Ponyridge Farm is one of the most well-known cookie companies in Equestria. All of Ponyridge Farm's cookies are made at the company's main factory. The only ponies who are allowed to enter are the workers who contribute to Ponyridge Farm's growing sales. Today was an exception as a lucky group of ponies are currently touring the factory to see the magic of cookie production.
'Ah! This is so boring!' Feather Bangs thought as he stood in front of a large group of ponies. Feather Bangs was one of the 'lucky' few who won a free tour of the cookie factory. At first, Feather thought it was a good idea to visit the cookie factory as he might meet some cute mares who love cookies. Unfortunately, Feather hasn't met any cute mares yet and he has to listen to a way-too-eager tour guide talk about the boring history of Ponyridge Farm. 'I thought this was a private tour.' Feather thought as he saw the large tour group in front of him.
"Alright everypony," The tour guide called out. "Let's head over to the next facility so you could see the test subjects taste our famous cookies!" The large group began to follow behind the tour guide. Feather was about to slowly follow the group until something bumped into him.
"Ow!" Feather said as he was pushed to the ground.
"Oh, I'm so terribly sorry." said an elegant voice. Feather opened his eyes from hearing the voice and lifted his head to see who the voice came from. Much to Feather's amazement, he saw a beautiful white, unicorn mare with curly, purple manes that there well-brushed. Her shining, deep blue eyes were staring at Feather which caused his heart to skip a beat.
"Uhhh...." Feather said dumbfounded.
"Oh dear, I must've caused you severe head trauma if you can't speak." The white unicorn mare said with worry. Feather quickly shook his head in attempt to regain his composure.
"No no no," Feather quickly said as he got himself up. "I'm fine. It's just that I never met a beautiful mare like you before."
"Oh, I do get that a lot." The white unicorn said as she waved her hoof.
"I'm Feather Bangs," Feather said as he offered his hoof.
"My name is Rarity," Rarity said as she shook Feather's hoof.
"What brings you to this cookie factory?" Feather asked.
"The reason I'm here is because my friend, Pinkie Pie, begged me to come along since I wasn't busy." Rarity explained.
"When can we eat some cookies!?" said a loud mare's voice. In front of the tour group was a pink, earth pony mare with dark pink, frizzy manes and she was jumping in excitement.
"We will offer free samples once the tour is over." The tour guide answered as she continued to lead the tour group. "For now, could you please remain patient until then?" Pinkie Pie landed on the ground and pouted in response.
"As you can see, I wasn't so lucky." Rarity said with a cringe.
"We better catch up to our group so we don't get lost." Feather suggested as he saw the tour group leaving. Feather offered his arm to Rarity. "Shall we, Ms. Rarity?"
"Oh, the pleasure is mine." Rarity said as she wrapped her arm around Feather's and they trotted towards the group. In the air vents, a shadowy figure watched Feather and Rarity through some small windows. The shadowy figure then started crawling further in the air vents to wherever it goes.
The next area the tour group went to was a large corridor filled with glass windows that showed ponies eating cookies.
"This is the testing department." The tour guide explained. "This is where we have subjects taste Ponyridge Farms' newest cookie flavors and determine which flavors will be sold worldwide." One stallion in the tour group raised his hoof. "Do you have a question?" The tour guide asked.
"Do the subjects suffer any kind of symptoms from eating the cookies?" The stallion asked.
"Oh no, all of the cookies in Ponyridge Farms are made from the safest ingredients." The tour guide replied. "It is like tasting free samples from the supermarket. There is no possible way the test subjects could suffer from any side effects from the cookies." An alarm rang to alert everypony in the corridor and all of the lights changed to red. The tour group started to get scared from the alarm. "Um..It's alright, everypony." The tour guide said loudly to get the group's attention. "There must have been a small accident in another part of the factory and one of the workers pulled the alarm. All we have to do is evacuate the factory in an orderly fashion and wait until the fire department takes care of the situation." Everypony started to hear thumping in the air vents and it was getting closer to some of the testing rooms. The tour group then saw one pony burst through the air vents and attack one of the test subjects. Everypony in the tour group watched in horror as the attacking ponies started biting on the defenseless subjects. Feather noticed that the attacking ponies' mouths were covered with some rainbow-colored substance. When the attacking ponies were done, they moved aside to allow the test subjects to get up. The test subjects' mouths were now foaming the same rainbow substance as the attackers. One of the test subjects smushed himself on to the glass, startling the tour group.
