Who Turned Out All The Lights?
By: carnivale
: : : :
Rainbow Dash wasn’t really in the mood for games. She didn’t think anypony else was, either. Yet, Pinkie Pie had insisted with those big, puppy-like eyes, and Celestia knew what the pink party pony would do if they refused – perhaps something along the lines of blowing Sugarcube Corner to smithereens with one aimless shot of her party-cannon-of-doom?
Rainbow Dash shook her head and made a face. Where did that idea come from?
On the other hoof, all of them had been bored, and the idea of ‘Hide-n-Seek’ was, if not childish, something productive to do on the particular drudgingly rainy day. And being bored was totally not cool.
“…47… 48… 49… 50! Ready or not, here I come!” Pinkie’s startling, sing-song voice rang out from the kitchen.
Rainbow Dash nearly jumped in panic. Pinkie was finished counting, and she hadn’t even found a hiding place yet! She needed to find one soon, because she would totally not lose this round.
This place really needs to get secret invisible doors implanted in the walls, Rainbow Dash mused with a faint smirk.
Her heart started hammering against her chest when she heard sudden hoofsteps bounding towards her, and her magenta eyes darted every-which-way in a frenzy. Thankfully, she pinpointed a closet looming just in her peripheral vision, and without a second thought, bolted into it and shut the door behind her.
She panted lightly, her back pressed against the separate wall. Dash waited patiently for the hoofsteps to fade away into the next room. It was awfully dark in the closet. Maybe she should turn on the lights.
Her hoof blindly searched for the light switch on the wall. When she finally found it, she pressed her hoof against it, and the closet was bathed in lovely yellow light. She exhaled, relieved.
Her tranquil system was soon set into panic mode when she heard a voice from behind her. “Well, I guess this is a popular hidin’ place, ain’t it?” it said with a familiar country twang.
Rainbow Dash screamed and whipped around, clapping two hooves over her mouth. She kind of started to relax when she realized it was just the rest of her friends – Applejack, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity.
“Shhh, darling, you’re going to give us away!” the alabaster unicorn whispered fiercely.
Rainbow Dash felt herself blush and her face heat up uncomfortably. “Oh… a-heh. Sorry.” She scratched the back of her neck and smiled awkwardly.
“Dash, turn out the lights before you really give us away!” Twilight demanded, looking quite peeved and somewhat antsy.
Before she could respond, a set of four hooves seemed to approach the closet door.
“Swell! I told you you’d give us away!”
Rainbow Dash looked offended. “Sorry, sheesh! You guys just scared – er, surprised me,” she quickly corrected herself, feeling herself go red again.
“Shhhh!” Spittle flew from Twilight’s lips. “Maybe if we stay quiet, she’ll turn around and – “
Too late. The closet door creaked open, and there in threshold stood a particular pony looking like she just won an intense game of chess. “Found you!” she exclaimed, bouncing on the tip of her hooves. “You know, you hiders really take out the good hiding of the hide in ‘Hide- n – Seek!” She then placed a hoof to her head, looking quite giddy and confused at the same time. “Wow, that’s a lot of ‘hides’! Snkkt – hehe!”
Twilight rolled her eyes and entwined her hooves over her chest crossly. “Darn! It’s all Dash’s fault,” she grumbled accusingly.
“Hey!”
“Oh, um, I really don’t mind…” Fluttershy murmured quietly.
“Yeah.” Applejack smirked. “Dash and her girly screamin’.”
Rainbow Dash looked insulted. “You guys are being jerks! Besides, my screaming isn’t that girly, is it?”
Applejack’s smirk grew wider, and she didn’t respond.
Twilight, as usual, had her nose buried in a book. “You know, Dash, I really wish you read this specific rule of this book.” She held it up to the pegasus’s face in her magical aura. The title read, ‘Hide-n-Seek for Dummies’. “Rule number five specifically states not to hide with another pony who’s disruptive.” The lavender alicorn stared at her friend with irritated eyes. “And you are disruptive.”
Rainbow Dash’s jaw worked furiously, and her face showed, as clear as day, that she was insulted. Her mouth opened, then closed, and she nearly hung her head in shame.
“Aw, come on now, guys!” Pinkie chirped, squeezing a hoof around Dash’s middle. “Let’s not pick on poor Dashie, here! How about another round, huh?”
Everypony groaned. “But Pinkie, we’ve played one-hundred-and-fifty rounds already!” Rarity complained, tiredness seeping into her eyes. She flounced her mane with a hoof. “My mane is getting positively musty from all the dust in these hiding places.”
