Shadow slowly stirred around in bed, attempting to ignore the sunlight which peeked from the windows. As it attempted to burn through his eyelids, he countered by lifting his head up, grabbing the pillow from under his head, and bury his head in it.

Instead of helping, burying himself in his pillow made the problem worse, as he simply made himself more uncomfortable. He attempted to solve the problem once more, by turning around, and laying his head back on top of the pillow, where it belonged.

At that point, however, he was already awake, and his attempts to return back to dreamland were futile. The stallion gave up on his impossible quest to sleep, and slowly began to open his eyes.

At first, all he could see was a giant purple blurry blob. But as his vision quickly began to focus itself, he could eventually make out what that blurry blob was.

His marefriend, Twilight. Who was wide awake, and watching him sleep.

“Rrrright on time!” Twilight beamed.

“T-Twilight…?” Shadow rubbed his eye softly. “W-What are you doing awake so early?”

“It’s our anniversary, silly.” Twilight giggled. “I’ve already planned out the day just for the two of us!”

Shadow lifted a hoof towards his mouth as he groggily yawned. “You did?”

“Yep!” Twilight nodded. “I already showered and everything!”

“Of course you did…” Shadow chuckled. “How long have you been waiting?”

“Long enough!” Twilight jumped out of bed. “Alright, c’mon! We have the whole day ahead of us, and I don’t want to waste a single minute!”

“Fine…”

“Well, Shadow?” Twilight smiled softly. “What do you think about our little anniversary date?”

“It’s great, Twily.” Shadow smiled back. “A little quality time in the beach was exactly what we needed… Thanks...”

“Well, I still have a few things planned left, but that’s for later…” Twilight smirked softly.

“A ‘few things’, such as…?” Shadow raised an eyebrow.

Twilight giggled a bit over the stallion’s curiosity. “You’ll see.”

“C’mon, Twilight…” Shadow groaned. “You know I hate surprises… Can’t you at least just give me a hint?”

“Ennnope!” Twilight retorted. “You’ll find out as the day progresses, Shadow. That’s the point of a surprise.”

“Ugh.” Shadow rolled his eyes. “Fineeeee…”

Twilight softly laughed at the stallion’s whining. “Why are you so impatient over a few anniversary plans?”

“Because…” Shadow grabbed her hoof. “I’m too excited to see what my beautiful marefriend has in store for our amazing anniversary.”

“Aww…” Twilight smiled with a blush for a moment, then her smile instantly died into a more serious look. “I’m still not telling you anything about our surprise.”

“Dammit...”

Shadow and Twilight smiled as they both made their way back to the castle, their tails wrapped around each other, and the two of them leaning on one another.

Meanwhile back at the castle…

“Remind me again why we’re throwing an anniversary party for Shadow and Twilight?” Ish asked, his arms crossed as he showed his unamusement.

“Uh, cause Pinkie’s the one throwing it?” Jorge raised an eyebrow. “You know how she is…”

Ish rolled his eyes. “Then why am I here?”

Jorge mimicked Ish’s eye roll. “Pinkie made you supervisor, remember?”

“What does that mean again…?”

“It means you just stand there and do nothing.”

“Can I shout at people?”

“That’s what supervisors normally do…”

“‘Kay cool.” Ish nodded, suddenly finding himself to have a smug grin.

Jorge simply shrugged off Ish’s actions, marking it off as another one of his retarded plans. Not wanting to even hear about his plans, he moves onward to see what his marefriend is up to.

“Wait! Jorge!”

As his ear twitched at the sudden exclamation, Jorge turned around to face the asian.

Ish’s smug grin grew wider. “You’re fired.”

“For?” Jorge tilted his head to the side.

“For being cuban.” Ish bluntly stated.

“You do realize supervisors have literally no power over anything except to yell at people if they’re doing something wrong, right?” Jorge raised an eyebrow.

“Fuck, this job is useless…”

Jorge shook his head, and turned back around to his path.

“JORGE YOU IDIOT!”

“What?” Jorge turned his head back.

“YOU’RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!”

Jorge simply rolled his eyes, and ignored the retarded asian.

“NO JORGE GET BACK HERE YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

As he made his way back to the throne room. He noticed his marefriend putting up a party banner, having it hang off the ceiling. Although with some major adjustments, since the ceiling was decently high up.

”JORGE YOU BITCH STOP IGNORING ME!”

“Hey Dashie!” Jorge called out to the mare. “How’s it going up there?”

“Well, I almost got the banner completely hung up!” Dash replied. “Not exactly easy trying to hang this up myself. Especially when the ceiling’s so high up…”

“If I had wings, I’d help out. But…”

“It’s still not too late to turn into a pony, Jorge.” Dash chuckled to herself.

“It’s not too late for a lot of things.” Jorge countered.

“You mean like maybe asking a certain question?” Dash glared at her human.

“In due time, my love, in due time…”

“I still don’t get why you won’t just man up and do it already…” Dash muttered to herself.

Pretending he hadn’t heard that last remark, he held back a sigh, and made his way out of the room.

Before he could finish his journey to the exit, however, Pinkie appeared out of nowhere, blocking his path in front of him.

“JORGE!”

The human simply reacted by stepping back, having gotten used to her constant appearing out of nowhere and scaring everyone to death. “What is it now, Pinkie?”

“There’s a bit of a teensy tiny problem…”

“And that is…?”

“Twilight and Shadow are on their way back to the castle…”

“What?” Jorge went wide-eyed. “I thought they were still on their date!?”

