As Earl slowly opened his eyes, he was greeted by the warm sunlight shining through one of the library's many windows. To his surprise, the grey unicorn's dreams hadn't been plagued with awful nightmares of his new friends dying, or memories of his broken home world. Relieved, Earl glanced down towards Twilight, who was laying with her forelegs wrapped around him, nuzzling his chest and breathing softly. For once, Earl had woken up without feeling threatened by anything. He was in a new world, with new friends, and no zombies. He had completed the mission, no matter how odd the result was. Glancing around the room, he realized how routine the bright colors had become, much like the violence on earth. Earl would have honestly traded Zeds for bright colors any day. A feeling of hope fluttered in his chest as he took in his surroundings, This was his home now.

Moments later, Twilight awoke and slowly opened her eyes, glancing around her room. After a moment, her eyes met Earl's, which immediately caused the grey unicorn's heart to explode inside of his chest.

"Good morning." She said, her voice cracking slightly.

Another heart explosion.

"Good morning." Earl replied shakily with a nod.

Almost straight out of a cheesy romance movie, the sun shining from outside met Twilight's eyes and made the purple irises glow brightly. Yet another cardiac explosion took place in Earl's chest.

"How are you feeling?" The purple unicorn asked.

Earl looked down towards his bandaged wounds, forgetting that they had even existed. A dull pain set in at the realization.

"Better. Having you around helps." Earl said.

Having you around helps?! Wow, congratulations Dr. Smooth. Earl thought, scolding himself for the cliche' nature of his complement.

To his surprise, Twilight smiled brightly and nuzzled his chest once more.

"Well I'm glad you're alright." She said happily, her hooves wrapping around him tighter.

Something about the situation didn't feel right to Earl. She was a cartoon character, and he was a savage killing machine, forged in the fires of a situation destined for certain death. He wanted to pull away from her, tell her how wrong it felt, but Macintosh's statement entered his mind before his body could make any movement.

You're a pony, She's a pony...

The phrase rolled across his mind for a moment, eliminating any doubts he had thought of before.

I am a pony now. He thought.

The grey unicorn glanced towards Twilight, his eyes closely fixated on the unicorn. She was closing her eyes tightly, enjoying the moment of being with him again. He knew she cared about him, and he honestly cared about her. They've survived together, saved each others' lives.

I don't exactly want to live my life here alone.

"I'm better than alright" He said, running his hoof along her shoulder. "I'm perfectly fine."

Hours later, Twilight, Shining Armor, and Earl made their way to Sugar Cube Corner. Twilight had expected Earl's decision to help, but Shining questioned it. To him and Mac, Earl was simply a seasoned killer, not a friendly guy.

I guess I have a lot to learn about him... Shining thought as they made their way into the building.

The three were instantly greeted by the smell of fresh baked goods, and the bright and colorful decor that filled the nearly glowing room. As expected, Pinkie appeared in a doorway upon hearing the small bell ringing on the door above them.

"Hey! You're early!" Pinkie said happily. "Get it Earl-y? Because your name is Earl?!"

Earl chuckled for a moment.

"Yes, that is pretty clever." He said with a smile.

"Well what are you doing here so early?" She asked, holding her famous bright smile.

"Just looking to help." Earl replied.

Pinkie's smile only brightened and she glanced towards Twilight.

"He's a keeper." She said, doing what could only be explained by Earl as teleporting next to Twilight and nudging her in the midsection.

Earl simply rolled his eyes as he thought of the various times he had seen her defy the laws of physics in the show and smiled as she suddenly returned to her position in the door way.

"Well, you can help Vinyl-"

"VINYL SCRATCH?!" Earl nearly shouted with a bright smile.

A white unicorn with a two-toned blue and aqua colored mane and large blue tinted shades looked up and glanced around.

Earl moved closer to Pinkie, threw his hoof around her shoulders , and leaned close to her ear.

"You're telling me you got Vinyl Scratch to come play at this party?" He whispered.

Pinkie nodded.

"Mhm, she actually offered!"

If everypony kept surprising Earl like this, his heart was likely to cause a massive nuclear explosion that would destroy all of Equestria.

"Freakin' just- wow Pinkie." Earl said, pulling away from her and smiled brightly. "Thanks."

"No problemo!" The pink pony said, trotting back to the kitchen.

If Earl was, at any point, asked what his favorite background pony was, he would mostly likely jump to his recently transformed feet and shout "Vinyl Scratch". Then, proceed to slap you across the face numerous times for thinking it could be anypony else. Needless to say, he was shaking and nearly breaking into a sweat as he approached the stage Vinyl was setting up on.

"Uh, hello." He said awkwardly, grasping the unicorn's attention.

Upon looking up, she smiled widely and raised her hoof towards towards him.

"Well, if it isn't the stallion of the hour, give me some!" She said, her hoof still raised.

Instinctively, Earl met it with his own, creating a loud crack as they connected. The grey unicorn had almost expected this reaction, due to her playful and carefree nature depicted in the community. If Coltifornia was real, they were most likely getting a lot of things right.

"Heard about you stopping the Zeds, kick-ass dude." She said.

That's three ponies now who know how to cuss. I love it... Earl thought.

"Thanks." He said smiling widely.

While the two continued a conversation about various music, Applejack and Big Macintosh had entered The Corner.

"But yeah, I just don't have a lot of music with me right now." Vinyl said, nodding in the direction of a box that seemed to hold records.

"Earl!" Mac called out, his voice slightly muffled by the object in his mouth.

As the grey unicorn turned, he saw a familiar small, metallic device flying towards him. Upon levitating it, he instantly recognized what it was.

"Hope ya' don't mind, ah borrowed it for a while." Mac said as Earl levitated the device closer to him.

The grey unicorn nodded and turned back to Vinyl.

"Problem solved." Earl said, shaking the device in his magical grasp.