"Cookies!" The test subject yelled before he slammed himself against the window in attempt to break it. The other test subjects started to break their glass windows as well so they could get out.
"Everypony to the next room!" The tour guide yelled as she lead the group down the hallway. Some of the rainbow-mouthed subjects were able to break out of the windows and tried to reach out to grab the tour group. Feather turned to see that some of the test subjects started to run in pursuit of him and the tour group, motivating Feather to run a bit faster. When Feather and Rarity finally made it pass the entrance, the tour guide pressed a button on a wall panel and a pair of metal doors shut the test subjects out of the previous room. Everypony in the tour group started to panic as they had no idea what was going on.
"Are you alright, Rarity?" Feather asked with worry.
"I'm fine, darling." Rarity replied. "This wasn't the first time I ran from certain doom. Although I'm worried about what's happening right now." The rest of the tour group continued to panic until the tour guide whistled to get their attention.
"Everypony please calm down!" The tour guide yelled out. "I know you're all scared from what happened recently, but we now need to focus on surviving and working together!" The ponies in the tour group started to calm down a bit thanks to the tour guide's words. "Okay, our first priority is to find a way out of the cookie factory without getting attacked by those cookie-crazed zomponies. Thanks to my years of tour guiding, I know the ins and outs of this factory. Just follow my lead and we will make it." The tour guide started to lead the group down another long hallway. The next room was filled with all sorts of heavy machines that stopped moving. The tour group trotted as quietly as possible to avoid getting spotted by the rainbow-mouthed zomponies. "We just need to get through this room and we'll enter the laboratories where scientists come up with new cookie flavors. Perhaps there's somepony there who can explain what's going on." Everypony started to hear hoofsteps coming from above them. They looked up to see that the rainbow-mouthed zomponies were climbing on the machineries in attempt to eat the freshly-made cookies inside.
"Cookies," Some of the zomponies said as they stuffed their faces with cookies. The tour guide used her hoof to signal the tour group to quickly trot pass the zomponies.
"Looks like the infected ponies are attracted to cookies." The tour guide said as she watched. "We can just avoid them by staying away from any kind of cookie." The whole group heard a loud crunch noise and they turned to see Pinkie munching on some cookies from one of the machines.
"Mhmm!" Pinkie said in response of tasting the cookies. Pinkie then noticed that her whole group was glaring at her for making so much noise that could attract the zomponies. Pinkie swallowed her cookies. "Sorry," She whispered before she rejoined the tour group. Everypony in the tour group continued to carefully trot pass some more machinery until the tour guide signaled them to halt.
"We're almost to the lab's entrance." The tour guide said as she pointed at a pair of metal doors. "In the count of three, we start trotting towards the doors." The tour guide started counting. "One...two...three-" A zompony fell down and landed on top of the tour guide.
"Cookies!" The zompony said as he bit down on the tour guide, causing her to scream in pain. The yell attracted some of the other zomponies and they started running towards the tour group. The tour group scattered and went into different directions. Feather quickly grabbed Rarity's hoof and lead her down one path away from the zomponies.
"We need to go back and save the others!" Rarity cried out.
"I'm sure they will be fine." Feather replied as he searched for possible escape routes. He could only see more machinery from where he was looking.
"Cookies!" said some of the zomponies as they were galloping towards Feather and Rarity. Feather continued to frantically look until he noticed one machine and he came up with an idea.
"Rarity, hide down here!" Feather said as he ushered Rarity under a large conveyor belt.
"What are you doing?!" Rarity asked.
"Don't worry," Feather assured as he pulled out a long tube from a cookie machine. "Just stay under there until I give you the signal to run to the lab doors!" When zomponies finally arrive to where Feather and Rarity were, they started searching around to find their preys and/or cookies. Rarity did her best to stay quiet in hope that the zomponies will trot past her. Rarity's heart was beating extremely fast considering how close she was to the zomponies. One zompony was about to spot Rarity under the conveyor belt until they heard a voice.
