//------------------------------// // Don't Let the Door Hit You // Story: Harmony's Thieves // by 4428Gamer //------------------------------// Sweetie Belle’s POV Ponyville Residential Hour After Leaving Pinkie Park … To my left was Carrot Top’s house; my neighbor. She was an Earth Pony that had a huge vegetable garden that made up most of her backyard and wrapped around the side yard as well. That garden had so much care put into it. Partly due to Carrot Top making a living off of selling the crops but it was mostly because it was Carrot Top’s favorite thing to do. Except now that garden was ruined. Weeds and overgrowth covered up what vegetables were still there with a few holes where something dug its way out from underground. It looked as if nopony had tended to that garden for months and the rest of Carrot Top’s yard wasn’t fairing any better. Then, I turned to my right where our other neighbor Light Breeze lived. He was a pegasus pony that made all these beautiful pinwheels. Like Carrot Top’s garden, those pinwheels were always taken care of. Although, out of all the pinwheels he had set up around his house, a third of them had now fallen over. Even a few behind the windows were knocked down. He would never let those things fall over. Sometimes, whenever he was out of town, he’d pay me chore-money to housesit. Not for his pet bird; Squabbles was dropped off at a friend’s house. It’d be to water his plants and, you guessed it, keep those pinwheels standing. Finally, I looked at the house directly ahead of me. My house. Or, well, my and my parent’s house. I stayed here more than anypony else though. When I was old enough to take care of myself, Mom and Dad started going on their trips. When the three of us left that amusement park we wandered around, trying to find anypony to tell us what was going on. But the rest of Ponyville looked like the three houses in front of us. Empty. Eventually, I realized that we were close to my house and I asked Big Mac and Mike if we could stop by. Even if my parents weren’t here I figured I could grab some of my things. “Do you guys wanna come in?” I asked, turning around to Big Mike and Big Mac. “It’ll only take a few minutes.” “That’s really nice.” Big Mike beamed. “But. Big Mike’s gonna stay out here to keep an eye out.” Big Mac nodded along. “We won’t go anywhere,” Big Mike promised. “If you need anything just call.” “Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed. I gave them a small smile and quickly started up towards the entrance. I didn’t bother looking in the windows as I passed. Mom and Dad were probably out of town. Which means if that dome is sealing off Ponyville, they might be trapped outside, I thought. For how long though? I wrapped my fingers around the handle on the front door and it opened without an issue. Greeting me on the other was a ransacked house, cleared of almost everything but the large furniture. The living room, for starters, looked entirely ripped to shreds. The sofas were flipped and torn apart with any small furniture like lamps or end tables missing altogether. The rug had been cut apart like some wild animal had been here and the walls didn’t fare much better. In fact, everything was missing from the walls too. Well, almost everything. The only stuff left entirely untouched was all of Dad’s...unique sports collectables. The stained jerseys I guess I understand, I remembered thinking once. But only Dad would ever think to keep a jar of plastic hoofball tees. Without giving it much thought, I silently entered the house and acknowledged the carnage as I walked over to the stairs. Even all of our pictures were missing. The nails were bent like they had been pulled and torn off the walls. As I went up the first few steps I ended up leaning on the railing for support. Not too many houses had these but I was glad Mom liked them so much. She thought it pulled the room together but now it was finally getting some use. But with my hands moving across the rail I noticed one last thing. Those same claw marks that were all over the carpet were on the stairs and rail. Even though the rail was metal the marks were obvious. Most of them lead down the stairs... I realized that there was more than one set of marks. That or something just liked clawing our stairs. When I made it to the top, I peeked my head around the side. All of the doors upstairs were left open. None of us ever left them open. Even weirder than that was my door. Normally I would have artwork that Mom and Dad let me hang on the door but it was all gone too. I was confused. My parents were the ones who encouraged me to hang my pictures in the first place. As far as I remember, I only ever took them down to replace one with a newer picture. As far as I remember. I frowned. Something about my pictures made sense to me. Like my Cutie Mark. As if something was supposed to be obvious. There was a dull thud. Then, the crashing of glass rang out as though something shattered. I could feel my muscles tense. That sound came from my room. But rather than be worried or concerned, I was