After Earl had woken up, he walked down the stairs and found Shining still sleeping on a couch in the main room. Twilight, who was studying as usual noticed him and greeted him with a warm smile.

"Good morning." She said.

"Morning." Earl said returning the smile.

"How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty good actually. No more head ache."

Earl chuckled as he trotted the rest of the way downstairs.

"Well that's good." Twilight said, laughing slightly. "Are you hungry or anything?"

The grey unicorn thought for a moment and just then realized how hungry he was. He hadn't eaten since taking Twilight to the clearly open field.

"Yes, very much actually." He said as his stomach rumbled loudly.

Twilight nodded and shut her book.

"I can get you something if you'd like."

Always wondered what Appljack's apples would taste like... he thought.

"Sure if it's no problem." Earl said.

He raised his eyebrow.

"Have any apples?"

Twilight nodded and trotted to another room.

"Yeah, I actually got some from AJ a few days ago." She said from the other room, presumably the kitchen.

Due to the nature of the zombie apocalypse, Earl hadn't eaten anything fresh in over two months. Anything that wasn't processed would taste amazing to him at that moment.

After a few moments Twilight returned with two apples, literally glistening before the former human. Wanting to practice his levitation, he closed his eyes and imagined his arms reaching out and picking up the apple. When Earl opened them, a familiar blue glow surrounded the apple as it floated towards his mouth. He quickly turned to Twilight with a massive grin on his face. She smiled, but quickly broke into laughter as the apple collided harshly with his face.

"Well, I've got it for the most part..." He said, recoiling from the hit and taking a bite of the apple.

After the two had finished, Earl noticed Shining was still asleep.

"God, that guy can sleep like a freakin' rock." He said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I used to pull pranks on him all the time." Twilight replied, laughing as well.

"That reminds me. Before he wakes up, there's a few things I needed to do."

"What's up?"

"Well you said my bat and gun made it here as well, right?"

"Right."

"Is there any way you can use a spell or something to show me where they were?"

Twilight thought for a moment.

"I'll see if I can find a memory transfer spell."

"Alright, cool."

Twilight smiled as she stood up and began scanning her shelves. Earl quickly walked over by her side.

"There's one more thing." He said.

"Yes?" Twilight replied, still scanning her shelves.

"When I find the weapons, I need some way to hold them while I'm not using them."

The purple unicorn turned to him.

"What did you have in mind?"

Earl shrugged.

"Maybe a belt type thing?"

Twilight thought for a moment.

"I know just the pony who can help."

A sharp ringing noise erupted from a bell above the door as Earl entered Rarity's boutique.

"Welcome to Carousel Boutique, I'll be with you in just a moment!" The white unicorn shouted from the other room.

Earl shrugged and waited patiently for a few moments before the pony came out from one of the various back rooms. She was wearing her red librarian-style glasses and was levitating a small piece of fabric.

"Oh that just won't do." She said, using her magic to toss it into the corner. "Now then,"

Rarity looked up towards her customer.

"Hello! I remember you, Earl was it?" She said with a smile.

"That's right. I was wondering if I could put in an order for a special piece of uhhh... equipment."

"Equipment?" Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sorry dear, I don't sell equipment here. I sell only the finest clothing."

"Does a belt count?"

"A belt! Oh why didn't you say so?"

That accent is going to be the death of me. Earl thought.

"Uhhh, I don't know." He said awkwardly.

"Well, what is so special about this belt?"

"I need it to have slots, so I can securely carry a few things."

"Alright, I believe I can manage that." She said, levitating a notebook in front of her to write down the order. "Mind if I ask what for?"

Earl shifted nervously.

"Well, I'm going in to deal with the Zed invasion-"

Rarity gasped, promptly cutting off the gray unicorn.

"The Zed invasion?!" She asked, shocked. "Darling, that's much too dangerous!"

"It's fine, I've dealt with things like this before."

Rarity raised an eyebrow but shrugged a few moments later and walked into her back room.

After a few moments of waiting, a familiar yellow pegasus entered the boutique.

"Oh, um. Hi Earl." Fluttershy said quietly as she walked into the store.

"Hey." Earl said with his friendliest smile.

"Um... have you seen Rarity?"

"Yeah, I just put in an order. I think she's back working on it. Want me to get her or something?"

"Oh, no. That's OK." She said.

A few minutes of awkward silence later, Rarity walked out of her back room with Earl's special-order belt.