“Well, I can clearly see them getting closer out the window!”

“Shit…” Jorge cursed under his breath. “We need a distraction…”

“JORGE YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT STOP IGNORING ME!”

In an instant, a lightbulb went out in both Jorge and Pinkie’s heads. They both shared a glare, and nodded at their newfound idea.

Ish ran up to the two, preparing to give Jorge the screaming of his life. With a large gasp for air, he quickly began. “I TOLD YOU TO STO—”

“Ish, we need your help.”

“SHUT UP WHEN I’M TALK—wait what?” Ish raised an eyebrow. “Does this mean I get a real job position?!”

“Yeah yeah, calm down…” Jorge shushed him. “Geez…”

“So what is it that you scrubs need help with?”

“We need you to distract Twilight and Shadow.”

“What?” Ish jerked his head back. “Hell no! I was expecting something easier than that!”

“I’ll pay you 1 bit if you do it.”

“...How long did you say you needed them away?”

As Shadow and Twilight got closer and closer to the castle, the closer they were getting on to Twilight’s next plan. The more Shadow tried to guess, the more he’d throw ideas that may not even happen into his head. Twilight herself even began to grow a little impatient, despite having the entire day planned out, she felt like she needed to hurry up and get started.

When they finally reach the door, Shadow, like a gentlecolt, reaches forward to open the door for his marefriend.

“SHADOW! YOU LITTLE CANADIAN GRAY PASTEL PIECE OF HORSE SHIT!”

Shadow slowly turned to face the asian, he replied calmly but somewhat annoyed. “Must you intrude on my day with my marefriend? Any other day is fine, but this day, no, fuck off.”

“Oh, right. Today’s your anniversary.” Ish stated dumbly. “Let me just…” He lifted a leg, making it seem as if he was getting ready to turn around. Instead, he slowly spun around, pausing briefly once his back faced the couple, then quickly turned back around. “Not care, you canadian bitch.”

Shadow simply sighed at the asian’s fruitless efforts to piss him off, he turned his head to look at his marefriend. “Twily could you hover him in the air and freeze him for a moment please?”

As soon as he saw Twilight’s horn beginning to glow, Ish instantly pulled an idea out of nowhere in a last ditch effort to keep them distracted.

“You’re gonna send your fucking horsewife to do your job?”

“Pretty much.” Shadow nodded, ignoring the ‘horsewife’ comment thrown at his marefriend.

Twilight simply rolled her eyes, grasping Ish’s entire body in her glowing purple aura, and practically throwing him up, then abruptly stopping a few feet in the air.

“PUT ME DOWN! I HAVE MY RIGHTS. AM I BEING DETAINED!? I HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT! WHERE’S MY LAWYER!?”

Shadow flew up to be face to face with the asian, nearly touching him, and calmly replied in a low tone, “Do I have to have Royal Guards escort you to prison for the rest of the day or are you going to stop?”

“Uh. No thanks, I actually want to be free, thank you very much…”

“So you will stop?”

“Um…” Ish paused for a moment, thinking about how carefully he’ll choose his words.

“‘Um?’” Shadow raised an eyebrow. “That’s not a yes or no.”

“Are you gonna kiss me with your girl standing there watching?”

“I see how it is.” retorted Shadow as he folded his wings and dropped to the ground. “Twily, you can drop him now,” then turning to a suddenly passing Lyra, “I found your boyfriend, drag him home.”

“FUCK. You seriously didn’t just—” Before Ish could finish his sentence, he immediately began to follow the rules of gravity, and made a one-way trip down to the ground. Though instead of landing on the ground first, his head made contact into something else.

Jorge’s knee.

The minute the asian made contact with the ground, he was already unconscious.

“Huh?” Twilight shook her head, just now realizing the cuban standing where Ish stood. She didn’t even notice him walking by or anything.

Shadow’s ear twitched at Twilight’s sudden reaction, and he quickly turned his head around.

Unfortunately, halfway during his turn, Jorge used all the strength he had, and delivered the biggest blow to the head he could throw, hoping it was enough to knock him out.

Somehow, in a sheer stroke of luck, it was just enough to knock the tough stallion out. His whole body slumped to the side, landing a few centimeters away from where he originally stood.

“What are you doing!?” Twilight went completely wide-eyed, preparing to charge her horn for a spell.

Jorge merely grabbed his arm, groaned at the pain of a new cracked hand, thanks to Shadow’s thick skull, and glared at Twilight.

“Plan B.”

“Wha—” Before Twilight could process what was happen next, she was instantly blinded, and was instantly caught off guard by something heavy now riding her back.

“Can’t let you use any magic on him just yet, Twilight.” Dash rolled her eyes, using her wings to blindfold the alicorn. “Not when we’re working so hard on our project.”

“Dash!?” Twilight shouted, trying to shake off the pegasus mare. “Let go of me!”

Dash simply shook her head. “Really sorry about having to knock out your coltfriend. Really, I am.” She clicked her tongue. “But I had a feeling Ish wouldn’t last too long.”

“What are you talking about!?” Twilight opened her wings, preparing to fly in an attempt to drop the pegasus off of her. “Last too long doing what!?”

Dash stopped her wings midway with her hooves. “Nuh-uh, Twilight. No wings.”

Jorge shrugged at the alicorn’s attempts to shake off Rainbow Dash, then turned around to check on the unconscious asian. And, strangely, not finding his body where it originally stood.

He immediately looked around, and noticed his body was floating right next to Lyra, who was already several feet away.

