Chapters Monster-Bumps 2: Dead and Dazzling
Chapter 2: Follow the Leader.
Dead chewed on the book of the flap trying to open it. The Dazzlings and other monsters just stared impatiently at him as he struggled to open the book with the rest of the monster army still trapped. But the lock prevented any further monsters from being released. How the six were the only ones who managed to escape remained a mystery. Regardless Dead poured his stubborn determination into opening the locked book. But everyone tried, it was no use. The book wasn't being open without the key.
Arachnida sighed, watching Dead struggle continuously, "Forget it boss, we need the key."
Dead brushed off her words and continued to attempt to pry open the book like before, trying to recreate whatever it was the Dazzlings did to unleash all six of them, "Damn! Damn! This book!"
"THE KEY, THE KEY! THE KEY" ZapTrap repeated, "KEY!"
"I....know....that!" Dead said between grunts as he continuously struggled to release his remaining army, the book refused to open, "Stupid.....lock..."
The Monster Truck let out a series of honks from its horn beeping profusely while shifting side to side as it to communicate with the skeleton.
"Shut up!" Dead yelled, not even glancing at the red vehicle, "It's harder than it looks!"
One of Arachnida's smaller eyes glanced back at the Dazzlings. They were just standing there impatienlty. Adagio had her arms crossed waiting for them, while Aria was doing the same thing leaned up against the wall. And Sonata was rocking back and forth on her heel.
"Eh, boss?" Arachnida whispered.
"What!?" Dead yelled, still trying to rip the flaps open with brute force.
"Can we talk?" She asked, suspiciously peering over her shoulders to the three girls.
Dead huffed and finally gave up, before hiding the manuscript in his hoodie, saving it for later. Hoping to unleash his army later. He then focused his attention on the spider princess.
Dead, Arachnida, the Wendigo, and ZapTrap all huddled together like a football team and spoke softly to one another. While the Dazzlings, minus Sonata, narrowed their eyes suspiciously at the quartet huddled.
"Are we really working with those humans to get revenge on Ralph?" Arachnida asked, raising a brow on the left row of her multiple eyes.
"Awwww!" Dead crooned mockingly, "That's so cute, you think we're exclusive." Dead personally didn't care what quarrel those girls had with the Rainbooms. And he didn't care why or how, all he wanted was to get rid of Ralph's 'friends' so they wouldn't get in his way.
"WELL I WANNA DEEP FRY DEM GIRLS AS MUCH AS DHEY DO, SO ANY ENEMY OF OUR ENEMIES IS A FRIEND OF OURS." ZapTrap cackled, orange electrcity churning in his body.
The Wendigo just grumbled something as if speaking to them, to which the three other monsters seemed to understand. His voice was deep and scratchy as he growled animal like sounds and other noises.
"Hey! Good idea Windy!" Dead grinned, "Those three losers can help us until we find Ralph and get that key. You guys can do whatever you want to them afterwards. All I want is that key and Ralph in my arms so I can hold him close to me and never let go."
The other three just stared at him incredulously with their mouths slightly ajar, their eyes intently fixed on him. Still reeling from that last part of what he said about Ralph. After a long pause of awkward silence Dead spoke up, looking both embarrassed and annoyed.
"Yes! I realized it the moment I said it! You know what I mean though!" Dead called out angrily, a bit embarrassed, "Let's just help these 'Blazzlings' until we have both the key and Ralph."
"I think they called themselves the 'Dazzlings'" Arachnida corrected, looking up, remembering the name.
Dead didn't seem concern with this information, "You can call them the 'Fruity Tooty Pop Tarts' for all I care! Let's just help these girls out. For now."
The others nodded understandingly before retracting away from the huddle.
"CAN I HAVE A POPTART NOW?" ZapTrap asked looking hungry. Discerning his hunger at the mention of carbohydrate fruity snacks.
"Shut up." Dead muttered softly, "And no."
"DAMN." ZapTrap whispered disappointment evident in his voice.
Dead rolled his eyes and sighed, "Fine, maybe after we kill Ralph you can have 'A' pop-tart." Dead said with emphasis.
ZapTrap pumped his fist into the air excitedly, "YEAH!"
"Let me see that book," Adagio said, intrigued by the book.
"Good luck." Dead said sarcastically before pulling the book out of the safety of his hoodie and tossing it in an arch-motion towards the leader of the Dazzlings. Deads aim was a bit off, rather, about ten feet to the left.
"Oops." Dead said awkwardly.
Arachnida scoffed, looking unimpressed, crossing her arms, "Nice one."
Adagio strolled over to the book with a happy sway in her hips. She bent over and picked it up, gazing at the lock. It was the only obstacle in her way of vengeance. She narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth, angered at this development. No matter what, they would get their revenge. A monster army could definetly help them against the Rainbooms.
"So, where’s this key?” Adagio asked, glancing away from the book, and at the group of monsters.
Dead looked up at the taller girl, he rolled his eyes, “Where do you think, muffinhead? With the damn writer. My daddy.” He said with evident malice in his voice. He was so close to revenge on his former ‘friend’, but those girls had to help him. Even with an army he managed to beat them.
“Then,” Adagio turned around, holding the book behind her back as she walked towards Aria who was still leaning against the wall, arms folded, a unamused look on her face. How she managed to look that way with horrifying monsters in the room was beyond everyone. “We find this writer, take the key, and unleash the rest of your friends in this book.”
“That’s easier said than done,” Arachnida said, not swayed at all by the sirens empty promise. “Besides, we failed once, who’s to say it won’t happen again?” The spider princess lowered her head in defeat.
Adagio leaned against the wall next to her friend, a wicked smile spread across her face, “Yes, but this time you have three beautiful girls to help you out. We can get your key. Right girls?” Adagio looked at Aria, who nodded. She went to look to her right for Sonata, but she was nowhere to be found. “Where’s Sonata?”
The eccentric girl was hunched over near the Wolf Boy, holding out her hand. “Who’s a good doggie?” She said with a smile, attempting to pet the werewolf.
Wolf Boy bared his fangs, growling at the girl who was treating him like a dog. He slowly backed away, snapping at her finger.
Sonata recoiled her hand, holding it as if it would fall off, “Bad Doggie! No treats for you!” She scolded the werewolf.
Adagio facepalmed, “Sonata get away from the WEREwolf, it’s not a normal dog.”
Sonata dropped her head in defeat and walked back over to her friends. “I just wanted to pet him.” She whispered under her breath.
Dead cracked a sadistic, menacing smile, “We’ll get that key. Daddy's in for one hell of a surprise! HA-HA-HA-HA!”
With that, the entire room erupted in maniacal laughter. They were determined and had new allies in their quest for revenge. There simple wish would come true as if a genie had granted it for them. The determination welling up inside each and every one of them would motivate them forward. The Rainbooms and Shiverribas were going to have an unexpected blast from their past.
Besides, revenge is a dish best served cold. Even if the Wendigo was breathing rather loudly, making the rooms temperature drop a few degrees below average.
"Damn it Winter!" Dead yelled making everyone shut up in the room, "Close your mouth when you breath! This rooms cold enough with you in it already."
The Wendigos eyes widened for a moment as he closed his mouth, and scowled at Dead. He growled softly something that would probably best not be translated for the sake of younger readers.
"WATCH YOUR FILTHY MOUTH!" Dead yelled loudly, interpreting what the canibal winter spirit muttered.
Rays of sunshine beamed down upon the dew-ridden grass of Canterlot High. Buses came and went, dropping off students who were ready to start their day of education. Students crammed into the school, some conversing whilst others walked to gather their supplies for the day from their lockers. Birds chirped as squirrels scurried along the front lawn, finding a tree to climb on. It was a beautiful day and Ralph Shiverriba couldn’t be happier.
Ever since he met the Rainbooms, his life had become brighter. His sister, Aiden, walked next to him, holding one strap of her backpack.
“Ready to meet the new student?” She asked, glancing at him.
“Yeah,” he nodded, wearing a smile on his face, “I hear she’s really smart.”
The hallways bustled with activity. Students conversed near their lockers, meeting up with their friends. Some were gathering things out of their locker, preparing for the day of learning ahead of them. Kids walked up and down the hallways, a few entering classrooms.
Ralph and Aiden strolled toward Sunset’s locker where they always met up with all their new friends before class started. As they approached, Sunset waved at them.
“Hey Ralph! Hey Aiden! Over here.” She smiled, ushering them to come over with her hand.
“Hey everyone,” The two siblings greeted their friends at the same time.
Standing to the right near Pinkie was a girl with large glasses that always seemed to falling down the bridge of her nose. She wore a dark purple button up shirt with light blue undershirt, a multicolored purple skirt, long socks that went up to her knees, and black sneakers with a small crystal heart near the laces. Her hair was purple with a pink stripe in it. She wore it up in a ponytail, two small strands of hair hung on the sides of her face.
“This is Twilight Sparkle!” Pinkie said, pushing her friend forward. “Say hi!”
“Ummm… hi,” Twilight said awkwardly, giving a small wave.
Sunset smiled, pointing to Ralph, “This is Ralph Shiverriba,” Then, she pointed to Aiden, “And that’s his sister, Aiden.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Ralph said with a smile.
“What he said,” Aiden added.
Twilight smiled, “It’s nice to meet you both.” She pushed her sliding glasses back up. “I heard about all that crazy monster stuff. I just transferred here from Crytal Prep from the next town.” She explained.
“Nice.” Ralph said with a nod. “Yeah, my monsters almost destroyed the entire town and everybody in it. Believe it or not, it’s not the first time that happened.” He said with an awkward chuckle.
“Your monsters?” Twilight asked, taken aback at his words.
“Didn’t the others tell you?” Aiden tiled her head and cocked a brow.
“Yeah,” Rainbow rubbed her neck, “We kinda forgot.”
Applejack rolled her eyes at Dash, “Ya mean you forgot.”
“I created those monsters. It’s a REALLY long story.” Ralph explained.
Then, the first bell rang, filling the hallway in blissful chimes. The group parted ways, waving goodbye to one another. Each set off to their respective classrooms. Little did they know, watching from the janitor’s closet was the Dazzlings.
Adagio peered through the slightly cracked open door with one eye, her other closed. Aria stood behind her trying to get a look for herself. Sonata was messing around with the cleaning objects in the room and looking through the drawers of the janitor’s steel desk.
“There he is girls.” Adagio said, pointing to the short, black spiky haired key holder.
“Him? That pipsqueak?” Aria smiled, “Follow my lead.”
“My lead!” Adagio snapped, turning to glare at Aria who backed off, her eyes wide in fear.
Sonata was giggling at her expense. Aria rolled her eyes, folding her arms, and turned away from Sonata.
“All we have to do is seduce that little brat, and we’re on our way to getting back at those filthy Rainbooms.” Adagio explained the plan, closing the door so no one would overhear her.
A green haired, glasses wearing student walked by, stopping as he heard the door close. He craned his neck to see if anyone was there or maybe it was just his imagination. The door was shut, no sign of anyone peering out at him. He shrugged it off and continued walking toward his destination.
The day went like any other for the Shiverribas. Class, class, and more class, until finally the sweet melodic bell of lunch called them from their seats. Ralph stood up, placing his hands in his hoodie pockets as he strolled out of his Math classroom. Aiden followed behind, luckily for them, they did have some classes together.
Rainbow and Rarity stood outside the classroom waiting for their friends. “Hey, guys!” Rainbow greeted them.
“Ready for lunch darlings?” Rarity asked.
“You bet!” Ralph exclaimed, “Class can be so boring.”
"Yeah," Aiden chuckled, "I was ready to doze off before the bell rang."
With that, the four began their trek to the cafeteria. Some students greeted them along the way. Posters hung on the walls depicting upcoming events or top-graded projects which hung over some classroom doors. Music filled the hallways as they passed the music room, students practicing various instruments inside. Tall green lockers lined most of the hallways, save small gaps in between a set of ten or twenty for classroom doors.
As the group approached the set of double doors, Ralph pulled it open, gesturing for the girls to go first. After they had entered, he proceeded into the room, the door closing behind him. Immediately, the smell of multiple different foods wafted through the air, impacting their nostrils. As if on cue, their stomachs growled, ready to partake in the feast that is lunch. Kids from different cliques sat together at the cafeteria tables conversing with one another. Canterlot High was much different from your average high school. No matter the differences between students, they were all friends here and the Shiverribas wouldn’t have it any other way. Ralph grabbed a tray and the others followed suit.
