they making out… on my couch?” Twilight gawked.

“Looks like it…” replied Shadow.

Ish watched as the couple made out. At first he wondered how neither of them weren’t uncomfortable kissing different species. But then his train of thought was immediately interrupted by a shocking revelation. “Shadow are you gonna pick that phone up?”

“What?”

“CAUSE I FUCKING CALLED IT! JORGE FUCKED HER AFTER ALL!”

"ISH SHUDDAP!" yelled Shadow, "DON'T DISTRACT THE LOVE BIRDS!"

“BUT WHAT IF THEY START FUCK—”

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

Author's Note

Annnnnd that's the end of the two parter.

We now return to your regularly scheduled program.