“Shit…” Jorge muttered. “That wasn’t part of the plan…”

Knowing he’d have to think of something quickly, he turned around, grabbed one of Shadow’s hooves with his good arm, and began dragging him away.

“This plan better work, Dash…” Jorge thought. “If Shadow doesn’t kill me, then Twilight definitely will.”

A short time later, Twilight immediately realized something. Her horn began to glow once more, surrounding the pegasus in her purple aura.

Knowing what would happen next, Dash immediately let go of Twilight’s wings, and instead wrapped her hooves around the alicorn’s body, gripping it tightly in an attempt to make sure she wasn’t thrown off just yet.

It worked for a while, but Twilight’s magic kept getting stronger and stronger the longer she held on, eventually she was ripped off of the alicorn’s back, and swiftly thrown into the ground back-first.

“What the heck, Rainbow Dash!?” Twilight gawked in surprise. “What exactly were you trying to pull off!?”

“Phase One.” Dash deadpanned. “Phase Two starts…” She looked around, finding no trace of both Jorge and Shadow. “Hey, where’s Jorge and Shadow?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, and looked over to where he originally stood. Only to find completely nothing there. She immediately looked around, unable to find the two anywhere.

“Where’d they go?” Twilight looked back down at Dash, a mix of anger and confusion appeared on her face.

Dash shrugged. “Beats me.”

Twilight looked at the mare, then back at her surroundings, with a groan, she simply ran off in a hunt after the human and her coltfriend.

“...now.” Dash muttered, completing her previously unfinished sentence.

Then, as if right on cue, Jorge slowly came from one of the sides of the castle, checking for Twilight’s presence, then quickly ran to his marefriend.

“You alright?” He asked gently, getting down on his knees.

“Eh. I’ve handled worse…” Dash shrugged. She noticed her boyfriend reach out his good arm, so she grabbed a hold of it, and slowly got up as he pulled her up. “How’s your hand?”

“Feels like absolute shit.” Jorge hissed at the pain quickly returning as soon as he remembered. “But I think I can manage…”

“Good…” Dash sighed a breath of relief. Then jabbed him in the arm. “What the hell were you thinking!? What if that punch wasn’t enough to knock him out!? You could’ve screwed up the entire plan!”

“You don’t think I didn’t know that?” Jorge raised an eyebrow, and began rubbing at the pain in an attempt to ease it away. “But sitting on top of him isn’t exactly the smartest idea ever, especially when I’m lighter than he is.”

Dash took a deep breath, then sighed. “Whatever, as long as you were able to do something to get him away from Twilight for a bit… What’d you do with him, anyway?”

“I kinda left him in that bush where Ish was a week ago.”

“Again?”

“What? It was as far as I could go without risking him waking up on me.”

“Fair enough.” Dash nodded. “Did Lyra take Ish?”

Jorge looked over to where Lyra was walking towards, unable to see her. “Yeah.” He groaned. “I’ll worry about him in a bit.” He looked back to his marefriend. “How long do you think they’ll be out there?”

“I wanna say ten, maybe fifteen minutes.” Dash placed a thinking hoof on her chin. “More or less, but it should be enough to keep them busy for the girls to put the finishing touches on everything.”

“Good…” Jorge sighed his own breath of relief. “Then I’m just gonna rest in one of the guest bedrooms in the castle…”

“I’ll join you. Somepony’s gotta help patch up that hand…”

“Thanks, Dashie…”

As Shadow made his way to the door, he groaned softly. “Once we get inside, I’m gonna need a bandage…”

“For what?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“My pride…”

Shadow opened the door, and stepped into the castle. He searched the room for a light switch, as the main hallway looked like it was dark enough for a bat to even live in.

As he found the light switch, he turned it on, and the entire hall was illuminated by the lights above. As expected, nothing was different from since they last left the castle for their date.

However, the more and more they got closer to the throne room, the more Shadow could hear soft sounds, almost like whispering.

“You heard that too, right?” Twilight asked.

Shadow nodded. “Should we check it out?”

“We’d be crazy not to…”

They both nodded in unison, and quickly made their way to the throne room.

Upon arriving, they both had noticed the lights were off in here as well. Though they were still able to make out some noticeable changes. However, they could only assume what they were until they turned the lights on.

Once they were on, everything was revealed. The two looked up to a banner that read “Happy Anniversary Twilight and Shadow!”, party balloons, a small table holding a decently size cake, and other party decorations.

Then they looked down, and saw Pinkie, sitting on her throne.

“Took ya two long enough.” She giggled.

“Pinkie…?” Twilight gawked in awe. “What’s all this?”

“It’s an anniversary party, duh!” Pinkie replied.

“Did you really think we wouldn’t have a celebration of our own, dear?” Rarity walked into the room, with the rest of their friends (excluding Dash and Jorge) following suit. “You really should’ve seen this coming…”

“Heh…” Twilight smiled sheepishly. “Guess I should’ve…”

“Wait, so…” Shadow spoke up. “If you four are here… Where’s Jorge and Dash?”

“They’re resting in one of the guest rooms…” Fluttershy replied. “Jorge thinks he cracked his hand, so Rainbow Dash went to help bandage it. They’re probably just relaxing in the room, now…”

“‘Relaxing’, right…” Shadow rolled his eyes, he then looked over to his marefriend, whom was still admiring all the party decorations around the room. “I’ll be right back, I need to go check something real quick…”

“Oh. Alright.” Twilight nodded. “Don’t be gone too long, we can’t have the party without you too, you know…”

Shadow chuckled softly. “Relax, I’ll be back before you know it.”