“So,” Rainbow looked around to make sure noone was listening, “Did you hide that… thing good?”
Ralph nodded, “Trust me, nobody will ever find that book again. I hid it somewhere no one would think to look.”
"Is it under your mattress?" Aiden grinned, raising an eyebrow. Followed by a few giggles
"NO!" Ralph retorted, looking slightly embarrassed by the question, "I don't hide all my secrets there."
"But it is somewhere safe? Right?" Rainbow asked.
Ralph nodded again, "Don't worry it's hidden somewhere else."
“What a relief, dear. I don’t think I could deal with those icky monsters anymore.” Rarity sighed in relief, snatching a bowl of fruit salad from the line.
The group collected their food and headed to their usual table. All their friends were already seated, digging into their meals and chattering amongst themselves. Ralph greeted them and took a seat next to Twilight.
"So what happened here," Twiligt asked, "I noticed a few of the buildings destroyed, I'm guessing some monsters from Equestria invaded?"
Aiden shook her head, "Nope. Your right about the monsters, but they weren't from cute and sparkling pony world."
"Equestria." Sunset corrected.
"Yeah that." Aiden nodded, "Anyway let's just say my little brother is really good at making his books come to life."
Twilight tilted her head, reeling in from the vague statement, "What?"
"To put it in short-" Ralph was abruptly cut off as Pinkie inhaled deeply and let out a long wind of explanation.
"RalphherehasamagicpenthathasmagicinkthatbringsanythinghewritestolifebutwedidntknowaboutthebookshekeepshiddenandRainbowreleasedthisevilmeanieskeletonthatlookedexactlylikeRalphexcepthewasmeanandevilandhehatedsurprisepartiessoweandtheShiverribashadtofightlikeabigarmyofmonsterssowecouldtrapthembackintothisonebook."
Pinkie began breathing rapidly, her lungs recovering as she gasped for air from both her nose and mouth. She stared back at everyone in the table, all giving her a perplexed look. After Pinkie recovered, she beamed up with her eyes closed.
"And that's what happened." Pinkie finished, smiling.
Twilight mouth was open in surprise as her brain tried processing everything the eccentric party girl just elaborated. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, still gawking at Pinkie.
Ralph was the first one to recover his demeanor, "So yeah, to recap: magic ink, magic books, army of monsters, and magic pen."
Twilight shook her head, recovering, "I'm not sure I'll ever get use to all this magic stuff."
“So,” Sunset spoke up, “Where did you end up hiding that book?”
Ralph took a spoonful of fruit salad to his mouth, “In some old mausoleum, inside a coffin. Nobody would be crazy enough to search a graveyard for a book.” He finished, taking a bite of his food, the flavors of various kinds of fruit dancing on his tongue.
“Well, ain’t that a relief.” Applejack said, “We’re lucky ta have bested those critters of yours tha first time around.”
Rainbow nodded, “Yeah, but I totally would of whooped their butts no problem!” She exclaimed, puffing out her chest. She earned a few glares from the rest of her friends.
Aiden took a bite of her sandwich, chewed it up, and swallowed before speaking, “AJ’s right, we were lucky to get out of all that in one piece.”
“I don’t even want to think about it,” Fluttershy said, sinking in her seat, eyes wide in fear of the memory of those monsters invading their beloved town.
“Itwasntdatbad,” Pinkie said between a mouthful of food.
“Pinkie, chew before you talk,” Sunset said with a giggle.
The eccentric pink haired girl gulped her food down and gave a big smile. “I thought it was kind of fun! We should release them again!”
"NO!" Yelled the entire table in unison, alarmed.
Ralph went silent, eating his food. The thought of those monsters he had created being unleashed once more always burdened him. After all, it was his fault the town was almost destroyed in the first place. The thought danced in his mind to a wicked ballet, always tormenting him, reminding him that one day it could happen again.
"What’s wrong?” Sunset asked, concern in her voice.
Ralph shook his head, feigning a smile, “Nothing, Sunset. I was just thinking.” He took another spoonful of fruit salad to his mouth, taking a bite.
Sunset placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “If anything like that ever happens again, we have your back. So don’t worry about it so much, okay?” She gave him a soft smile.
Ralph nodded, chewing up his food. However, it still lingered like a parasite leeching at his mind. He couldn’t undo what was already done. It would never go away and he would never be able to stop worrying about such things. His eyes wandered over to a table where only three girls sat, hoods up so their faces were entirely covered, not eating a thing.
“They kinda look familiar” Ralph said, pointing to them, "I feel like I've seen them."
Sunset placed a finger on her chin, “Now that you mention it, they do look a little familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
"They look kinda fishy." Rainbow agreed.
"I don't know any fish that look like that." Pinkie raised an eyebrow.
The group shrugged it off, continuing their meals. The bell sounded meaning they had to return to their classes. All of them got up, disposing of their trays and utensils. With a goodbye wave, they were off to their respective classrooms. Ralph took one last glance back to the table where the three girls had been sitting.
Not a soul was seated at that table as if the girls had vanished into thin air. He simply shrugged and continued his trek to science class.
School had ended and Ralph was strolling down the sidewalk, heading home for the day. He was sure Aiden had already made it home and was cooking dinner for them. The short boy passed by some stores, a bakery, a supermarket, and a fast food joint. Cars passed by him on the street, speeding to and fro to reach their destination. Some people passed him by on the streets, a few he knew from school greeting him. It was still quite the beautiful day, the sun shining down brightly upon the world. Ralph looked both ways for any oncoming vehicles, proceeding to cross the street when he deemed it safe enough. He turned right and continued his journey home, hoping Aiden was making her famous spaghetti.
Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine. He swore someone was following him, this feeling was distinct and he couldn’t shake it no matter how hard he tried. The boy whipped around to see some pedestrians passing him by, one glancing at him with a look like he was crazy for stopping so abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk. No one was across the street, not a soul walked by or exchanged a glance with him.
Maybe it was just his imagination. He shook his head, trying to move the thought to a deeper confine within his mind. Slowly, he resumed his trek home, glancing behind him every now and again to make sure there was in fact nobody following him. The feeling wouldn’t shake though, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
As he turned a corner, he noticed a tall, orange poofy haired girl leaning against the wall, sucking on a lollipop. He couldn’t quite place it, but the girl looked rather familiar. Like he had met her once before, but he just couldn’t place his finger on where or who she might be.
“Hello, there, cutie,” Adagio said, pulling the lollipop slowly out of her mouth, winking at him.
Ralph blushed, whipping his head in every direction to confirm she wasn’t speaking to someone else. It wasn't everyday a hot girl just talked to him like that out of the blue. “M-me?” He asked, pointing a finger at himself.
“Of course you, stud, who else would I be talking to?” She asked, walking towards him.
Ralph gulped as she got closer and closer, “Y-you think I’m a stud?” He didn’t know what to say, he didn’t have much experience in this matter.
Adagio nodded, seductively responding with, “Yes I do, I’ve seen you around and always thought you were just so adorable. What’s your name, cutie?”
“R-ralph Shiverriba.” He said with an awkward smile. “Who are you?”
Adagio leaned in closer, whispering into his ear, “Adagio Dazzling. Pleased to meet you.” A menacing, sadistic grin grew on her face, hidden from Ralph.
Monster-Bumps 2: Dead and Dazzling
Chapter 3: Spiders and Writers.
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.
Monster-Bumps 2: Dead and Dazzling
Dead was currently hidden behind one of the stone Angels, staring at the strange girl and her dog snooping around the graveyard. She held some kind of weird compass that was leading her towards the mausoleum. He narrowed his eye. He never saw this girl before but he knew she would cause him some trouble. Soon the moon was shrouded in black clouds and a wave of blackness and shadows passed over the land by Deads current location as he remained there not moving. It wasn't until the darkness consumed his form and he suddenly vanished into thin air, without leaving a trace of his existence.
Dead returned to the mausoleum and found ZapTrap curled up in the corner sleeping.
"Wake up volt head!" Dead yelled.
ZapTrap stirred and opened his eyes tiredly, before standing back up and facing Ralphs boney counterpart.
"WHAT? DID DHEY FINALLY GET DEM KIDS YET?" ZapTrap asked weakly.
It had been an hour since Arachnida departed, the other monsters left with her leaving Dead and ZapTrap alone. While they enacted Arachnida's plan.
"No, but another girl is coming this way." Dead informed him.
"ONE OF DEM GIRLS?"
"No, someone else. And she's headed this way towards us."
"OOOH!" ZapTrap moaned avidly, and raised an electric fist, "WANT ME TA SHOCK 'ER FOR YA?"
"Hold that thought electric breath, your sparkly orange ass can zap the next girl. Your too stupid you wouldn't know how to pour water out of a boot with the instructions on the heel."
"HEY!" Zap replied angrily, "QUIT INSULTIN' ME!"
Dead shook his head, "I'm not insulting you, I'm describing you."
"OOOH," ZapTrap said, "IS THAT AN INSULT OR A COMPLIMENT?
Dead stared at ZapTrap for a full moment, looking between annoyed and irritated, "Wow, if stupid could fly, you'd be a jet."
"THANKS, I LOVE JETS."
For about two seconds, Dead stared to the side, out into open space. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Other than he was thinking it quickly.
Dead shook his head and sauntered over to the book, "Let's give this another go and see if we can get one of our friends released early for good behavior."
Dead pried open the book, cracking it slightly, but the lock still held it secure. But Dead put some effort to hopefully release another monster to take care of the girl in the graveyard. It took a little struggling but he managed to open it enough to release a glob of ink that escaped between the pages. The ink splattered and quickly took shape.
Like Dead and the others. The magical murky colored liquid first took the form of a small puddle before it began rising into the air until it was at human height. Two arms erupted on each side, followed by a wicked grin, accompanied by hollow yellow eyes. Finally a pumpkin head.
Jack stretched out, yawning as he awoke from his slumber within the confines of that wretched book. He turned to see Dead, a wicked smile crossing his face. “Whaddaya call me out for Boss? More fun?”
Dead nodded and walked towards the door leading the pumpkin head out of the mausoleum. Dead had lead Jack a few feet away from Twilight and Spike. Both hidden behind more stone angels.
Dead pointed his bony finger at the snooping purple haired girl and her mangey canine companion, “I want you to take those two out of the equation before they cause too much trouble for us. Think you can handle that?"
Jack simply nodded, turning his gaze to the girl. “Consider it done” He said wickedly, the malevolent grin still plastered upon his pumpkin face.
"Hey, ya cheated, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack scolded, attempting to grab Rainbow’s Playstation controller out of her hands.
The athletic girl simply giggled, holding her controller up and away from the grabbing hands of Applejack, “No way, I’m just awesome,” Dash smirked, turning the game off, “Let’s play something else, you stink at this game.” She spun the controller in on her finger, her eyes closed, as she smiled confidently.
“Yeah, if ya didn’t cheat, I’da beaten ya.” AJ glared at her friend, sounding irritated.
Pinkie was blowing air into a balloon, slowly inflating it with each word she spoke, “She’s-right-Rainbow-Dash.”
“Whatever, I could beat you at any game,” Rainbow challenged, narrowing her eyes.
“Bring it,” AJ responded, narrowing her eyes as well.
Rarity was sitting on the floor next to Pinkie’s bed, conversing with Sunset Shimmer.
The group had all gathered together at Pinkie’s to hangout. Aiden and Ralph hadn’t shown up so they assumed their friends were busy at the moment. Fluttershy sat next to Pinkie on her bed, scribbling into her journal, most likely writing a new song for the Rainbooms.
“Writing a new song, Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked, leaning over her friend and looking at the book.
“Uh huh. I think it’s a good one too.” Fluttershy said, placing the end of the pen to her lips as she thought up more lyrics.
“Ooh, ooh, let me see, let me see!” Pinkie exclaimed in excitement, barely being able to contain herself, her hands already reaching for the book.
Suddenly, a rock smashed through the window. Glass shattered inward showering the hardwood floors. The rock landed near the side of Pinkie’s bed with a rather loud thump. All the girls leapt a few feet in the air, startled by the sound of shattering glass. For a brief moment, they all stared quietly at the window, processing what had happened. Then, the group of girls exchanged glances with one another, confused at who would do such a thing. Most people around town were already friends with them, who would do something so mischievous to them. A kid perhaps?
Rainbow got up, glancing out the window, noticing not a soul on the sidewalk or anybody running away from the scene of the crime. She raised her fist up and shouted, “Hey, you punks, don’t mess with my friends house! Got it!”