"Hey, cookie monsters!" Feather yelled which caught the zomponies' attention. Feather came out of his hiding spot with a large tube held by both of his hooves. The zomponies immediately charged towards Feather in hopes of catching him."This is how your cookie crumbles!" Feather then bucked the machine that was connected to the tube. The machine came to life and the tube Feather was holding started to shoot out large amounts of chocolate chips. The zomponies fell back from getting pelted by all of those chocolate chips. Adrenaline rushed all over Feather as he continued to fire more chocolate chips at the zomponies. "Rarity, run!" Feather yelled, causing Rarity to gallop as fast as she could towards the doorway to the lab. Feather's distraction was over when the machine ran out of chocolate chips to fire. Feather quickly threw away the tube and ran after Rarity. Rarity was able to use her magic to pry the doors open for a bit to allow herself to get inside. She was about to shut the doors until she notice Feather galloping towards her. This made Rarity try her hardest to keep the doors open for Feather. Right before Rarity was about to let go of her magic on the doors, Feather jumped through right before the doors slammed shut. Several thumps came from the door to indicate that the zomponies were trying to break in. Both Rarity and Feather collapsed on the floor and panted heavily as they barely got away from the zomponies.
"Feather," Rarity said after she was able to catch her breath. "That was the most ridiculous stunt I have ever seen." Rarity then moved closer to Feather. "But then again, I'm so touched that you risked your life to save me."
"Hey, it's what I do. Especially for a beautiful mare like yourself." Feather replied. He noticed that his face and Rarity's were only a few inches from each other. They stared into each others' eyes and they could feel their hearts suddenly racing. Their faces became blush as they were so close. Feather couldn't help but move closer to form a kiss on his lips and Rarity joined in as well. Just before their lips were about to touch, they suddenly heard a voice.
"Hey guys!" Pinkie called out from between Feather and Rarity, ruining the mood between.
"Pinkie!" Rarity yelled out from fear and anger. "You scared the cutie marks out of us!"
"Whoops, my bad." Pinkie said while rubbing her neck. Feather and Rarity got up to take a look around the room they were in. The room had all sorts of test tubes and beakers with different liquids inside.
"Wow, I haven't seen this much bubbling glasses since Twilight tried to create that talent enhancer potion." Pinkie commented as she looked closer on one of the test tubes. All three of the ponies suddenly heard a loud thump out of nowhere. They turned to see that the sound came from a large metal closet at the other side of the lab room. When they moved closer to the metal closet, they started to hear the sounds of crying from inside. Feather moved closer to the metal closet to give it a few small knocks.
"G-go away!" A stallion's voice cried out. "Don't come any closer, you zomponies!" Rarity trotted next to Feather.
"Excuse me, sir." Rarity said to get the closet pony's attention. "I can assure you that none of us are zomponies nor have bitten by any." An eye appeared in one of the small openings on the metal closet.
"Huh, it does look like you three aren't forming that rainbow goo from your mouths. I'll take your word for it." The metal closet's doors opened to reveal a scrawny, white earth pony stallion with dark brown manes. His face had lots of red pimples on it along with a pair of glasses covering his blue eyes. He wore a green bowtie and a long, white lab coat. "Call me Poindexter, I'm one of the leading scientists in the Ponyridge Farm cookie factory."
"I'm Rarity," Rarity said. "And this is Feather Bangs and the mare over there is Pinkie Pie."
"It's very nice to meet you. I apologize for being hostile. When the outbreak happened, I ended up hiding inside this closet while the rest of my research team tried to run for the exits."
"Yeah, exactly how did this zompony outbreak occur?" Feather asked.
Poindexter sighed. "I may have contributed to that." Poindexter said before he started his explanation. "My research team and I were working on some special cookies that could make ponies buy more Ponyridge Farm cookies. It was difficult and our bosses were getting really impatient. It wasn't until our bosses gave us strange chemicals for the cookies in order to speed up the development process. When we fed the cookies on some of the lab rats, they started to excrete some rainbow-like substance from their mouths and they became extremely aggressive. What was worse, one of the lab rats escaped and went through the air vents. That rat must've bit one pony and the virus spread throughout the factory."
