"I still can't believe she did that..." Earl said with a chuckle.

"Yeah," Twilight replied, laughing as well. "just flew onto the dragon's snout and talked him down."

"She was honestly the last pony I expected to do that. I mean, maybe Rainbow Dash, but never Fluttershy..."

Twilight nodded as a slight sadness entered her heart.

"Those are my friends..." She said with a forced smile.

Earl noticed the change in demeanor and stood up from the nearby rock he was sitting on. The human reached over and put his hand on her back without saying a word. Twilight forced a smile but cheered up slightly. The two unlikely friends had spent the past hour discussing some of their adventures and events with friends and family. For the first time during the infection, Earl was genuinely happy. It helped recover his slowly fading insanity when he had someone to talk to.

Or somepony... He thought.

He chuckled slightly and smiled widely as he recovered the two water containers from the side of the stream. The human extended one of the containers towards Twilight.

"If I could trouble you again, ma'am?" He said jokingly.

Earl quickly noticed Twilight's terrified expression as she stared across the shallow stream. He turned around and nearly dropped the water at the sudden realization. Three infected were advancing from the trees.

The human glanced back and tried to plan an escape, however he soon realized that climbing up the steep hill to the nearby road would take to much time. The infected would be chewing on them before they even neared the road.

"Twilight, stay close, I'll handle this." He said, as calm as he could.

His voice echoed through the forest and only further grasped the intention of the carnivorous creatures.

Twilight's mind wrapped around the terrible images of the creatures. Their skin was a sickly grey and their eyes were a shining white. All she could sense from these savage animals was a feeling of death, and fear. Some of the skin had even been ripped from one of the zombie's torso and it's muscle tissue was shining in the day light. The ghastly moan that escaped the open throats of these creatures rung in her ears.

"Twilight?!" Earl called to her.

She instantly broke her gaze and nodded.

"Can you get me the bat?" He said.

Earl maintained a defensive stance as he pointed his finger to the nearby weapon, his enemies now making their way into the water. The purple unicorn looked in the direction of his point and quickly levitated the thrashed wooden bat over to the human. Earl extended his arm to catch the bat and wrapped both of his hands around the handle. He rested the blunt object against his head for a moment and closed his eyes.

"God, forgive me for what I am about to do." He said quietly.

The infected had reached the middle of the stream.

"Twilight, look away." He shouted in a slightly choked voice.

The mare gave no acknowledgement to his words and continued staring, awestruck by the gruesome, flesh-eating monsters.

The first infected had crossed the river and was raising it's clammy claw towards Earl.

It's me or them... He thought, trying to keep his composure.

The human swung the bat fiercely from his side in a perfect batter's swing, It collided with the undead maniac and sent it flying sideways. Earl instantly followed up with several more cracks to the creature's skull as it layed defenseless on the ground. Twilight could only watch in disbelief as Earl defended them both. The human had seemed so gentle to her over the last hour. From what she had gotten to know, she would have never expected him to act this violently.

After making sure the zed had successfully been dealt with, he turned his attention to the next advancing attacker. This zombie was raising his hand as well, but Earl quickly swung the bat, which collided harshly with the creature's arm. It recoiled back for a few moments and it's arm now hung limply, freshly torn from it's socket. Earl wasted no time and immediately continued his rampage as he swung the bat upwards and smacked the infected under it's jaw. It swiftly flew backwards and splashed into the flowing stream. Again, Earl kept cracking away at it on the ground for several moments.

"Earl!" Twilight screamed, terrified.

The final infected had reached the side earlier than expected and shoved Earl to the ground, causing the human to drop his bat. Almost instantly, it jumped onto the defenseless human. He quickly raised his arm and blocked the zombie's attempts at gnawing his face off. A few seconds later a large purple glow appeared around Earl and separated him from his enemy. Earl looked around worriedly, now trapped in a large, spherical, purple ball. He then noticed Twilight standing on a nearby rock, her horn glowing brightly. She grunted loudly and the sphere seemed to explode, sending the Infected stumbling back a few feet. Newly freed, Earl searched around frantically for his bat, which suddenly floated past his face. He reached his hand out to grasp it, but to his surprise it floated right past him, and instead collided fiercely with the zombie's head. He spun around and saw Twilight's angry expression, her horn still glowing brightly. After the realization, he turned back and saw the creature laying dead in the dirt, his bat laying next to the deceased corpse.

Well, now I know for sure she's real. He thought.

"Wow..." He said, shocked.

He retrieved his bat and turned to Twilight once again, then saw her head in her hooves. As the human approached her heard Twilight sobbing.

Of course she's never killed anything... that was her first... He thought as his mouth fell open.

Earl moved next to Twilight and put his hand on her back once again.

"C'mon. Let's just go." He said softly.

Twilight sat on a couch in the living room as Earl put the containers of water inside the refrigerator. After storing them he walked over to the living room and sat down next to Twilight.

"The first one is always the hardest." He said after a few moments.

Twilight stopped shivering and looked up to the human.

"You just need to know," He said, looking into her eyes. "Those things aren't alive anymore. They're nothing more than tortured souls who aimlessly walk the earth and only have one objective. Eat."

He put his hand on the unicorn's shoulder.

"You did the right thing, and I can't thank you enough for saving me." Earl continued.

Earl pulled the cartoon character close and hugged her tightly.

I'm hugging Twilight Sparkle. Seriously? This is just... He thought, once again dumbfounded.

Twilight returned the hug as she processed his words.

They aren't alive...

The phrase rolled around her mind for a moment. After breaking the hug, Twilight wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Thank you." She said, clearing her throat.

Earl nodded and stood up from the couch and walked into the kitchen.

They aren't alive...

Twilight kept repeating the phrase to herself.

After a few moments, Earl returned with two glasses of water.

"Fresh from the stream." He said, smiling and extending a glass to her.

She forced a smile and levitated the glass from the human's hand. To her surprise, the water tasted amazing, and calmed her almost instantly. Earl gulped down the whole glass with in a matter of seconds and sighed loudly before setting it down on a nearby coffee table. He looked at her with a serious expression.

"Let's talk about magic."