Chapter 32: Horror Unleashed
Chapter 32
Horror Unleashed
In a hidden canal, something moved. Hidden beneath the hooves of the theows, something terrible shifted through the aqueducts that brought water to the village. It moved with utmost swiftness, with a determination to reach its destination.
It slithered its gelatinous, amorphous form through the underground passages. It knew where it was going. And it had to reach there without being seen.
With only the dimmest light to show it the way, it glided across the surface of the waters. It’s wake echoed off of the rough stone walls as it hurried to its destination.
Soon, it arrived at a pipe that dipped into the waters. There, it climbed its way up the shaft, through the metallic darkness.
It found its way into an underground reservoir with many more passages to take. But, it had been through each one countless times. It knew every path by heart, and knew just the one to take to get where it wanted.
It skimmed along the circumference of the reservoir, and was pulled into another direction. Somebody somewhere was using a lot of water, and it was diverting the thing’s course.
The blob struggled against the strengthening current, and reached out to grab onto the sides of the reservoir walls. With all its might, it pulled itself away from the current. Had it a mouth, it would have cursed a blue streak at the stream of water. But, now that it was free, it continued on its way.
It flowed through the passage it needed at top speed. At each turn, it shifted its weight to navigate the series of pipes. Finally, it was at the main where it needed to be. It flowed up the pipe, and seeped out a faucet in the living area upstairs.
Once it landed in the sink, the blob scrambled to keep from going back down the drain. Its effort was in vain, as the porcelain surface was too sleek to hold onto.
In a desperate move, it grabbed a fork that was still in the sink, and used it to stop itself from falling, just as it fell down the drain.
The blob held onto the fork and climbed back into the sink. With a jump, it landed on the top of the counter, rolled over the side, and dropped to the floor.
The translucent blob splattered flat for a moment, then regrouped itself. It shook its form as if to regain lucidity, then seeped through the cracks in the floor.
On the ceiling of the room below, the blob peered about. The specimen had not shown up yet. But, the door to the shop soon opened.
The shadowy figure watched her starlit surface, and observed the images of a theow with greenish fur enter the toy shop. Behind her, a mouse in a polka dot dress walked in.
She needed to find a way to stall for time to keep Minnie there, while the others made their way to the shop.
A smile crossed Taffy’s face as she turned to her guest.
“How about I make you something to drink? You look like you’ve been about for a while now,” Taffy said.
“What? But, what about what you wanted to tell me?” Minnie said.
“No, no. Far be it from me to be a bad hostess. You sit still and get comfortable. I’ll make cocoa, or whatever I have lying around,” Taffy said, before she hastily left to the adjacent room, and ran up the stairs there.
Minnie was in a bit of a fluster over Taffy’s odd behavior. First, the tinker disappeared, reappeared, offered to tell her about what happened, then delayed to make drinks. But as confused as Minnie was, she was quickly taken by the sights of all the toys around her.
There were things that were far grander than any toy she had growing up on her parents’ chicken farm. As she searched, Minnie found a tin box with a crank on it. She knew precisely what it was. A jack-in-the-box, just like she had when she was a young mouselet.
The mouse smiled at the memory of the first time she played with a toy like that. And how she nearly jumped through her ceiling when she saw the garishly painted clown face pop out on its spring.
Curious to see what awaited within that box, Minnie turned the crank.
A simple, repetitive melody played as the mouse operated the toy. When the song ended, she was surprised that the top simply popped open, and a clown face was not what came out.
A mechanical flower sprouted up, and its tin petals opened to reveal two dancing ladybugs.
Minnie giggled at the sight, and glanced around at the many marvelous toys on display.
The shadowy figure watched the mouse play with the contraptions on display.
“Oh, isn’t that just the cutest thing? Too bad I scrapped all of the best stuff to build you,” the figure said to her machine.
The machine fizzled with electricity, and there was a tiny explosion inside it.
“Sorry, but you can only find so much in a shop like that. It’s not like all the right parts are going to be found in a single place. And unless you want me hoofing it a hundred miles to the next town, this is as good as it’s going to get,” the figure said.
The machine popped, and a cog flew out with the force of a fastball. Right toward the figure’s head.
