//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Explanations. // Story: Monster-bumps // by Napalm monster //------------------------------// *Present Day* The whole car ride back to the Shiverribas home was silent. No one spoke. The Rainbooms wanted to press questions, but the look on Ralph's face expressed that he was not in a particular chatty mode. Aiden drove, while Ralph sat in the passenger seat holding the book securely. The back was a little compacted since there were six of the Rainbooms, but they didn't complain. At least outloud. But you could tell the girls were thinking the same thing. Though, thankful Ralph had saved them from a grizzly fate at the claws of a ferocious ten foot tall white spirit of famine, they still retained suspicion against the smaller lad. Like how on earth. Or any earth for that fact, also being in Equestria. Did a monster literally jump out of a book?! It didn't make sense, and they wanted their questions to be heard and answered. Though they were waiting for one of them to be heard first. Applejack shifted in her seat uncomfortably, being squished between Rarity and Pinkie. Her back was sore from being launch against a tree. She grunted when she moved her back and felt her bones realign. Fluttershy was avoiding eye contact, fidgeting nervously and just staring at her boots besides Rarity, next to the window. Pinkie secretly took some of the candy the Wendigo stole and stashed it her hair, chewing on a gumball currently. Rainbow and Rarity just sat their uncomfortably feeling the tension rise between them all. Rainbow stared out her window to help ease her mind. Though Sunset mind filled with constant questions. Who was Ralph really? How did a Wendigo, (if she could call it that, she was still skeptical, as she was use to the Equestrian illustration of one) jump out of the book? What was happening? More questions just kept rushing inside her. The girls remained slumped waiting for someone to cut the awkward silence. Even Aiden looked to terrified to speak up, and she was the oldest of the Shiverribas. Surprisingly, Fluttershy was the brave one to speak, "What are you going to do to us?" Ralph remained silent, his expression unchanged. Not even a wrinkle from his face. It was like he didn't even hear Fluttershy, or he was building up suspense. Ralph's eyes flickered toward The Rainbooms in the rearview mirror. He then glared at Pinkie. "I told you that if you didn’t stay away from us, something bad would happen. Well thanks to you a spirit of famine had caused a lot property damage, and if the town finds out I'm affiliated with this, they're gonna sue me or throw me in jail and throw away the key.” Though Pinkie was more focused chewing her gum, she wasnt really paying much attention to Ralph's complaints. Ralph growled angrily and shook his head. “You had to pick Winter of the Wendigo? Couldn’t have picked Angry Army Ants?" he asked, in a tone that suggested he didn’t care about the answer. Sunset had enough, she needed answers. And she needed them now. "Alright it's time you gave us some answer," Sunset snapped, "Who are you really?" Ralph sighed and slumped on his chair, "I'm just a guy who can't hold up a conversation to save his own life and has a lot of issues." Aiden eyelids dropped and looked at his brother with a solicitude expression when he said all that. She looked like she wanted to console her brother. The girls eyes just stared at Ralph, blinking. The girls wondered whether maybe this was a conversation they should postpone until the car stopped moving. Or until, like, never. Sunset cleared her throat and resumed her questioning. "Listen, I know that you owe us some explanation." "Indeed," Rarity nodded, eyes closed, looking haughty, "You all put us in jeopardy." "Really?" Ralph snapped, looking at her dubiously, "I saved you girls, and I'm not the one who put you all in danger. No! You all did that yourself!" Ralph continued, "I'm not the one who trespassed and opened the locked book! You ever considered there was a reason my books were locked?" "Well we weren't expecting a giant monster to appear!" Rainbow retorted, giving Ralph an equally tense glare. "Even I didn't see that one coming!" Pinkie nodded. "Also those were your monsters to begin with." Rarity added. "And I think you owe us an explanation partner to how a monster lept out of the pages of yer book." AJ joined. “I can’t explain it.” Ralph replied, gazing downward at his book. “We were almost just eaten by a Wendigo!” Sunset yelled. “So … try!" It was a miracle, but he actually did. Ralph sighed, “Okay, look, when I was younger, I suffered from terrible social awkwardness around eight years old and didn't fully grasp how to interact with kids my own age,” he said, not really looking at the Rainbooms, nonetheless he continued his story. “I became a loner, and avoided kids my own age like the plague." He explained, "My parents sent me to therapy until I was twelve, and I convinced Aiden to run away with me when she turned old enough. We moved from city to city to find a good home, but it never worked out. Back then, the other kids would come over and throw rocks at my window and call me names," he continued sounding more depressed as all those memories returned. “So four years ago I dealed with my depression by writing personal books, I never really published them or anything. They were all personal stories I wrote, the only other person who had ever read them was me and Aiden. No one else. And I made up my own friends....." Ralph took a long pause, raising the tension, "Monsters,demons, creatures, from nightmares of the human mind, that would terrorize my town and all the kids that ever made fun of me. They became real to me. And then, one day, they actually … became ... real." He whispered that last part, "My monsters literally leaped off the page! They would haunt and torture my bullies. The monsters were my only friends in this world ..... Until they went wild and began hurting everyone, including both Aiden and my parents, I couldn't control them anymore and they just stopped listening to me. So I had no choice but to seal them away." Aiden sighed, "It's true, once our parents found about Ralph's..." Aiden paused for a long moment, ", "Gift" we had no choice but to run away." "Yes, As long as the books