Monster-Bumps 2: Dead and Dazzling

Adagio leaned in closer and closer, whispering sensually into his ear, “How about you, me and my friends go around town and hang out?”

Ralph’s face went tomato red. He was sure Aiden wouldn’t mind if he came home late in a bit. “Sure. Sure. Yeah.” He nodded unable to speak in full sentences at the moment.

“Great!” Adagio exclaimed, pulling away from him, “My friends are right over there” She pointed across the street to two girls, who Ralph swore were not there two seconds ago, waved at him.

Checking for cars first, the other two girls began crossing the street. Both greeted him as they stood on both sides of Adagio.

The leader smiled, “This way, stud.”

The group went around town as they converse slightly. Yet Aria remained silent the entire time. Ralph and Sonata talked too much. Mostly Sonata asking Ralph his favorite type of things. Like food, color, video games, different categories.

Meanwhile Adagio kept leading the group until they reached their destination and they walked into the parking lot of a grocery store. They had been wandering here and there, far away from the Shiverribas home. Adagio looked around and noticed there was no one near the building. And the sky looked greyer than ever.

Perfect.

"Here we are!" Adagio announced.

Ralph glanced back and forth, slightly confused, "Here? I'll admit this is a really weird place to hangout. But why here specifically?"

"We just want to make a quick stop, follow me." Adagio waved her hand, ushering him to follow.

Ralph shrugged and followed the siren unaware that she was leading him to his doom.

As they set off to the corner of the store, Ralph couldn't shake this odd nostalgic feeling about these girls.

"Hey you girls look familiar have we met before?" Ralph asked, "I feel like I've seen you all before, but I don't know why."

The girls just shrugged simultaneously, Adagio spoke, "Well I definitely would remember seeing a cute face like you around."

Ralph's eyes widened and his cheeks erupted into another blush as he hunched slightly, "O-oh, I mean...I guess it's nothing."

Finally they reached the back of the grocery store, around the side near an abandoned lorry, with grey cylinder trash cans and a blue dumpster. She pointed ahead of her, exclaiming.

"Here we are! Now wait here while we go pick something up." She instructed.

"You want me to stay here?" Ralph raised a brow looking around the creepy looking back of the store.

Adagio nodded, "Now don't move. And we'll be back shortly."

All girls left Ralph as he watched them go around the corner, disappearing. Leaving Ralph alone, he glanced around and heard a cat wailing in the distance. A flash of lightning occurred suddenly, signalling a thunderstorm. Just as the thunder resonated, rain came pouring down hard. Ralph's hair matted down, wet, as pellets of rain began dripping over him, making huge puddles around him.

"Great." Ralph muttered sarcastically, his eyelids drooped.

Being a person of his word, Ralph waited for the trio of girls to return. But the rain kept pouring down on him without relent. Ralph sighed, he didn't want to disappoint those girls, but the rain was really getting harsh. He pulled his black hood over his already wet head. He put both hands in the pockets of his hoodie. Waiting.

A noise then suddenly rattled near him. Ralph flinched slightly, he whipped his head in the direction of the noise, it seemed to have originated from one of the dumpsters. Probably a rat or something.

The noise grew louder. Too loud for any mere rat to make. Ralph soon stared at the dumpster for a long period of time. He had written enough horror scenes to know that opening that dumpster to see what was inside would be a fatal mistake.

Ralph huffed, "Maybe those girls are inside the market."

He then proceeded to saunter to the corner to avoid getting wet further, but as soon as he made it to the corner-

The Wendigo bursted out of the corner without warning. Growling loudly. Ralph yelled and jumped back landing on his rear and quickly scooted away, his eyes widened in horror to see one of his monster released.

"Winter?!" Ralph yelled in disbelief scooting further away until his back was propped against the dumpster that emitted the noise earlier.

Suddenly, the dumpster behind Ralph bursted opened, The Wolf Boy roaring loudly as he erupted from the trash. Ralph whipped his head around in shock.