The figure screamed loudly, and ducked.
The cog stuck into the wall just behind her, embedding deep into the stone.
“Hey! What’s the big idea!? Do you have any idea how hard it is to repair something like this!?” the figure said, as she pointed to her own head.
The machine sputtered and spewed a puff of smoke.
The figure growled loudly, and sat back down to keep an eye on the mouse.
Minnie became aware of a noise like something bouncing. When she looked to the source, she saw what seemed like a spring with two rubber ends bounding end over end toward her. And it was followed by another.
The mouse caught the two toys, before Pluto came running out of the room they had come from.
“Arf-arf!” the hound dog said, as he chased after the toys. .
Upstairs, Taffy slowly prepared the drinks for her guest downstairs. She finished preparing water in a kettle, plugged her sink, and set the kettle in her fireplace.
From her faucet, more of the globules began to flow. In a moment, they flowed as a solid stream into the sink.
Taffy winced. Something within her made her head throb, and her mind hazy. Something that wasn’t supposed to be there was forcing its way in, changing her in a terrible way.
Downstairs, Pluto paused when he saw Minnie.
“Oh. So, this is where you’ve run off to. Where’s Spike?” Minnie asked.
“Arf-arf!” Pluto said, before trotting off to the workshop.
Minnie followed after, and found Spike in the back, surrounded by clockwork toys. Among them was a life-sized, mechanical theow pup.
“Well, well. I see you’ve been busy,” Minnie giggled.
“Minnie! We were just investigating, like you said,” Spike said.
Minnie couldn’t help but smile. For as much as Spike wished for independence and to be treated as mature, it was clear to see that he was still just a child. And from the look on Spike’s face, Minnie thought he knew it as well.
“I see you’ve made some friends,” the mouse said, as she wound up a row of marching, miniature soldiers.
Caru turned her head to face Minnie.
“Diwrnod da, llygoden. Fy enw i yw Caru,” the doll said.
“And who’s your cute, little friend here?” Minnie giggled when she heard the doll’s child-like voice.
“That’s Caru. Caru, that’s Minnie. Um...Mae ef Minnie,” Spike answered.
Minnie couldn’t help but giggle again. The idea of a boy who put up such a tough facade naming a doll was beyond cute to her. And now, he was talking to it.
“Nac ydw. Mae hi Minnie,” Caru said.
“Mae hi Minnie,” Spike repeated.
“Ydw. Da iawn, Spike,” the doll replied.
Minnie was in a mild state of shock. She had just heard the doll say hers and Spike’s names, as if it were engaged in actual conversation.
Taffy tried to shout, but her voice was choked by something from within.
The substance had filled the sink, and was starting to pool onto the floor.
Minnie, not wanting to be impolite, decided to answer Caru’s greeting.
“Uh, It’s nice to meet you, Garry,” Minnie said, patting the doll’s head.
“No. It’s ‘Gah-ree.’ She’s pretty particular about that,” Spike said.
Pluto nodded in agreement.
Taffy writhed and wriggled on the floor upstairs. She wanted to shout. She wanted to knock something over. Anything to warn the others downstairs of the danger they were in.
There was a power over her. Ever since she left that dark room, she had fought it. For those who were precious to her, she had to not let it win.
Downstairs, Spike and Minnie carried on their conversation, unaware of what was happening upstairs.
“How did she get here? How does a toy like her even exist?” Minnie wondered, as she looked Caru over.
The doll shyly lowered herself from Minnie’s gaze.
“I don’t know. But, she said that Taffy’s her mom. Maybe she built her,” Spike answered.
“Ble mae fy mamma?” Caru asked.
“Oh!” Minnie gasped. “I almost forgot. Spike, I’ve found Taffy.”
“Mamma?” Caru asked.
“You have? Where is she?” Spike wondered.
“She just went upstairs, before I found you two. And I think something is very wrong with her,” the mouse answered.
“What do you mean?”
“Ble mae fy mamma?”
Taffy struggled against the power over her, as the substance crept over her form. She fought to keep it from overtaking her, but it slowly shifted toward her head.
Soon, it would overtake her. And it would reinforce the power that threatened to change her.