With a quick peck on the lips from his marefriend, Shadow exited the room, making his way towards Twilight's bedroom, which was also his.

Along the way, he noticed one of the doors in the hallway was cracked open slightly. Raising an eyebrow, he walked towards the open door, suddenly worrying if he was about to regret his choice.

He knocked on the door hard enough to be heard, but soft enough to avoid pushing the door open, and wondered if he would get a reaction, if there was even anyone in there.

To his surprise, he got no response. However, knowing that it could simply be Jorge and Dash staying quiet, he decided to poke his head through the door. As he surveyed the room, he saw the two lying in bed, the blankets covering them as they cuddled themselves to sleep.

He slowly walked up to the sleeping couple, and softly shook Jorge, waking up the human.

Jorge quietly groaned as the stallion shook him around. His eyes opened slowly, seeing only a blurry mess of colors. He blinked a few times, readjusting his eyesight, and began to realize the colors were formed in a rainbow.

“Jorge, wake up already…” Shadow said with a groan. “I don’t have all day, god dammit.”

Sighing deeply, the human turned his head, and fully got a glimpse of the familiar stallion.

“If you’re gonna punch me, just get it over with…” Jorge mumbled. “I may have already cracked my fist for punching your head anyway…”

“As much as I’d love to do that, I don’t have a lot of time to get back at you right now.” Shadow shook his head. “Expect it coming soon, though. Cause it’s gonna happen.”

“So then why wake me up…?”

“Cause I need your opinion on something I’m about to do.”

“Oh…?” Jorge raised an eyebrow, slowly escaping from the mare’s cuddly grasp, which only made things worse, as she only tightened her grip on him. He could hear her mutter something in her sleep, but failed to understand what it was. With a roll of his eyes, he simply held onto her, and sat up with her in his grasp, allowing her to maintain her own grip on him.

“What’s with the…”

“When you spend two years with her, you get used to it…” Jorge sighed. “It’s better to just let her wake up on her own.”

“Right…”

“So, what is it exactly you need my opinion on?”

Shadow blinked, almost forgetting why he came here in the first place, then shook his head as he remembered again seconds later. “Oh. Right. I’m gonna need you to follow me for a sec…”

Jorge looked down at the mare resting her head on his chest, then back to his friend. “Yeah, alright…”

Once Jorge was up, and still holding his mare in his arms, the two made their way to Twilight’s bedroom. Shadow immediately rushed to the closet, digging for something he had hidden.

“So, why are we in Twilight’s bedroom?” Jorge asked curiously.

“Just a second, Jorge.” Shadow monotoned. “God…”

After what felt like minutes of searching, Shadow finally found what he was searching for and appeared with a small velvety box.

“So, Shadow. You came out of the closet, eh?” Jorge teased.

“Shut up.” Shadow retorted. “You’re forgetting that I’m still gonna get you back for what you did earlier. You’re just gonna make it worse.”

“Right. Sorry.”

“Anyways…” Shadow rolled his eyes. “I was planning on showing this to her later tonight, but I think doing this now, in front of everyone—”

“Except Ish.”

“Fuck Ish. He’s probably trapped at Lyra’s or something.”

“Oh shit, right… I forgot about th—”

“We’ll worry about that later.” Shadow dismissed the interruption. “Doing this now, in front of everyone, I think that would be better.”

Jorge looked down at the box in Shadow’s hooves, then back at him. “Is this what I think it is…?”

“You’re the only person who’ll see this before everyone else, Jorge.” Shadow looked at him with a sincere look on his face. “Be glad I have enough trust in you for me to actually ask you for opinions.”

“Well? What are you waiting for, then?” Jorge raised an eyebrow. “Open the damn box!”

As Shadow opened the box, Jorge was finally able to get a good look on the ring before him, it was a silver ring tailored to fit Twilight’s horn, at the very front, there was a heart shaped amethyst gem surrounded by diamonds incised into the silver ring. At the sides of the gem, there were two round handles, also covered in diamond, which were both being held by the ends of the base of the ring, the tips of said ends also had their own layer of diamond.

The human gawked in awe, unable to believe the sight that was the ring in front of him.

“I’m not gonna even ask how you were able to afford this…”

“Yeah. Don’t.” Shadow simply nodded in agreement.

Jorge looked back up at the stallion. “Twilight’s one lucky mare. I think she’ll love it.”

“I hope so…” Shadow sighed. “You might wanna start working on waking up your waifu. Cause I’m gonna head back to the party, wait a few minutes, and then surprise her.”

“Dash’ll wake up sooner or later.” Jorge shrugged. “Believe me, waking her up during a nap? Not the best idea unless you want a grouchy Dashie for an hour or two.”

“‘Kay then, don’t wake her up…” Shadow closed the box, and hid it between his body and his wing. He quickly made his way out of the room, and onto the throne room. “If you wanna watch, you better hurry to where the party’s at.”

“Wouldn’t miss it!” Jorge smiled warmly, then proceeded to look down at the cuddly mare in his arms.

“...Maybe soon...it’ll be our turn…maybe...”

As Jorge entered the throne room, waifu still in his arms, he looked around for a place to sit. As soon as he found a chair casually sitting next to one of the walls, he quickly walked to it, and sat down, merely watching the party instead of taking part of it.

Besides, to him, nothing was better than having his waifu cuddle him in her sleep. Nothing.

Shadow looked over to Jorge, giving him a single nod, as if letting him know something was about to happen.