only more confused. What in my room has glass? I asked myself. I began walking over at as quick a pace as I could on two legs. I have a vanity mirror on my dresser but it would be louder than that. I think. “Spot!” A heavy voice called out from downstairs making me freeze. “Careful! We break anything, then Madame Rarity will never stop whining!” Madame who now? I glanced back at the staircase for a moment. That wasn’t Big Mike’s voice. Who said that? “Do you think I don’t know that?!” A grating, high-pitched voice cried out from the direction of my room. I flinched back towards my door and, curiosity driving me, approached the door to look inside. The voice beat me to it. When I reached my door, this short, Spike-sized, animal stuck its wrinkled, hairy face outside my door. It couldn’t have been three feet away as I was left staring at its buggy yellow eyes and exposed lower teeth. “It was an ugly drawing anyways!” It shouted, realizing a moment too late that it was screaming directly into my face as it held one of my ‘ugly drawings’ in its mangled claws. We both shared a moment of silence before its ears folded back and its big eyes somehow widened further. “What are—” That’s all it managed to shout before he started screaming even louder. Big Mike’s POV … YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAGHHHH! Big Mike and I turned to the house in terror as a high-pitched wail echoed through every orifice of the house. “Sweetie Belle!” Mac cried. Both of us rushed the door in a full sprint. As we got close, we spotted a large something looming inside. “Spuh—SPOT?!” It cried out. The werewolf-looking monster reached for the half opened door with claws bigger than my head and slammed it shut. “There’s something outside!” “Com-GAH! Quick! NOW!” “Big Mac! HELP!” The last voice was from Sweetener. She sounded deeper inside the house than the entrance. I reached the door first and leaned into a charge, slamming it shoulder-first. The door and frame buckled but the lock held firm. I could tell there was something up against the door. “They’re trying to get in!” “They’re already—GAHK!” The voices kept shouting inside. I stepped back so I could charge the entrance again but Big Mac took his turn. He leapt forward like a ragdoll, crashing through the door head and hands first. The door was reduced to chunks and wood chips. But Mac’s momentum worked against him. After he flew past the entrance, he landed hard on the floor with those same wood chips cutting up his hands and face. I didn’t have time to check on him as I ran inside and stood over him. The werewolf thing leapt up off the ground with a growl. Mac’s tackle must’ve hit it too. When it saw me still standing it readied itself to pounce as it held out its claws, brandishing the nails like rusty knives. I looked for something in reach of me. The frame was still loosely hanging from the wall, there was one or two bent nails nearby, the shelf beside the door had a glass jar full of— Glass jar! The werewolf skulked forward a few steps while I threw my hands out for the jar. When I had a grip on it, I swung right as the werewolf lunged. Glass met jaw and both of them seemed to shatter as the werewolf made contact with me. The claws didn’t sink into my shoulders that deep but the strength in his pounce propelled both of us out of the house in a tumble. Big Mac’s POV … Behind me, Mike and the dog-looking creature slammed into the yard behind me. I shook these hands to get as many splinters out of them as I could before forcing myself back onto two legs. By the time I turned around I saw Big Mike trying desperately to hold the dog’s arms still while it tried frantically to break free. I frowned. “Mi—” “THAT’S IT!” Before I could call out to Mike, that screaming voice from before was less scared and more furious. There was a Bam and I could hear Sweetie Belle let out a sharp scream. Chasing that sound, Big Mike cried out as the dog clawed across his arm. I could see the stairs near me. I heard Sweetie’s voice come from up there. “Mike! Ya good?!” I yelled. Hanging from the entrance was a piece of door frame. Without thinking, I grabbed it with these hands and pulled as hard as I could. It tore loose like a piece of paper and I suddenly had a club the size of a yard stick. “F-FINE!” Mike shouted. The meekness he usually had nonexistent as the giant dog tried to yank himself away from Big Mike. Above me I could hear running before a door slammed shut. That same angry voice let out a hideous growl and I began to hear wood breaking apart. Meanwhile, the dog tried once more to break free of Big Mike’s grip. When it only got a single claw free, it scratched Big Mike in the gut.  