Then came a series of honks split seconds apart from each other. It didn’t sound like it was coming from the street. The honks were loud and discrete, making them cover their ears from the noise. It was as if they were emanating from the front door of Pinkie’s humble abode.
Sunset’s eyes went wide, her heart beginning to beat faster and faster. A thought had crossed her mind that made her shudder in fear. “You don’t think…?” Sunset could barely continue with what she was about to say, but everyone knew what she was getting at.
“Ralph said he hid that darn book, there’s no way,” Applejack said, turning to Sunset with evident fear in her eyes.
“That’s it!” Rainbow Dash hollered, irritated at all this random nonsense. She covered her ears and darted down the hallway, quickly clammering down the stairs. She was fed up and determined to put an end to this. With a tug of the knob, the front door swung open. Not a single sound permeated the air. In front of the house was nothing but a passing jogger, the local DJ Vinyl Scratch, wearing her signature headphones. She turned her head and gave Rainbow the thumbs up, then returned to her jog.
Rainbow grew a perplexed look on her face, “What the…” There was no honking and no Monster Truck of Ralph's. The rainbow haired girl, turned her head and began to call up, “False alar-,” before she was cut off, a sticky white glob of web pulling her forward. She had no time to react, simply crying for help as it yanked her out the front door.
Dash slammed face first into the lawn with a meaty thud. Arachnida was across the street, hanging onto a building, using her web as a way to drag her prey closer. Like a fisherman reeling in his target. Tumbling across the lawn, Rainbow kicked up grass and dirt. Soon her body was dragged across the street, pain surrounding her. She cried out for her friends, beginning to fear for her life.
Suddenly, a loud honking came from in front of her. Headlights blinded Rainbow causing her to squint as she attempted to shield her eyes. However, she could see how enormous the tires were, and they were in fact Monster Truck tires. As the web strung her along, a large whoosh passed her. The Monster Truck had missed her by mere inches, swerving a little, honking as it did so. Rainbow noticed it had no driver which could only mean one thing. Sunset was right, somehow the monsters had gotten out.
From Pinkie’s front window, the other girls watched in wide-eyed horror as their friend was nearly hit by the haunted Monster Truck. Fluttershy was hiding behind her hair almost breaking into a sob. She couldn’t bare to watch this unfold in front of her eyes. Sunset was the first to turn and run down the hall as Dash was dragged closer and closer to the spider princess.
The other’s shortly followed suit, one by one, they ran down the hallway. The group ran down the stairs as fast as they could, all of them praying Dash was not harmed or even worse…
Sunset was the first girl to run out to the front door, darting across the front lawn. Rainbow was now being reeled up the building as if she was the catch of the day. The others were about to run out of the house after her when suddenly the back door burst open. Chunks of wood and metal flew inward littering the kitchen floor. Wolf Boy came through it, landing on all fours. He proceeded to stand up and give a vicious blood-curdling howl.
The werewolf began running towards them, the girls screaming in fear. They huddled together, panicking as they had no weapons and no way to defend themselves. All of this was so unexpected. The monsters had succeeded in catching them off guard. They proceeded to run to the front door, but before they could exit the house, a giant tire came in and blocked their path. A loud honking sound penetrated their ears as the monster truck stood infront of the house. All four girls were between two vicious monsters ready to get a little payback.
Meanwhile, Sunset almost made it to the street when a cold chill hit her entire body. She felt as if she had become a living icicle. She looked down and gasped to see ice forming around her boots. She whipped her head and looked to see Winter on top of a house next to Arachnida, creating a billow of icy wind starting with Sunsets feet, trailing up. She opened her mouth to scream, but no words came out.
The ice crept upwards across her body, shivers ran down her entire body as her blood began freezing. She stood there like a frozen sculpture with her mouth open. A shocked expression frozen on her face.
Winter had frozen the girl dead in her tracks. The wendigo turned to see Arachnida begin to spin a struggling Dash in her webbing. She did just that. Soon, half of Rainbow’s body was covered in web, trapping the girl’s hands and feet. The spider princess slapped a small piece of webbing across the rainbow haired girl’s mouth as a finishing touch.
“So I don’t have to hear you speak,” The spider princess said. She turned to face Winter, “Make sure Wolfie doesn’t kill the others, we need these brats alive.
Winter nodded and turned to run towards the house. The Monster Trucks saw him and turned in reverse making way for the white canibal spirit.
Winter made it just in time to see all four girls huddled up, trembling nervously infront of the Wolf boy who was busy growling at the remaining girls. All too scared to acknowledge the winter canibal behind them.
Suddenly Applejack had idea, she quickly turned to Fluttershy, "Flutters! The stare, use it!"
"Oh right!" She remembered and walked up infront of the werewolf without hesitation, her eyes angry and determined.
"Now listen here mistser wo-AAAAAH!" Fluttershy was unexpectlgly pulled back by a white fluid, which forced her to turn around unexpectedly. Another shot of webbing hit her in her eyes making her yelp. The webbing spread across her face, followed by another web that surrounded her figure, she was pulled by her waist towards Arachnida.
"Fluttershy!" The girls cried simultaneously.
Suddenly a large wind of ice froze the others, they didn't have time to react as the wind hit them so quickly, they were surrounded in ice as Wolf Boy pounced at them, claws unsheathed, ready to rip apart the fearful girl’s flesh and bone. On accident, the werewolf was frozen as well in mid-air. The Wolf Boy fell to the ground, the ice around his body shattered when he fell to the ground. Ice flew everywhere. The Wolf Boy dropped to the floor, glaring at Winter as he rubbed his head. He shook his head wildly.
Arachnida walked towards them, carrying Dash and Fluttershy both cocooned in her webs , slumped over her shoulders, still struggling. “See it wasn’t that hard. Those Dazzlings are idiots.” She said.
Winter and Wolf Boy nodded in agreement, collecting the three ice statues that were Rarity, AppleJack, and Pinkie.
“We have to get them to Dead. Let’s get a move on!” Arcahnida ordered.
Meanwhile, Twilight was following her magic compass, getting closer and closer to her destination and the mausoleum. She rarely looked up from the compass, her eyes trained on where it pointed towards. Spike shakily glanced around, keeping close to his owner.
Then, both of them heard a twig snap. Spike leapt ten feet in the air, scared out of his wits. Twilight simply glanced up from her device, looking around to see if anyone was approaching them.
“It’s just a twig, Spike.” Twilight said, bending down to pet her dog, before continuing the trek.
“Is it?” Came a creepy voice from ahead of her.
She didn’t notice, bumping into something. She slowly looked up, her eyes widening in fear and realization.
Standing in front of her was a tall monstrous figure with a pumpkin for a head and pumkinvines collected together to assemble a human body. Leering down at her.
“Ahhhhhh!” She screamed, turning to run away. Spike followed suit, darting forward after Twilight as fast as his legs could carry him.
“What is that?!” Spike asked, alarmed, looking back to see the creature give chase after them.
“It must be one of those monster!” Twilight exclaimed, “But how in the world did they get out?”
"Run, run, girlie!" Jack taunted as he deattached his head from his vine body, "But don't think you'll get far, my friends will make sure you don't leave this place alive."
Jacks liberated head then spat various pumpkin seeds on to the ground before the seeds buried themselves further into the soil. A moment later the ground erupted and five Pumpkin heads grew faster than lightning.
They all had distinctive expressions, they were happy, wicked, sad, goofy, and angry. And their objective was clear.
Attack the girl.
"This is gonna be fun." Jack chortled, almost playfully before pointing his green index finger towards the fleeing Twilight, directing the others to follow.
The other pumpkin heads nodded and ran towards the science lover and her dog. While Jack remained behind, watching with leisure as his minions pursued their prey.
"Keep running Spike!" Twilight yelled as she dared not look back.
"What do you think I'm doing!" Spike replied, galloping alongside Twilight.
One of the pumpkin heads, happy, stopped running and paused, while the other four kept chasing. He plucked his head out of his green neck. The head then unexplainably caught on fire before he launched his liberated head at Twilight. But due to his eyes being on his head, the bodies aim was impeded by the fact it couldn't see without its head as the pumpkin heads body launched It's head accidentally at a nearby stone angel which crashed through the angels head making loose rubble fall to the ground. In place where the angels head had been moments prior was now a pumpkin head, with a still cheerful grin. Undaunted by the poor trajectory his body unwillingly threw it at.
Twilight huffed as she continued running, she weaved past tombstones as she tried reaching the exit of the cementary. Four pumpkin heads continued following behind her. Determined to ensure the girl didn't get far.
Once more, another pumpkin head, sad, wrenched his head off his body, and threw it at Twilight like a burning molotov. Twilight glanced over her shoulders just in time and made a sharp right turn, nearly being struck by the blazing pumpkin. The head instead collided with a decaying tree, with no leaves. The entire tree exploded when the head forcibly impacted with said tree. The base of the tree was all that stood as the branches flew off the tree and the rest of it began burning from the ignited pumpkin.
Twilight didn't stick around to see the burning remains of the tree, she dashed forward. Very much aware she almost shared a similar fate with that tree.
She then saw the gates to the cementary approaching. She internally sighed in relief, but she knew she was still far from being safe. She still had three pumpkin headed monsters behind her and Spike. She could only pray she and her dog would survive this ordeal.
But fate was never known for being merciful.
Her relief was short lived as one of the pumpkin heads grabbed their heads again and threw it an arch motion over Twilight and Spikes head. The pumpkin collided with the iron gate and the resulting impact made the gate suddenly catch on fire. The intensity of the blaze emanated heat that made it impossible for anyone to pass between the gates. Twilight and Spike skidded to a halt and stared at the fire intervening their escape.
They turned their heads around to see two remaing pumpkin heads creeping towards them.
"What do we do?" Spike asked alarmed, as the pumpkin heads approached them.
Twilight frantically looked around for something to defend herself and Spike with. She then picked up Spike from the ground and ran away to he left side of the cementary away from the exit and pumpkin heads.
"Where are we going?" Spike asked in Twilights arms.
"I don't know!" Twilight admitted, still running, "We have to find another way outta here Spik-"
The remaining pumpkins heads then lunged forward and tackled Twiligt making her drop Spike as he fell out of her arms and tumbled to the ground before stopping. He looked in shock to see the Jack O' lanterns holding each an arm pinning Twilght to the ground. Twilight screamed as she squirmed in their grasp. But to no avail, she remained trapped underneath two pumpkin heads.
Spike narrowed his eyes and growled at the pumpkin heads, baring his canine teeth at them, attacking his owner and friend.
"Leave her alone!" Spike yelled before running towards them.
He began barking loudly, making the pumpkinheads focus their attention on the barking purple doggie headed their way. Spike then leaped up and attacked one of the Jack O' lanterns, his teeth then grabbed on to one of their arms holding his owner down. Spike sunk his teeth down on his vine arms, biting down hard.
The Jack O' lantern stood up and tried shaking the purple and green dog off but Spike refused to let go. It tried frantically shaking his arm more and more but to no avail.
With only one Jack O' lantern holding her down, Twilight used the back of her head to headbutt the Jack O' lantern making him recoil and fall back. Now free Twilight stood up and dusted her dress before running over to Spike still clinging on to the Jack O' lantern.
"Spike!" She cried, running towards him.
Hearing his owner no longer in distress. He released his clamp on the pumpkin head and dropped down before Twilight ran on the side and picked up Spike back in her arms before running again.
Both mute Jack O' lanterns recovered and ran after the girl and her dog. After a few minutes of running, Twilight spotted a missing iron bar on the fence, making a narrow open gap between the fence around the cementary. It was a tight fit, but it was the only risk they could take out of this place.
"Through here!" Twilight said, bending down and letting Spike drop freely to the ground. She allowed Spike to go first. He effortlessly hopped between the iron bars and made it to the other side.
Twilight went in and tried pushing herself through. It was a bit tight but Twilight struggled pushing herself thought it. She made it to the other side until she felt a hand grab her ankle. Twilight turned her head and her eyes widened in horror to see one of the Jack O' lanterns gripping her leg. Twiligt screamed in horror as the Jack O' lanterns were beginning to pull her back to their side.
"Twilight!" Spike yelled in distress.
Suddenly a small clunk sound emanated through the air and Twilight felt the grip on her ankle gone. She turned her gaze back at the Jack O' lanterns to see one of them rubbing what appeared to be a mark on its head. Twilight looked down to see rolling her way was an....
Acorn?
She picked it up and examined it. She and Spike looked up to see the same squirrel Spike chased up earlier on a branch of an old tree. Squeaking exuberantly, raising his fist at the Jack O' lanterns angrily.