Jorge took the nod as a signal for the big event. He looked down at the sleeping pegasus, then back up at the stallion, he quickly nudged his head down, pointing towards the mare with his head, or rather, his face.

Shadow raised an eyebrow at the human’s actions, then nodded as soon as he figured it out. He returned his focus back on the party, while he waited for Jorge to do whatever it was he was gonna do.

Jorge frowned at the mare holding him, not wanting to disturb her, but at the same time, he wanted her to see what was about to take place. He slowly began caressing the back of her head, making gentle gestures to soothe her awake. It worked somewhat, as she stirred in his grasp, however, he needed something more to draw her attention. He slowly brought his face closer to her, and softly kissed her on the lips in an attempt to pull her out of her slumber.

The mare groggily opened her eyes, feeling a familiar sensation on her lips. Once she realized what was going on. She let go of his waist, and instead wrapped her forelegs around his neck, holding him close as she kissed him back, humming softly over her human’s actions.

Unfortunately for her, Jorge didn’t want to waste too much time, or draw too much unwanted attention, especially for what Shadow has planned. He grabbed her gently and pushed her off of him, eliciting a groan from the mare.

“Sorry to wake you up during your nap, Dashie…” Jorge muttered. “But I wanted you to see what’s about to happen…”

Dash rubbed an eye softly. “See what…?”

Jorge simply sat her down on his lap, her back facing his chest, and pointed off to the other couple.

Shadow turned his head to check on whatever Jorge was planning, only to see Dash sitting on his lap, watching as well. He took that as a sign to move on with his plan, and swiftly began to set it in motion.

“Honestly Fluttershy, I’m glad to have been dating Shadow for so long…” Twilight said to the timid pegasus in front of her. “Our relationship may have been a little… fast… but according to ‘Relationships 101’, not everyone’s relationships are the same. Jorge and Dash are the best example—”

“Hey… Twilight?” Shadow spoke up, grabbing the mare’s attention. Hearing a soft “hm?” from the mare in front of him, he took a deep breath, and spoke up once more. “I need to ask you something…”

“Alright, go ahead…?” Twilight raised an eyebrow, unsure where Shadow was going with this.

Shadow grabbed the box held in his wing, and passed it onto his hoof.

“Is he about to do what I think he’s about to do…?” Dash looked back to her boyfriend.

“Shh…” Jorge pointed back at the two. “Just watch…”

Shadow then kneeled down while holding the box, he then took a deep breath and opened the box then spoke, “Twilight, will you marry me?”

Instantly, the room went completely silent, everyone stopped to look at the two, not having completely processed the scene clearly. Even Dash simply froze watching, her mouth agape, her eyes opened as wide as they could be.

Twilight, on the other hand, was merely left speechless, every time she opened her mouth, she couldn’t seem to get a word to come out. Just the soft sounds of her trying to process a word, but failing.

Dash turned her head back at the now smiling human she was sitting on. “You knew, didn’t you?” She whispered.

“Just a little bit.” Jorge whispered back.

Dash turned her head back to the scene. “Say yes…” She whispered, hoping Twilight would hear her.

“S-Shadow…” Twilight stuttered. “I…” She quickly lost control of her emotions, as a tear escaped from her eye, slowly sliding down her face. With the biggest, dumbest grin on her face, she tackled him down, wrapping her hooves around the now surprised canadian. “You idiot! Of course I will!”

Shadow somehow managed to slip the ring the right way onto her horn. After doing so he wrapped his fore hooves back around her as they kissed in the position she had tackled him into.

Everyone in the room cheered and clapped for the two lovers, Pinkie being one of the most ecstatic. Even Dash had walked over to the couple, clapping alongside the rest of their friends.

The only one who hadn’t seemed to react as much as everyone else was Jorge, who was still sitting down in his chair, he cracked a smile for the happy couple. He was honestly happy for the two of them, he was also lucky that Shadow hasn’t knocked him out yet.

However, this little scene will only bring one major problem, and it won’t even concern the two of them. But rather, another couple that’s also currently in the room.

He could only hope it wouldn’t have to come to that.

As the room started to quiet down, everyone returned back to their own business, sometimes focusing on the couple the party was planned for, but nevertheless, everyone knew the party would be over sooner or later.

The more Jorge waited for the party to end, the more he kept thinking about his own relationship with Dash. As much as he loved her with all his heart, he can never seem to find the courage to finally ‘pop the question’, as they say. Deep down, he knew why, and he was afraid he would disappoint her because of it, after all, he’s already become disappointed in himself.

Before he even knew it, nearly everypony had already begun to leave, wanting to leave Shadow and Twilight to whatever business they have planned for the night. Everyone had said their goodbyes and “see you tomorrow”s, however Dash had asked if it was fine if she stayed for a while to talk with the lucky couple. Fortunately, the two were perfectly fine with that.

Although knowing Shadow, he’d probably prefer being in bed right now…

Jorge chuckled at the thought, knowing he’d probably would feel the same way, if he were in his place. Looking around, he realized everyone was already gone, wanting to make sure the inevitable was delayed for just a little longer, he figured it was best he’d head back home as well.

“Well guys…” He spoke up, catching the three off-guard. “I’mma head back home too.”

“Oh?” Shadow raised an eyebrow. “You alright, Jorge?”

“Hm?” Jorge also raised a ‘brow. “Yeah. I’m fine. I’m just… a little tired, that’s all.”

Shadow simply narrowed his eyes at the response he was given. “If you say so…”

With a nod, Jorge stood up from his chair, and made his way to the hall.

