Twilight had never seen an odd creature such as a human before. It stood on two legs, had no sort of coat or fur, and was relatively big and fleshy. A small patch of black, which seemed to be hair, rested on top of it's head and ran down around it's chin. It was hard for her to tell in the darkness, but it looked just as scared as she was. A few seconds later, the odd creature raised his knife higher and towards the purple mare.

"How are you-? You're not infected?! Are you?!" it shouted.

Instinctively Twilight shouted back.

"No! I mean, I don't think I- What are you talking about? Where am I?! And what are you?!"

The creature lowered the knife and it's demeanor seemed to calm a bit.

Earl's heart was racing, he had no idea what he was thinking raising his knife to the confused cartoon character.

If it is really her, she wouldn't have any intention to hurt me. he thought as he shoved the knife into his pocket.

"Uhh... sorry about the knife. There's been a bit of an... accident. It's just for safety, I assure you." He said, calmly putting his hand up to show the knife was put away.

She obviously doesn't know what a human is...

"I'm Earl, and I'm a human. You're on earth." Earl continued slowly approaching Twilight.

I literally just had to explain what species I was and what planet I'm from. What the hell...

The purple unicorn calmed a bit after the knife disappeared and was relieved to find that he was, for the most part, friendly.

"Earth....?" Twilight replied.

She shook her head after a few seconds and continued.

"Well... My name is Tw-"

"Twilight Sparkle." Earl cut in, finishing her sentence.

Her expression quickly changed to puzzled.

"Yes... How did you...?"

Earl's face turned a bright red as he ran his hand over the back of his head.

Hey, I'm Earl and I know pretty much everything about you and your friends! Perfect introduction... he thought to himself.

"I'll uhh... I'll explain later." He said, walking up and examining her.

No sew lines, no tags, it was warm, and I thought I saw it breathing. Wow, how have I survived this long?

Twilight scanned the room nervously before looking towards Earl, every shade was drawn and the front door had over 20 locks on it. She quickly noticed that the human was staring at her with a dumbstruck expression.

She cleared her throat loudly.

"Well... Um, Earl. Would you care to explain to me more about what you are and where I am?" She asked, slightly annoyed.

Earl quickly shook his head and snapped back to reality.

"Oh, right. We should go upstairs though, it isn't exactly safe here."

Fear smacked Twilight in the face like a freight train at the sudden talk of danger.

"Why what's wrong?!" She asked worriedly.

Earl face-palmed.

And now I've freaked her out. He thought.

"Everything's fine,"

That is a gross understatement.

"We just need to get upstairs and everything will be alright." He said in the nicest tone he could muster.

Twilight calmed a bit and nodded solemnly. Earl motioned for her to follow and the two cautiously made their way upstairs.

"Stay close." He said as the neared the top of the stairs.

Earl was never too careful about things before the world went to shit, but now he took every precaution possible when doing anything. Even if it was the most menial task, such as taking a fictional cartoon character up to his room to describe to her that she has just landed in a world where everything is going to try and skin her and use her organs as dinner. He quickly drew the knife and crouched slightly, slowly reaching the top of the stairs. After checking both corners he continued down the hallway and turned the final corner to his room.

After securing the final lock on his door, the human walked over to Twilight and sat down on the bed next to her and sighed loudly.

"Alright. Shoot." He said calmly.

"What?" The mare asked, confused.

"I haven't talked to anyone in about two months so I figure this would be a pretty good opportunity. Any question you have, I'll answer it."

A weight was instantly lifted from Twilight's chest as the words processed in her mind.

"OK, well,"

Twilight quietly cleared her throat.

"What is earth?"

"It's the planet you're on right now, probably very similar to your world. But there's no unicorns or pegasi."

Earl waved his hand in the air informatively

"Or mythical creature things..." He continued.

"And how do you know so much about me?" Twilight asked.

Earl sighed loudly again as he tried to find his next words.

"There is a T.V show, and it's about you and your friends and the adventures that you have in Equestria."

Twilight's mouth flew open.

"T.V-? How in the name of Discord...?"

"Don't believe me? You, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Apple Jack, and Fluttershy are the elements of harmony. You used said elements to defeat Nightmare Moon and ever since you've been living in Ponyville studying the magic of friendship." Earl said.

The purple unicorn's mouth fell even further open and her eyes grew wide. After a few moments she shut her mouth and stared at the human.

"Alright, so you're not lying..."

"Nope. In this sort of situation, lying wouldn't be beneficial to either of us."

Twilight nodded and aimed her head to the floor.

"Next question?" Earl said, dropping backwards to lay on the bed.

"What's the 'danger'?" She asked quietly, worried about the response.

Earl stood up and circled around the room for a moment.

"Are you ready for another shocker?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Twilight simply nodded and stared intently at the human who sighed loudly yet again.

"A virus. A disease..."

Earl put his hand on his chin and pointed to the pony a few seconds later.

"Have you ever read a book about zombies?"

The purple unicorn nodded once more, to which Earl replied with a simple nod and a 'think about it' expression.

Twilight nodded nonchalantly and looked around the room. After seeing the knife and the blood stains on the human's clothing, it hit her, and her mouth fell open once more.

"It came about two months ago. Killed basically everybody and left me alive for some reason." Earl continued, walking over to his window.

"Ever since then, I've been just surviving."

Twilight nearly fainted at the realization. Earl looked towards Twilight and took in her worried expression, the human face-palmed again.

God I am just being Dr. Smooth today.

He walked over and sat next to her as tears started to roll down her face.

"Hey, come on." He said, in a calming tone.

He put one of his arms around the unicorn and used the other to wipe the tears off of her face.

Now I am consoling a fictional cartoon character... I'm insane.

"I'm... I just want to go home... This is way too much..." Twilight said in between sobs.

Earl looked down as sadness started to weigh on him.

"It's alright," He said looking back up towards her. "I can help you."

"But what if one of them gets me?!" She screamed.

Earl looked around worriedly.

She's going to attract a whole goddamn crowd of those bastards here...

The human quickly turned her head towards his.

"I will not let that happen. Alright? You're safe with me."

Twilight heard the stern town in his voice and saw the determined look in his eyes.

"OK..." She said quietly.

She sniffled and looked to the floor as Earl got up and looked through his food stash.

Why didn't I grab horse feed? He thought as he frantically searched for something that might have cheered the crying unicorn.

Screw it, this has oats. He thought as he grabbed a cliff bar and ripped open the packaging.

Earl walked over to the bed and sat down again.

"Here." He said softly as he held the bar out in his hand.

Twilight looked at the cliff bar in his hand and then back at Earl.

"It's food... They're pretty good." He said.

The human ripped off a small piece and put it in his mouth.

"See?" His said in between chews.

He quickly swallowed the small bit of snack.

"Harmless."

Twilight smiled slightly and took the small granola bar in her hoof. She brought it close to her face and sniffed it for a second. It wasn't long before the aroma of chocolate and honey convinced her to take a bite. She smiled contently at Earl and swallowed after a few moments.

"Thank you." She said softly.

"Don't mention it." He said standing up.

"Now, down to a more pressing matter."

Twilight stopped chewing and looked up towards Earl.

"How did you get here?" He asked, with a puzzled expression.