He then pointed to the burning remains of the tree where one of the pumpkin heads hit accidentally. Closer inspection revealed to be the remains of various acorns around the burning tree. It wasn't saving Twilight, it was trying to get even with those Jack O' lanterns for destroying his acorn stash.
Twilight quickly picked up Spike and ran away to go warn either the Shiverribas or the Rainbooms. The pumkin heads watched her flee, while the squirrel continued chittering at them angrily.
Adagio and the rest of the Dazzlings made it near the gates of the cementary and were bewildered to see it on fire.
"What the heck happened while we were gone?" Aria asked, still gawking at the fire.
"How are we gonna get in now?" Sonata asked, looking towards Adagio.
"I can't wait to hear the monsters explanation for this," she muttered sarcastically, she waved her hand for her fellow sirens to follow, "Come on girls, we're not getting in through here."
The girls walked around the cementary, close to the fence, trying to find an alternative entrance inside, they found a small gap between the bars of the iron fence. They slipped through it and headed off to he direction of the mausoleum. They kept walking until Sonata saw something shimmering in the distance. She walked towards it, picked it up and analyzed it. The other two girls noticed her distracted by something. They turned around to see her back, she was facing away from them, concealing whatever it was she had in her hands.
"Sonata what is it now?" Adagio inquired in an annoyed and unintrigued tone of voice.
"Look what I found girls!" Sonata exclaimed revealing to be Twilights pendant shaped magic tracker.
Monster-Bumps 2: Dead and Dazzling
Chapter 6: Doublecross Crisis.
"Fool!" Dead hissed at Jack, he wasn't even directing eye contact towards him, that's how mad he was as he just continuously glared at a random wall of the mausoleum, "How come I'm associated with no one except losers who only know how to dissapoint me!?"
Jack shuffled his foot against the ground, his arms folded behind his back as he let his harsh words sink in, "I said I was sorry."
Dead sighed, after a long moment of silence, he hissed, "I can't even look at you, I might kill you."
"What do we need to worry about that nerd? she isn't a threat." Jack asked, raising his shoulders momentarily, followed by his arms to express his incertitude.
"If that girl is associated with the Rainbooms or the Shiverribas than they might know where we are now, do you really wanna go back into that book?" Dead asked sarcastically.
"WHAT ABOUT DEM GLAZZLINGS YOU TALKED ABOUT? WONT DEY BE ABLE TO HELP US OUT?" ZapTrap chimed in.
Dead scoffed and rolled his eye, "Doubtful, but those Rainboom girls helped Ralph capture us, so they're on my hit list."
Just then, the doors to the mausoleum opened revealing the Dazzlings arriving back.
"Well you sweet girls sure know how to keep a ghoul waiting." Dead remarked sarcastically watching the Dazzlings enter.
Aria groaned, her arms folded infront of her chest, glancing at Sonata with irritation, "Sonata wanted to stop and get tacos on the way."
Sonata nodded jubilantly, "I had coupons." She blurted holding out a deck of coupons for various taco joints.
Dead or the others didn't seem to care, Adagio then noticed Jack and raised a brow at his sudden and unexpected appearance.
"What's this? Another friend?" She asked, though the answer was quite obvious.
Dead nodded and gestured his hand out to him, "Girls meet Jack, Jack meet the Hazzlings."
"Dazzlings." Adagio corrected.
"Yeah that." Dead said indifferently.
"So what can he do to help?" Aria asked, her arms still crossed, staring at the pumpkin headed monster.
Jack elaborated by opening his mouth wide and inhaling deeply before letting out a huge billow of fire infront of him. Unfortunately Dead and the Dazzlings had to duck since he forgot they were right infront of him while he was giving them the demonstration of his capabilities. The fire was just over their heads and continued raging on, having caught a bit of Sonata's ponytail hair on fire. After a few seconds Jack ceased his fire breathing. He stared to see everyone infront of him dropped to the ground before rising slowly.
They stared with their jaws hanging, bewildered by the immense heat. Sonata didn't even acknowledge a patch of her ponytail hair on fire. Dead was the first to recover his demeanor.
"Yeah, he can do that." He chortled maniacally.
Adagio was the second to recover her demeanor, looking rather intrigued, "Interesting."
"Wow! Now that is awesome! Totally not the worst." Aria blurted, with a sadistic grin.
"Mmhm." Sonata hummed, followed by a nod.
Dead looked over and noticed a purple compass shaped device around Sonatas neck, this quickly caught his interest, "Hey what's that around your neck ponytail?"
Sonatas eyes snapped open when she was being addressed and she looked down to her newest accessory, "Oh, it's just a cool necklace I found on the way here."
"We told her to put it back where she found it but she wouldn't listen." Aria said dryly.
Sonata narrowed her eyes and just stuck her tongue out at her fellow purple siren, "Your just jealous cause I look cute."
"Do not taco breath!"
"Do so taco hater!"
"Do not!"
"Do so!"
"Do not!"
"Do so!"
"Not!"
"So!"
"Not!"
Dead and Jack darted their eyes, following which ever siren spoke, moving their heads slightly between the two as they argued repeatedly with the mindset of kindergarteners. Adagio was quite use to this and decided to cease their pointless bickering.
"So-"
"Speaking of which," Adagio quickly chimed in, which instantly shut both sirens up, "Why was the front gate on fire?"
Dead jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, pointing directly at Jack, "Some little nerd tried to break in, and let's just say Jacks minions have horrible aim."
"Well, did the other monsters capture that writer?" Adagio asked.
Deads eyelid dropped over his single eyeball, looking annoyed, "Yeah about that-"
Dead was suddenly interrupted by loud honking coming from outside the mausoleum, the honk resonated repeatedly. Dead knew one vehicle that made a honk like that. Dead glanced over to ZapTrap and titled his head towards the exit, beckoning for him to follow.
"Excuse me ladies." Dead extended his index finger before shuffling towards the door, "I need to see, uh..." Dead drifted off, he began humming as he tried to make up an excuse, "How Arachnida did. Okay, bye!" Dead quickly said before ZapTrap followed closing the door leaving the Dazzlings with Jack.
Dead and ZapTrap stepped out and walked towards the direction of the loud honking.
"SO, DO YA THINK ARACHNIDA CAPTURED DEM GURLS?" ZapTrap asked, following behind Dead.
Dead rolled his eye, his boney face expressing doubt, "Well if they did, I'll be surprised."
They both soon found the Monster-Truck a few meters away from the mausoleum. He also noticed Arachnida standing on the hood looking triumphant.
"What are you so smug about?" Dead asked stopping a few feet infront of the large wheel.
"We got them." Arachnida announced, a grin crossing her features.
Deads eyes widened, his face contorted between shock and surprise, "Those girls? You actually caught them?"
Arachnida hummed, "Mmmhm."
Just then Winter, Wolf Boy carried out the four frozen statues of the Rainbooms, Arachnida skittered across the Monster-Truck walking horizontally towards the back of the truck, she pulled out two squirming cocoons that each held one of the Rainbooms and plopped them over her shoulders as she walked down infront of Dead, delivering her captives infront of the surprised skeleton and voltage phantom.
After a moment of silence, Dead stared between the frozen statues and the squirming cocoons. His eye darted between them, he then grew an ecstatic evil grin, "Well I guess your not a loser as a I previously thought. I never thought I'd say this, but good job."
Dead then turned around and walked towards the mausoleum with a victorious grin, "Now let's get these girls to the Dazzlings and-"
"Wait!" Arachnida called, wrenching Deads shoulder back, halting him, he whipped his head around and raised a brow, "I was thinking we don't tell the Dazzlings and hide these girls."
"Why?" Dead asked, suddenly intrigued.
"YEAH, WATS UP?" Zap asked.
"Well, Ralph is our main target right not? Not these girls." The spider queen gestured to the immobile heroines.
"So? Let's kill them first." Dead said, remembering how much of a nuisance they all were by helping Ralph. He would've successfully killed him if those six weren't involved.
"Well if we keep these girls hidden, it'll motivate those Dazzlings to go after Ralph. The more allies we have, the better chance we have at getting both Shiverribas. And right now they have no allies," She explained slowly, "Better safe than sorry, the odds are now stacked against Ralph. And with these girls we have a better chance."
"THREE HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE." ZapTrap nodded, understanding what the spider princess had in mind.
Another grin flourished on Deads face, however unlike the previous one which was of triumphant. This one was of malice. Arachnida's plan was dishonest and low-down, not to mention his type of evil.
"I think I'm rubbing off on you Arachnida. That sounds exactly like the type of nasty, evil, plan that only a sick twisted mind like myself would come up with."
The Dazzlings were all waiting inside the mausoleum along with Jack. Sonata was humming to herself, drumming her hands on her legs, sitting down on the cold floor. She seemed to be in her own little world as she usually was. Aria leaned up against the mausoleum wall, her arms crossed, with a bored look upon her face. Adagio was pacing back and forth impatiently waiting for Dead while muttering complaints and possible plans to herself. Jack was just watching them in utter annoyance, standing on the opposite side of the room near a casket.
“Adagio, what are we going to do now?” Aria asked, turning her head to the currently pacing leader.
“Let’s talk to the fire-breathing pumpkin guy!” Sonata suggested, her finger pointed at Jack.
“No, no, that’s okay,” Jack waved his hand, panicking that these annoying girls might actually talk to him.
“We just have to wait for Dead, Aria,” Adagio responded, now standing against the wall next to her friend.
She began to think deeply about the next move.
“Guys, why is my necklace blinking?” Sonata asked as she stared down at it.
Adagio turned to look at the Sonata, but then her eyes shot wide open at the blinking necklace. Adagio quickly walked over to her friend, “Let me see that thing, Sonata.”
The blue siren looked down at her new accessory, hesitant at first to give it to her friend, but she sighed, and took it off her neck. Adagio snatched up the necklace, bringing it closer to her eyes for further examination. Upon first glance, it looked like any old necklace aside from the odd blinking. The more and more Adagio looked at the object, she began to notice it looked more like a compass shaped like a necklace.
She arched an eyebrow as she held it out in her hand, curious at the sudden blinking. The blinking section seemed to be pointing at Jack. She walked a little closer to him to see if this would change the direction. It still seemed to be trained on Jack himself. Adagio began to walk closer and closer to the pumpkin-headed monster, earning a glance from him.
“What are you doing, girl?” He asked, sounding annoyed by her.
“Testing something out, don’t worry about it,” She waved him off dismissively, "Just want to know why this thing is so interested in you."
Jack smirked arrogantly, "Well it's no surprise, I am quite interesting."
She stepped a few feet closer and that’s when it happened. The compass-looking necklace popped open in the leader’s hand. A small orb of purple magic began to form inside of it. It began to swirl around causing Jack to turn his head and look at the odd purple light catching the corner of his eye. Before the pumpkin headed monster could react, he began to swirl into a vortex of black ink.
"What the hell!!" Jack said loudly, surprised by what the compass was doing, "What's goin' on here!?"
First, his hands disappeared, then his feet, all swirling around his body as they were reduced to ink. Soon, his body became black goo, swirling into the vortex, making it bigger and bigger. Finally, his head was added to the mix as he let out one last cry.
At first, the Dazzling were shocked, their eyes widened, their jaws agape, but then they all began to slowly form an evil grin, save Sonata who was quite confused. Aria walked over to Adagio, pointing to the necklace. She didn’t even have to speak as the lead Dazzling nodded.
“Do you know what this means?” She asked, exchanging glances with both her fellow Sirens.
Sonata nodded, “You killed the pumpkin guy!”
“No!” Adagio facepalmed, “I don't know how, but this thing seemed able to detect magical energy. We can capture magical energy now! We can finally get back at those Rainbooms!”
“Right,” Sonata smiled, “What you said.”
Both Aria and Adagio facepalmed knowing full well Sonata had no clue what they even meant. Suddenly, the compass began to blink once again. Adagio glanced down at it, then in the direction it was pointing. It seemed to be pointing toward the door of the mausoleum.
Adagio glanced first at Aria, then at Sonata, that evil smirk working it’s way onto her face once more, “Follow me, I believe we have more magic to collect.”
Sonata stood up, dusting off her skirt. Aria followed the lead Dazzling out the door, the third Siren following closely behind. This was their chance, finally, they could get back at those Rainbooms for what they did to them. Dead was nowhere to be seen in the graveyard nor were any other monsters. This seemed to be pointing toward the back gate of the cemetery.