"Wolf Boy!!?"

"Don't forget Arachnida."

Ralph eyes gazed up to see Arachnida skittering across the surface of the exterior of the building. Grinning at Ralph's surprised expression.

"Wha-How? I....how did you get release from the book!!?" Ralph asked, alarmed by their presence.

"Awww, your not happy to see us Daddy-O? Well we're happy to see you." Arachnida them launched herself and landed infront of Ralph and picking him up by his collar.

Ralph struggled in her grip as he was pulled to her eye level.

"So why don't we talk." Arachnida drawled, her grin spreading to her cheeks, almost draping her smaller eyes.

"About breath mint? Cause you could really use some." Ralph jeered mockingly.

Arachnida leered and snarled at him before throwing him to the ground violently. Water splashed when Ralph made contact with the tarmac. Soaking him further in the rain.

"I'm going to enjoy this more than I should."

She raised her hand, revealing sharp razor talons ready to shred his flesh. Ralph closed his eyes. Both Winter and Wolf Boy blocked both possible escape routes. And between the Werewolf and the Wendigo, he was screwed no matter which direction he chose. Ralph just leaned against the tarmac, his eyes clenched, ready to meet that white fancy author in the sky. He was too petrified to move at all. Arachnida got within a foot, ready to attack-

When a BANG sound resonated. A trashcan lid flew through the air, knocking off a brick wall behind Winter before hurtling down towards Arachnida. A flash of white light and she was down, just as the lid rebounded off her, towards Winters head. He didn't have time to dodge before it collided with his surprised face, making him fall unconscious too. The can lid hit the brick wall again before spiraling towards the Wolf Boy. His reaction time was just right on time as his wolf reflexes made him duck quickly. The lid sailed over his head and bounced off the dumpster, the trajectory was redirected back at him and accelerated, slamming into the back of his head making him go down with another white flash.

The lid bounced off the back of his head and sailed towards the roof of the building. The acceleration of said lid was halted when a green hand caught it in mid-air.

A figure on top of the grocery store lowered the lid back down. Due to the rain and darkness Ralph was able to make out a few features.

For one: he was wearing a cloak around most his figure and a hood concealing his identity. He had large horns poking out of said hood, cloven hooves. And glowing yellow eyes.

Ralph remained silent as he gawked at this strange figure. Who or whatever it was, was obviously not human. Was this another monster he made? He didn't remember making something with hooves and horns. The only thing that came close were those Terrors. But Ralph definetly didn't remember a  monster with these features.

But he couldn't have made him. All his creations wanted him dead. And it just saved his life.

Lightning struck, briefly illuminating his curved yellow eyes. Ralph stood there stunned, his mouth slightly open, as he was surrounded by his unconscious monsters. After a few tense moments of silence, Ralph spoke.

"Thank you-"

The figure leapt off of the roof without warning, it landed on the ground and sprinted away from Ralph.

"Hey, wait!"

He yelled as the mysterious figure ran away from him, around a nearby corner.

"Come back!" His shadow had only just vanished when Ralph ran after him, his feet splashing in the rain all around him, drenching his already wet pants as he had difficulty keeping up with his 'savior'.

The mysterious figure swept down the alley, until he vanished from view into a lorry that was wide open. Blanketing him in pure darkness.

Ralph slowly trudged his way down the wet path leading to the lorry, looking around for the mysterious stranger. His hair dripped over his forehead, his once spikey hair covering his eyes only slightly. But not enough to obsure his vision entirely. Ralph looked everywhere around the alley. Ralph finally slowed down and looked into the shadows of the lorry as he approached closer, he stopped right behind it and squinted his eyes and peeking inside the darkness of the larger rectangular metal container.

The figures glowing radiating eyes had betrayed him, revealing his slumped position at the very far end of the lorry, sitting against the corner. He jogged closer to the container.

"Hi there, I just wanted to say thanks for saving me from those monsters."

