Dogs in the Attic!

5 minutes earlier…

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Applejack sprung up in bed. There was a noise, but from what? What living thing or object could make that sound? On Celestia’s green Earth, such a noise wasn’t possible, but she heard it; it couldn’t have been her imagination.

So where did it come from? Did it come from inside the house? If this thing was in here, how long did they have until it made that sound again, and did it mean their lives? These thoughts rushed away as she heard hoofsteps filling the hallway. Leaping out of bed, she bolted for the door.

Big Mac too came barging out of his room. Applebloom came out after, albeit slower and bleary.

“What in the hay was that?” she said, rubbing her eyes.

Applejack looked up and down the hall anxiously, Big Mac doing the same. “Ah don’t know.” she said. “Ah can’t figure out where it came from.”

That was answered quickly when she heard a loud bang followed by a squeal. Like a dog would squeal when you stepped on its tail, although in this case if you ripped its spleen out. Yes, two exact comparisons.

“It sounds like it’s coming from the attic.” Big Mac said, eyes glued to the ceiling.

Applejack nervously walked toward the other end of the hallway, past Applebloom and Big Mac. “Ah’m gonna investigate that racket there. Make sure Applebloom don’t do nothin’ stupid, kay?”

“Hey!”

“Eeyup.”

The floorboard became mud as her stomach squirmed with every step closer to the attic door. Applejack looked at the string hanging from the ceiling, anxiety pulling at her insides with its venomous hook of non reassurance. The closer she got, the more it tugged its chain.

Applejack flinched back when another squeal emitted from above, this one long and dragged out like one of Rarity’s erotic novels (that she wrote). It followed by a ripping sound…

Then nothing. The squealing stopped; so did the rumbling. But seconds later, loud… footsteps(?) could be heard.

GLOP, GLOP, GLOP, GLOP.

The string gave a final taunting bounce and Applejack yanked it. A small set of steps fell out, but more connected to a rail system slid from beneath, hitting the floor with a loud THUD!

GLOP, GLOP, GLOP—

Applejack stared up into the attic, the black veil of the unknowing bickering its humorous finger at her. The darkness soaked her in, the trek up the stairs feeling as if she were slowly zooming in on it.

Creak…. Creak… Creak…

Applejack raised her head through the hole, trying to pierce the veil of darkness. The glop, glop, glopping had stopped. Silence became Applejack’s villain. Wind echoed against the confined walls, making the century old wood creak.

When her eyes adjusted, she noticed the soft shimmer of the moon’s rays hitting the floor. Applejack turned her head, missing the splotches of red on the ground. Her eyes instead followed the window.

Red ichor dripped from protruding shards. The glass wasn’t cloaked per se, but it did cut whatever jumped out pretty deep. Whatever jumped out must have been eviscerated.

Wind filtered through the opening, forcing all warmth out of the room. It felt like a snowman was hugging Applejack. Moreso from the dread she felt than the cool air. Every breath, a fog of terror seeped out.

What was in this attic? What insane creature had gotten in their house and went berserk to the point of jumping to its death? The only answer she received was that of the chilling wind and silence. And furious waddling.

Applejack swiveled her head around and could make out a blob of white in the darkness coming toward her. “What the hay!” she barely had time to say before a duck leaped forth, giving Applejack a face full of feathers.

Her world became submerged in white silk as the avian flittered in her grasp. Applejack was just about to pry it from her face when she felt an ultrasharp sting in her right shoulder. Then one of her hind hooves slid off the step.

The orange pony and the bush of feathers attacking her fell, sliding down the steps with a thud, thud, thud. When they reached the bottom, Applejack hit her head against the last plank and groaned.

Her world became engulfed with space as stars danced all around her vision, coming and going as they pleased. Just when her vision cleared, she felt something light like a paw lay against her maw. Looking up, the duck stared down at her. In its maw it held an Exacto blade. And a gleam of malice was present.

“Applejack?” Big Mac said.

The duck stared down the other end of the hallway, wide-eyed, then got off Applejack’s muzzled and glocked for the attic entrance.

“Hey!” she yelled. Her hooves twirled in the air as she uprighted herself. Pain flared in her shoulder where warm ooze drizzled down her leg, but Applejack ignored it and ran up the stairs.
She barely saw the white of its hind feathers when she poked her head through. It disappeared beyond all the clutter that filled the attic.

