"Get him in there, NOW!" A voice called out from the darkness.

"We're losing him!" Another voice echoed.

Earl was conscious, but couldn't gather the power to open his eyelids.

"Don't you dare lose him, do you hear me?!" A familiar voice said.

Shining...? Earl thought.

The grey unicorn could feel himself moving, but still wasn't able to open his eyes to examine his surroundings.

"You're going to be OK, alright?" A mare's voice said softly into his ear.

Twilight...

A few moments later, Earl lost consciousness.

Earl suddenly woke up with a loud gasp and examined his surroundings. From what he could make out, he was sitting in a hospital bed, bandages sprawled out across his chest and shoulder. The bright colors stung and stabbed at his eyes for a moment until they adjusted and the constant beeping reminded him he was still alive. He traced a chord going from his foreleg to a small machine producing the noises.

They have these here too apparently... He thought.

"Uhh.... Hello?" The grey unicorn called out weakly.

"Holy shit, I think that's him." He heard Shining say quietly in the hallway.

Seconds later, Shining walked into the door.

"Yeah, he's awake." He called out the door with a smile.

The white unicorn made his way into the room fully, followed by a familiar purple unicorn.

"Twilight!" Earl said happily, sitting up in his bed.

Instantly, the chords attached to the unicorn pulled him back to an awkward laying position. Twilight chuckled for a moment and approached the side of the bed as Shining sat down at the other side of the room.

"Yeah, I'm here." She said softly.

Earl reached his hoof out to the smiling mare, which she took gratefully.

"So yeah, anypony want to explain why the hell I'm in a hospital?" Earl asked glancing between the two.

Shining sighed.

"Well after you leveled the whole forest, you were in-"

"Woah, woah. Hang on." Earl said, interrupting the royal guard captain.

Shining raised an eyebrow.

"Leveled the whole forest?" He asked.

The white unicorn nodded, his eyebrow still raised.

"The whole thing is a crater now."

It was then that the memories of their "final stand" hit Earl like a freight train. He instantly retracted his hoof from Twilight and sunk as far as he could into the bed.

"Get away from me guys." He said grimly.

Twilight and Shining both exchanged nervous glances.

"What are you talking about?" Shining asked worriedly.

Earl closed his eyes and waited for what he thought was the inevitable.

Get bit, and you're one of them... He thought as tears welled in his eyes.

"I'm sorry guys..." Earl said, nearly bursting out in tears.

After several minutes of silence, the grey unicorn opened his eyes to find Twilight facehoofing and Shining staring at him worriedly.

"Shining, can you give us a sec?" Twilight said, still facehoofing.

Shining stood up and slowly walked out of the room, his eyebrow still raised. Instantly after the door shut, Twilight began her explanation.

"I saw that you'd been bit..." She said.

"I know, that's why you need to get away! I don't want to hurt you!" Earl said in a hushed tone.

"Well that's the thing."

Earl raised an eyebrow and Twilight sighed.

"What was the thing that bit you?" She asked.

"A zombie..." Earl replied confused.

"What did it used to be?"

"A human."

"and what are you?"

"A pony....OH...." Earl stopped and facehoofed.

God damnit I'm an idiot... He thought.

Twilight chuckled and took his hoof again.

"As long as you stay like this we're fine." She said with a smile.

Earl nodded and wrapped his arms around her for a moment, happy to be holding her again. Upon pulling away, he realized one more thing.

"Where's Mac?!" He asked worriedly.

Twilight moved her hoof to his healthy shoulder.

"Mac's fine, He's the one who got you here. He just had to leave after a while." She said, trying to console him.

"After a while?" Earl asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well yeah..." She said, looking to the floor.

"How long have I been out?" He asked nervously.

After a few moments, Twilight sighed.

"About a month."

Earl was extremely taken back by this.

"How?!" He asked.

"That spell put you into a coma." Twilight replied.

"What spell?"

Twilight glanced towards the door.

"You remember what Shining said about you leveling the forest?"

Earl nodded.

"You leveled the forest."

The grey unicorn's expression quickly turned to dumbstruck as he stared at Twilight.

"Seriously?" He asked, slightly choked.

"When a unicorn's fear and anger mix, in addition to the pain you must have been feeling..." She said, looking at the bandages across Earl's chest and shoulder.

"It triggered, somewhat of a 'natural defense mechanism'. Only yours was very powerful."

"Why? I don't even know magic." Earl said, still shocked.

"You're strong willed." She replied with a smile.

Earl blushed slightly and returned her smile.

"So I'm assuming all of the Zeds are gone too?" He asked awkwardly.

Twilight simply nodded, and Earl sighed.

It was then he made yet another realization.

"How am I still a pony if it's been a month?" He asked, confused.

"I've been here most of the time and when other people weren't, I made sure the spell stayed active." She replied.

"Thanks." Earl replied with a relieved sigh.

After a few moments, he asked yet another question.

"Isn't Princess Celestia gonna be pissed that I leveled an entire forest?" He asked.

"She just didn't want anypony to get hurt, and luckily the shield protected everything outside of the forest from the blast." Twilight replied.

"Well... Somebody did get hurt." Earl said aiming his head downwards.

Twilight sighed.

"I know... Shining told me." She said, sorrow slowly creeping into her voice. "Let's just not talk about this now, alright?"

Earl simply nodded and took her hoof in his again.

A few moments later Shining entered the room with a smile.

"Everything OK now?" He asked.

Twilight and Earl both nodded.

"Well then, doctor said you're good to go. Your wounds should be healed and they just need to have you sign a few things." Shining continued.

Earl nodded once more and slowly pulled himself out of the bed. To his surprise, he was able to return to his hooves quite easily. As he started to walk however, the pain in his shoulder appeared. Although dull, it annoyed him exponentially. Noticing the wincing, Twilight and Shining quickly approached him to help, but he wove them away.

"I'm gonna need to get used to it somehow." Earl said with a slight chuckle.

With a shrug from Shining and Twilight the three left the room and approached the front desk.

"Ah, you must be the hero." The mare at the desk said with a smile.

"Hero?" Earl asked, glancing towards Shining, who simply shrugged.

"Well it's not every day you stop an invasion." The mare replied with a smile, handing him a piece of paper.

Earl returned the smile and examined the paper.

"Just sign at the bottom." She said, hoofing him a quill.

He levitated it from her and thought for a moment before writing something down. After a second, he levitated the paper back to her.

"Uhhh, alright then Mr... umm... Z." The mare replied, examining his signature.

"Wait." Twilight said. "Can I see that?"

The mare shrugged and gave her the form. After reading it, Twilight leaned close to Earl.

"That's not your name..." She said quietly.

"I know. But Earl isn't exactly the best pony name." He replied. "Trust me."

"What does that even mean?"

"It's just something people used to call me back home." Earl replied, levitating the form away from her.

Twilight raised an eyebrow but shrugged a few moments later.

"Alright, so where to?" Shining asked upon exiting the hospital.

"Let's go pay Mac a visit." Earl replied.