"Oh dear," Rarity said with her hoof to her mouth. "Were you able to find a cure to this virus?"
"My team and I have tried to analyze what was inside those chemicals, but those substances weren't anything we have seen before." Poindexter said with his head down.
"So, there's no hope then?" Rarity said in disbelief. Feather placed a hoof on Rarity's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Rarity." Feather assured. "I'm here to help you." Rarity couldn't help but smile as Feather's words made her feel some comfort. Rarity noticed Pinkie sitting at a corner while munching on something.
"Pinkie?" Rarity said as she slowly trotted towards her friend. Pinkie turned her head to reveal her mouth foaming with the same rainbow substance as the zomponies.
"Cookies!" Pinkie cried out as she charged towards Rarity. Feather was able to push Rarity out of the way from Pinkie.
"How did Pinkie become a zompony!?" Feather said as he, Rarity, and Poindexter kept their distance from Pinkie who started smashing all of the test tubes. Poindexter saw a plate of bitten cookies at the corner where Pinkie was sitting.
"Pinkie must've eaten one of the bad cookies!" Poindexter shouted.
"Why must Pinkie be always snacky!?" Rarity complained loudly. She and Feather were trapped at a corner while Pinkie slowly approached them. Feather tried his best to stand his ground as he needed to be ready to defend Rarity. Just before Pinkie was about to charge at them, Poindexter called out to her.
"Hey Pinkie, catch!" Poindexter said as he threw something in the air. Pinkie sniffed it and immediately jumped to catch whatever Poindexter threw. Pinkie caught what looked like a cookie and began to devour it. Pinkie chewed the cookie a few times before she started to choke from it. She collapsed on the ground and bubbly foam came out of her mouth. Feather, Rarity, and Poindexter slowly approached Pinkie's body.
"That was unexpected." Feather claimed.
"What kind of cookie did you feed Pinkie, Poindexter?" Rarity asked.
"It was an oatmeal cookie." Poindexter replied. This made Feather and Rarity raise their brows at Poindexter. "What? I like oatmeal cookies." All three of the ponies heard the fire alarm in the room. They then saw that the chemical spills caused a large fire to spread throughout the lab.
"We got to get out of here!" Poindexter said as he led Feather and Rarity to another door. All three of them ran up some stairways until they arrived to the next floor. The room was filled with iron pipes that went in different directions. There were catwalks that were over the solid floor. A large furnace was also at the bottom of the room and it was emitting some steam.
"What is this place?" Feather asked as he and Rarity followed Poindexter across a catwalk.
"We at the source of the factory's heat." Poindexter said as he pointed at the large machine. "That furnace is what makes the heat. If anything were to happen to it, it would cause a large explosion to the factory."
"So we stay away from it?" Feather asked.
"Exactly," Poindexter said as they arrived to another door. They suddenly heard some thumping coming from the door.
"What was that?" Rarity asked.
"Something I hope won't come to us." Poindexter said as he and the others kept their distance from the doors. It bursted opened to reveal a white, muscular pegasus stallion with a dark yellow, short mohawk. A rainbow-substance was also coming out of his mouth.
"Cookies! Yeeeaaaahhh!" The muscular stallion cried out as he picked up the metal doors and threw it at the other three ponies.
"Run! It's Bulk Biceps!" Rarity cried out as she ran with Feather and Poindexter.
"Do you know that stallion!?" Feather asked while following Rarity.
"He lives in the same town as me! He must've gotten infected by the zompony virus!" Rarity answered.
"Great, it's like getting chased by the school jocks all over again!" Poindexter cried as he ducked to avoid a pipe Bulk Biceps threw. Bulk Biceps lifted up a large pipe and threw it towards the other doorway, preventing the other ponies from escaping.
"We just need to take out this Bulk Biceps and get out of here." Feather suggested.
"How are we going to take out Bulk?!" Poindexter asked. "He's ten times larger than all of us!" Feather suddenly remembered what happened to Pinkie.
"Poindexter, do you still have some oatmeal cookies?" Feather asked.
"Yeah, but I only got one left." Poindexter said as he pulled out the said cookie.
"Perfect," Feather said as he took it and turned to Rarity. "Rarity, I need your help." Bulk flew towards Poindexter as he was the only one Bulk spotted. Bulk landed and slowly trotted towards Poindexter.
