//------------------------------// // Chapter 19: A Dead Friendship. // Story: Monster-bumps // by Napalm monster //------------------------------// Dead drove near the school, the Ooze with the Rainbooms stuck inside it, still. They continuously squirmed, they struggled, but the Ooze was too strong. The girls began losing hope of escape and accepted their fate for the moment. Being stuck in a bubblegum colored mass of sticky, viscous, gelatinous goop. "Oh my hair!" Rarity whimpered, more distraught about her hair than anything else, "It'll take weeks to remove all this sticky stuff!" AppleJack sighed and rolled her eyes, "Do you ever not think about yer appearance Rarity?" "Well," Rarity said, raising a brow and looking up, "I think about clothes and which color matches best with my eyes." The others just groaned at this. "Things look bleak girls, I know that," Sunset said, shifting slightly in the Ooze, "But we just have to have faith in Ralph and believe in him." "Okay," Fluttershy nodded, "I believe in him." "Yeah, but, hypothetically speaking," Rainbow slurred, "What happens if he doesn't pull this off and we're stuck with these guys as the towns new rulers?" The Rainbooms just remained silent and narrowed their eyes at her, giving her a harsh glare. "Hey! I believe in him too! But I'm just saying IF things go south, what do we do?" Rainbow asked. "It won't," Sunset shook her head, "I know Ralph will pull this off." "Yeah!" Pinkie chimed in, "After this is over we can all go back to Ralph's house and continue the surprise party we planned him. Or maybe just a regular party since he already knows about it." "HA!" Dead laughed, overhearing their conversation, "You think Ralph will really pull this off? With broken fingers? Though I'll give him credit, he sure does know how to hold back the tears when he's writing." "Your never gonna get away with this." Sunset said coldly. "Look around sweet pea, all the citizens are frozen, your trapped, and my army is going up against two kids. By my point of view I've won already." "Well that most be a pretty short point of view." Rainbow laughed, chuckling followed last. Dead narrowed his eyes and looked at Rainbow. He hated being called short, that was one of the many traits he shared with Ralph. They hated being reminded of their height. "Keep talkin' pride flag! Otherwise I'm gonna make you taste the rainbow with my foot in your mouth!" Dead glowered. "Hey! don't talk to my friends that way! You brat!" Rarity yelled. Dead rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers. "Ooze." The Ooze then pulled the girls deeper within it. The girls sunk down to their mouths, and began emitting muffling noises, while they're bodies were in deeper. They kept squirming wildly inside the blob. "Hehe, I'm sorry can you repeat that?" Dead asked sarcastically, "I think you got some gum stuck in your mouth HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Or is that the other way around? HA-HA-HA-HA!" Canterlot High. Two days ago it was a happy, cheerful school, thanks to the Rainbooms who showed everyone the power of friendship. You couldn't go five minutes without someone waving at you and greeting you. But now.....The whole school was a war zone. All the students and staff evacuated after Ralph and the Rainboom sucessfully lured the monsters away from the school. All those who escaped were smart enough to run home, lock their doors, barricade their homes, and hide under their beds holding some form of weapons in case the monsters did come back. The hallways lay empty, devoid of any life. The only activity was the occasional gust of wind that blew in from the many windows that had been broken open recently due to the monsters. And not just the windows were broken, the doors were busted open, off its hinges. The night sky blowed heavy gusts of wind and the moon was shrouded by grey clouds, grass shifted and leaves sailing through the wind, with minor claps of thunder echoing. Indicating the start of oncoming battle, for the fate of everyone in town. And for Ralph, that may just have been the case. "' Though the Kraken tossed Ralph and Aiden in the Ferris wheel, they survived and now ran towards the top of the roof as Ralph continued writing, all the monster were near but Ralph was almost done writing, soon all of the chaos would be ended. Despite the extreme pain in his fingers.' " "Almost done?" Aiden asked. "Yeah," Ralph muttered, while his mind tried coming up with the next words, "Almost." He then paused gritted his teeth feeling his fingers ache in pain. Though he was still capable of writing, his damaged fingers only slowed him down, as it made him