Adagio opened the gate which creaked on cue. She ushered the others to follow her down a small dirt path. A few trees, both far apart, lay to the right whilst a clear field with some dandelions growing lay to their left. It was a path familiar to them from this morning. It lead them to a place they knew, but dreaded.
Not far from the cemetery was Canterlot High which stood tall and proud as it always had. No one except maybe the janitor would be here at this late hour Adagio had figured and this was in fact where the compass was leading them. The Dazzlings loathed the site of the high school, but it could prove useful once more. Quietly, they entered the back door which was usually left unlocked by the janitor in case he forgot his keys.
The trio found themselves in a dark hallway near the band room. Aria got out her cellphone and turned on the flashlight app, illuminating the room enough for them to see. Lucky for them, the janitor was not down that hallway at the present moment. Adagio warned Aria to keep a close eye out for the man. They began to proceed forward with extreme caution.
With a right turn down the hallway, they were lead closer to the main foyer. They went past lockers, classrooms ranging from every subject imaginable for a high school, posters of upcoming events, even the gymnasium. Finally, their journey ended in the main foyer. The compass pointed toward a small glass display case with a few trophies and awards occupying its shelves.
Adagio got closer to the case to specify what it in fact was pointing at. It seemed to be a small pen in between two athletic trophies awarded to Rainbow Dash. She narrowed her eyes in confusion, not sure what to make of their find.
“A pen?” Aria groaned, walking up to Adagio, “Good going, Adagio.”
Then, it clicked in her head. This pen was magical, maybe it was what made those monsters come to life in the first place. It was farfetched to say the least, but so was magic in this world. “It’s a magic pen, girls! Don’t you know what that means?”
“We can write the Rainbooms to death?” Aria rolled her eyes, turning her head, and folding her arms.
“We can write our own monsters!” She exclaimed. “Make sure no one is down either of those hallways.” She said to Sonata pointing to the hallway on the right, then on the left.
“Roger!” Sonata saluted and glanced down both hallways, giving Adagio the thumbs up to do whatever the she had wanted to in the first place.
"Wait a minute," Aria said hesistantly, "What about Dead?"
Adagio scoffed, "What about him? With our own monsters we don't need him. Besides I have a monster in mind just for the Rainbooms."
The lead Dazzling took off the orange hoodie she was wearing and balled it up around her fist. With a swift smash, she shattered the glass of the display case. Aria took a step back as glass cascaded down to the ground, breaking into even smaller pieces. Adagio reached in carefully and plucked up the pen. She held it in her hands, gazing down upon her discovery with gleaming sinister eyes and a villainous grin upon her face.
Sonata walked over to the others, “I want to write a story!” She squealed, “One about a Caveman!”
"Why cavemen?" Adagio asked, raising a brow, "Cavemen aren't scary."
"They're body hair is scary." Sonata pointed out.
“We’re not writing a story about cavemen, Sonata.” Aria groaned.
“You’re not, but I am!” Sonata said happily, trying to grab the pen.
Adagio glared at the girl, holding the pen tightly to her chest. “No caveman stories, Sonata!” She growled in anger. She wasn't going to let her overactive friend ruin this chance at revenge on their enemies.
The blue haired Siren backed off, a frown curling onto her face. “Fine.”
“Let’s find a nice place to write girls, we’ll just have to test this out on someone.” Adagio said, leading the way to an open room they could begin their devious writing in.
The Dazzlings had found an unlocked English classroom, setting up shop within. They sat at the back of the classroom, huddling three desks together, all facing one another. Aria flicked on the second of two light switches making only the two lights in the back of the classroom flicker on, illuminating the spot they had chosen to begin their writing. Sonata suggested all sorts of odd monster ideas like a taco wolf beast, an obese clown who juggles axe pies, and a skeleton girl for Dead so they can get their skeletal acquaintance a girlfriend.
Aria walked over to her desk and took a seat. “You have the worst ideas for monsters, Sonata.” She said.
“No, you do!” She replied, glaring at Aria.
“No,” Aria pointed at her, “You do!”
“No, you do!” She replied, glaring at Aria.
You do!”
“You do!”
“You!”
“You!”
Though Adagio was use to this back and forth bickering, she couldn’t help but grit her teeth as she hollered, “Shut up!”
Both Sirens immediately closed their mouths, obeying Adagio’s command on cue like well-trained dogs. The lead Siren had found a diamond-encrusted pink notebook in one of the desks with blank pages just ready to wrote upon. She touched the pen to the first page. A small spark of blue energy erupted from the impact. An evil grin spread from ear to ear across her face as she wrote the title:
"Razortooth Rampage."
These books would be quite different from those written by Ralph. Adagio had plans, oh did she have plans cooking in that semi-insane mind of hers. Bubbling and brewing like a wicked witch’s pot in her brain.
Adagio began to from the first words of the first paragraph into her head.
"Swift and cold was the winter wind as a young girl gripped at her scarf. The town bustled with holiday cheer, christmas was right around the corner. "
Aria peeked over to see what Adagio had written. She was surprised to see her Siren leader blazing through the first page of their monster novel. However, she cocked a brow and asked,
“Razortooth Rampage?”
“Don’t worry, Aria, this little furball will be just the beginning. Why settle for one monster, when we can have a thousand,” Adagio explained, not taking her eyes off the paper as she flipped it to the opposite side and began jotting down another paragraph.
“Can I write the next one?” Sonata asked, raising her hand, “I have a cool monster idea!”
“I doubt that,” Aria said, crossing her arms.
“I do, Aria!” The blue haired Siren shot her tongue out at her friend.
“Oh yeah, what is it? An evil Santa Clause who send Gingerbread men and killer toys?” Aria asked mockingly.
“No!” She said unconvincingly, looking down at the table, trying to think of a different idea. “One about a were cheetah!”
“What’s a were cheetah?” Aria questioned, puzzled by Sonata’s strange idea.
“Like a werewolf, but a cheetah!” She explained with a big, gleaming smile.
"Why would you want to write something like that?" Aria asked, raising a brow.
Sonata shrugged innocently, "Cause I like cheetahs. Can I write the were cheetah book?’ Sonata asked.
“Yes, Sonata.” Adagio rolled her eyes, trying not to let her annoying siren sister distract from her novel-writing.
More and more Adagio wrote, filling up pages and pages. Finally, she arrived on the conclusion to Chapter Two, where the monster would first make it’s appearance.
"Curled up in the corner of the dark room was a small red-haired furball. It was no bigger than a soccer ball, however, little did the Rainbooms know, it packed a mean bite. As they slowly began to inch closer to it, the ball snapped to life. A low growling emanated throughout the room making the Rainbooms back up in fear. Their hearts began to thud in their chests, their breathing became heavier as they stared in wide eyed horror of the small beast that was standing in the corner of her room. "
“Wow, Adagio, I didn’t take you for the writing type,” Aria teased, taking another peek at what her friend had written down.
Sonata peered over as well, both girls leaned in close to Adagio, invading her personal space. This irritated the lead Dazzling, “Could you two back off?! I’m trying to write!”
Both Aria and Sonata reeled back in their chairs, nearly falling over from the sudden snap of their irritated leader. They began to walk around the room and find other things to do while they waited for Adagio to finish her story. A half-hour had already passed and Adagio was on the third chapter so far. It was going to take some time, of course.
"Blood dribbled from it’s mouth as it bit into the flesh of a helpless woman. She screamed in pain, trying to escape the clutches of the Razortooth. Her efforts proved utterly fruitless. A stream of blood oozed down her arm where she had been bitten, some dripping onto the floor. "
“That’s just gross, Adagio.” Aria criticized.
“Oh, I’m sorry, should I have written a story about kittens and puppies to get revenge on the Rainbooms?” Adagio rolled her eyes, sarcasm heavy in her tone. She began to write furiously once again.
Then, all the Dazzlings eyes shot to the door. It was wiggling as if someone was trying to get in. Aria darted to the light switch, flicking it off. Adagio had opened up a small closet to the back of the room on the right. She ushered Aria and Sonata to enter and hide along with her before they were caught. Both of them rushed towards it, cramming inside. Just as Adagio closed the door to the closet, the door to the classroom opened up, revealing an elderly janitor.
He wore an old jean shirt with a name tag that read Mopstar. He reluctantly grabbed his yellow bucket, dragging it inside the room. He proceeded to flick both light switches on, basking the entire room in bright light. The elderly janitor yanked his mop out of the bucket, rubbing his wrinkled nose with a finger. He was a standard old man, white hair, balding, blue sweatpants, thick-rimmed glasses.
The Dazzlings peered out of the small circular hole in the top of the door. The janitor began to mop away, covering the floor in wet, sudsy water, as he murmured to himself, “Darn kids, breaking the glass on display case. If I got my hands on em!”
Adagio whispered to the others, “We’ll wait till he’s done and finish writing. It’s almost finished.” The Siren glanced down at the notebook clamped firmly to her chest. “Three more chapters or so.” That signature evil grin found it’s way on her face once more. The other Sirens smirked malevolently along with her.
The janitor’s head quickly whipped in the direction of the closet. There was no sign of life through the small hole, the Dazzlings ducked down, deciding this may be a better option so they weren’t caught. The elderly floor cleaner scratched his head, returning to his work. He dipped his mop in the bucket a few times, squeezed it out, and cleaned through the next row of desks.
“I swear this place is haunted.” The man mumbled to himself.
Twilight kept running around town, she tried once again contacting her friends, but to no avail. Both Twilight and Spike were beginning to lose hope on finding them. They aimlessly wandered around town searching for their lost friends and the Shiverribas. They needed to warn someone about the monsters, they couldn't combat them all on their own.
"Twilight, can we rest? we must've walked all around town." Spike said exhausted, sitting on his haunches.
Twilight sighed, she knew being tired wouldn't accomplish much. But the threat looming over Canterlot City was imminent. She hesitantly nodded.
"Fine, but we need to really find the others once we catch our breath." Twilight glanced around and saw a sign for small market up ahead, "Come on Spike, we'll stop in there and once were ready we'll continue searching. Sounds good?"
"Sounds good to me Twi." Spike smiled, walking alongside his owner.
As the duo approched the small market, they were unaware something was watching around the corner. It began breathing loudly as the purple girl was approaching near the automatic door. But before the the two could reach the door, Spike halted and his eyes widened slightly as his nose began picking up the strange wafting of a familiar scent.
"Wait," Spike said slowly, his nostrils flared open as he sniffing the air carefully, "I smell something familiar."
"What is it?" Twilight asked, looking down at him.
"I'm not sure," he said, still focusing on the smell, he then turned around in the direction of leading to the alley. The figure retracted its head back into the darkness once the strange purple and green dog glanced it's way.
Spike continued sniffing the air until the direction of where it was originating began growing more clearer and so did the scent.
Spike trailed the scent and headed in its direction, "It's getting stronger, I think it may be one of the Shiverribas."
Twilight hesitantly followed Spike as he continued following the smell, though it could be possible the Shiverribas were around, Spike nose has never lied to her. They both went around the corner into the alley next to the market. Spikes nose began identifying the scent more clearer and clearer and it grew more stronger every second, he stopped when the smell lead them to a lorry in the middle of the alley.
Spike poked his paw in the direction of the lorry, "The scent is coming from inside," he whispered softly, "I think there might be someone in there."
Twilight looked up into the lorry and only saw an abyss of darkness, she hesitantly opened her mouth, but no words came out. After a brief moment of silence, Twilight found the courage to speak to the occupant of whoever was inside.
"Uhm, excuse me?" Twilight said softly.
After a moment of silence, no one spoke. The silence grew more thicker, Twilight began growing more anxious. Until a voice finally penetrated through the silence.
"Go away...." Rasped a voice.
Spike furrowed his brow, and bared his teeth. He spread his legs out and got into a defensive position incase trouble were to arise.
Twilight was hesitant after hearing how unwelcoming the voice within was, but she found the courage again, "Please sir, we're looking for a friend."
"No!" The voice quickly said, it's voice was more louder and more hostile, "Leave!"
"Please, we're just looking for someone who could help us. My dog thinks one of my friends might have passed by here." Twilight explained softly.
"There's no one here," It insisted, one last time, "Now go away."
"Please, my friends need me." Twilight begged.