“Dang nabbit, ya get over here!” Messy attic or not, Applejack would do her shoulder right!

She scrambled along the floor, eventually pushing herself up to jog. Applejack had reached the clutter when—

CRASH!

The world danced by as Applejack windmilled through the air. Dinner nearly lurched out of her stomach when her back hit the wall next to the window and she slid down.

“Applejack!” came Big Mac’s voice.

Applejack powered through the uppercut she took to the brain and watched as the red stallion’s body emerged from the attic entrance and ran over to her.

Her eyes widened in horror as a fine mist of several colors trailed behind him. Applejack was about to jolt up and yell when—

SWOOSH!

Almost as quickly as Big Mac could run up to her, the mist whisked right next to them. Cold air consumed their bodies as the mist slowly began to take form. Legs fell from the cloud, landing against the floor lightly. Only when the torso and head took form did Applejack realize what she was seeing.

The most ungodly canine they would probably ever see stood before the two of them. It turned its head, revealing two iridescent eyes of crimson. Its gaze lingered on the two of them, as if trying to determine a fate.

The three held their staredown for all of ten seconds before the creature finally said, “a;lskdjfalsdjf.”

Applejack and Big Mac blinked, trying to interpret what had just been said. Rather than receive a response, however, the canine extended a leg through the hole in the window as it pulled its body through. The sound of crunching glass came from the roof as it became fully enveloped by the outside.

EEEEEEEEEEEEE

Tears forced out of their eyes, while the blistering eardrum blundering molested their ear canals. Applejack and Big Mac tucked their ears back, throwing hooves over their heads for good measure. Still, their heads screeched for sanity. It’s only when they felt the vibration of the floor beneath them that they realized the screeching had stopped.

THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD

“Look out!” Applejack screamed, pointing to the Taurtaristic-twist of a creature emerging from behind Big Mac.

Big Mac swiveled around just in time for it to pounce on him. It got leverage by leaping off with its hind… claws, and effortlessly pinned him to the ground. Big Mac, however, is never uncredited for his strength, because as the creature’s teeth bore down on him, he had managed to hold its jaw apart as he was being pinned. Wasting no time scrambling to her hooves, Applejack rammed into the creature.

The monster stumbled off him, giving Big Mac enough time to get back up. In the rays of the moonlight, they could perfectly make out the beast. Covered in blood head to toe, it stood pony height. Its eyes were round spheres blackened with an oily lens; flesh, thick and meaty; claws that would give katanas a bad rep, it was without a doubt a product of forsaken nature.

The monster lurched for Big Mac, claws pointed at his throat. The stallion swiveled out of the way in time for it to lose its balance and sink its sharp talons into the floorboards.

Rearing her hindlegs up, Applejack slammed her hooves full force into its snout. The monster yanked its claws out of the floorboard, pedaling backward in a daze. Frustration evident, it opened its maw wide and—

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Eardrums banging, Applejack spun around again and made a kick for its snout, when she felt her hooves get caught in something wet. Looking back, the monster had both her hindlegs trapped in its mouth. She responded by trying to kick that back of its throat, but when that didn’t work, she leaned her body forward and tried pulling out.

The monster opened its mouth for a brief moment before it clamped down again, enveloping more of hindlegs. Applejack bit back a squeal of pain as she felt the ravenous beast bite down.

Desperate, she slammed the right side of her body against the floor, taking the monster down with her. A sharp sear stung her hindlegs as the teeth dug in further for a brief moment before the jaws released her.

The monster staggered back up, ready to lunge at Applejack again… but not before Big Mac stabbed it in the eye with a broomhandle.

The creature roared and screeched in pain, the copious blood pouring out of its socket mixing with the blood it looked as if it had bathed in. It swiveled its body around, side-to-side, trying to shake the broomhandle from out of its eye.

Big Mac helped Applejack off the floor. The two watched in shock and horror as they tried to figure out what the beast was. But it wouldn’t let them have that thought in time, for it gripped the handle with one mighty talon and yanked it out.

It chucked the broom to the side, turning back to the two ponies. Its long tongue slithering out, it made another lunge.