“Okay, well, how about some chocolate-chip-banana muffins then?” Pinkie Pie suggested hungrily, grinning broadly. “I made a fresh batch this morning!”
Everypony exchanged looks contemplatively before nodding. “Sure, that sounds good,” Twilight said. “I’m ravenous!”
“Gesundheit!” Dash told her politely. Twilight shot her a strange look.
Before the ponies could turn and walk out of the closet, a suspicious creaking sound was heard, followed by the closet door swinging closed!
Fluttershy gasped.
“Hmm, how odd!” Pinkie said, grabbing the door handle. She jiggled it once, twice, thrice – to no avail.
“Pinkie?” Applejack inquired.
“Um.” The usually-chipper pony wasn’t so chipper anymore. Her voice seemed to take on a serious tone. “Guys, it isn’t opening.”
For a brief moment, silence reigned. Before long, Rainbow Dash decided to shatter it. “Ha-ha. Funny joke. Good one, Pinkie. Now please open the door so we can get out.”
“Uh, y’all, I think she’s serious.”
“What?”
“The door’s locked!”
Fluttershy squeaked and hid tightly-shut eyes behind a curtain of rosy hair.
“What?!” Rarity cried, jaw hanging agape.
Pinkie Pie narrowed her eyes and cupped her hooves on either side of her mouth. “I said it’s locked!” she shouted in Rarity’s ear. The unicorn winced and thought she would probably never hear out of that ear again.
“Great, now what do we do?” Rainbow Dash said with a huff, slumping to the floor.
“Of all the worst things that could happen!” Rarity cried out, lifting a hoof to her forehead dramatically. “This is the – “
“- worst possible thing!” Rainbow Dash finished for her in a high-pitched, squeaky voice that did not sound like yet at the same time sounded like the alabaster unicorn. “Yada, yada. We get it, we know!”
Rarity looked offended. “Well. Who crapped in your ponyflakes this morning?” she huffed in the most unladylike way.
Everypony exchanged strange glances. Then those glances changed into mirthful looks. Then the looks shifted into capacious laughter. Rarity glanced between her friends. “What’s so funny?”
Twilight wiped a tear away from her eye. “I just…” She snorted. “…n-never thought I’d hear you say that, Rar-rarity!” she responded, voice shaking with guffaws.
Rarity grinned sheepishly and twirled a lock of hair with her hoof. “Well,” she began, clearing her throat. “I guess that side of me isn’t such a secret anymore.”
The laughter died down. When any of them was about to ask what she meant, the lights began to flicker.
Everypony froze, their breaths caught in their throats. The lights flickered on, off, on, off, onoffonoffonoffonoff until the room was completely bathed in darkness.
Fluttershy began to hyperventilate. “G-g-g-g-ghost!” she shrieked, her breathing rapidly growing faster.
“Darling, hush, it’s gonna be – ow! Who in Equestria stepped on my tail?”
“Oh, sorry Rarity, I think that was me,” Applejack spoke through the heavy darkness.
“Wee! Hide-n-Seek! This is what I’m talkin’ about!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Um, what are my wings brushing against?” Dash asked concernedly.
“Ahaha – hehe – that t-tickles!” Twilight managed between mirthful breaths as she squirmed.
“I wanna g-g-go h-home! I don’t want to be consumed by supernatural forces!”
“Fluttershy, where in tarnation didja get that idea from?”
“…I had a bad past with horror movies. D-don’t get me st-started!” she squeaked in reply.
“Everypony, I think we should calm down,” Twilight suggested. “Whatever managed to put the light out probably was – “
A low, frightening voice soon filled the dark void. “Did the lambs stop screaming, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy screamed and ducked behind Rarity lightning-fast. “Ponnibal L-Lector!” she cried, trembling uncontrollably.
“Who?!”
“Ahaha! Oh, man!” Dash said, breaking down in a fit of laughter. “What a riot!”
“Rainbow Dash, was that you?!” Rarity asked, stroking a hoof through a shivering Fluttershy’s pink mane.
“You bet your withers it was! Genius!” Mirthful guffaws roiled the air.
“Not cool, Dashie!” Pinkie surprisingly said. “You scared poor Flutter-Wutters out of her skin!”
“Tough-noogies, it was just a joke! Sheesh, you guys don’t know when to have fun.”
“You shouldn’t have done that, Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity, who was cooing consoling words to poor Fluttershy. “That was very mean!”
“Hey, hey, Ms. Uptight-Pants! Why don’t – “
“Before we get off track,” Applejack butted in before her friends could start a fight, roughly clearing her throat. “What’re we gon’ do about this here problem?”