The voice didn't reply this time, soon everything went quiet. After a long moment of silence, Twilight heard the sound of shifting, followed by loud metal clanking echoing across the lorry into the alley. Like the sound of a hoof connecting against the floor. A ringing silence befell the area, until more metal clanging resonated against the wall. The clanging grew louder and closer towards Twilight and Spike, making them apprehensively back away from the approaching clanging noise that grew louder every second. It soon began daunting both girl and dogs courage at how loud the noise was. Soon a figure was outlined in the dark, it's glowing eyes were the first feature visible within the lorry.
The next pair of features made Twilight gasp in horror.
Though the cloak around its hulking figure did a decent job of concealing the rest of its figure. The cloak couldn't envelop the horns or cloven hooves clearly exposed for both Twilight and Spike to witness before them. They instinctively backed away further as the creature approached with an aura of anger surrounding him.
It jumped down from the lorry, it hooves emitting a loud clack noise when it dropped to the surface of the ground, making small crack under his hooves. It began approaching them both closer. Twilight gazed up at him fearfully while Spike began growling louder, his dog instincts setting in.
"Your persistence is irksome. If you won't leave by your own volition, then you'll suffer for your ignorance." Epistle growled, his hooves making loud clank noises against the tarmac with each step he took.
By now Twilights back was pressed up against the wall as she soon ran out of room, she continued looking up fearfully at the giant saytr, "Please....I just wanted to find my friends and the Shiverribas." She whimpered, before closing her eyes tightly and tilting her head down.
Elipstle paused, and his eyes widened at the mention of the familiar name, "Wait a minute...."
Elipstle trailed off and gazed curiously at Twilight, he leaned his head closer until his eyes were parallel with Twilights. "Did you say, the Shiverribas?" A blast of cold air erupted from his mouth hitting her face and making her hair blow back slightly, "What do you know about them?"
"Y-yeah, they're my friends..." Twilight stated fearfully.
Elipstle cheshire grin spreaded across his face, even in the darkness of his hood it was still clear for Twilight to see. Making her incredibly nervous.
"In that case, you may be more useful than I realize." He rasped.
"Hey!" Spike barked, earning his attention, "Stay away from her!"
Elipstle gazed down at the purple dog and rumbled angrily. With a sudden wrench, he picked up Spike by his collar, making him yelp in surprise, as Elipstle was dangling him up in the air away from Twilight. He began wriggling in his grasp.
"Hey! let me go!" Spike yelled.
"Hey!" Twilight exclaimed, she then tried reaching for him, "Leave him alone! Give me him!"
"Not unless you do something for me first!" Elipstle growled keeping Spike out of Twilights reach.
"What do you want?!" Twilight yelled angrily as she continued to try and grab her dog away from the saytr, but to no avail.
"I want you to continue your search for the Shiverribas, find them, don't even dream about mentioning what you saw, find where Ralph is keeping that pen, and when you find it, bring it to me." Elipstle listed off, "If you refuse, then I get to tear your precious mutt apart right down the middle."
Twilight halted her attempts and looked at Elipstle nervously by his threats. She glanced between Elipstle and Spike who was whimpering nervously, she couldn't decline and risk Spike dying horribly. There was no other option.
"Fine," Twilight whispered solemnly, she closed her eyes and hung her head in defeat, "You win."
Elipstle grinned victorious under his hood, "You have three days to return to me and deliver the pen, fail me and I split your poodle like a wishbone."
Twilight glanced up and narrowed her eyes, "And you promise you won't harm a hair on my dog?"
"Why child, of course not. Aslong as you hold your end of the bargain, your dog won't have his innards exposed for everyone to see." Elipstle chuckled darkly, he then quickly stopped, "Oh! Which reminds me...." Elipstle drifted off as he began rifling through his pockets.
Once he found what he was searching for, he pulled out a curled up fist before opening it up revealing to be a clump of red sand in his palm, "I'm going to have to thank the buffalos for this one."
Without warning he blew the sand into Twilights face. She recoiled away as the sand entered her system. She began coughing and hacking loudly as the sand entered her lungs.
"Twilight!" Spike yelled fearfully, watching his owner cough uncontrollably.
"Quiet hound, this is to ensure she is swayed by my will." Elipstle grinned watching Twilight continuing to cough.
"You'll never get away with this!" Spike growled.
Elipstle sneered and brought Spike up to his eye level as he began growling and baring his teeth. But Elipstle didn't seem perturbed by his attempts to scare him.
"I've done it before," Elipstle whispered.
He then turned around and reared Spike back before throwing him against a dumpster before he fell inside followed by the lid closing over him. Locking Spike as he began barking loudly.
Elipstle turned back to face the human Twilight. She ceased her coughing and began staring into thin air as the effects of the red sand were enveloping her mind.
"Now go my minions, forget everything you saw tonight and when you wake up, this will be but a bad dream. But focus on that pen." Elipstle ordered, "You have three days, or your dog will suffer for your failure."
Twilight silently nodded her head robotically before sauntering casually out of the alleyway back towards home. Perpared to deliver the pen as soon as possible.
Her mind now belonged to Elipstle. And soon....so will the pen.
Monster-Bumps 2: Dead and Dazzling
Chapter 7: Rise of the Razortooths.
It had been nearly three hours since Adagio had started her novel writing. Though it was his first dabble in this art, she couldn’t help but believe she was doing rather well. She was on the final stretch, the last chapter, the final frontier. Quikly, she scribbled down the final paragraph.
"As the Rainbooms arrived home, tattered and bruised from the Razortooth’s rampage, they sat down on the bed. And they all let out a sigh of relief as they stretched out onto the bed, their feet dangling off the side. It was all over, or at least they thought it was. A sharp pain shot through their legs, teeth gnawing into their flesh. Blood trickled from the tooth mark holes as the creature bit deeper and deeper into their flesh. Sunset screamed as she lifted up her leg. Smiling back at her with two rows of sharp teeth was Razortooth. He wasn’t dead and he was back to finish the job. "
Adagio dotted a period at the end of the final sentence. Her lips curved into that signature sadistic smirk. She slammed the book shut and turned to the others.
“Well, girls, it’s now or never.” Adagio said showing them the closed, completed book. It didn't look much, but what was within the contents is what was truly terrifying.
Aria and Sonata exchanged a happy glance as they huddled closer to the book, awaiting for their leader of doing the honors of releasing the monster inside. All three stood in a circle around it. Adagio bent down and opened the book back up. At first, nothing happened, making them all frown in disappointment. Then, just as the lead Siren went to close the book, a small blue vortex of magical energy began to swirl from it. It flew out of Adagios hands as It began to growing bigger and bigger, the girls stepped back a few feet, watching the amazing, visually striking scene.
The ink began to leak off the pages and swirl around within the vortex. It spun like a tornado round and round until multiple figures began to emerge from within. Six small red fur balls were shot out of the vortex, then the balls began bouncing against the walls of the classroom, like they were constructed of rubber or some other polymeric material. Then, just as soon as it had happened, the magic dissipated and the book slammed itself shut.
The Sirens were more focused on the bouncing red balls as they bounced repeatedly against the walls, windows, chairs, desks and anything else in their way. Papers and notebooks flew, causing mass disarray across the room. Soon the balls stopped, the Sirens turned to the side of the room to see the six small furballs curled up in the corner.
Adagio smirked, “It worked, girls. Now, let’s go and test these beasties out.”
The car ride back to the Shiverribas was deathly quite. Neither Ralph or Aiden would dare not penetrate the silence for a moment. Ralph's mind just kept going back to Elipstle, imagining the hardships he endured on his own. If someone like him was so willing to save his life, then surely he can't be all bad. He was just misunderstood, Ralph could tell he just needed a little support.
Ralph's brooding was soon interrupted by Aiden as she spoke up, "So are you going to finally tell me what happened. Seriously, I don't mind you hanging out with the Rainbooms, but a heads up wouldn't kill you."
Ralph was silent, briefly for a moment before finally speaking, "I just met someone on the way home and we talked for a bit."
Aiden raised a brow and looked at Ralph quizzically, "Someone? Do I Atleast know them."
"Hmm," Ralph uttered, smirking for a second, "Trust me, you wouldn't forgot someone like this."
"Okay enough of the sugar honey ice tea."
Ralph raised a brow at the weird saying, "Sugar honey ice tea?"
"Yeah," Aiden replied, "It's hidden in acronyms. I used the first letter of each word."
Ralph stared into space, his mind processing the meaning behind the acronyms, he mulled it over, "Wait that spells out sh-"
"AH!" Aiden quickly interjected, "What did we agree on swearing heavily?"
"You should talk you freaking hypocrite!" Ralph retorted sharply.
"Yes," Aiden dipped her chin slightly, slurring her words, "But atleast I hid the swear."
Ralph scoffed, and shook his head, "I hate your cold rotten apple pies."
Aiden jolted her head up and looked at Ralph impressed, "Hey, not bad."
Ralph shrugged nonchalantly, accepting his sister praise, "I'm a quick learner."
Both of them chuckled, it soon subsided into soft giggle before the Shiverribas inhaled deeply.
"So what happened with the Rainbooms?" Aiden asked suddenly.
"I haven't seen them, Atleast not since before school ended." Ralph replied.
"Huh," Aiden muttered, looking down apprehensively, "That's weird, I went to AppleJack's, Rarity's, and Fluttershy's house and their parents haven't seen them before I came looking for you down here."
"Meh," Ralph shrugged, "I'm sure they're just chilling or something."
"Yeah, I guess." Aiden said before giving the road her attention. Headed towards their home.
For a few moments, the Dazzlings stood there, unmoving. They stared at the six small crimson-haired creature uncurling themselves, their eyes unblinking. They were quite small, ranging from about one to two feet tall. The creatures had red, bloodthirsty, glowing eyes, small blue arms with three razor sharp claws on each, a small snout, and two rows of deadly, shark-like, gleaming teeth. Most of their bodies were covered in red hair save its face and hands which were blue.
The small creatures yawned and stared up at the girls, muttering small gibberish, clicking their teeths together. Silence permeated the air as both the Sirens and Razortooths stared at one another.
Their plan had worked. They had succeeded in creating a monster to use as an instrument of vengeance. Adagio couldn’t help but grow a huge sinister grin across her face.
“They are so cute!” Sonata squealed, kneeling down to get a better look at the small monsters.
One of Razortooths let out a strange sound, then curled back up into a ball. Soon they all began curling up into balls, they all began to roll around the room, smacking into desks and chairs in the process. That didn’t deter them one bit as two rolled up to the teacher’s wooden desk.
As both of them uncurled, a large chomping sound filled the air. They had bitten onto the legs of the desk and began gnawing on it as if it was some form of food.
“They're kind of dumb, Adagio.” Aria glanced over to her friend, folding her arms.
“Yes, well, that’s why we are going to write more books. We can’t defeat the Rainbooms with only six fur balls anyway.” Adagio handed the notebook over to Sonata, “Here, you write the next one.”
Sonata snatched the book, leaping up in joy, “Yay! I’m going to call it Curse Of The Werecheetah!” She exclaimed in happiness.
“You can call it The Itsy Bitsy Spider for all I care,” Adagio mumbled, rolling her eyes.
The Razortooths stopped gnawing on the desk and began eating the leather chair behind the desk. Adagio walked over to them while they consumed their latest meal, slowly at first, remaining cautious about these monsters, just in case they weren't friendly towards them. She crept closer and closer being careful not to take her eyes off the small, hairy beasts. They continued to dine on the teacher’s chair, ripping bits of leather and stuffing off and chewing.
“Razortooths?” Adagio called, her voice sounding a little unsure of what she was saying.
The small monsters swallowed the mouthful of chair. They turned to Adagio, looking up at her. At first, the Razortooths did nothing but stare, making Adagio feel more and more uncomfortable and anxious. The Razortooths opened their mouths simultaneously causing the Siren to wince and take a step back in fear. Any moment the monsters could leap at her and overwhelm her and eat her alive. She closed her eyes, waiting for the beasts to lung at her.
However, after a few seconds, she opened her eyes to see it simply staring back at her. Adagio walked closer to the creatures and the Razortooths stayed still not moving even an inch. The lead Siren looked down at her creations, puzzled at how they just stared at her. It was as if these things were awaiting a command. Then, it clicked in her head as if the final piece of a puzzle had been placed in its correct spot.
“Razortooths,” She said, pointing toward a desk next to her, “Go to that desk.”
The monsters all glanced at her, then the desk. Without hesitation, they curled up into their ball forms. The creatures rolled over to the desk, uncurled themselves, and began gnawing on the metal legs. Adagio’s trademark evil grin formed across her face as she whipped around to face Aria. Aria had been watching the whole thing, her jaw dropped in awe.