"Hey...Bulk?" Poindexter said in a nervous tone. "Y-you probably don't want to bite me, I-I'm not very tasty and I think would taste like sweat and chemicals." Poindexter continued to back away while Bulk was slowly approaching him. Little did Bulk knew, Feather and Rarity were slowly trotting behind Bulk so they could get the drop on him. Just when Bulk was about to attack Poindexter, Feather jumped on top of Bulk and held on to the muscular pegasus like a bull. Feather pulled out the last oatmeal cookie Poindexter gave him and shoved it into Bulk's mouth. This caused Bulk to choke as the oatmeal cookie tasted terrible. Bulk stumbled backwards only to trip over Rarity who was sitting behind him. The muscular stallion ended up falling down towards the ground. Bulk attempted to flap his wings, but the oatmeal cookie he ate made him too sick to fly. He continued to fall until he crashed into the factory's main furnace, causing fire to explode. Feather quickly grabbed Rarity to help her up.
"We really need to go!" Feather cried as he, Rarity, and Poindexter ran towards the entrance to some more stairs. The three ponies hurried up the stairs while getting away from some zomponies who were chasing after them. Poindexter tackled the next door to burst it open. The door revealed that they were on the rooftop and there was no where else to go. Feather noticed the zomponies coming and quickly shut the door. He pushed himself against the door to prevent the zomponies from coming out. Rarity and Poindexter joined Feather to add more weight against the door.
"What are we going to do?!" Rarity cried out in fear. The ponies heard something from the distance. It was revealed to be a rescue helicopter flying towards the factory's rooftop. The cockpit was occupied by a stallion who was piloting the helicopter.
"I'm here to rescue you all!" The pilot stallion said through the helicopter's speakers. "Get on before the zomponies come!"
"Feather, Rarity, you two go on ahead!" Poindexter said, making the couple look at him in shock.
"We can't leave you!" Feather said. "You can help find a cure to the virus!"
"The factory's main furnace is damaged." Poindexter replied. "It will be only a matter of time before the whole factory will explode. The blaze can get rid of the zomponies once and for all! I'll hold off the zomponies while the two of you can go!" Feather looked at Rarity who was also conflicted with Poindexter's plan. "Please, let me atone for my actions!" Feather only nodded as he got off from the door and took Rarity's hoof. Feather and Rarity started to run towards the edge of the rooftop. The both of them jumped and landed into the helicopter. The helicopter started flying away from the factory. Feather and Rarity could only watch as the zomponies bursted through the door and attacked Poindexter. Explosions went off from the factory, letting fire burn all around it. Soon, the whole factory was all covered in flames. Feather and Rarity stayed silent while riding to where ever the helicopter went. Feather turned to Rarity who was still looking at a window.
"Rarity," Feather said to the mare. "I'm so sorry for what happened to Pinkie." Feather placed a hoof on Rarity's shoulder. "I will always be with you if you need me." Feather started to hear Rarity growling. She turned to reveal her mouth was covered in the same rainbow substance like the zomponies. Feather was horrified to see Rarity as a zompony.
"Cookies!" Rarity cried out before she jumped at Feather. He screamed in terror before everything went black.
"Excuse me, sir." A familiar voice called out to Feather. Feather opened his eyes to see that he was in an empty movie theater. Feather was also surprised that the pony standing in front of him was Poindexter but wearing an usher uniform and held a broom in his hooves.
"Poindexter?" Feather said.
"Actually, it's Gizmo." The nerdy stallion replied. "And I need you to leave the theater. The zompony movie marathon is already over." Feather was shocked as he remembered that he was watching some movie marathon at the theater.
'I guess I must've dreamt that whole thing.' Feather thought.
"Um, sir," Gizmo said to Feather. "You have some rainbow stuff on your face." Feather touched his muzzle and saw some rainbow goo on his hoof.
"No...no!" Feather said in horror. "I'm becoming a zompony! Aaahhh!" Feather cried out as he ran out of the theater. Gizmo noticed something and picked up an empty cup.
"I guess he must've drank some of this rainbow slushie." Gizmo said as he dropped the cup and resumed sweeping the theater.