"Alright, and here you are." She said, laying it on a counter next to her register.

"Nice, how much do I owe you? Twilight lent me some-" Earl said as he walked to the counter.

"Oh for the stallion who is helping get rid of those ghastly Zeds, no charge." Rarity said with a smile.

Earl was surprised but accepted the gift nonetheless.

"Oh, well thanks Rarity." He said with a smile.

Well, she's generosity. That actually makes a lot of sense... He thought as he fastened the belt around his mid-section.

"Zeds?!" Fluttershy asked, terrified.

The shy pegasus immediately darted to the other side of the room and hid under a nearby couch.

"No, no, Fluttershy, it's fine. Earl here is going to take care of the problem.

Fluttershy instantly flew out from under the couch and right in front of Earl, inches from his face. Her expression was purely ecstatic.

"Really?!" She asked.

Earl backed away a bit.

"Uhh, yeah. I'm going in today."

"Thank you so much!!!" Fluttershy shouted as she wrapped her hooves around the grey unicorn, nearly crushing him with a hug.

"Gah, Flutter-"

"A few of my bunnies got lost in the forest before the guards came. I've been worried sick about them!"

"Ack.. Fluttersh-"

"Please, if you see them-"

"Uhh, Fluttershy. Would you be a dear and stop choking Earl?" Rarity said, noticing the unicorn gasping for air.

Fluttershy quickly noticed and pulled away to hide behind her mane.

"Oh, my. I'm sorry." She said quietly.

"It's.... fine." Earl said, gasping for air. "I'll see if I can find your bunnies."

"Thank you." She said, even quieter than before.

After a few more moments of awkward silence, Earl started towards the door.

"Well, ladies." He said, waving his hoof back at the two mares.

"Goodbye Earl, stay safe!" Rarity shouted.

As Earl neared the house, he looked up to the sky and tried to determine the time. From his knowledge it should've been about 8:30. He quickened his pace and arrived at the library a few seconds later.

"Twilight?" He called out.

"In here, I found your spell." She called back from one of the other rooms.

Walking in, he noticed Shining Armor still asleep. The grey unicorn simply rolled his eyes and made his way into the room Twilight had called out from.

"Hey." She said, giving him a warm smile as he walked into the room.

"Uhh, hey." He said in an awkward tone, blushing slightly at her recent changes in attitude towards him.

"Check this out." She said, levitating a book in front of him.

He scanned it for a moment and realized it was written in some sort of foreign language.

"Uhhh, yeah. That looks like it would work." He said, bullshitting his way out of a reading lesson.

"Alright," Twilight replied, using her magic to shut the book. "Come here."

Earl obliged and made his way to the room. Twilight's horn began to glow and she moved closer to him.

"This one shouldn't hurt."

The former human nodded and the unicorn touched her horn to his head. After a few moments, Earl felt no change.

"I don't think it worked..." He said.

"Close your eyes and think about me." The purple mare replied.

Earl shrugged and closed his eyes as thoughts of her entered his mind. Instantly the darkness turned into a deep blue and a glowing teal-colored trail was guiding him out of the room.

"Holy shit." He said opening his eyes again. "That's awesome, Thanks!"

Twilight blushed and quickly turned away in an attempt to hide it.

"You're welcome."

Before Earl could make his way out of the room Twilight called out to him.

"Hey, uhh, Earl?" She said shyly.

The grey unicorn spun around and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

The purple unicorn caught up to him and spoke low.

"About last night, and all of the things that have been going on between us, I just kinda wanted to... uhh.." She said.

"Everything OK?" Earl asked.

"Well yeah,"

"If you wanted to do something, go ahead and just do it. We've got to wake up Shining and-" He said, pointing his hoof in the direction of the living room

Twilight quickly closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss the former human. He instantly put his hoof back down on the ground and accepted it, closing his eyes as well. After several moments, Twilight pulled away and opened her eyes. Earl's were still shut tight and he remained motionless.

"OK, so, I thought you were gonna be like 'I like you' or something. But that was just fine." He said awkwardly.

Twilight blushed and laughed slightly.

"Words cannot express how OK I was with that." He continued.

"I'll go wake up Shining." She said with a smile leaving the room.

"Yeah, you can do that, I'll... just............. be......." He said trailing off.

Twilight walked out of the room and shut the door.

"What in the FUCK?!" He said, seconds after the door had shut.