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Chapter 1: The Two New Kids.1,866 words
Chapter 2: Be My Friend?2,081 words
Chapter 3: Surprise!3,206 words
Chapter4: Winter of the Wendigo.2,843 words
Chapter 5: Three Years Ago, on This Very Day3,971 words
Chapter 6: Explanations.2,351 words
Chapter 7: Bone Orchard.1,929 words
Chapter 8: The Gingerbread Monsters.4,477 words
Chapter 9: Enter the Mines at you Own Peril.6,898 words
Chapter 10: Bug and Car Chase.3,463 words
Chapter 11: The Wolf Boy.3,111 words
Chapter 12: Dead Day.3,162 words
Chapter 13: The Spider Princess.4,587 words
Chapter 14: Wild Wire.5,181 words
Chapter 15: Monster Invasion.4,250 words
Chapter 16: Ralph is Dead.4,630 words
Chapter 17: I Use To Call You My Brother.4,734 words
Chapter 18: Pier in Peril.6,789 words
Chapter 19: A Dead Friendship.4,339 words
Chapter 20: The Filthy Finale.6,203 words

Chapter 7: Bone Orchard.

It was just a skeleton, sure … except there was nothing 'just' about it.

The thing was the same height as Ralph, but from its fathomless black eyes to the wicked grin carved across its cheeks, it oozed with pure evil and bad intentions. It had a single eye ball in its left eye socket, the other one was hollow. Above the single eyeball was a thick black eyebrow and spikey black hair, just like Ralph, it was clad in a black hoodie. It was basically a skeletal version of himself, except much nastier and more malevolent than his human counterpart.

The Rainbooms stared at him. Like Ralph, they all easily dwarfed him, but an evil aura lingered around him. It made him seem more intimidating, despite his advent size. He held a hostile disposition, which filled the girls with worry and a nervous expression across their face. They all felt how dark his presence was.

"W-who are you?" Asked Sunset staring at the smaller monster.

It replied in a high pitch, rasped voice, "The names DeadBones, but please, call me Dead."

Ralph gulped, swallowing hard. He had written DeadBones to be evil, vicious, selfish, and power-hungry. But looking at him now … all those charactersitic traits seemed more abundantly magnified after being locked in a book for so long.

Dead then shifted his head and glared at his former friend. Ralph was able to catch a glimpse of hatred and disdain flashing in his single eye. Ralph flinched and took a few steps backwards.

"How long has it been?" the Skeleton said, its jaw clacking together with every word.

“Not long enough,” Ralph muttered.

“Feels like forever to me,” Dead Bones rasped. Its eyes slid back and forth and examined the Rainboom gawking at him with slightly nervous reactions. "Who are your new friends?"

The girls took one big step away from Ralph and Aiden.

“We’re not friends," Fluttershy said quickly, and hid behind Sunset as to not earn ire of the skeleton. "We barely know him."

"But we were going to throw him a party!" Pinkie chimed in.

"Ooo! I love parties!" Dead said manically gleeful.

"Really?" Pinkie bounced excitedly, then turned to Ralph, "Why can't you be more like him?"

"Trust me that's probably the last thing you want is there to be two of him." Ralph replied.

Dead then craned his neck letting out a popping sound blurt out across the room, the girls flinched at the sound of bones cracking.

"Man does it feel good to get out that book, I wish it wasn't so cramped inside." Dead remarked, "You really need to edit your books more and add more space. Maybe next time put in a massage chair in your next chapter."

"Pfft!" Rainbow blurted, "This is the guy you're so scared of? He's a total shrimp just like you!" Rainbow trailed off with an apologetic look, "No offense."

Dead seemed a little too offended.

"Hey Ralph I didn't know you started hanging out with lesbians!"

Rainbow eyes popped open. She looked at him in disbelief, before she snapped out of her stupor and clenched her teeth together.

"Did you just call me gay!" She snapped, her voice boomed.

"Hmmm, depends on your alignment with rainbow pride." Dead snorted, leering at her, before his mouth shifted upwards into a taunting grin, "And judging by your hair, I can tell your obsession has gone a bit overhead, hehehehe!"

Rainbows jaws clenched and she snarled at him before she took a step forward, AppleJack and Rarity had to hold their athletic friend back. She struggled under their grip, the others preventing her from doing anything regretful.

"Easy sugarcube he's just tryin' ta push yer buttons." AppleJack said calmly, holding Rainbow back.

Rarity leaned towards Sunset and whispered, "Sunset, what do we do now?"

Sunset gazed back at Dead. He was much smaller than the ten foot Wendigo and the diminutive monster presented himself hardly as challenge compared to what the girls had been through in the past. Besides it would only take two or three of them to subdue him if he tries to attack anyone. Though she remained skeptical, the Wendigo was able to breath ice, so she didn't know what this skeleton was capable of.

"Wait, let's just see how this plays out. Besides Rainbows right, he's small enough that we can all take him at once without breaking a sweat." She then glanced at Dead and narrowed her eyes, "But only if he tries to attack anyone, let's not get too carried away girls. I could be wrong, but he might be dangerous."

Dead Bones eyes darted towards Aiden now, his single eyebrow shifted downward to form semblance of a scowl. His empty skull echoed memories of three years prior to now.

"Ah yes, I recall you. Aiden, you're looking good yourself, how's your back?" He asked creepily polite.