They were ready this time. Doing a forward roll, the monster had merely skimmed Applejack’s coat as it leapt over her. Standing upright again, she lifted her hindlegs and slammed them into its rear-end just as it landed.

It yelped forward, a squelching sound emitting from the monster’s blood-covered skin upon impact. Big Mac took the opportunity to tackle it into a pile of boxes.

Century old knick-knacks flew everywhere, which gave Applejack some time to scramble for something that she could use as a weapon… that happened to be a clothing iron.

The gnarly beast darted up from the box pool, roaring in anger. It foamed from out of its mouth thick white bubbles mixed with frothy blood. The single black lens focused on Big Mac’s face, and the beast poised to strike…

Until Applejack slapped it in the face with the iron, that is.

The monster screamed in pain again. The surface of the clothing iron gleamed with red, a thick coat of it dripping from the edge—exactly how she angled it. She looked from her weapon to the creature now missing both of its eyes and wondered what to do next.

Crash!

If getting the fuck out was on the bucket list of shit to do before death, it was time for her to fulfill that rquirement. That requirement would not be met, because that bucket list also involved a slick tendril of bloody defiance wrapping around her waist.

The floor fell away as she flew into the air. The world spun, enraptured in her own orbit. This all ended in a searing pain in her back and the splash of splinters jabbing into her coat.

The tendril lifted her up at the hips, ready to attempt another swing. Desperate, Applejack flipped over onto her belly and slammed her hooves into the remaining clutter all over the floor. Sandals, hairbrushes, and priceless heirlooms were shoved away as she dug, but the item of her euphoria remained out of sight.

The tendril tugged, and Applejack slid along the floor, a trail of blood following her wake. It wasn’t hers but it certainly… wasn’t from anything she knew.

She flipped over again onto her back. Two dots of amber greeted her from the darkness,their sinister shine paralysing her mind for a moment. But it wasn’t enough to stop her.

She shook and she shook, but the tendril continued to drag her across the floor. This came to an abrupt stop when the blade of a shovel came down on the ropey sinew.

The tendril flailed, spraying both Big Mac and Applejack with gushes of blood. It sank back into the darkness, the two amber dots disappearing. What emerged next was the head of a monster uncomparable to the one now missing its own eyes.

It towered before the two, crouched down to avoid hitting its head against the attic supports. Unlike the previous monster, which was ripped with pure muscle, this one was slender. It had a long neck, almost like a giraffe’s, and talons of utter terror (also like a giraffe).

Membranes on its neck pulsated as it breathed in and out. The new monster stared down at the two of them with its black, sunken lens for eyes. Revealing endless rows of teeth that looked like it could rip apart a tree, it leapt for Applejack.

She rolled to the side as Big Mac jumped out of the way, and its nose banged against the wooden floor. Rather than recoil in pain, it whipped its tendrils out in every direction.

Applejack did good work dancing around the meaty flails, but many still struck her. Her face, her chest, her flank; each slap against her coat stung horribly.

CRASH!

Another monster came barreling through the attic, taking out the attic’s supports with it. It crashed into the beast whipping its tendrils, the two hitting the ground with an enormous thud!

This didn’t give Applejack or Big Mac as near amount of time that they hoped, because the beastly canines scrambled back onto their feet right away.

The bulky monster was about to lurch for Applejack when its tendrils wrapped around its jaw. Pulling it back, the tentacled beast bit down on its neck, the other screaming in pain. This gave the two ponies leeway to escape.

Applejack and Big Mac practically clambered over each other to reach the hole in the floor. Applejack was the first to slip through, and slip she did: all the way down the stairs.

Big Mac stepped over her, running down the hallway where Applebloom was standing. “What the hay is going on up there!” she called.

Applejack swooped back up onto her legs, a desperate call to get the fuck out of the way. Turning back to the stairs, she lifted the steps by the bottom plank and slid it upward.

Fragments of wood came splattering down when another monster slammed its whole body through the hole. Applejack crouched down to avoid a dancing claw trying to grapple for anything worth grappling for.

It swayed in midair like a tree caught in a hurricane, struggling to find purchase on a face it could rip off. Applejack gulped, knowing if she had been a second too late, its foot long claws would have sliced through her throat and she would have been left a faceless bloodletting can of tomato juice and pulp.