“You see that! This monster listens to what we say!” Adagio exclaimed in sinister excitement.
Aria smirked, nodding, “We can control these monsters.” She turned to Sonata who was smiling big and writing her heart out. “Hurry up, Sonata, we need more of these things.”
Sonata ignored her friend, her mind focused solely on the silly monster story she was writing.
“Just let Sonata write her stupid story so we can have more monsters at our disposal.”
Aria rolled her eyes, “Fine” She turned away from Sonata, sitting down in a chair adjacent her.
The Razortooths were rolling around the room, bumping into things as they searched for more snacks. Adagio ordered them to stop and the beasts halted and uncurled themselves, gazing up at their master. Adagio placed her hands on her hips as she gazed down at her creations.
“We are your masters. Got that?” She cocked a brow.
Several of the Razortooths let out a growl, nodding as they did.
“Good, then sit still until we finish, we have some friends for you to meet very soon.”
The Razortooths obliged sitting perfectly still. They all watched as Adagio took a seat next to Sonata. The girls spent the entire night writing their hearts out, creating hideous, bloodthirsty beasts from the deepest, darkest crevice of their imagination. Soon, their revenge would be in the bag. Soon, they would have the Rainbooms heads on sticks. The mere thought made them all smile evilly as more monsters were born from the book.
Monster-Bumps 2: Dead and Dazzling
Chapter 1: A Dazzling Comeback.
KID CREATES MONSTERS WHO ALMOST DESTORY ENTIRE TOWN.
These were the words that headed the frontline of that evening's edition of the Canterlot Daily. Accompanying the body of text following that title was a blurry black-and-white picture of the Dead and a few monsters behind him. How the photographer got a clean, prestige image of the monsters this close without getting eaten remains unknown. The stack of papers that had just been dropped outside a newsagent.
Mere seconds had passed, however, before a pair of green-skinned hands protruding from two brown cloak sleeves reached out of the night and plucked up one of the papers with the front of the image being Dead. The hands raised themselves up below a pair of yellow illuminated eyes radiating from the blackness of an alleyway. Shining through the veil of darkness like fireflies in the darkness of night.
The being stared at Dead for a long moment, analyzing every detail of his skull to his shadowy black spikey hair. His gaze traveled down the paper and landed on a smaller picture of Ralph below, holding the magic fountain pen. His yellow eyes widened at the sight of the mystic pen.
"Hm," said a voice curiously from the depths of the black shadows. This was shortly followed by a sudden, evil-maniacal laughter that successfully penetrated the surrounding block, although no one was around to hear it, the laugh echoed throughout the block. And whoever was laughing had, strangely, found great joy in the front headline of that paper.
He, or IT had found overflowing happiness at the news of a monster army deliberately laying half the city to waste. Even more so when he spotted Ralph Shiverriba with the black pen.
Why, however, remained a mystery.
Cold was the night, a swift breeze swaying the trees back and forth. Stars shimmered brightly in the night sky, the moon illuminating the earth in it’s eerie glow. Silence permeated the air as most citizens of Canterlot City were in bed or working a graveyard shift. Three girls were the only ones crazy enough to be out at this hour, in this weather.
The Dazzlings, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata walked down a sidewalk, looking rather defeated. It had been only eight months since their defeat at the hands of the Rainbooms and the taking of their magical abilities, but to them it felt like an eternity in purgatory and then some. Adagio gritted her teeth at the thought of the Rainbooms.
"So, what’s the plan now Adagio?” Aria asked in her usual unamused voice.
Adagio ran a hand through her hair, thinking as hard as she could about what to do next. Could they get their powers back? Could they get sweet revenge on those goody two shoes Rainbooms? It's been eight months and she couldn't stop thinking about how they humiliated them in public. She couldn't even close her eyes without reminiscing about that night. Revenge soon became their obsession. The only problem was...they didn't know how to carry it out. They had no powers. No nothing.
“At the moment, I don’t know, girls." A sadistic smile spread across her face, “But, I’m sure we’ll figure something out.” She balled her hand into a fist, “Those Rainbooms will pay.”
Sonata looked utterly confused, “Why would they give us money?”
Aria and Adagio facepalmed, “You’re the worst Sonata.” Aria said in between in fingers.
“No, you are!” Sonata retorted, folding her arms.
“You are!”
“You are!”
“Shut up!” Adagio snapped, both girls going silent at her request.
The group came to a graveyard. A large iron gate stood in front of them. Luckily, the lock was undone. Adagio glanced all around to make sure noone was watching. She opened the gate which creaked making her flinch at the unexpected noise. With a wave of her hand, the other two girls followed her into the graveyard.
They weren’t from this world which meant they had no place to call home. Unlike Sunset, who had managed to get some form of housing, these three slept on the streets, going from place to place each night. This was all those Rainbooms fault anyway.
Sonata gawked at tombstones with odd designs, making Aria have to drag her by her hood to keep up with Adagio. Adagio led them to a medium sized mausoleum, all three gazing up at it. Angels decorated the sides, each in a different pose. The top read: Canterlot City Mausoleum. It was built in some odd gray clay like structure the girls had never seen before. The door was large, but lucky for them unlocked.
Adagio pulled open the door, revealing a dark small room. On both sides were caskets with dead, rotting corpses inside. The girls didn’t dare look into any of the caskets even out of curiosity as this place sent shivers down their spines. Something seemed off about this whole place. Really off.
The Dazzlings shrugged it off, strolling into the small room. Visibility was almost nonexistent, the only thing they could see was the gray floor and some caskets. Something, shimmered in the corner of the room, Aria seeing it out of the corner of her eye. Curiosity getting the better of her, she carefully crept over. It was hard to see, but it appeared to be some sort of book, laying next to an open casket. Somehow, it must have fallen out.
Aria bent down and picked it up, blowing dust off of it. She turned to walk back to the others. Sonata was looking inside a casket while Adagio was preparing to get some shuteye.
“Look what I found,” Aria said, sitting down next to Adagio.
“A book?” Adagio cocked an eyebrow, “How is that going to help us? And put that back, Aria, you shouldn’t just pick up random objects you find in a graveyard.”
Aria rolled her eyes, “Whatever,” Then, a smirk grew upon her face, “Why don’t we open it and see what it’s about at least?”
“Oooh!” Sonata yanked her head out of the casket, whipping around to look at the book, “That sounds like fun!”
Adagio sighed, “Sure why not,” She said lying down, “You two can read yourselves to sleep.”
Sonata snatched the book, “For realzies! Yay!” She cheered as she tried prying the book open, due to the lock it was only able to open slightly. She tried tugging the flap open but the lock on the book kept it from being open. She tried once more, stubbornly refusing to give up. The book slowly cracked a sliver.
But it was just enough to release something.
Ink began flowing out of a few of the pages, rising into the air as if it was possessed by some unseen being. A small blue light flashed between the pages and ink began to swirling out of it.
Sonata’s eyes went wide as the book leapt from her hands and onto the floor. It had closed itself back due to the lock, cutting the flash of blue light off, what was left dissipated into thin air. The floating ink ceased it’s floating, splashing onto the floor in a big black puddle. However, a creepy, otherworldly laugh emanated from the book, startling all three girls.
“HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"
Six large puddles of ink splattered across the mausoleum, the ink began to rise as six figures began taking shape. The murky ink began building up to a small mound before the heaps of ink grew arms on each side. The Dazzlings stared eyes widened in shock as the ink grew more and more distinct, followed by different characteristic features. Slowly flesh began to form upon them, save one who remained skeletal. Then, skin began to creep across their forms, revealing more distinct features.
Electricity sparks flew off of one of the ink heaps. Followed by more electrcity. The liquid of the ink dissipated next followed by wild cackles of electricity followed by active bolts of conducted electricity.
The next glob ink, grew taller amongst all the others. Bristles of white hair grew on the ivory colored skin, it grew a small tail that flicked wildly, next followed was grey horns protruding from the side of the head curved in a zig-zag, looking like giant Z's. The ink itself grew colder and colder, before the temperature of the mausoleum dropped to a colder climate than before, making the Dazzlings shiver, their teeth chattered and they could see their own breath.
Next one grew taller with spider like legs protruding from each side, followed by horns on the top of the head, this figure seemed more feminine than the other piles of ink.
The ink glob next to her grew until it was a few feet shorter than the more spider looking creature. Small canine ears poked out of the top of the head, followed by a brown bushy tail that wagged profusely. The creature then let out a loud howl that echoed and resonated against the walls of the mausoleum. The
Dazzlings stared nervously at these intimidating creatures. Watching the last two piles ink form.
The next was more machine than organic as it grew tires, it grew further destroying the roof off the mausoleum making concrete and granite chunks of debris fall to the ground. The Dazzlings recoiled when the vehicle pressed through the roof making a huge gaping hole. The vehicle then honked multiple times as if it were trying to communicate, but the scariest part of it all was that no one was in the driver or passenger seat.
The final glob of ink grew but it was shorter than the others, as it only reached up to the Dazzlings chest. It continuously grew more features until the face was more clear. It was a skull face, followed by an empty hollow eye socket, with the exception of a single eyeball in opposite eye socket. It grew black spikey hair, the same color as the ink. Followed by a dark shadowy hoodie and jeans. With black standard sneakers.
Once the ink dissipated the Dazzlings stared eyes widened in shock at the six seperate monsters before them. They stared back at the trio responsible for releasing them.
"AAAAAAAAAH" ZapTrap garbled, sounding overjoyed with static emanating from his voice, he twisted his neck a full 180 degrees around his shoulder before a bone popping sound echoed in the small room, "OH MAN, SIX MONTHS CRAMPED INSIDE THAT BOOK WILL GIVE YA SUCH A CRICK IN THE NECK!"
The other monsters just ignored the voltage phantom and stared at their hands in both shock and disbelief. Their hands were once more flesh and blood rather than ink.
Arachnida piped up, "We're free? How?"
The Monster Truck just honked its horn as if to answer the Spider Princess question. The possessed vehicle finally revved up loudly.
Dead whipped his head at the Dazzlings who were still continuously gawking in disbelief at the six monsters who were definitely not there 5 minutes ago. They had so many questions.
Dead just chuckled malevolently, his eyelid dropped halfway, intrigued by their 'saviors' "And who might you lovely ladies be?"
Adagio smirked wickedly from ear to ear. She knew magic like the back of her hand, and that book was definitely magical. She didn’t know how nor did she care, only one thing remained in her mind, revenge.
“I’m Adagio Dazzling,” She introduced herself with a finger, proceeding to point it at the others, “This is Aria Blaze and that’s Sonata Dusk and we're the Dazzlings-.”
She was abruptly cut of by Dead's cruel jeering laughter, "HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Dazzlings? What the hell? Are you three losers a band or something."
Adagio grew a scowl on her face at the mention of the word 'band', "We....Were..." She gritted her teeth.
Dead smirked, he failed stifling his evil giggles, "What happened? You didn't sell enough albums or something? HA-HA-HA-HA! In fact why am I wasting my time with you three posers!? Oh Wolfie!"
Dead snapped his finger. The Wolf Boy snarled at the trio of girls that were soon to be his trio of snacks. He hunched down and trudged on all fours towards them. Smacking his lips, baring his teeth.
The girls gasped and backed up, taking slow steps away from the brown werewolf still growling and showing off his rows of sharp teeth.
"Now I'll leave my doggie with you three, remember to take him on walks every night, his bed time is at nine," He listed off sarcastically, watching the girls tremble as the werewolf approached them "and oh he's doesn't eat vegan! HA-HA-HA-HA! Thanks for letting us out girls but we have a date with our daddy, and his stupid band of girls." Dead then turned around heading towards the exit of the mausoleum. Along with the other monsters waiting to get revenge.
Adagio fearful expression was quickly replaced with intrigue at the mention of the 'band of girls', She grew an evil grin, knowing opportunity was knocking at her door. Just as the Wolf Boy approached them, Adagio quickly piped up, "Did either of them have rainbow or bacon colored hair?"
Dead perked up and paused before exiting the room, he snapped his fingers, ushering the Wolf Boy to stop, "Wolfie! Stop!"
As instructed the Wolf Boy paused and let out a confused whine, staring back at his skeletal leader in dissapointment, being denied a meal.
Dead walked slowly over to the trio still leaned up against the wall, he narrowed his one single eye, "Just what the hell do you know about those girls?"
She walked up to the short skeleton and held out a hand, “Please to make your acquaintance, Mister…”
“Don't you know who I am!!?" Dead exasperated, pointing his thumb, "I'm Dead!"