"Please," he moaned, whimpering slightly, "Do not cast your gaze upon me, I am a creature far too hideous to be seen by human eyes. I have been lashed out by harsh tongues enough already." He paused.

Ralph remained silent staring intently at the figure still shrouded in darkness. Ralph just blinked.

"I have traveled here, seeking a new life and opportunities. But I am treated the same as to where I was before." He spoke, sounding ever more depressing as he continued his spiel of sorrow, "Only a few have seen my true face and they recoil at the sight of me. I am but a writer who only seeks to make others enjoy my literature."

Ralph stared with his mouth open, curiosity washing over him as he stared at the concealed mysterious creature, "You're a writer?"

"Indeed." He replied, His eyelids drooped.

"Me too. Well I never showed my books to anyone but my sister. I...USE...to write." Ralph drawled, he hung his head as he remembered memories from years before and felt a twinge of sorrow. Looking greatly dismayed.

"Then I guess we are in the same boat, huh?" He said, trying to express empathy, "But look at you, your normal and a human. You could never understand my pain. The pain....of a monster."

Lightning flashed briefly and thunder boomed, illuminating his body. The lightning hilghlighted his horns visible for a brief second, and the rest of his cloaked body, his cloven hooves and his green hands. However his visage remained shrouded even with the intensity and brightness of the stray lighting bolt crashing down to earth. His body returned to darkness as soon as the lightning passed and the light faded. But Ralph could tell he held the deepest of anger, sorrow and disdain for everyone around him, his eyes flashed one last time revealing slit, serpent like pupils before darkness shielded him from Ralph's field of vision once again. He once made a face like that a few months ago.

"Actually," Ralph muttered quietly, he glanced down to see tiny puddles of water congregating at his feet and he kicked a random pebble into the water, looking despondent, "I know what it's like to be an outcast."

"You do?"

Ralph nodded solemnly, "I use to be scared of people, so I wrote my own friends. I hated the world for rejecting me...so..." Ralph paused and sighed heavily, "I rejected it..." Ralph then looked up, his gloomy demeanor dissipated and replaced by a hopeful smile, "Then I met these girls who changed my life. And I'm a new person."

There was a long pause of silence before the being spoke once more, "Well, some of us don't have the luxury of friendship. I am glad you have found your place in this world, but my troubles are still my own to bare, not yours."

Deep down, Ralph knew exactly what it was like to be tormented by others, left all alone in the cold, dark world. He could relate completely. Ralph looked down, staring into his distorted reflection on the watery ground at his feet. Minus the continuous drops of rain, he could see exactly how he felt in his own face. And he remembered, that no one deserves to be alone.

NO ONE.

"Well..." Ralph said, looking at this miserable being, "If you want....we could be friends."

With these words, just as the rain outside finally ceased falling, the creatures eyes widened. But when they opened again, they were accompanied by a toothy grin, with teeth sharper than daggers, making it look a demonic cheshire smile. And with eyes, they looked almost foreboding and... sinister.

He then spoke in a somewhat dark tone, but optimistic tone than before,  "Very well, thank you.....?"

"Ralph, What's your name?" Ralph asked.

His Cheshire smile grew from ear to ear, slightly unnerving Ralph. He uttered only one word, in an evil soft whisper like tone. For some reason it made Ralph's skin erupt chills across his flesh.

"Elipstle."

The bruised and humiliated trio of monsters arrived back at the mausoleum that was now their base of operations. After they woke up, they found Ralph gone, already far away. The Dazzlings still haven't arrived, but Arachnida looked the most humiliated.

"WHAT!!?" Dead yelled, clearly not satisfied with the news, "He was right there! There were three of you! Even three brainless monkeys could carry out that plan successfully!"

Arachnida crossed her arms, looking irked, she obviously wasn't too thrilled to be reminded of her failures,

"I told you something just threw a trashcan lid and saved Ralph."

"OOOH!" Dead moaned sarcastically, "A trash can lid! Yeah, a lid beated up all three of you. Yeah! Three huge, big, and strong monsters were overwhelmed...by a trashcan lid!"