strenuous to force himself to finish atleast a single sentence. "Ouch, fffffffffffffffff.....fuuuuu-dge....damn that stings!" Ralph cringed in pain. "Ralph please let me write this for you, your fingers are really in bad condition." Aiden insisted. "NO!" Ralph yelled, "This is my mess, my responsibility! I have to be the one to end it!" Ralph declared. "Yeah but your fingers!" "I can hold on. five or four more paragraphs and it'll all be over. Crap!" Ralph's fingers flinched, but he tried pushing aside the pain, best as he could. He needed to hold out for a few more paragraphs. Dead stopped the truck infront of the school. He parked it before exiting the driver seat. He drove here along side Ooze before the others could get a chance at their creator. He WANTED this, he wanted to be the one to kill Ralph. And he had the most ironic, sadistic way how. By using the Rainbooms. The Ooze dripped to the ground with the Rainbooms still gagged with globs of Ooze, blocking off proper speech. Dead slowly crept towards Sunset and pulled her hair. Sunset yelped, cringing in pain as Deads boney hand tugged on her red and yellow hair forcing her look up at his single eyeball. "Aww don't worry," Dead mockingly crooned, "I'm not gonna kill you. Yet. Your gonna help me help me kill Ralph first." Sunset let out more muffled protests and shook her head defiantly. Not even dreaming about hurting Ralph or anyone else for that matter. But Dead just grinned. "Have you ever read my book?" Dead asked, sarcastically, "In it I may be short but I have this special power daddy gave me when he was writing me." To illustrate his point Dead kneeled to Sunsets eye level and opened his mouth and exhaled a black murky mist out of his mouth. The mist trailed up Sunsets nose as she tried blocking her nasal passage. But the dark mist already traveled its way up. It then reached her mind and surrounded it in the same murky aura as Deads breath. The mist then flowed inside her frontal lobe. Soon all the mist inserted itself within the confines of Sunsets brain. Sunset tried struggling against it, muffling louder. But slowly her muffled protests began dying down, she whimpered. Then she closed her eyes. The other Rainboom members watched Sunset silently. She remained there, quiet. Both eyes closed. For a moment the Rainbooms feared that Dead inserted some sort of poison inside her. Killing her. But they were wrong. DEAD wrong. Sunsets eyelids flung open. The Rainbooms gasped muffled. Sunsets pupils were gone. In fact all the white was replaced by murky, black, darkness. She remained motionless, saying nothing. Her gaze just looked aimlessly into the empty air. Her eyes were pitch black. The Ooze removed itself and released Sunset from her prison as she walked towards Dead. With a frozen expression. With a stone gaze, she pushed infront to the skeleton who continued grinning widely. The Rainbooms eyes widened in horror. Dead snapped his neck towards the remaining memebers. "Your turn." Ralph cringed as Aiden put more bandages around his fingers. The two Shiverribas decided since Ralph was being motivated by his pride, he stubbornly insisted finishing the book himself, Aiden made him wear more bandages for his poor fingers. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather have me do this for you? Your fingers look badly hurt." "No," Ralph gritted his teeth, holding back the tears of pain, "Besides I've always used the pen, we won't know if the pen works if other people use it. I think the pen is bonded to me or something." Aiden sighed. He may have a point, she didn't want to risk ruining everything when they were so close to ending it. Ralph let Sunset write on it because his fingers before still felt fresh from the pain, now the pain had subsided slightly. He had to write now. Besides it hurt less if he wrote softly against the surface of the paper. "Okay," Aiden nodded, "Let's get to the roof so you can continue writing before Dead shows up." Ralph nodded they exited the nurse office and headed towards the stairs quickly. They walked along the hallway, the locker next to them suddenly juddered. Aiden yelped and jumped back. The locker began vibrating making metal resonate. Aiden looked at Ralph. Ralph looked at Aiden. Both of them nervous. Before they could do anything or say anything the locker door flung open and out fell... A girl. She had blonde hair, grey skin. Wore a brownish short, sleeve cut, jacket and a white t-shirt. Yellow boots with a trio of bubbles on the side of her shoes. But her eyes are what caught both Shiverribas attention. She had wonky eyes. "Hey! Are those creepy monsters gone?" She asked, lifting herself up