"Yes you are." Sonata chirped.
Dead darted his eye left and right awkwardly, "Well yes, t-technically I AM DEAD. But m-my name," Dead stammered, not making the best first impression, "-Is Dead. I'm Dead....I am Dead." The skeleton said,
"Just call me Dead." The skeleton said shaking the girl’s hand back. Then crossed his arms, brushing off the awkwardness of the moment.
“I believe we have a common goal.” She continued, the menacing smile still plastered on her mug.
“Oh yeah? what might that be, missy?” Dead asked.
“Revenge. You want to get revenge on the one who sealed you away, right?”
The skeleton nodded, “Ya got that right muffin head…I got a score to settle with two meat bags!” He cackled manically.
"So do we with those girls.” She gazed into his soulless eyes, “So, Partners?”
Dead stared intently at Adagios fingerless glove hand waiting for him to grab it. After a long moment of silence, he chuckled lightly, "Heh! I like you kid. Your tall, sexy, evil, possibly crazy, and you got a great pair of hips." Dead then gripped his cold boney hands on to Adagios, shaking it firmly.
“Partners.” Dead said with a malice laced grin that mimicked Adagio’s. Soon, the entire room erupted in an maniacal laughter.
Monster-Bumps 2: Dead and Dazzling
Chapter 5: From The Same Mold.
Twilight hadn’t stopped running since she and Spike narrowly escaped the malevolent pumpkin’s grasp nor had she looked back to see if it was still giving chase after her. All that ran through her mind at the moment, all she could bring herself to do was run, faster and faster. Her breathing was elevated and her heart thudded in her chest, fearful that the monster may have followed her.
Spike looked up at the running, panting Twilight, “You can stop running now, Twilight,” He looked back one last time to make sure the Jack O' lanterns weren't after them. No one was chasing them, making him internally sigh in relief, “He’s not after us.”
Twilight finally stopped, breathing heavily. She placed her hands on her knees, bending over a little as she attempted to catch her breath. Spike’s fearful expression had grown into a small smile.
“We did it, Twilight! We escaped those monsters!” He cheered happily. Then, his happy expression turned to one of realization as he noticed the magic tracker gone, not hung securely around Twilight’s neck. “Your magic tracking thing!” He pointed to her neck with a paw. “It’s gone!”
Twilight’s eyes widened in fear. She felt her neck for it, then looked down at herself. There was no device around her neck or around them on the sidewalk they had stopped on. “I must’ve dropped it when those things tackled me to the ground!” She exclaimed, frantically searching the surrounding area for it.
“We need to hurry and tell the others, they’ll be able to help us,” Spike said, pointing down the street towards Pinkie’s house.
Twilight nodded her head, pulling herself together. “You’re right Spike. We need our friends help with this.”
The duo continued down the street until they came up to Pinkie’s house. Immediately, both Twilight and Spike knew something was wrong. The front door was wide open as if her friends were inviting strangers off the street to come on in. Twilight and Spike exchanged worried glances before rushing into the house.
The science lover burst into the house, her heart skipping a beat. Upon entering, Twi saw wood chunks scattered all over the kitchen floor. “Girls!” She called, knowing full well no one would answer her back, "Sunset? Rarity? Pinkie? Rainbow?" She called out, no reply.
Spike came in after Twilight, “What happened here?!” He asked in alarm, looking at Twi with a mixture of worry and fear evident in his eyes.
Twilight shook her head, “I don’t know Spike, but it can’t be good with those monsters on the loose.”
Both their heads turned to the stairs leading to Pinkie’s room. They quickly darted up them as fast as they could move. Twilight bursted into Pinkie’s room. It was empty, silent, and had further evidence something had in fact happened to her beloved friends. Glass littered the floor by Pinkie’s bed. A rock lay a few feet from it.
"They're gone." Twilight said softly, her eyes widened in horror.
“Then we have to warn Ralph and Aiden!” Spike said, tugging at Twilight’s extra long socks with his paw.
Twilight just stared across the street in wide eyed horror. Something had happened to her friends and she didn’t know what nor where they were if they were even still alive.
“Twilight!” Spike called up to her.
She brought herself to nod, “Y-yeah. We need to warn the Shiverribas!” She said as her gazed went down to her beloved doggie.
Aiden waited patiently in the dining room, sitting anxiously infront of the table. Her meal was already cold, but she didn't seem to care as she stared contonuously at the empty chair where Ralph usually sat. Silence hung over the room as it permeated throughout the whole house. Another moment of silence flew as Aiden continued to stare at the chair somberly. She already made Ralph's favorite, spaghetti and meatballs. But no Ralph.
"Where is he?" She muttered under her breath anxiously awaiting her brothers arrival.
It shouldn't take him that long. Ralph knew the path back home, he should've been here hours ago. At first she assumed he was with the Rainbooms, hanging out. But why didn't he call and tell her about it. There would only two sole reasons. He either forgot, or something here is not right. Either way Aiden had tried to call both the Rainbooms and her brother. No reply.
Aiden was quickly beginning to grow more nervous as to what's going on. She narrowed her eyes and stood up from the table determined to see where her brother went. She grabbed the car keys from the key hook and departed towards one of the Rainbooms house.
She just hoped nothing dire was occurring.
Twilight pounded frantically on the door of the Shiverriba’s home. Spike pawed at the door attempting to help his friend and owner get one of the Shiverribas attention. Their efforts proved utterly fruitless.
Glancing to the driveway, the science lover noticed Aiden’s car was gone. She continued to pound on the door for a few moments. They both stopped at the same time, hanging their heads in defeat.
“I guess they’re not home.” Spike said, glancing up at Twilight.
She nodded, sighing, “Yeah, I guess not.” Then, she raised her fist in determination. “Our friends are in trouble, monsters are loose in our town. Come on Spike,” She said walking down the steps towards the sidewalk. Spike followed. “We have to find Aiden or Ralph, there's no time to lose!” With that, they both started on their journey to find the Shiverribas and warn them of the impending doom ready to plague their town once more.
Aiden grumbled she had visited the last three of the Rainbooms house: AppleJack, Fluttershy, and Rairty. Their parents all told her the same thing: they were gone. She doubted she would have any luck in any of the other homes. She tried calling each of the Rainbooms seperately. All going to voicemail. Aiden wasn't deterred from seeking her brother.
Where was he?
She then saw a sign for the upcoming food store. She had already been nearly all over across town calling his name. That was her next stop. Maybe they have seen him.
Ralph and Elipstle recounted their personal stories and had listened for the past hour. The rain has subsided before eventually water stopped, now there was nothing but puddles outside, but the gloomy atmosphere from before still hung over their heads as each of them spun a tale of sorrow. Elipstle was vague in his story, but he told Ralph how he was mistreated and misunderstood by others as he only seeked to write stories. But no matter where he traveled everyone refused to read his literature. Through his story he explained he was Satyr, a mythical beast that is half man and half goat. Though he refrained from revealing his true form and visage. Ralph respected his decision and decided not to inquire further.
"Where did you say you were from again?" Ralph asked, slumped against the interior of the lorry.
Elipstle seemed hesitant for a few moments, but after being continually stared by Ralph. He spoke softly at the smaller boy, being sure to be discrete as possible.
"Farther than you have ever traveled."
That still didn't narrow it down for Ralph, but he decided it was another personal matter that Elipstle didn't want to discuss further. An hour had past them and Ralph told him the tale from what happened six months ago. And about his monsters, this seemed to intrigue Elipstle. Especially the part of the pen which was the instrument used to create such horrific creatures.
"Tell me Ralph," he said slowly, "How long were you in possession of this pen?"
Ralph contemplated it over for about ten seconds glancing upwards, remembering, "Ever since I was eight, I just thought it was an ordinary pen at the time. Four years ago is when I started writing, I used it to deal with being alone."
"And your sister?" Elipstle inquired.
"Well she was alway there for me, she didn't know about it until three years ago. And she didn't tell mom and dad about it when she found out." Ralph paused for a moment thinking about all the time his sister supported him or comforted him when he was alone. When he was loner, even now. He didn't realize how lucky he was to have a sister that was special as her.
Another moment of silence passed between the human and saytr as they sat there in the lorry, mulling over their life. After a long pause of silence Elipstle finally spoke up.
"I spent my life so long seeking others approval, now I realize my endeavors were futile."
"Don't be upset," Ralph said calmly, "People just get afraid and angry of what they don't understand."
"You are the first human I have shared my pain. I feel you and me are made from the same mold, do your new friends really accept this.....gift?" He emphasized, his glowing eyes staring at Ralph.
Ralph hesitated for a moment, looking between his sneakers, hugging his knees closer to his chest, "I like to think of it as both a gift and a curse. But from what I heard, Sunset Shimmer did way worse a long time ago."
"You mentioned she turned into a demon?" Elipstle recounted.
Ralph shrugged indifferently, glancing at the metal floor of the lorry, "Well, yeah. She did. But my life has been filled with more dissapointment than her. All I ever wanted was someone to rely on, I finally get it and that's taken away," Ralph drifted off, chuckling, "If that's not dissapointment at its finest I don't know what is. Imagine all the trouble I could have avoided if I just met someone who wanted to be my friend. I guess that was too much to ask for, huh?"
"Humans can be so cruel."
"Yeah," Ralph nodded softly, "Some of them. For a long time I thought the only people they were looking out for was themselves. People are so mean for no reason, I just thought it was pointless, but I look at my friends now..." Ralph drifted off, almost hesitating, "A-and I see now maybe, there are still some people with love in their hearts, maybe the humans aren't as bleak as I perceived them. They are still capable of so much beautiful things, maybe one day...there will come a day unlike any other, when we all realize the futility of fighting one another, and just...stop."
"They're doomed you know," Elipstle replied, quietly, "If it's not a giant monster killing them, it's themselves. Pointless as there fighting is. Its all they know how to do." He finished turning his head forward, just staring absentmindedly into thin air.
Ralph droned, looking forward in the same direction as Elipstle, "Maybe, but that's why we gotta make the most of the moment. Humans are odd, they think order and chaos are somehow opposites and... try to control what they can't. But there is grace in their failure. I think you miss that."
"They'll only last as far as their failure can take them. After that it's nothing but hollow and an unescapeble void of emptiness."
"We'll only know with each step they take. Maybe they'll find peace, maybe they'll destroy. But still...it's a privilege to be among them." Ralph sighed.
Ralph smiled softly, remembering the Rainbooms how they opened up to him when he first met them. They wanted to be his friend, and he just pushed them away. Then he remembered how he opened up to each of them. It was a beautiful thing that he met those girls. He was secretly glad all his monsters were released from their books, in a way, they were a blessing in disguise. He never would have changed if it weren't for that adventure. His demeanor reinstated back to when he believed friendship was still a concept anyone could achieve. And Aiden, she alway supported him through his loner phase. Always trying to cheer up a despondent Ralph even when he refused it. All those girls saved his life. Aiden showed him love and the Rainbooms guided him towards friendship.
He cringed at what his life would be without them. Suddenly Elipstle spoke, cutting Ralph's musing short.
"Would you write again if you could?" Elipstle asked.
Ralph waited a few seconds, considering it. He did think about it constantly, it was something he wanted to do. It was after all the only thing he knew how to do, it just came to him as natural. Writing was his strongest suit and special asset.
"Yeah, I think I would." Ralph replied, in a serene tone.
Elipstle darted his head around when he heard approaching footsteps followed by someone calling Ralph's name.
"Ralph!"
"Ralph!"
Ralph eyes widened, "That's Aiden." He quickly stood up and looked at Elipstle sadly, "I'm sorry I gotta go, I'll visit you next time I promise.
Ralph quickly exited the lorry and jumped out, running towards the direction of the voice of his sister. Elipstle remained silent, his eyes fixed on Ralph before he departed.
Ralph ran to the end of the corner of the store before he spotted Aiden wearing a green trench coat, darting her head around for any sign of her little brother. She softly sighed in relief when she spotted him running towards her.
Aiden did the same, running up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him into a warm embrace, "Oh god, when you didn't come back home I thought something bad happened to you. I went around town calling your name."
Ralph pulled back looking skittish, "I'm sorry, i just forgot to call you and I had my phone on silent, I'm sorry."
Aiden sighed, gently pulling Ralph towards the car, "I'm just glad your okay, so what happened?"
Ralph glanced over his shoulder one last time and looked over to the small alleyway leading to the lorry where Elipstle was, his face was contorted with empathy as he hesitantly said, "Just wanted to clear my head a little bit."
