Rainbow Dash was not currently having a good time, in fact she was nearing a complete mental breakdown at the realization that she may or may not have accidentally caused a zombie apocalypse that would result in the end the world. With her back pressing against the corner far right of Applejack's barn, she was staring down her once living friends as they shambled towards her, moaning and groaning about cookies.
She swung a flimsy stick she'd picked up earlier at one of the infected that drew too close to her, resulting in the zombie shambling back much to Rainbow's surprise. Rainbow desperately looked around the barn, the moonlight filtering in through the barricaded windows and open spaces just barely illuminated the space around her, giving the prismatic maned mare just enough light to look for any escape routes as the undead moved forward to consume their prey.
She gripped her stick and held it close to her chest as her eyes darted around the barn, eventually she was lucky enough to spot an opening that the infected had broken through that should be enough to squeeze through if she was swift and careful enough. Without a second thought she darted past the zombies towards the gap, immediately dropping the stick she was holding in her grip in favor of flapping her wings to give herself a little extra speed, as soon as she got close enough to the opening she all but dove through the moderately sized hole from where the undead broke through the defenses, landing less than gracefully on the dirt surrounding the barn with a grunt.
Rainbow took no time to stand up and brush herself off, the fresh night air hitting her coat felt euphoric as the mare steadied her panicked breathing. "I did it.. I got out. Hah, I knew I could do it!"
She sighed in relief, glad that she was out of danger for a moment or two, however her brief moment of relaxation was quickly and brutally ruined when she heard the infected ponies in the barn start banging on the barricaded windows and their grunts and moans as they attempt to squeeze through the hole that only moments before was utilized in her own escape.
She knew she had to get somewhere secure before she could further formulate a plan for going forward now that the world was ending. Rainbow galloped in the direction of Applejack's house, the infected that had cornered her were temporarily stuck in the barn and that bought her at least a couple minutes to scrounge for supplies, Rainbow was pretty confident that the Apple family had some preserves she could snag that could keep her well fed for at least a week.
She pushed herself to gallop for longer than she was normally comfortable with, she told herself that this wasn't Wonderbolts training anymore, this was a life or death situation and she had to be in good shape in order to survive.
She rushed into the farmhouse and slammed the door behind her, sitting down with her back against it to catch her breath and be able to get a view of anypony or anything coming towards her from inside the building before they could get to her. Tears pricked her eyes and for the first time in what felt like ages the confident and cocky mare puts her hoof over her mouth to muffle her terrified sobs, she had no clue if her parents were alive or if the infection had spread to other regions of Equestria and she was utterly terrified and hopeless.
Her sobs were soon cut short when she heard the floorboards creak, her ears swiveled and she looked around the pitch black room for any sign of whatever caused the creaking. Her heart thumped hard in her chest as the creaking of floorboards sounded as if it was coming closer and closer to the mare with each passing second.
Rainbow Dash managed to squeak out a terrified and pathetic sounding "Hello?"
"Uhnn.."
The mare gulped and tried to press her back further onto the door to get as far away from whoever or whatever was in the building with her. It frustrated her that she was so scared and useless in the situation she was now very likely permanently stuck in, she is Rainbow 'Danger' Dash and she could do anything! So why was she so scared? "H-Hello?"
Whatever was making the noise grunted and it's undead hoofsteps made it's way to the kitchen where it turned on the sink and rummaged around the kitchen cabinets, letting out strained grunts and moans of.. Pain?
She sat there trying to will her limbs to move to no success, she was exhausted and worried about her loved ones that weren't in Ponyville, wondering if they even knew of the danger that was no doubt lurking in the streets everywhere by now.
She attempted to keep her breaths steady, instead ending up with uneven and shallow breaths with her heart beating out of control. When the sink was shut off Rainbow swore her heart skipped a beat, she knew she was next.
The zombie sighed and audibly sniffed the air, taking a moment before attempting speech. "He-" It sputtered and dry coughed, wheezing a couple times as it tried again and again, eventually choking out a raspy. "Hello?"
Rainbow felt her heart somehow thump harder in her chest, she took a deep yet shaky breath and summoned her courage to talk. "Hi?"
"Well it's-" It coughed again, it's voice incredibly hoarse. "Good to know that-" And again. "Somepony is able to talk to me."
"So-" She began to very slowly relax "Are you- What- Are you another survivor?"
"It's very.. Complicated."
She said nothing, waiting for the pony to continue. She didn't exactly believe whoever it was at the moment, she needed to physically see that they were no threat.
"But if it makes you-" It hacked and sputtered for a moment. "Feel better, I'm no threat. Just a stallion, not one of them.. Cookie freaks."
"Then why are you acting so strange? First it was your weird freaky groaning and now- Now you're saying weird things." Rainbow slowly stood up from her position on the floor to cautiously move closer to where she spotted the silhouette of the stallion standing in Applejack's kitchen.
"Do you promise not to freak out when you see me?"
"... You're just a normal stallion right? Of course I won't freak when I see you." She scoffed. "Do you think I'm a pansy?"
"No, I don't. I just.. Remember when I said 'It's very complicated'?"
"Yep."
He sighed and let out a dry, painful sounding cough. "I mean it. It's very complicated. I will explain everything once we're done with this whole cookie mess. But please know I am not your enemy, I promise."
She frowned and hesitated to take another step towards him, if anything she wanted to step back and get more distance between them both. She stood watching as his silhouette moved towards the kitchen light switch. "Do you Pinkie swear?"
"A what swear?"
"Nevermind, sorry."
The mystery stallion let out a soft hum as he flipped the light switch that then bathed the entire kitchen in a warm light, he turned to face the mare, his milky green eyes meeting her magenta ones. His fur was dark grey with chunks of flesh peeling off so muscle and bone were exposed for everypony to see, his mane was various shades of green, the tip of his mane was bright green with his mane progressively getting darker in color the further down it went until it looked black. "My name is Venomous Repentance, what's yours?"