Aiden was taken back by the question, "My b-ba-back?" She stuttered. she seemed so nervous of Dead as she remembered all the destruction and all chaos he spreaded.

"I figured it must have been sore from carrying Ralph all these years!" Dead Bones then erupted into a mad evil laughter, tilting his head upward.

Ralph smiled stiffly at the skeleton. “DeadBones, it’s so, er, nice to see you."

“Didja miss me?” the skeleton asked.

“Of course I’ve missed you! As much as I missed that cold sore I had last week you little trouble maker.”

Dead sneered, "Oh don't give me that attitude. I did nothing wrong." Dead then paused for a moment, "Today, I mean."

Lightning suddenly flashed, blinding them all for a second. When they're eyes adjusted to the dark again, DeadBones materialized on the edge of Ralph's desk. The key to the manuscripts dangled between his spindly fingers.

“Now I can see you better,” the skeleton said. “So, what’s the plan, friend? You must’ve brought me out for something fun. Terrorize the locals? Destroy the town? Hide the remote control? C'mon! Let’s get silly!"

Ralph picked up Bone Orchard and crept toward DeadBones verrrrry slowly. “Yes, DeadBone,” he said, holding the manuscript behind his back. Waiting for the right moment.

"You’ve guessed it. I'm going to destroy this whole town. And I couldn’t do it without you.”

“Aw, shucks, id blush if I had flesh or blood rushing to my face!” The skeleton giggled. It was like nails on a chalkboard.

“Oh my, he’s so creepy,” Fluttershy whispered. It was the understatement of the century.

DeadBones turned to her, "Flattery won't get you nowhere kid."

“Ahhh-You're such a crack up,” Ralph said, closing in on Dead. “I’d like to crack you up, too. Into a hundred million pieces.”

“You’re so funny,” DeadBone replied. “Remind me to laugh later. Is that really your face? Or did you put on a mask? I can never tell the difference, must be cause your face is so ugly.”

Ralph held his breath. He just needed to distract him long enough and keep him talking. The book won't be able to work and suck him back in the pages, if Ralph wasn't close enough. Just a few more steps...

“Not much of an Adonis yourself bone head,” Ralph murmured.

His eyebrow pivoted into an angry expression. “Who you calling a Bone head, Bone head?” Dead’s eyes locked onto the manuscript. His voice flew to an even higher pitch.

“You tryin' to put me back in!?”

Ralph laughed an extremely unconvincing laugh. “Don’t be silly, Dead. Not when our visit is just starting. Stay right there.” He opened the book.

“Know how I can tell when you’re lying to me, daddy?” DeadBones said. “It’s whenever you speak. You lie more than a shag rug.”

Suddenly, the overhead light snuffed out, dropping them into darkness. Shadows puttered the room.

"Naughty-Naughty daddy, You've kept us all locked for far too long. We trusted you and how do you repay us? You lock us up like prisoners." Dead snarled in the darkness.

A moment later, DeadBones lit a match, illuminating the room, letting them see Dead more clearly. Let’s just say flickering fire didn’t make the guy look less creepy. Dead was now perched on the edge of the broken window, the Bone Orchard manuscript somehow in his hand. He looked angry.

“I’m not going back on a shelf,” he rasped angrily, glowering at his human counterpart.

“Ever. Again.”

He waved the manuscript around in the air. “I love a good story,” he said. “A good book like this lights a fire in my heart.”

“Wait, Bones, don’t!” Ralph cried as Dead touched the match to the manuscript. It began to burn, the leafy pages within began singeing, lightly burning as the magic in those page began to cease, deterring the book as ineffective against Dead. Now there was nothing that could stop Dead. Dead tossed the flaming pages out the window. He cackled insanely, the girls began backing up slowly away from him as he laughed his skull off.

“Tonight is gonna be the best story you ever wrote. All your children are coming out to play. Too bad you won’t live to read it!”

Another flash of lightning made Fluttershy cry out. A crash of thunder. Everyone blinked in the sudden darkness. When the lights flickered back on, Dead was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Pinkie asked, looking around the room.

“OMG,” Rainbow breathed in relief. “He left.”

“OMG, he left,” Ralph said. But he didn’t sound quite as relieved as Rainbow.

“And he took all the books!” Aiden shouted.

Ralph's eyes widened in horror.

Standing outside the house DeadBones stood in front of tall 10 foot tall possessed monster truck, the headlights blared to life as the vehicle made a few honking sounds, almost as if it were thanking DeadBones for releasing it. Dead crawled up as the door swung open for him, curtosy of the possessed truck. Dead dropped a heap of manuscript in the back.

He was going to begin spreading the seeds of chaos and bring forth an end to this town, once he had his fill he'll move on to the next town. Once he destroys that one, he'll move on to the next. Wash, Rinse, and Repeat.

This time, Ralph, Aiden, or any of the Shiverribas weren't going to get in the way of the fun he was going to have. But, just in case....

He grabbed one book titled, "The Gingerbread Monsters"

"This ones a real page turner." He unlocked it and tossed it out the window, before pressing the gas pedal and driving off as flashing lights filled the air with the releasing of a new monster.

"Hope you kids brought milk!" He then laughed wildly as he drove off to spread more chaos.

Lightings suddenly crackled and flashed in the clouds as The Monster Truck drove into Canterlot.

"AH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"

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