“Uh, if you girls excuse me for just a sec…” Shadow spoke quietly. “I need to go take care of something…”

The two mares simply nodded, and continued their conversation without him. He quickly followed Jorge’s path, making his way out of the castle entirely. As soon as the human was in sight, he called out to him.

“Jorge!”

The human froze in his tracks, paused for a moment, and turned his head back.

Shadow slowly started walking up to his cuban friend. “What’s wrong?”

“What?” Jorge turned his whole body around to face him. “I don’t know what you—”

“Don’t give me that shit, Jorge.” Shadow interrupted. “I’m not stupid.”

Jorge crossed his arms. “Nothing. I’m just glad you two are getting married. That’s all.”

“There’s more than that, Jorge.” Shadow rolled his eyes. “You’re not usually as quiet as you were earlier. What’s going on?”

“Aren’t you still going to punch m—”

“God dammit Jorge, stop trying to change the fucking subject.”

“I’m not—”

“Yes you are.” Shadow interrupted again, he then punched Jorge lightly in the arm, saying “There, you wanted me to punch you, so I did, now tell me what the fuck is wrong.”

“It’s Dash…”

“What about her?”

“You two have been dating for only a year, and you went from first base to a home run in less than a week. And now? You proposed.” Jorge shrugged. “It took two weeks for Dash and I to go official, and I still haven’t even gotten a ring.”

“I still don’t see why this is a big deal?” Shadow raised an eyebrow, still trying to piece together the information he’s being given.

“Dash is an impatient mare, Shadow.” Jorge sighed. “When she gets tired of waiting for something, you can tell. She starts to get stubborn upon mentioning whatever it is she’s waiting on, and it’ll just start to bother every fiber of her being.”

“Okay, and?”

“Shadow, let me remind you of what just happened. You married Twilight in only a year, and Dash has been bugging me about marriage for a while now. The fact that you did it first, is only going to make this more agonizingly annoying.

“So then, just ask her to marry you? It’s basically a guaranteed yes at this point.”

“That’s the problem.” Jorge shrugged. “I don’t want to. Not yet.”

“Why not?”

Jorge simply stayed silent, pretending he hadn’t ignored that last question.

“Jorge, I can see you heard me, and I kindly ask as one of your closest friends that you answer.”

“And I’m kindly telling one of my closest friends that you’re better off not asking.”

“Fine, then. We’ll just use Twilight’s truth spell, and see how well you can keep your mouth sealed then.”

“Fine by me.” Jorge rolled his eyes. “You won’t get any answers.”

“Yeah? We’ll see about that.” Shadow leaped up into the air, started flying high enough to look face-to-face with the human, grabbed his arm, and began pulling him back into the castle, the human in question, however, was still completely silent.

Eventually, the two made it back to the throne room, where Twilight and Dash were still casually talking. Dash turned her head to see the canadian stallion pulling the human back into the room. She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side, curious over what she’s seeing.

“Shadow?” Dash spoke softly. “Uh… Everything okay?”

Letting go of the human’s hand, he landed back down on the ground. “I hate to have to ruin our anniversary, Twily, but uh… I need you to use that truth spell again.”

Twilight simply raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”

“Something’s up with Jorge, and he’s not telling me.” Shadow explained. “So if he doesn’t want to talk to one of the few closest friends he has in private, then we’ll all hear it ourselves.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Twilight inquired. “What exactly is the problem?”

“Why he’s afraid to pop the big question.” Shadow sighed.

Dash blinked. “Huh? Really? That’s what this is all about?”

Shadow looked over to the human, wondering if he’d respond, but got nothing. Instead, the human sat down on the floor, ignoring the question.

“Something’s bothering him. Either something to do with marrying, or something. But now I need to know.” He spoke. “Whatever it is, he needs to get it off his chest.”

Twilight simply looked over to the human, whom responded with a single nod. As if giving her the ‘OK’ to complete Shadow’s request.

“Jorge…?” Dash walked up to her lover. “You can tell me what’s going on, right? What’s wrong?”

Jorge remained silent.

“Fine, it’s gonna be that way, then.” Twilight spoke up, instantly catching Dash’s attention. Upon noticing Twilight’s glowing horn, Dash quickly moved out of the way, letting the alicorn do her thing.

With a quick burst of magic shot into the human, he was now completely under the spell, and Shadow was the first to speak up and use it to his advantage.

“How do I know it worked?” He asked.

“Ask him a question?” Twilight replied.

He looked back to the human. “How do you feel?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m under a truth spell. What do you think?”

“I’m gonna take that as a ‘it’s working’...” Shadow shook his head. “Right, onto business. Is it true that there’s something bothering you?”

“Yes.”

“Is it something serious enough to make you afraid of marrying Rainbow Dash?”

“Not afraid, per se, more worried, than anything.” Jorge rolled his eyes.

“Worried for what?”

Jorge’s eye suddenly twitched, though he refused to answer the question.

Shadow blinked at the odd occurrence. “...Jorge… Worried for what?”

Suddenly, his whole head twitched to the side, however he stayed silent.

“What the fuck…?” Shadow asked, his mouth agape. He quickly turned his head to Twilight. “Can you make the spell stronger?”

“Uh, there are a few side-effects if I do that…”

“Like..what?”

“Well, uh, let’s see…” Twilight’s horn was wrapped by its signature purple glow once more, and with a quick flash of light, her spellbook appeared in front of her.

“Hmph.” Jorge huffed. “Willing to do whatever it takes, old friend?”