The tinker dragged her body across the floor, trying to pull herself free.
The shadowy figure abruptly stood up and slammed her palms on the table.
“Oh, give up already! That delivery boy didn’t nearly put up this much of a fight!” she said.
She focused her mind. Something within her translucent cranium began to glow, and its edges rippled.
Taffy opened her mouth to shout, but she only managed a choked yelp.
The substance in the room was joined by others, and slowly enveloped her.
Taffy’s teeth clenched around the handle of the kettle she held. With a swing of her head, she tossed it across the room, toward the stairs.
Everyone downstairs looked to the direction of the noise.
“Taffy!” Minnie said.
“Mamma!” Caru added.
When they left the workshop, the first thing they saw was the tea kettle at the bottom of the stairs at the far end of the adjacent room.
Pluto’s senses picked up things the other couldn’t. Now that he was closer to the stairs, that strange scent was stronger than ever. He knew the source of it was going to be found up those steps, and he readied himself to face it.
Quick as his canine legs could carry him, Pluto ran ahead of the others to confront the source of the scent.
He entered the upstairs living area. What he found up there made his blood run cold.
“BOOOOOOOWWWWW!!!!!”
Pluto yowled, as he ran back in the opposite direction.
The hound dog shivered in the corner before the stairs, just as the others came up.
“OH!” Minnie said, when she saw what had happened.
There was Taffy, sprawled on the floor. She was frantically pawing at her head, as if she were trying to dig something out of it. All around her, the floor was wet with an unknown substance, which was slowly enveloping her. Within the strange, translucent substance, more globules were seen, which drifted about beneath the surface. Some consolidated toward Taffy, while others drifted toward the edges of the substance.
“Mamma!” Caru shouted.
“Caru…! Rhedeg i ffwrdd!” Taffy struggled to say.
Instead of listening to her mother, the doll stepped forward to rescue her. The moment her tin hoof stepped in the unknown substance, it began wrapping around her leg.
Caru yelped and retracted her leg from the seemingly living mass of translucence.
Spike and Minnie pulled Caru away from the substance, which started flowing across the floor toward them.
In a sudden surge, Taffy was enveloped by the substance. As if to reach out, the substance projected its edges toward the others and began pulling itself forward.
It was time to run.
Pluto was the first down the stairs. Minnie took Spike by his claw and guided him downstairs.
“Mamma!” Caru shouted one last time, before Spike put his hand on her back and pulled her away from the terrible scene.
Taffy was unable to make any noise. She was unable to move. The globules inside the substance drifted toward her and entered through her ears and her mouth. Now, they had complete control over her.
With each step on the stairs, a translucent tendril reached up for them. Minnie dodged back and forth as she descended down the steps.
One tendril wrapped around her leg, but barely had time to get a good grip on her, before she slipped out.
The bottom step opened up, and a wave of tendrils reached up from beneath it.
On his way down, Pluto tripped and went rolling down the steps. The hound dog arrived at the bottom and closed the bottom step, squashing the tendrils all at once.
The way was now safe for the others to reach the downstairs area. But, it was no better there than upstairs.
The wondrous store downstairs had become a nightmare. The substance from upstairs was leaking through the ceiling, and reaching to the floor.
Pluto’s first instinct was to run for the front door. Before he, or any of the others could reach it, it was blocked by the substance enveloping it.
The blobby, translucent columns that dripped from the ceiling grew appendages, which reached out for its quarry.
Caru pulled Spike away as one reached in his direction.
The appendage reached for Minnie, and wrapped around her arm.
The mouse yelped as she felt it tighten around her arm. She tried to pull free, but the tendril held firm. And it was joined by others.
Pluto, Spike and Caru all worked to remove the tendrils. For every one they removed, they were replaced by another.
Spike blew his flames at the tendrils, hoping it would have some useful effect.
Indeed, the translucent appendages all retracted. All but one, which held firmly to Minnie’s arm.
Pluto saw the globules inside the substance moving closer to Minnie, the same way they had with Taffy. The hound dog jumped and clamped his teeth over the globule.
In a second, the tendril that held Minnie released her. The tendril trembled like it was shaking pain from itself, and morphed into a fist. The fist wound up for a second, then punched Pluto backwards.
