As the group made their way over the hill to Zecora's hut, they were greeted by the warm sight of candlelight emanating from the shack. A small flutter of happiness worked it's way into Earl's heart as he motioned for the team to continue. Four Zeds wandering around outside of the shack had taken noticed of their arrival and promptly started shambling towards them. Without a word, the three readied their weapons and began their attack. Mac charged towards the crowd, knocked one down, and ferociously began slamming the shovel until the contents of it's head had been mixed with the soil on the ground. As Mac continued, Earl levitated his bat from it's holster and swung it across the faces of two zeds while Shining shot another spell of battlemagic towards the final Zed. The green bolt dug itself right through the skull of the undead creature, briskly sending it to it's death.

"Cover me." Earl said as he approached the door to the hut.

Mac and Shining nodded and stood on opposite sides in front of the shack, scanning the treeline for more Zeds.

"Zecora?" Earl called out.

There was no response.

The grey unicorn tried to push the door open but soon realized it was locked. After pondering the situation for a moment, he spun around and launched his back legs into the door, sending it flying through the house. Mac raised an eyebrow and glanced towards Shining, who simply shrugged.

Upon entering, Earl received only silence, a bad sign. After walking around and examining the scene for a moment, he saw one of the most gruesome sights ever witness by pony or human eyes.

The zebra in question had been ripped completely in half.

The former human fell to his haunches and simply stared, awestruck by the image before him. Such agony and pain was spread across the poor zebra's face, and a massive amount of blood had pooled itself a few feet away where Earl was sitting. Tears slowly started to fall from his face, staining his grey coat.

Something from my world did this... He thought, as the tears fell faster.

The look on her face would never leave Earl's mind. It was a symbol of nothing more than death and sorrow.

"FUCK!" He shouted, slamming his hooves to the ground.

Shining and Mac both exchanged nervous glances outside.

"Earl?" The white unicorn asked.

"Just stay out there Shining." He replied sternly.

The grey unicorn returned to his hooves and noticed a long trail of blood, leading from the zebra's upper-half, all the way out of the opened back door. Carefully, he approached the doorway and glanced towards the darkness. Three Zeds were crouched over the bottom half of Zecora, and loud crunching and chomping noises echoed throughout the forest.

The sadness instantly turned to rage in Earl's heart.

"HEY!" He shouted towards the small crowd of Zeds.

They made no movement. Earl responded to this by kicking up some dirt on to the crowd.

"I said HEY, mother fucker!" He shouted again.

One by one, the Zeds glanced up and saw their next meal. With blood-drenched faces, they approached the furious unicorn with their hands raised. Before the first one could get close enough, Earl reached out and wrapped his hoof around the clammy claw of the infected, twisting it until he heard the bones snap. As the creature screamed in pain, Earl threw it to the ground and drew his bat. He wasn't going to kill these ones, he was going to make them suffer.

The next Zed shambled towards the unicorn with it's hand raised as well. Earl spat harshly into the zombie's face, causing it to stumble back a few feet and give him a perfect opportunity to attack. With as fierce levitation as he could muster, he swung the tattered baseball bat towards the legs of the infected. The two skinny limbs buckled with a sickening crack and it fell to the ground, waddling around and trying to return to it's freshly broken legs.

Hearing the noise, Shining and Mac trotted through the house, not even noticing the gruesome corpse.

"Earl?!" Shining shouted as he made his way out of the back door, followed by Macintosh.

Shining quickly noticed the seasoned Zed-killer making mince meat of his enemies and backed up.

"I think he's got it..." The white unicorn said, noticing the look in Earl's eyes.

Earl payed no mind as his team mates arrived, only focused on doing as much damage to his opponents as possible. As the final zed approached, he swung the bat again, with even more force. It connected with the creature's jaw, sending multiple teeth flying from it's mouth and causing it to turn sideways. Earl immediately replied with another shot from the opposite direction, causing the same effect as the zombie fell to the floor. Upon noticing the first Zed crawling back to it's feet again, he swung the bat and delivered a killing blow to the creature, sending it flying away from the hut and into a nearby tree. The second Zed was still struggling to return to it's broken legs, but one more blow from Earl sent the contents of it's head flying across the ground in a bloody mess.

One final Zed, but Earl wanted to make it personal. He released the magical grip on his bat and charged over to the infected. Furiously, he stomped his bare hooves onto the Zombie, pounding it's intestines and bones into the soil until nothing remained intact. After savagely ripping apart the flesh-freak, Earl backed away and fell to his haunches once more, breathing heavily.

After several minutes, he turned around and glanced towards Mac.

"Let me... see your... shovel." He said, still breathing heavily.

The red earth pony obliged and hoofed the shovel to Earl, who levitated it and began digging a hole nearby.

"Earl, what's going-" Shining started to say.

Mac nudged him and shook his head. The white unicorn fell silent.

After several more minutes, Earl dropped the shovel back on the ground and walked into the house. He returned a few moments later, levitating the upper-half of the fallen zebra. After reaching the newly dug hole, he slowly levitated what remained of her into it, and began showering the dirt over her. After her remains had successfully been concealed in it's final resting-place, Earl bowed his head and held a moment of silence for the rhyming zebra.

"Let's barricade the hut and just stay here. This is all I can take for one night." Earl said, glancing towards Mac and Shining Armor.

The two simply nodded as Earl trotted past them and into the still glowing hut.