“Kill the ghostie who’s doing these nasty things to us?” Pinkie suggested brightly. “I’ll go get my sledgehammer!”
“The sledgehammer would just pass through the ghost, genius,” Dash muttered.
“No.” Applejack sounded irritated. “First of all, no ‘ghostie’ is doin’ these things, and second, I’m waitin’ for somepony to have an actual helpful idea.”
“Hey, wait a minute. Why haven’t we turned on the lights yet so we could actually find that helpful idea?”
There was a heavy, awkward silence after that.
“Oh,” Applejack said dumbly. “That probably would be a good thing to do.”
“I’ll get it,” Dash said, and the sound of hooves scuffing the wall in search of the pesky light switch filled the room. Everypony waited with bated breath until a distinctive flicking sound replaced it.
“You find it yet?”
Rainbow Dash winced. “Yeah… but it isn’t turning on.”
“For Celestia’s sake!” Applejack face-hoofed while the others groaned melodramatically.
It was Twilight’s voice then that filled the gap. “Wait! I can use my magic to create a light source.” Her voice was more cheerful at the realization. “Of course, why didn’t I think of that before?”
“Who knows,” Dash sighed, exasperated. “You’re the egghead in the room.”
The lavender alicorn reluctantly ignored the pegasus and concentrated on her own magic. Soon enough, small tendrils of sparkling light illuminated her horn, and the dim violet light penetrated the shadows within its reach. Everypony was able to see again. They sighed in relief.
“Thanks, Twi,” Applejack said with a smile set upon her features.
“Pinkie! What the hay?” Dash burst out. She pointed at the aforementioned, who seemed to have something suspicious dotting her lips. “Are those… chocolate crumbs?”
“Oh, are they?” She giggle-snorted. “Whoops! Must’ve been from those chocolate-chip-banana muffins I ate just now! My bad!”
“Wait, you had them in here the whole time?” Dash asked.
“Yepperooni! Why?”
Rainbow Dash looked disappointed. “Aw, ponyfeathers. I was hungry over here! What, you want me to starve to death?”
“You want us to starve to death?” Twilight corrected. “Who knows how long we’ll be stuck in here!”
“Yeah, whatever. You just mind your Ps and Qs while I mind my growling belly over here.”
Twilight groaned.
“Anyway,” Applejack cut in. “As I was sayin’ before, how do y’all suppose we break outta here?”
“Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!” A pink hoof waved in the air frantically.
The farm pony sighed. “Yes, Pinkie Pie?”
“We can bulldoze the door down!” the pink pony said, looking like she was quite pleased with her intelligent answer. “Yeah? No?”
“Yeah, no,” Dash said, clamping a hoof around her friend’s muzzle. “I think we’ve heard enough of your nonsense for today, Pinks.”
The pink pony lowered her head. “Aww, but I was so psyched about the bulldozer…” she murmured sadly, pulling the hardhat, that had suddenly appeared on her head a few moments before, off her puffy mane. She tossed it away with a huff, and crossed her forelegs over her chest.
“Okaaaay, then. Anypony else got any ideas?”
“Hey, wait a moment. How come we haven’t thought of Twilight using magic to unlock the door for us?” Dash said.
Silence reigned once more, as awkward and as heavy as ever.
“Y’all reckon we’re stupid or somethin’? And isn’t it ironic how Dash seems to be the smart one here?”
“I know ri – hey!” She shot Applejack a glare, and the farm pony returned it with a smug smile.
“I’m surprised I didn’t even think of that,” Twilight muttered sheepishly. She shrugged. “Here goes nothing.”
Once again, her horn glowed and magic pulsed from it. A magical aura surrounded the lock on the door, and turned it swiftly. It clicked.
“Yes! Final – “
The lock clicked back in place.
“Eh? That’s weird,” Twilight said, scrutinizing the lock as she would scrutinize a tough math problem. She turned the lock with her magic again, yet the same thing happened. And again. And again. And again.
“Oh, great! Pinkie’s closet is haunted!” Dash groaned, slumping against the wall with an impatient look. Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind her mane again.
“No it’s not, it’s just actin’ kooky, that’s all,” Applejack answered, yet she struggled to hide the doubt in her voice.
“Darlings, whatever shall we do?” Rarity asked in the most theatrical way.
“We could call the fire department?” Twilight suggested.
“I don’t think anypony has a phone in here.”
Pinkie bounced back into the conversation. “We could bulldoze the door down, like I said!” she exclaimed eagerly.
Rainbow Dash moaned and dragged a hoof down her face. She suddenly found herself desiring an ‘I’m with stupid’ t-shirt right now.