A mass of the substance contracted to thinner than an inch, then bulged out to nearly a meter to bounce the rolling hound dog away.
Spike and Caru caught Pluto. The moment they caught him, they were wrapped up in a tendril of the substance, and carried off toward the workshop.
Minnie charged to rescue them, just as the workshop was about to be sealed off by another mass of the substance.
The mouse ran toward the workshop, as the floor beneath her began to bulge upward, and more of the substance leaked through.
In a daring move, Minnie leapt toward the rapidly narrowing opening of the workshop.
The substance started to close the doorway.
Minnie could feel it on the contours of her body as she passed through the doorway. It began to squeeze, just as her hips passed through, and rapidly closed around her legs.
The toes of Minnie’s shoes only just passed, as the last centimeter of the substance congealed shut.
In the workshop, Minnie saw how the strange fluid had worked its way there as well. All around, parts of the machines were taken and dismantled.
At the far end, Spike, Pluto and Caru were all bound tightly by the substance’s tendrils.
“Hang on! I’m coming!!” Minnie shouted.
She tried to run to them, but the translucent mass oozed in front of her. In a moment, she saw the disparate parts it had been collecting start to swirl inside of it. The next moment, the parts arranged themselves into a half-formed torso, a spindly pair of arms with hands at the ends, and a face that had no solid head.
Still surrounded by the clear fluid, a mechanical arm reached out and grabbed for Minnie.
The mouse tried to pull away, only to have her arm caught in the metal hand. To her surprise, it was quite a bit stronger than the substance by itself.
She grasped for anything she could get her hands on, and found a wrench that was lying by an unfinished project. She swung over and over at the metal arm, finding it to be as solid as it looked.
More of the tendrils dragged the mass toward the mouse.
Beyond the workshop door, Taffy watched Minnie through the translucent fluid. She did nothing and made no motions to suggest she was going to help. She simply watched as the mouse struggled, and a smile crossed her face.
A smile crossed the face of the shadowy figure, as she watched the image of Minnie on her starlit surface. She knew that she had caught her perfect specimen. In mere moments, she would have the mouse in her clutches, and would be able to complete her experiments.
The time to strike was at hand.
The mass began surrounding Minnie on all sides, and reached out to envelope her.
Minnie struck the metal arm that grasped her again, only for her wrench to bounce off of it.
Within the clear substance, Minnie saw multicolored globules at the joints of the arm. An idea sparked to her mind when she recalled what Pluto had done earlier. She raised her wrench, and struck the globules on the joints.
The substance splashed to the floor, and the mechanical arm fell limp, releasing Minnie from its grip.
Minnie stumbled backwards across the floor, tripping over the substance as it tried to reach for her.
She continued to stumble, until she fell backwards into a locker with tools and a green jumpsuit.
Behind the gelatinous curtain that cordoned off the workshop, Taffy growled and bared her teeth.
“No! No! No! No! No! I just had her!” the figure shouted, as she threw a flask that was set on the table at her machine.
The machine responded by shooting back one of the bolts in its side, which bounced off of the shadowy figure’s head.
The figure stiffened as if a bullet had hit her, and collapsed to the floor.
Spike continued to shoot his flames at the substance, as it continued to envelope him and the others. Not one of the captives knew what would happen if the fluids overtook them. Only that the entire thing seemed alive and hungry.
Caru looked to the door, and saw Taffy staring at them.
“Mamma! Helpwch ni!” the doll shouted.
Taffy did nothing as Caru shouted for help. She only watched as the substance used its tendrils to pull itself toward the locker Minnie was trapped in.
The substance rose up and peered through the vents in the locker. It began to seep in, when the door burst open and slammed it against the wall.
Minnie shot out of the locker, wearing the green jumpsuit, and equipped with a belt loaded with tools.
“Don’t you touch those kids, you horror movie reject!!” Minnie shouted, as she ran forward.
Minnie never thought her mechanical skills would ever come in handy since the war ended so long ago. But now, they would be put to work saving her young companions.