The Wolf Boy just whimpered, clearly disappointed in himself, he  hung his head continuing to whimper like a sad puppy. The Wendigos eyelids drooped, feeling Deads words hammer down on him in full relenting force. He didn't utter a word, but the humiliation on his face spoke for itself.

They all felt like crap at the moment.

"Great!" Dead yelled sarcastically throwing his arms up in the air, "You all realized we just lost the element of surprise! Ralph knows we're free!"

"WHAT DO WE DO NOW YALL?" ZapTrap asked whipping his head around frantically at the thought of him being captured in a book.

"Excellent question..." Dead replied in a confident tone, smirking evilly with his arms crossed behind his back, but he suddenly trailed off without warning.

It sounded like he was going to say more, but he unexpectedly remained quiet. A moment of silence lingered almost forever, the other members stared at him intently waiting for his answer, he just continued staring back until Arachnida spoke up, "And do you have an answer?"

"No, I just wanted to say that was an excellent question." Dead shrugged, in a relaxing manner.

Arachnida just face palmed, she let out an irritated groan offhand, "Fine, leave it to a girl to finish off a boy."

"Please!" Dead said, his hands on his hips, "You got your ass handed to you already, don't you think once is enough?"

Arachnida shook her head in reply, "I was following the Dazzlings plan. It wasn't my own, and their plan was stupid."

Dead huffed and threw his arms out, "Whatever, I bet it was one of those girls who saved Ralph. If only we could simply get rid of those annoying do-gooder girls getting to Ralph would be a cinch."

All six of Arachnida's eyes suddenly widened as a plan unfolded in her mind, "Let me handle that."

"OOOOOOH! YA GOT A PLAN GURL?" ZapTrap slurred, looking excited.

Arachnida nodded, a smirk made it to her face, "Oh yeah."

Rays of sunlight shone brightly through the windows of Twilight’s new lab. She had set up in an old, unused janitor’s closet that was mostly being used for simple storage at the time. Twilight sat in a green swivel chair, cleaning a smidge on her glasses off with her shirt. The computer in front of her was open to the news showing an article from the day Ralph’s monsters had been unleashed and laid utter devastation to the town. Papers cluttered the left side of the her steel computer desk while the right housed a space for paper containing data to be spit out of a machine and onto the set space.

Spike lapped water out of his small purple water dish in the corner of the room, wagging his tail happily. Twilight gazed at her glasses to double check that she had cleaned them thoroughly. Placing them back on her face, she pushed them up the brim of her nose. With her vision now clear, she read the headline of the paper.

KID CREATES MONSTERS WHO ALMOST DESTORY ENTIRE TOWN.

The young science-lover scratched her head, unsure of how a boy like Ralph could gain access to magical abilities and create monsters by simply writing into a magical book with a magical pen. She was new to this whole magic thing, having nearly destroyed her world after being corrupted by magical energy. However, one thing bothered her, how was it this pen came into existence? Better yet, how did Ralph come to possess it in the first place.

She let out a sigh, sitting back in her chair. Spike ceased his water drinking and turned to his friend, “What’s wrong Twilight?”

“I don’t know, Spike,” She turned to him, “I just can’t wrap my head around all this. Monsters, magic artifacts, and Ralph creating all this. It just doesn’t make any sense.” She confessed to her canine companion.

Spike ran up to her, sitting down in front of her, and looking up, “Why don’t you just ask him? I’m sure he won’t mind, he’s your friend after all.”

Twilight shook her head, “No, I don’t want to remind him of all this chaos.” She pointed to the news article on her computer.

“Yeah, he might get upset.” Spike said, placing a paw on his chin to think, “Hey,” He said suddenly, a lightbulb flickering on in his mind, “If the pen and book are magical, that means you can use your magic tracking device to look into all this.”