remained locked, they can never escape . But when they open … well, you all just saw what happened.” It was totally, utterly unbelievable. But given what they all just seen in the past and now, the Rainbooms had to believe it. And judging by the distraught expression on Aidens face, verified he was telling the truth. No one could fake a look like that. Everyone remained silent for a long moment. Then Fluttershy ruined it. "I have social anxiety.” Fluttershy said suddenly. What? "Wwwwhat's your point?" Ralph asked, cocking an eyebrow. “I’m just saying, I have trouble interacting with others, too, so I understand.” She replied understandingly. Telling his story seemed to have used up all the strength Ralph had in his lungs. He didn’t even bother to tell Fluttershy to shut up. He sighed and shook his head. "Why am I still talking to you stupid girls?" he said, sounding defeated. He then slumped against his chair, hoping the car ride back to his house would end. Once the car stopped infront of Ralph's home, the Rainbooms all piled out as Ralph marched inside, walking over the glass and wood on the floor from when the Wendigo crashed through. "Wait!" Sunset yelled, "What happens now?" "Yeah?" Pinkie asked, standing next to Sunset, "What about the party? Oops!" Pinkie covered her mouth, her eye widened, "You weren't supposed to know about that till you were inside." Ralph just ignored Pinkie and turned to Sunset, “You all go home, put on your pj’s, get your blankie, go nap-nap, and in the morning, tonight will just feel like a bad dream” He hustled Aiden inside, the Rainbooms continued following him inside. "W-what are you going to do?" Fluttershy asked. "I'll tell you what I'm going to do, we're moving." He announced, much to the Rainbooms and Aidens surprise. "B-but why?" Pinkie asked in disbelief, sadness washing over her, "I thought we were gonna be friends?" "Well no offense 'friend' but I gave up on friendship after I had to seal away my previous friends in books, so no thank you! Im tired of being disappointed by people pretending to care about me. It's everyone for themselves in this world!" Ralph yelled. Pinkie sniffled loudly, tears on the verge of falling down, she wanted to give little Ralph a hug so badly and tell him she would be his friend forever. But she had a feeling he would only decline her offer. "But why move?" Rarity inquired, though she wasn't fond of Ralph, she didn't understand why, "It's a tad.....extreme. I mean the danger is over, so why?" "Because people are gonna wonder where that beast came from, you all saw the damage my Wendigo made. And thanks to all of you the first person they're gonna blame this whole mess on is the guy with the huge hole in his freaking house!" Ralph yelled pointing at massive hole in their once new home, "Come on Aiden! Let's go! Maybe the next town we settle down in won't be a total shit show like this one!" Ralph stomped up the stairs without even waiting to see if she would obey him. She did, of course. When she headed up the stairs, the others followed her. All the way to the room at the end of the dark hallway, Ralph's room, where it all began. Pinkie then lunged forward and grabbed Ralph's ankle unexpectedly, tears streaming down her cheek as she was not ready to say goodbye to Ralph without making him smile or atleast her friend. She had to make him believe in friendship. "Please! Oh please don't go!" Pinkie begged, holding the smaller boys ankle in a tight lock, "Atleast stay for the party." Ralph growled disgruntled, and heaved forward dragging Pinkie across the floor who refused to release his ankle. He was done playing these childish games with the annoyingly social pink girl. "Get off....my....ankle!" Ralph demanded and began to peel Pinkie's forearms off. "No!" Pinkie protested, "Please stay!" "Sure!" Ralph replied suddenly enthusiastic, faking it for the sake Pinkie would let go. She did. She stood up straight with all the tears suddenly gone from her cheeks, her eyes widened, and her hair poofy than it was before, beaming down at Ralph with tremendous glee. "Really?" She asked with a radiant smile that stretched across her face. "No." Ralph then muttered returning back to his sulky tone. His eyelids dropped, expressing a dry, annoyed look on his face. He swiveled around and resumed the walk back to his study and started packing his belongings. "Aiden, grab A to M,” Ralph ordered, starting to pull books off the shelves. "I’ll grab N to Z. And for gods sake keep the Gingerbread Monsters away from the Angry Ants. You know how they love to—” He stopped, freezing with his hand on one of the spines. “Wait. The manuscripts. One of them is missing!” It wasn’t exactly the mystery of the century. Aiden pointed to where The Bone Orchard was lying on the floor. It was only when Ralph picked it up, his face melting into a look of pure horror, that everyone realized the lock was broken. “No,” he whispered. “Not him.... No!” Ralph screamed. “No! Please! no!" Judging by the title, the girls knew the book was about a skeleton. At least they could assume, with a name like 'Bone Orchard'. It was hard to get too worked up about a single skeleton after they’d conquered a ten foot tall wendigo. Beside there were eight of them. "HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" That’s when the laughter began. High, almost childlike echoing through the house. The girls cringed at how high the bass of the voice was, they huddled together and shifted their eyes around to see where the laughter was coming from. They then heard the most foreboding voice that made them feel uneasy and tense up. Their muscles clenched tight and they all looked daunted. "Oh yes." The black leather chair at Ralph's desk slowly spun around to face them. Ralph gaped in fear, eyes widening. He could do nothing but stare. The blood in his veins ran cold, and the hair on his forearms stood up. Horrible memories from three years ago returned. His oldest friend was sitting there. Giving him the most darkest glare. The Rainbooms gulped in unison staring at the thing before they all took a few steps backward. Though this monster wasn't as big and intimidating as the last one, as the Wendigo mostly attacked on instinct. They could all sense the evil emanating from him. And it was overwhelming. “Hello, Daddy.”