Without stopping, she threw forth the two bouncing toys that she had caught earlier. With a jump, she landed on top of them. The toys bounced her across the room, right to the proximity of the tendrils that held her friends.
Minnie took a small hammer from her belt, and began attacking the tendrils.
Spike, Pluto and Caru all yelped as they were pulled away from Minnie’s reach.
The mouse swung her hammer, knocking away each of the tendrils that reached for her.
The substance collected more parts to cobble together makeshift hands to grab her.
Minnie swung her hammer and struck the hand.
The mechanical hand was knocked apart by the blow, but quickly reassembled and attacked again.
Minnie tried striking at the globules within the substance, but missed as they dodged out of her way.
The hand reached out for her again.
“Wait!” Minnie shouted.
Just before it caught her, the hand paused.
Minnie held the hammer’s handle in one hand, and slapped its head with the other. The hammer head spun around at a blinding speed. When it stopped, its size had increased dramatically.
In less than a second, Minnie swung her hammer and smashed the mechanical hand. And the globules that held the substance together along with it.
Minnie saw her friends being carried away from her. Her eyes snapped to a stream of the substance that sprouted the tendrils that held the others.
She spun, and swung her hammer at a tendril that reached for her, and stopped before a half-finished contraption on a table.
Minnie holstered her hammer and took a screwdriver from her belt. She turned the contraption on the table toward the substance. A well-placed jab from her screwdriver, and the springs and catches which held the cogs broke loose.
The mouse threw the entire thing away, as if she were throwing a potato masher grenade.
The moment the makeshift contraption hit the floor, it exploded in a shower of cogs and springs, which struck the globules in the substance with grim accuracy. Once they were hit, the substance melted harmlessly away.
Minnie jumped to the top of the table, and caught her screwdriver as it flew back to her. She jumped across to the next solid surface to reach the others.
The main body of the appendages that bound Spike and the others dropped to the ground. The three of them were able to quickly pull off the tendrils, which writhed and flopped about like fish out of water.
Caru and Spike both stomped the tendrils into oblivion, getting their feet wet with the thick substance.
Pluto searched for a way out, and found a window that the substance had covered. Having seen what held the substance together, he knew how to unblock their escape.
Minnie arrived, and stood protectively in front of the children.
“Stay behind me!” Minnie said, as she fought off the tendrils.
Instead of listening, Pluto ran off toward the window.
“Pluto! What are you doing!?” Spike called after the hound dog.
Before Minnie could move to rein in Pluto, the substance rose up before her, and took hold of a metal bar to swing at the mouse.
Minnie drew a small hacksaw from her belt, and parried the blow.
The substance swung again, and Minnie parried.
The mouse thrusted and swung her weapon, hoping to drive back the appendage.
Tendrils rose to grab for them all.
Spike blew his flames at one, driving it back.
The tendril attacked Spike again, striking him in the face.
Caru swung her tin hooves at the attacking tendril, striking the globules within.
As the doll attacked, Spike saw that her hooves were now surrounded by tiny tools, like miniatures of what Minnie was using.
“Ydych chi’n iawn?” Caru asked.
“Uh, yeah,” Spike said. He took a closer look at Caru’s hooves, and saw that all of the small tools folded out from her metal ankles.
A tendril reached for Caru.
Spike pulled her towards himself, and shot a flame at the globules within.
A short distance away, he saw Pluto busily chomping the globules nearest to the window. One look, and he knew what the hound dog was planning.
“Everypony go to Pluto!” Spike said.
Minnie backpedaled as she defended the children from the substance’s attacks.
In moments that seemed innumerable, they reached Pluto. Caru and Spike both assisted the hound dog in popping the globules, while Minnie fought off the encroaching tendrils.
The substance around the window started to slowly melt away.
The tendrils grew greater in number.
Pluto quickly bucked Spike and Caru onto his back. With a mighty leap, he jumped through the curtain of melting fluids, right through the workshop’s window. Minnie cut off one last reaching tendril, before she followed suit.
Outside, it was as peaceful and quiet in the village as ever. Too quiet, as every one of the theows had mysteriously disappeared. All but one, which Caru saw first.
“Mamma!” Caru called.
There was Taffy, who briefly stared down the group, before charging with her fangs bared.