A smile began to form on Twilight's face, “You’re a genius, Spike!” She said, whipping around to open a drawer and grab the device she had used to investigate the magic when she first arrived here at Canterlot High for the Friendship Games.

The device was small and circular almost looking like some kind of object one used to apply makeup. It was purple, with a black hole in the center. Small blue lines, evenly space, lined the sides. To complete the strange device, there was a long black neck strap so one could hang it from their neck.

Twilight popped it open, grabbing a screwdriver from the drawer. She began to tinker with it, being careful not to tamper with anything of too much vast importance. All the girl had to do was calibrate it to track magical artifacts and she was well on her way to great scientific discovery. How the mere thought made her squeal like a little school girl, unbeknownst to her, out loud for Spike to hear.

Spike just looked at her, cocking a brow. “Same old Twilight,” He said jokingly with a small chuckle.

She blushed, realizing she had squealed out loud, but soon returned to the task at hand. With a few tweaks here and there, she clamped it shut. Twilight placed the screwdriver back, closing the drawer upon doing so. In her mind, she prayed the small tweaks had recalibrated it enough to locate what she was seeking out.

At first, nothing happened. The device did not blink nor did it hum. Twilight scratched her head, “Maybe if I tweak the node a little more, it could…” She trailed off, murmuring scientific things Spike never understood.

Just as she went to open the drawer, a small purple light began to blink, showing the general direction what she sought was in. She nearly fell out of her chair at the sudden noise. Twilight smiled, gazing at the small flashing purple indicator that blinked in a southeast direction.

“It worked Spike!” She cheered happily.

“Awesome!” Spike said, leaping into her arms, and giving her face a small lick.

She giggled, petting her canine friend, “Well, Spike, now we can get to the bottom of this mess. Maybe we’ll even help Ralph out,” She said with a warm smile, placing Spike on the ground, his tail still wagging.

Twilight opened the door to her lab, the device fastened securely around her neck. With a confident nod, she set out toward the direction the device was telling her to go. Spike followed closely behind, taking one last lap of water before their imminent departure.

One thing he knew for certain, when Twilight set her mind on something there was no persuading or changing it. The purple haired girl pushed her falling glasses back up, exiting the school to begin her search. If the device was activated that meant one thing and one thing only. One of the artifacts was close, really close, and Twilight was going to find it.

After a walk behind the school, she ended up in the forest that led to the graveyard. She had overheard Ralph say something about hiding a book in a mausoleum during lunch which presumably meant the book was what the device was locating at the current time.

Moss covered tree stumps, spiraling up the trunk, some even making its way to the branches. Some trees were knocked down, rotted a little from the time they had spent broken and lying there. Rocks stuck up from the ground covered in green moss, bugs climbing on some of them. Twilight ignored her surroundings, her gaze solely focused on the device and where the indicator was pointing.

A few small animals scurried to and fro, a squirrel stopping for a nut to chew on. Spike chased it, barking. The squirrel’s tail raised in alarm as it darted to a tree, clambering up it for dear life. Spike clawed at the tree, barking at the small critter. Twilight told him to stop and follow her. The dog gave an angry glare at the tiny creature before he obeyed, following closely behind his owner. As they reached the end of the woods, Twilight glanced up at the large gate of the cemetery. The weirdest thing was it was already open a sliver as if someone had already been there. Twilight shrugged it off, heading into the cemetery, ushering Spike to follow.

“Are we really going in there?” Spike asked, trembling a little.

“Come on Spike, it’s just a graveyard.” Twilight said, not even slightly scared of the eerie place. “We need to find this book and see what makes it so special, then maybe analyze it.”

"Let me guess." Spike drawled, sitting on his hunches, and crossing his arms, "For science?"

Twilight emitted an awkward squeak noise and gave him a sheepish grin. Hunching her shoulders slightly, "It could benefit us and we could learn more about this magic stuff. I was careless the first time, but I promise I won't let anything bad happen."

He reluctantly agreed and the two entered the graveyard blissfully unaware that what they were looking for had already been found.