Rarity gasped, stumbling slightly in the dark. What was going on? Why didn’t Fluttershy turn on the lights? “P-Pinkie Pie? Fluttershy?”

She heard a giggle in the darkness. It sounded excited. Somehow, that simply managed to unsettle her further. “Over here, Rarity,” Pinkie called out, her bubbly voice doing little to quiet Rarity’s confusion and fears. “Is this like hide and seek in the dark, Fluttershy? Oooo, Can I be it? I LOVE Hide and Seek!” How on earth, Rarity wondered, is that mare not fazed by this?

“O-Oh, I wasn’t planning on playing that game,” they heard Fluttershy say - From where, however, they could not tell. Her voice echoed in the small cottage, bouncing off the wooden walls. “I-I had in mind another little activity… I-I hope you both like it.”

“Of COURSE I’ll like i- OUCH!” Rarity jumped as she heard Pinkie yelp in pain. “W-What just pricked me?! I-Is this part…o-of…the g...” Pinkie suddenly stopped talking, and a thud soon followed the silence. Rarity ran over to where she had thought Pinkie’s voice was coming from. Sadly, nothing was there. She couldn’t see a thing in this blasted oblivion around her, if only there was any -

“Light! Oh, Rarity, you foal!” Taking a deep breath to calm her now rapid heartbeat, Rarity focused on a simple light spell. She sighed in relief as the blue glow suddenly engulfed her. It did a little to light up her surroundings, but not much. Somehow, though, it comforted her like a warm blanket after a particularly bad day. She glanced around quickly, her eyes adjusting to the blue aura that illuminated so little.

She was standing between a couch and a table. Nothing too remarkable. She began to walk around, sticking close to the sides of the room. She felt just like the mare in her romance novel, but without the romance. Why was all of this happening today? The murder, this ‘game’. Could it be that poor sweet Fluttershy was part of all of this? And why, of all things, was the floor so uncomfortably sticky? Glancing down, she saw the floor was a tad darker than usual. She hoped it wasn’t mud. Of course, now wasn’t the time to be concerned with that.

“Ouch!” Rarity winced as she walked straight into a table. “Don’t let yourself get so frazzled, Rarity,” she said softly to herself. “I’m sure there’s… a perfectly sane reason as to why Pinkie is so quiet, and why the lights have gone out, and the floor…”

She thought she heard another giggle, behind her - A mocking laugh, a little twitter, almost like a bird flying around her. A mocking bird. She turned quickly, but she didn’t see anypony. The giggling persisted. “F-fluttershy,” she asked to the darkness, trembling slightly. Why was she so scared suddenly? She MUST keep a cool head about this all. She cleared her throat, turning back once more. “P-Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, please answer me... We should find a way to turn on these lights - I can’t see a thing!”

The giggling stopped. “O-Oh, I’m sorry!” Rarity spun around again, her friend’s timid voice echoing all around her. Still, the light from her horn revealed nothing but tables, chairs and animal houses. “I should have explained a little… I’m sorry… T-the darkness is part of the activity, you see… T-tell me something, Rarity - Have you ever played Predator versus Prey?”

Rarity thought back, years ago, to when she was a little filly. She thought she remembered hearing about the game, but had never had the… misfortune of playing it. “I-I’m sorry, Darling, but no… Hiking around the woods, pretending to be an animal hiding from another… Well, it’s simply not something I do…” Rarity gently reached out, touching the wall. It was on her right - She could follow it to the lamp by the door, right? “Why do you ask? Was that the ‘activity’ you had planned?” She kept walking, hardly listening to her friend’s strange topic of choice.

“Oh, no, t-that’s not it… Just, don’t you ever think about just how amazing nature is? How certain animals survive merely by destroying others? But how nopony bats an eye to it? How it’s just what nature does, it’s the circle of life...”

Rarity stopped, turning again. She could have sworn something had been behind her… “Y-Yes, that certainly is… er… fascinating.”

“And all the prey can do is try and hide in the darkness… But there’s something most prey don’t realize, Rarity, especially about flying creatures.”

“And what’s that, Darling?” Rarity gasped as she found the lamp, complete with rope to turn it on. She praised Celestia quietly and yanked on the rope with her magic.

Just like that, the room was illuminated.

Rarity wished she had kept the lights off.

A few feet in front of her, right in the middle of the room, was Fluttershy, her hooves stained with what Rarity wished wasn’t blood. But, as evidenced by the sticky redness coating the floor, it was blood splattered on her timid friend. Rarity looked at her hooves and saw the red had stuck to her fur, matting it down - But she had bigger things to worry about.

Her friend’s eyes were wide. Rarity took a minute to adjust to the light, but as she watched, her friend simply stared at her. On her face was plastered a hideous smile. Rarity could almost swear blood was speckled on that smile. “D-darling…”

“The thing they don’t know is we see them moving in the dark…” Fluttershy trotted closer to Rarity, her eyes wide. Rarity gasped as she fell back under the infamous ‘Stare’ of her friend. She moved back as far as she could, bumping against the wall. “You’ve spoiled the fun… I-I’m sorry, but it seems I’ll have to cut this part of the activity short… But, don’t worry! Then you, me and Pinkie can… talk a bit about how I’ve been doing.”

“Pinkie…” Rarity looked around quickly, tearing herself away from her friend’s gaze. No sign of Pinkie anywhere in the room. “W-where is she!?”

“I think you should calm down a bit, Rarity… Here.” Rarity gasped as Flluttershy lunged towards her, faster than she had ever seen her move. Rarity was swiftly grabbed. She felt something prick her side. Fluttershy held her tightly, not allowing her to move at all. Rarity groaned, trying to scream for help, but suddenly her tongue felt fuzzy… everything felt fuzzy… “Hush now, Rarity… Hush now, quiet now…” Fluttershy hummed softly, stroking her mane.

“F-fluttershy…” She began to close her eyes falteringly, everything growing relaxed and soft, despite every instinct in her body telling her to run, hide, do anything to escape - To be the prey.

Fluttershy’s breath tickled Rarity’s ear as she whispered; “It’s time to go to bed~”

Author's Note

*yawns* Took awhile. Sorry, been working with my laptop.