“Or how about we do somethin’ to pass the time?” Applejack suggested calmly. “I reckon somepony kind enough will let us out eventually.”
Everypony glanced at each other dubiously. Pinkie gave a fervent nod. “Yeah! How about a game?”
“Like what?”
Pinkie’s smile grew so broad that it might as well have split her face clean in half. “Thought you’d never ask!” she said, and reached behind her. And – as supernatural forces would have it, or like the way she would pluck a piece of popcorn out of a carton – she pulled out a towering stack of ‘bored’ games and set them in the middle of the room. “We have Hydras and Ladders, Pin the Tail on the Pony, Game of Life, Battleship, Escape from Ponylantis, Ponopoly, Candy Land, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Twister, Operation, and Kill Doctor Lucky! Pick your choice!”
Rainbow Dash stared at the board games for a while. Then she slumped hard against the wall behind her, covering her face with her hooves and whispering madly, “I wanna get out of here don’t let me die in here please oh celestia get me out please please not the board games not the board gaaaames…”
“We’re all goin’ mad!” Applejack said, placing a tender hoof on her friend’s arm.
“D-do you think we really a-are being trapped by… by...“ Fluttershy gulped loudly. “…supernatural forces?”
“I sure hope not, Sugarcube.”
Twilight waved her hoof dismissively. “Pfft. Of course not, everypony! Please, let’s be reasonable. Whatever is happening to us is probably just a severe electrical problem,” she reassured promptly.
“Okay, but that doesn’t explain the door being locked, darling,” Rarity pointed out, sounding a little more than just frightened.
Twilight closed her mouth and chewed on the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. “Then, somepony must be playing a prank on us! Right?”
“I dunno who would prank us,” Pinkie said, scratching a pink hoof against her fluffy chin. “There’s nopony here till Saturday. Besides, if somepony was pranking us, it’s saddening that they didn’t invite me!” she added with a grumble.
Fluttershy’s voice squeaked, “I’m s-scared, Twilight.”
“I hate to be honest some of the time, Sugarcube,” Applejack admitted quietly. “but I am, too.”
Rarity nodded. Twilight gazed sympathetically at her friends with a sigh.
Rainbow Dash had halted her terrifying mantra, but was still rocking slightly on her flank. “You guys are…. sissies…. Nothing’s gonna – “
The lights began to flicker again.
Rainbow Dash screamed and squeezed her hooves around Applejack’s middle, burying her face in the farm pony’s soft, golden mane. Applejack gave her a strange look, and the pegasus began to blush fiercely. “A-heh….”
“Wh-what’s happening?” Fluttershy whispered, nearly inaudible.
Just then, the lights went out, and the room was pitch black once more. Everypony held their breaths. Forever seemed to pass before something knocked against the outside of the closet door.
At first it was muffled like a watch enveloped in cotton.
Knock knock….
“Who’s there?” Twilight said shakily.
Then grew louder…
Knock knock...
Fluttershy began to sob quietly.
And louder…
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
Rarity shrieked.
“Th-that’s it!” Applejack cried out. Her forehead was lined with sweat, and she was turning blue as Rainbow Dash’s forelegs squeezed tighter around her midriff. Her stone-brave demeanor was gone, her expression taking on the look of mortal terror. “I’m breakin’ it down!”
The farm pony, with the help of Twilight’s illuminated horn, found the door and reared her back legs. They struck the door with such force that it flew off its hinges and plowed right through the wall on the other side. Specks of dust fell like snow from the ceiling, and the ponies stared on in complete shock.
Silence.
“Sorry ‘bout the wall, Pinkie…” Applejack mumbled, her chest heaving. “And the door.”
“Don’t worry, no harm done!”
Rainbow Dash blinked, her ruby eyes calming down and losing their glazed-over fear. She cocked her head to the side. “Uh, couldn’t we just have done that before?”
“…oh.”
Rarity sucked in a long, shuddering breath as she stumbled out of the closet. Her mane of beautiful curls was disarrayed, and her ivory coat was clotted with dust and grime. “Oh, thank the heavens!” she cried out, relieved. “I could go for a niiiice hot shower right now!” She shivered pleasantly at the thought.
Twilight was coaxing a still-whimpering Fluttershy out of the closet. “What was… who was knocking on the door?” she asked, stroking her friend between the ears.
“That’s just the thing, Twi,” Dash said, poking her head into various rooms. She looked back at them with puzzled, vexed eyes. “There’s nopony here.”
Author's Note
Something small, dark and comedic to get me back on track. I'm not too happy with this, but I found the idea more than amusing, so I went along and wrote it. Hope you enjoyed the suspense. Er - not likely so.