“That’s it! Keep them pinned!” the dark figure said, as she watched the group through Taffy’s eyes. “The rest of you: help her!”
The glowing object within the figure’s head grew brighter, and more intense.
Taffy lunged for Minnie with her fangs bared.
Minnie quickly rolled out of the way and faced down the raging theow.
“Taffy! What’s gotten into you!?” Minnie said, as she blocked Taffy’s attacks with the handle of her hammer.
“Mamma! Stopio!” Caru begged Taffy, as she tried to intervene.
The doll yelped when another theow charged her.
Spike pulled her out of the way, and watched as their attacker turned. They saw that it was the butcher from earlier.
Pluto tried to intercept the butcher’s attack, only to be blocked by the florist and the baker.
Spike tried to guide Caru and Pluto away, only to be blocked by Pike.
More snarling theows appeared seemingly from nowhere.
Minnie fought off a number of them, and created an opening for herself and the others to run through.
They were back in the town square, and more theows appeared at the far end.
They soon found themselves surrounded by the snarling theows. Minnie held her tools at the ready, as she backed away from the group. Pluto lowered to the ground, letting his younger companions hide behind him.
“That’s it! Just a bit closer!” the dark figure said, as she watched the image of Minnie inch closer to the well.
Minnie stopped moving, and stood at the ready.
“Oh, no you don’t! Not when you’re right there!” the figure shouted.
The table around her was dimly illuminated, as the light from within her glowed even more brightly.
The crowd of theows slowly closed in on Minnie, quietly encroaching on her with their fangs bared.
Minnie held her hammer at the ready, primed to block any attacks.
The theows were just beyond Minnie’s reach, when they suddenly parted. Taffy lunged forward, her mouth open wide to attack.
Minnie blocked by jamming her hammer’s handle in Taffy’s mouth.
The weight of the theow made the mouse stumble backwards to the edge of the well.
Spike, Pluto and Caru all attempted to pull Taffy off of Minnie. To their surprise, the tinker was far stronger than they would have expected.
Minnie struggled to push Taffy off of herself, when she heard a noise come from below. She didn’t dare to take her eyes off of her attacker, but had the sinking sensation that something terrible was coming toward her.
As Minnie’s companions tried to pull Taffy off of her, Taffy pushed harder and leaned Minnie’s head over the side of the well.
From the corner of her eye, Minnie could see something rising up from the bottom of the well. Something amorphous and translucent. Like water, but not water.
A geyser of the strange substance shot out of the well.
There was no time to shout, scream, or even yelp. The substance overtook Minnie. And Taffy, Spike, Pluto and Caru along with her. Before any of them could comprehend what was happening, they were pulled down into the darkness of the well.
“Got you,” the dark figure said.
Like fireworks in the sky, the room was illuminated by crackling electricity flying through the air. For a moment the machine was lit up, and disappeared into darkness.
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This chapter kind looks like it would come out of Bendy and the Ink Machine. The fact that Minnie was a mechanic for the war seems pretty cool, even if they're not counted as veterans. Speaking of which, isn't Donald Duck technically a vet because of his wartime cartoons?
Yes. Canonically, Donald Duck is a war veteran.
Well, you can now add the horror tag to your story! Brrr, I have seen season and Holidays influence stories before but you cranked it up to eleven.
Can't wait to see what's we are dealing with.
Nice idea for Minnie outfit.
9270257
Horror tag? Naw. Think of it like the more intense moments of some cartoons. Like, Man-Bat's transformation in Batman: The Animated Series. Or that kid getting killed on Fat Albert. Or anything by Don Bluth.
And don't worry. We'll know what we're dealing with by the next chapter.
Sweet fucking Celestia!! What's the big idea trying to give us all nightmares like this!?
9429353
Don't like it? Be warned that the rest of this particular story arch is a lot like this. Just a heads up.
9270353
You mean, other than Evil Flubber? It isn't even that deep of a deep cut. If she isn't at least tangentially connected to the green glob of goo, (be it straight up Evil Flubber, failed clone of a specific Flubber glob, or at least a cheep knockoff inspired by the real thing,) then I shall be quite disappointed.