the floor. "Eh who are you?" Ralph asked, raising a brow. "Oh!" She said, dusting her dress, "I'm Derpy. Derpy Ditz." "Were you in the there the whole time during the monster invasion?" Aiden asked. "Well, after that Sunset girl announced the monsters coming, I quickly ran to my locker to protect my muffins in case they wanted to steal some. So I hid the whole time." She explained. Ralph and Aiden each exchanged perplexed looks before looking back at Derpy with an unsure expression. "Weeeeell," Aiden drawled, "You should probably go home, I have a feeling it's gonna get hectic soon." "Can I come with you two?" Derpy asked suddenly. "Why?" Ralph asked, raising a brow. "Because you two seem to know what's going on," Derpy said, "I'd figure id be safe near you two." Ralph shook his head, "Trust me, the last thing you want, is to be near me when Dead shows up." "Pleeeeease?" Derpy asked, making a puppy dog face, clasping her hands together. Pleading. Ralph rolled his eyes, "Fine, we don't have time to discuss this we need to get to the roof quickly before-" "Hello Ralph." Ralph, Aiden, and Derpy jerked their heads to the direction they heard Ralph's name. They gasped when they saw the Rainbooms there. "Girls!" Ralph said happily, he ran up to them, "You guys are free, but how? How did you all escape the Ooze?" The girls remained there staring at Ralph. They were suddenly quiet, which made the shortest Shiverriba anxious. They were being so quiet and still, it was hard to tell if they were still breathing. Ralph then suddenly had a bad feeling. "Girls? It is you? Right?" Ralph asked unsure. Before Ralph could react Rainbow and AppleJack tackled him to the ground, knocking the book out of his hand. Sliding towards Aiden and Derpys feet. "Get the book!" Sunset yelled pointing at the book. Aiden quickly picked it up and looked at the Rainbooms nervously. "Girls? What's wrong with you?" Ralph struggled under Rainbow and AppleJacks tight grip around his arm as he struggled for release. But their athletic muscles overwhelmed his short, lanky body. "Let go! Lemme go!" Ralph demanded, squirming tighter as both girls refused to release him. Suddenly, Ralph gasped. Their eyes then turned pitch black indicating one thing. Dead breath. Ralph then recalled the countless times, Dead used this ability from the story in real life on his bullies. The only way to spot it, is in the victims eyes how they turn completely black. One time, Dead made his bully, Mike, smear dog crap over his pants as a practical joke. Even though Ralph found it a bit harsh, he still enjoyed watching Dead force him. But now it wasn't a joke. In some cruel ironic twist Dead has forced his new friends to attack and kill him. Pure irony. "Aiden it's Dead breath!" Ralph informed him. Aiden gasped, remembering the nasty dark breath. "What's Dead breath?" Derpy asked. "It means they're being mind controlled!" Aiden told her, holding the book tighter, "We have to help them." Aiden then ran to Dead Rainbow and Dead AppleJack, shoving them off her brother. Once they were gone Aiden pulled Rlaph quickly back up and pulled him in the opposite direction of the Dead Rainbooms. "Don't let them escape!" Dead Sunset yelled. Dead Rarity and Dead Fluttershy quickly ran towards them first, followed by Dead Pinkie and Dead Rainbow and Dead AppleJack. The trio ran through the hallway, past all the destruction and the devastated lockers from the earlier invasion. They ran into the end and found three paths leading to three hallways. "We need to split up!" Ralph said before going to the hallway straight forward. Derpy went on the hallway to the left, Aiden took the right hallway. The Dead Rainbooms stopped and glanced at the three hallways leading in different direction of the school, contemplating which one to take. Dead Rainbow and Dead Sunset went straight after Ralph. While Dead Apple and Dead Rarity went after Aiden, finally Dead Shy and Dead Pinkie chased Derpy going down the hallway on the left hall. Ralph ran down the hall hearing the approaching footsteps coming his way, he didn't need to turn back to know his new former friends weren't far behind. Though it pained him to do so, he needed to find something to help defend himself against the two girls after them. They had him outnumbered and outsized. They were clearly bigger and stronger than him together. Not a good combination for someone as short as Ralph. Ralph turned the next corner and bolted, he ran to the side of the lockers. Once he made it to the end of the lockers, he hid to the side leaning against the side of the locker hearing Dead Rainbow approach. Ralph glanced over his shoulder and noticed