“At this point, I believe the decision is Dash’s. Old friend.” Shadow sighed.

“Right. So Jorge is currently infused with a level four truth spell.” Twilight explained, “Which that alone already has a few minor side-effects. Mild-aggression, 5% chance of making the subject going insane while under the spell, but the insanity wears off once the spell’s no longer in use, and depending if he’s had enough training to resist the spell’s effects, his body may twitch.”

“Depending if he’s had enough training?” Shadow asked, and quickly turned his head back over to the human. “You’ve been training for something like this?”

“Yep.” Jorge flashed a cocky smirk. “You didn’t think I’d prepare for something like this?” He then placed a thinking hand on his chin, “Well. Not this moment, exactly. More like if something happened and they had me for interrogation or something. I wasn’t really expecting this.”

Shadow turned his head back to Twilight, “What happens if we crank up the level?” he queried.

“Uh…” Twilight looked back at her book. “Level five causes higher aggression, 15% chance of insanity while under the spell, has a 5% chance of damaging his body upon resistance, the other 95% will do more than just a twitch.”

“And I’ll bet you’re just dying to know how I had time to pull off something like this.” Jorge cut in.

“Whats level seven do?”

“Uh…” Twilight uttered. “...It doesn’t say. The only recorded information on the truth spell goes up to level six, no one’s had to go beyond that before.”

“Whats level six do?”

“C’mon, Twilight. Why don’t you tell them? It wasn’t that big of a secret, anyway…” Jorge chuckled.

“What’s he talking about?” Dash asked worriedly.

“Level six has a small chance of leaving the subject mentally insane, 30% chance to—”

“Define small chance.”

“It doesn’t say. There weren’t enough cases to give an exact answer.”

“Twily, I need you to answer this truthfully, how high of a level did you train him to resist?”

“...What?” Dash raised an eyebrow.

“...Honestly, I didn’t think Jorge was gonna make it past level four. The first time I used the truth spell I only gave him a dose of level one.”

“So that means… what, exactly?” Shadow raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve been training for a good year or so, Shadow.” Jorge crossed his arms. “There’s a few other spells I wanted to learn to counter in case of an emergency. This, however, isn’t the emergency I anticipated. This is more of a coincidence..”

“Dash, it's up to you if we crank it up, seeing it could do Jorge harm.”

Dash looked over to the human, who still wore that cocky smirk on his face. Speaking in a soft, almost sad voice, “Jorge...please tell me…Is it really that bad…?”

The smirk on his face faded away, and instead of responding, he closed his eyes as his head twitched once more.

Dash closed her eyes, trying to hold back the few tears that were trying to escape from her eyes.

“...What else does level six do, Twilight?”

Shadow simply went wide-eyed, he looked over to his fiancée, who was also wide-eyed over the question. She shook her head and looked back down at the book.

“...30% chance to damage any part of his body, but not enough to send him to the hospital or anything… 30% chance of insanity while under the spell, 10% chance to deal enough damage to leave a mark, 5% to actually leave him with something worth visiting, and…1.2% chance of putting him.. Into a coma.”

Shadow quickly reacted, “Dash. Be very careful with your next decis—”

“Do it...” She muttered.

Jorge opened his eyes, raising an eyebrow at the mare’s choice.

Twilight blinked. “R-Rainbow are you sure you wa—”

“Just do it, Twilight!” Dash shouted, her patience growing even thinner.

Twilight immediately began to fear for the worst. She looked over to her fiancé with a worried look. “Shadow… be ready to hold him down if anything happens…”

He simply nodded.

Twilight sighed, charged her horn for another shot at the only human she could actually call a friend. Cranking the spell up to level six, the spell escaped from her horn, and completely entered Jorge’s entire body.

“So, it’s come down to this…” Jorge whispered.

“Whatever he may say, just remember the spell’s also causing his aggression to be…”

Jorge rolled his eyes. “...to be, what. Catastrophic?” He scoffed. “I doubt that. If anything, it’s actually started to have shown me the truth.”

“Shadow…” Dash spoke up softly. “...You do the honors.”

Looking over to the stallion sitting next to him, he scoffed once more. “I think Shadow’s a little bit freaked out worrying if slip into a coma or not to even dare ask.”

“What are you worried for?” Shadow asked flatly.

Jorge groaned. “...I’m worried for Dash.” He grabbed his arm, clutching it in his hand. “You’re just gonna drive it out of me slowly, aren’t you? You’re not even gonna ask what ‘truth’ it is I see?”

Shadow slowly moved towards him, and pinning him. Then spoke, “Why are you worried for Dash when asking her to marry you..?”

Jorge winced at a sudden sharp pain in his leg. Attempting to shrug it off, he cracked a soft grin. “Heh. My own friends and marefriend, going through such lengths over a simple question.”

“You’re making me ask again...” sighed Shadow, then speaking in a deeper tone, “Why are you worried for Dash when asking her to marry you?”

Jorge screamed at the pain now delivered to his back. Sighing, he spoke up. “I’m worried...she’ll regret her choice…”

“What choice of hers..?” Shadow asked calmly.

“It’s kinda obvious, don’t you think?” Jorge raised an eyebrow. “Or are you really trying to milk this for all the pain you can bring, huh?”

“Jorge…” Dash cut in. “Why do you think I’d regret saying yes?”

Jorge hissed as his arm began to bruise, even Shadow took notice, realizing how far the spell’s trying to go in making him talk.

“Feels like each part of my body’s either getting stabbed or slammed into a brick wall…” Jorge chuckled. “Just remember that all of you wanted this to happen.”