The claw slammed against a wall, digging into the wood and tearing the wallpaper away in one quick swipe. Bits and pieces fell from the ceiling; Applejack knew she had to get out of the way and quick.

Before she could shimmy her body backwards, the hand stopped swinging. Like a tire swing hanging from a tree, it swung back and forth, back and forth calmly.

She stood up, examining its wrinkled features. Blood drip, drip, dripped from splintered scratches in its hand, splotching the floor with handsome stains of cranberry splotches.

A wet sound emitted through the hallway and more blood dripped from the hand, this time like a leaky faucet. Applejack could only see the back of the end from where she stood, but that changed when it turned toward her.

A black sphere stared back at her. It took Applejack a minute to understand what she was looking at before she realized that the monster in question could see her.

Before she could even run, drywall and splinters showered over her face as something slimy wrapped around her hind ankle and she was lifted off the floor.

The ground floated away while the blood rushed to Applejack’s head. She looked up through her dizziness (or was it down? To the ceiling, it must have been! Unless in this case the ceiling can be called the floor and the floor can be called the ceiling.), to examine a ropey piece of flesh wrapped around both her legs and some of her hip.

A piece of it slithered up to her chest, revealing a gaping hole with teeth. Her eyes widened in realization as the tentacled-thing did the same with its mouth—and slammed into her face.

Calcium-tipped blades sawed in the sides of her face as the esophagus tube sucked on her. She could feel some of the blood being drained from her head, adding an extra dose of spinning to her dizzy dance.

More pain seared her face as the mouth was suddenly ripped away. Big Mac stood next to her, yanking on the tentacled limb in an attempt to tear it apart.

The esophagus uncurled from around her hindlegs, letting Applejack fall to the ground with a loud thunk! It retracted into the hole in the ceiling like a fishing line, picking Big Mac up with it.

Thunk!

Hitting his head against the ceiling and landing on his rear end, Big Mac quickly waved the dizzy spell that had washed over him away. Looking over to his sister, who was now getting up, he yelled, “We have to get out of here, Applejack!”

“But we have ta go get Granny!”

“I’ll get her. You get Applebloom out of the house!”

Applejack was about to agree when more debris fell from the ceiling. The hole was much wider now, since the monster’s shoulder was poking through, trying to shove its body downward.

Sharp talons made a lunge for Applejack, but luckily for her, Big Mac pushed her out of the way, wrapping around his neck instead. Applejack gaped in shock as she watched it lift up her brother and slam him into a wall, then to the next.

Desperate, Big Mac sunk his teeth into the hand attempting to choke/beat him to death. Pure blood oozed from his mouth while he tore its flesh away, like pulling bark away from sap.

The hand let go of him, the creature above screaming. Applejack thought it was about to make another lunge for her brother, but Big Mac had already grabbed shattered pieces of wood from off the ground and stabbed the hand right where the black sphere was.

The screams of agony from above were tenfold, something that made Applejack worry, since the monster’s hand reigned hellfire, thrashing against the walls back and forth like a wrecking ball. The shard of wood stuck out from its hand like an extra finger, hard to distinguish from its five other talons.

Applejack’s heart leapt back into her chest when the monster forced its hand back through the attic opening. She could hear the loud thud, thud, thud! Of the taurtaristic beast above her, indicating it was leaving them alone.

Finally, although she knew it probably wouldn’t be for long, Applejack let out a breathy sigh of relief.

Then the black orb that had been in the monster's hand fell to the floor and exploded. Splinters of floorboard and bits of drywall coated the two ponies as they were flung backward, the screams of Applebloom being cut off by the rambunctious sound.

Okay, so remember when the roof exploded earlier? That was a lie. The explosion had merely torn up some of the hallway and blew the door to Big Mac’s room off its hinges.

Staggering back up, Applejack looked up at the gaping whole in the ceiling, deciding whether to run or… fucking run. Every slow step backward, her stomach lurched at the fear of one of those ungodly monsters poking their head out through the dark veil. But when nothing happened for over a minute, Applejack finally began to feel safe.

Then another orb fell to the floor.

KABLOOM!

Remember earlier when it was mentioned that the roof didn’t really blow up? That was also a lie.