the locker door right next to him was slightly ajar. He had an idea, he hated to hurt his new friends. But Dead had already taken control of them. Dead Rainbow kept running after the smaller boy, using her athletic abilities she was able to run faster than Sunset who was a bit far behind.However...... SLAM Rainbow paused, her body trembled as the door of the lockers suddenly opened up, the door slamming directly on to her face. Ralph closed the door to see Dead Rainbow still trembling from the unexpected impact to her visage. Ralph peeked and saw her slumped to the ground before falling over unconscious. Ralph gave her an apologetic look, "Sorry! Hope this doesn't effect our new friendship!" He then turned to see Dead Sunset running up to him. He didn't have time to react before the larger girl tackled him to the ground. "Damn it Sunset its me Ralph," Ralph squirmed in her grasp, trying to break free, "Remember!" "That is why I must destroy you." Sunset said in a monotone voice, that was completely flat, "Dead says so." "Dead is controlling you! This isn't you!" "I must obey." "Then I'm sorry to do this." Ralph said remorsefully. Ralph gathered up some dirt in his left hand and flicked his wrist, throwing the clump at Susnets eye making her hiss in pain. She groaned and tried rubbing the dirt in her eyes. Releasing Ralph. Ralph crawled away and stood back up, he glanced around to see a frying pan one of the students dropped to use against the monsters earlier. "I'm also sorry for this!" Ralph swung the frying pan over her head. Making a loud resonating metal clanging sound when it connected to Sunsets head, knocking her down. She fell down unconscious, with a huge bruise over her head. Ralph looked down at Sunset with remorse before dropping the pan with a metal clank. "Sorry, but you'll maybe thank me one day....I hope." Aiden ran to the library, figuring it was big enough to hide from Dead Apple and Dead Rarity. She swung the doors open and glanced around frantically looking for a place to hide. She ran behind one of the shelves and hid, controlling her erratic breathing, before she heard the sound of the double doors swinging. Indicating the Dead Rainbooms following inside. Aiden crept to the end of the shelf and peeked around the corner to see Dead Apple and Dead Rarity glancing around. It was hard to tell which way they were looking cause they're eyes are so pitch black. Aiden reeled her head back as to not risk being spotted. She leaned against the shelf, but was unaware that a book ontop was near the edge a few centimeters from falling. She accidentally added too much pressure leaning against the shelf, causing the shelf to shake lightly. But it was enough for that book to move out of place and fall right next to Aiden. The book made a loud noise when it hit the ground, quickly alerting the Dead girls, making Aidens eyes widened. The Dead girls crept to where they heard the noise also to where Aiden was. Aiden heart began racing. She knew she couldn't take those two girls all on at once. She needed a plan, if they get the book, then it's game over. Aidens eyes darted around the aisle she was in, until an idea popped over her head. She peeked between the books and saw Dead Apple and Dead Rarty right infront of the book shelf, still heading this way. Aiden sighed silently and regretfully, before whispering, "I'm sorry." Aiden the turned her back and leaned against the bookshelf. Aiden pushed the bookshelf as it began tilting over on the girls. The girls gasped and didn't have time to react before the bookshelf came crashing down on them. Thankfully the bookshelf was long enough that the top of it hit the library front desk. Keeping it from squishing the girls, but the books landed on them. Showering them with science and science fiction novels. The books landed on them in a large heap, burying them completely. Aiden stared bewildered at the turn of event. Though thankful the girls weren't dead. Just buried for the moment. The book heap began shaking before Dead Apple bursted out of the books along with Dead Rarity shaking her head dazed from the impact of multiple books falling on them. They quickly recovered and spotted Aiden holding the manuscript. She didn't hesitate to run as soon as the girls crawled out of the book pile. The two girls immediately chased after the taller Shiverriba. However Aiden quickly found herself in a dead end. No escape. She saw the shadows of the two former Rainbooms approach her and quickly put her back against the wall. But that was as far she could go. The Dead girls stopped infront of her, giving her a blank glare with no emotions before Dead Rarity spoke. "Now