”Dash, would you like to leave the room? I can tell you ever—”

“No. I want to be here and listen with my own ears.”

“Alright…” Shadow replied softly, “I’m sorry old friend, but why are—”

”...Because I’m an idiot.”

“What was that?” Shadow raised an eyebrow.

Jorge closed his eyes, as a tear swiftly fell from his face. “I’m scared that Dash would regret marrying me, because I’m an idiot.”

Shadow just sat there, keeping Jorge pinned and looked up at Rainbow Dash.

“I’ve made… so many mistakes in my life…” Jorge muttered. “I’ve lost count, at this point…”

“But… Jorge, everyone’s made mistakes, what makes yours any different?” Shadow asked curiously.

“The first thing I ever did when I got to Equestria, was try to do a stupid dare. Look where that had me. I get dragged back into Equestria again, only to be treated like total shit for the first five minutes. Then I bug Twilight to open the portal again just to bring my dog here. Only to cause the portal to come back on it’s own, and bring you and Ish here.”

“Jorge, I’ve done a lot of stupid things, too.” Dash softly spoke up. “I even broke my wing once trying to practice one of my flying tricks…”

“Now compare that to the second-degree burns I get from saving Ish. And look at the thanks I get from that fucktard. Hell, if it weren’t for me in the first place, neither Shadow nor Ish would be here, and I wouldn’t have had to go through everything we went through.”

“But, then I would’ve never met Twilight.” Shadow countered.

“Yeah. One good thing came out of this. Dash has helped save the world countless times. What have I done? Screw things over.”

“Jorge, remember the first day we kissed?” Dash interjected.

“How could I forget? We played Go Fish like little kids.”

“...Besides that.” Dash shook her head. “Do you know why I kissed you that day?”

Jorge shook his head.

“Because, Jorge, there’s no one in Equestria I know that’s brave enough to steal the elements, and take on the princesses?”

“Brave, or stupid?” Jorge attempted to correct.

“And to steal the Elements from us. To steal one of them from me.” Dash ignored Jorge’s ‘correction’. “You’d either have to be brain dead or really brave to try something like that. And then when I hear you’re not all that bad, I felt bad…” Dash simply let the tears she was holding back do whatever they pleased. “I started avoiding you cause I didn’t know whether to hit you for doing something that stupid or congratulate you for having the courage to do something that stupid.”

Jorge tried to get up to embrace his marefriend, but Shadow kept holding him down.

“And then you start trying to tell me all these nice things about me… First it’s just small things like “you’re awesome” and how I never leave my friends behind, or back down from a challenge… But then you start saying my mane is pretty, and… you even almost called me adorable…” Dash chuckled softly. “If someone else would’ve told me that, I probably would’ve yelled at them. But, there was just something about you, I needed to see for myself if you were really as good as I thought. Plus, I might have gotten carried away a little that night and asked you to keep complimenting.”

“You even had the balls to protect your own friend from Tirek, even though Ish didn’t even deserve to be saved, but, eh. You still did it.” Dash added. “So are you really gonna tell me that you’re an idiot? Are you really gonna say how awful your mistakes are? Let’s not even forget that I totally forgot that we were supposed to give you fake elements! I love you, Jorge. Nothing’s gonna change that.”

“...Nothing?”

“Nothing.”

Shadow looked over to his fiancée. “I think we can take the spell off now, Twilight…”

Twilight nodded, her horn glowing once more, covering Jorge in her magic one more, then quickly faded away.

Shadow got off from the human, and whispered to his fiancée once more, “Is there anyway for you to only have him frozen still temporarily…? I need him to be if I'm to fly him to the hospital safely. I can’t unfreeze him myself.”

“Yeah, it's just the same spell I used to test on him the first time, just with a timed counterspell thrown in.” Twilight nodded.

“If you could do that please.”

Twilight looked over to the human on the floor, cuddling with his mare as the two lied there on the floor.

“Yeah, I could do that…”

“Thank you, Twily.” Shadow said quietly as he lifted Jorge and started flying, “I’ll come get you when you can visit… Dash.”

Dash simply nodded in response.

As the two make their way out the castle, Twilight walked up to the prismatic mare.

“Well, Rainbow Dash… It looks like you're getting what you want after all…” She said softly.

“I doubt he's gonna pop the question anytime soon after all this, Twilight.” Dash chuckled. “But at least he's more keen on doing it than earlier.”

“How much longer you think it'll take to get him to want to use the transformation spell?”

“Can't say, really.” Dash shrugged. “But whenever he does, I'll probably be ready to start a family.”

“Glad to see things are going your way, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight smiled.

“...What about you?” Dash tilted her head to the side. “When do you think you two will start a family?”

“Actually, I think we alre—...” Twilight ended her sentence short by covering her mouth with a hoof. Gaining a raised eyebrow from Dash, she smiled sheepishly.

“...I don't know, yet…”

Author's Note

Well guys. It's been a long and bumpy road. But we've made it. We've finally completed "How I Lived In Equestria"! Honestly it was kinda hard to have 3 guys work on the same story. But most of our problems didn't arise until we started Arc 2. Since that's when Shadow and Ish actually become characters in the story. And so requiring their help suddenly became an all-time problem. I could do a decent imitation of them. But no one could really capture their likeness better than themselves. So that started making the story take a lot longer than we'd had hoped. But, at least it's finally over...

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Also, thanks again to Daszkin for making the art in the beginning of the chapter! <3

Italic letters? What italic letters? I don't see any...