Mike let out a howl of pain as I spotted red both on his arm and underneath his shirt. I gritted my teeth. “Mike—” “HELP HER!” He roared, catching the dog’s free claw in a deathgrip. Then, after pulling both arms to the side, he drove a headbutt into the dog’s jaw. Both of them started rolling for control of the fight as I followed Mike’s order and made for the stairs. Sweetie’s POV …     I leaned against the door of my parent’s bedroom feeling every attack that freaky animal made to break down the door. Thank Celestia it’s too angry to see the doorknob! My eyes darted around the room. Like everywhere else, it was ransacked. The bed’s blankets and pillows were missing while the dresser was ripped apart. Pieces of clothing littered the room. I ran to the middle of the room and frantically looked for somewhere to hide. The closets never had doors and the bathroom’s was missing. All of Mom’s stuff was gone while Dad’s stuff looked searched but still there. Dad’s stuff! His closet! I turned to his closet and like I hoped, all of his clothes littered the floor. Perfect! I nearly jumped onto the floor and used my hands to pull every piece of fabric into a huge pile to hide myself as best as I could while still trying to keep a space facing the door to look out of. The entire time, that animal kept clawing at the door until finally I watched the doorknob break off and roll into the room. A large chunk of door was then ripped off and tossed onto the floor. The animal jumped through the door’s hole, panting and growling. It didn’t bother hiding it's rage as it stood on all fours. Then, it’s last growl turned into an all out scream as it’s head whipped around frantically. “Come out,” it growled. “I know you’re in here! And! You’ve gotta be riiiight—” It lunged for the bed first, its ugly claws hoisting it underneath the bed as it barked furiously. I glanced over to the door. It was faster than me and the door was useless anyways. I couldn’t trap him in here or run fast enough to reach a different room. I was about to consider the window before I spotted something. Peeking through the door’s hole was a figure larger than the animal or even me. From the center of my parent’s mattress, the animal tore through it like a cake and its head and arms erupted out of the top. The figure stepped back from the door. “Where are you?!” It demanded. “Don’t waste my time! Madame Rarity will lose it if we—” The animal cut itself off and stuck its nose up into the air and sniffed in a craze. Only after it crawled out from inside the mattress did it stop. It looked directly at me. Oh no. It snarled, hopping off the bed and readying itself to pounce. “Yes. Found you!” The remainder of the door exploded as the largest piece narrowly flew over the short creature. Before the debris could come to a rest, Big Mac rushed in with a crude wooden beam in his hands. The animal instantly changed gears, now entirely horrified as Big Mac brought forward the beam— Big Mike’s POV … The werewolf broke free of my grip and slammed me into the ground, knocking the wind out of me. It paused for an instant, considering whether or not to claw me or try running again. The instant faded and it rose up a heavy claw only for a heavy crash to make both of us turn. Falling out of a second-story window was a brown thing that was the same shape as the werewolf I was fighting but smaller. It hit the ground the same time glass clinked against the dirt. “Shp’t?!” The werewolf tried to call out but his jaw was too mangled. Probably more so when I took the chance to slam my fist into the side of its head. When it sprawled out on the ground beside me, I rolled away and got back on my feet. The werewolf had drawn blood from its claws but it looked worse than it was. Besides, he was doing much worse than I was. The smaller werewolf crawled up to four legs, looking like a dog. Apparently the fall from that window didn’t hurt him as bad as I thought it would. “Run,” it wheezed. “Buh.” The bigger werewolf tried talking as it held its jaw tight with a claw. “Mada’ ‘Ah’ity shaid—” “Forget that! RUN!” The smaller one didn’t wait for an answer. It took off like a dog towards the next house over before leaping into a larger hole from inside the garden. When I was sure it wasn’t coming back, I turned and stared down the dazed werewolf still standing. It started running for the garden like a gorilla while I chased after it full force. As we both reached the garden he dove for the hole and I did the same. Only, as it vanished I reached down and was met with a geyser of dirt sealing the hole back up in a mound. I started kicking the mound a few times. Not trying to muscle through it. I only wanted to make sure that those werewolves got my message. “And stay out!” I ordered. That was the message. “Big Mike!” I turned around and, looking out the broken window, was Sweeter Mell and Big Mac. They looked worried. “Are you okay?!” Sweeter asked. I put on my best smile and tried to chuckle as well as I could. “Yep.” I held out a thumb’s up and drew a sharp breath. So I turned my thumb sideways. “Okay, maybe only a little ‘yep’.” “Get inside, before they come back,” she warned with Big Mac nodding along. I shrugged, trying to ignore the stinging. “Alright then. But it’s fine. Big Mike’s still okay,” I said very convincingly. Then I started walking around the house towards the front door. The second that I was out of view from the window I started limping to save my sprained ankle.