give us the book." Dead Rarity demanded, but in the same monotone voice as Dead Sunset. "Girls! Please! Your not in control." "We don't care." Dead Apple replied flatly, still using her southern accent, "Jus' give us the book and we might spare you." Aiden whipped her head around trying to find something that might save her. The only thing she saw around her were books and more books on shelves around her. All black books, the same color as the manuscript. Wait a minute.... They wanted the book, and she was in a library full of books. Aiden had another idea, she turned to the Dead Rainbooms. Aiden hid the manuscript behind her back, and moved backwards closer to the shelf, secretly grabbing a random black book that looked like the manuscript. "You want this books so badly? Fine!" Aiden tossed the book right infront of them, while concealing the manuscript behind her back. But before the mind controlled girls could react and grab the book to evaluate it was the real one, Aiden quickly grabbed the side of the bookshelf with all the black books the same color as the manuscript, heaving it froward with one hand and knocking all the books infront of the fake manuscript. Burying the manuscript in a heap of black books. It was hard to tell which one was the real manuscript among the books. Dead Apple and Dead Rarity quickly dropped to their knees infront of the pile and began frantically searching for the manuscript. While they were busy distracted. Aiden crept slowly towards the exit of the library. She chuckled one last time before slowly closing the door. She grabbed a bat from the monster invasion before sliding it between the double door handleset. Locking Rarity and AppleJack within. She quickly ran to go find either Derpy or her brother. The manuscript safely with her. Derpy ran with both Dead Pinkie and Dead Shy behind her, she ran into the left wing of the school and sprinted into the hallway trying to shake them, but both girls proved faster than she anticipated. She ran, and ran, but for some reason she couldn't hear the other two girls footsteps. Suddenly she began hear loud groaning and struggling, she turned her head to see Pinkie and Fluttershy with their foot stuck in a hardened puddle of glue. They stepped on one of Pinkies traps when she was setting them for monsters to step on them and get stuck. In an ironic twist, Pinkie herself was caught in her own trap. "Derpy!" Ralph called out. Derpy looked back front and smiled to see Ralph and Aiden run up to her okay. "Oh hey guys." Derpy waved, she then pointed to the stuck girls, "Look they're stuck." "Yeah, but so are you now." Aiden pointed to Derpys yellow boots. Derpy looked down to her feet and indeed saw her feet on the large glue puddle. She continued to smile however and waved it off dismissively. "Oh it's okay," she said happily, "Where are the other Rainbooms?" "We've incapacitated them," Ralph said, "For the moment." "Well what are you waiting for? Go and send these monsters away." The Shiverribas smiled and nodded. "Are you positive your gonna be okay?" Aiden asked, looking to Dead Shy and Dead Pinkie still struggling to remove their feet from the glue, but to no avail. "Oh I'll be okay, this isn't the first time I've been stuck in glue," Derpy said dismissively, "Now go and save my muffins!" Ralph and Aiden turned and ran upstairs towards the roof. Ready to finish the last few paragraphs of the manuscript. Ralph however, paused and looked up to the security camera for a moment. A faint "beep" drew Ralph from his thoughts, as he was the only one who heard the loud beep. The hallway camera's red light blinked off, signaling someone was finished watching him, and making the realization that they watched everything. The light was off rather quickly. Ralph began to wonder how much that person saw. Dead slammed his fist against the panel of the control room. He thought watching the cruel irony of Ralph being killed by his new friends would be more entertaining but Dead ended up disappointed with the results. He thought he could rely on his Dead Breath minions to help finish the job. But they failed him just like the other monsters. How hard is to kill one person? Or retrieve a book!? Dead had enough, he was going to confront his maker and finally kill Ralph himself. He unexpectedly punched the monitor making it explode by the force of his punch as sparks of electrcity were sent flying. He ignored the glass embedded into his fingers and just walked towards the exit to the stairs. No more games. He was after blood. Ink and Blood. Lightning crashed in the distance outside the school indicating the start of the big finale coming up.