8:47 p.m.
“Alright everyone, let’s see if we can find as many candles as we can to light up this place!” Twilight declared. The rest of the gang followed her orders, but Discord was lying idly in his floating hammock, sipping on a mug of hot cocoa.
“Discord, that means you too.” Twilight was giving him such a stare that she could burn a hole in his head.
“Oh, but Twilight,” Discord said, “You can’t possibly make me work in such cold weather,” Discord struck a dramatic pose “Why it simply can’t be good for my physique!”
Twilight’s stare was much angrier now. She had to summon all her strength to resist the urge to kill the idiot floating in front of her right now. But instead she remained calm and took a deep breath. “Discord, all our friends are looking for candles, don’t you think you should help too?” Twilight was hoping she would get positive feedback from the draconequus this time, but she was wrong, again.
“Oh so I’m your friend now? I recall a certain SOMEPONY didn't want to see me here,” Discord made sure he sounded as sulky as he could, and it worked. Twilight was so fed up that she just left. And for that victory, Discord smiled, and then frowned.
Down in the basement, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were looking for candles. The dark and dusty basement made Rarity think that something must’ve died in there a long time ago, but Pinkie didn’t seem to mind. She was still her happy bouncy self as she went around scavenging the old cupboards and drawers. But Rarity felt uncomfortable with every step she took. She really needed to get a bath after this. As Pinkie continued to bounce around and sing, she accidentally tipped an old coat rack over, which in turn dropped a dusty old curtain over Rarity. Rarity coughed as she tried to get the sheet off, glaring angrily at Pinkie who should be focusing on the task.
“Oops, sorry,” Pinkie said sheepishly.
Rarity regained her poise, and cleared her throat. “Pinkie, I’m not mad at you, but if we can get out of here soon, I would really appreciate that.”
“Okie dokie lokie!” said Pinkie, as she continued to bounce around the room looking for candles.
Rarity sighed and continued the search too so she could hopefully get a bath soon.
*pang*
She heard something coming from the stairs to the lower floors.
“Pinkie shhh!”
“Hmm? What’s up bud?” Pinkie asked, not yet realizing the peril that was at hand.
“Shhh! I think I heard something,” Rarity said, crouching close to the floor and walking towards the corner that led to the lower stairs.
“What?”
“Shhh!” Rarity repeated. Pinkie was a great friend, but she just couldn't take a hint sometimes.
Pinkie finally understood and followed behind Rarity. Something or someone was hiding around the corner, and Rarity braved herself to face it.
“HA!” Rarity pounced. But there was no one there.
“Rarity, who are you shouting at?”
Rarity stared at the empty corridor. “Uhmm... It’s nothing really, I just swore I heard some-”
“BOO!”
“AHHHHHHH!”
Rainbow Dash laughed hysterically. Rarity glared.
“Rainbow Dash!” she shouted angrily, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Scaring a couple of crybabies, that’s what I’m doing,” the pegasus said smugly as she floated mid air.
“That was a good one Dash!” Pinkie didn’t seem mad at all, in fact she even hi-fived Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow, we are supposed to be looking for candles, not playing 'hide and scare your friends'!” Rarity grumbled, still annoyed at Rainbow's childish act.
“Yeah, Applejack found a whole box of them just now so we can stop. I heard you guys were in the basement so I came down to get you. Also, I came to check out the cool stuff here,” she said, poking an old broom. It fell over, lifting dust off the floor and making Rarity cough again.
“So you guys ready to go or what? This is a pretty dusty place.”
“Readier than ever.” Rarity was so done with the basement, she couldn’t stand being in there for another moment.
“Oh and by the way, check this out.” Rainbow held out a piece of board with many letters written on it, as well as the words ‘YES’ and ‘NO’ written on the corners.
“No no no…” Rarity backed up. “I will not participate in any of your childish games tonight. I am going to have a nice bath and go to sleep.”
“But don’t you need hot water for that?” asked Rainbow, lifting an eyebrow.
“Oh, the boiler should do the trick! It doesn’t run on electricity. Just coal,” beamed Pinkie Pie.
Rarity was glad that for the first time tonight, things were working out her way. “Thanks Pinkie. Now would you be a dear and help me fire it up?”
“Sure thing!” Pinkie said with excitement, heading towards the boiler.
“And Rainbow,”
“Yes Rarity?”
“Don’t cause a ruckus down there. I know how you are when you’re playing games.”
“Yeah sure. I’ll keep my cool. Promise.”
And the both of them headed for the stairs.
8:52 p.m.
Applejack sank into the couch as she drank her apple cider. The only thing illuminating the guest lounge was a single candle which she found. She was lucky to have found that many candles in such a short time. She handed most of them to Twilight for safe keeping. As for now, everyone was doing well with just one candle each.
She stared lazily into the candle flame, watching it flicker as she took another sip. Who needs fancy schmancy electricity to have a good time? All ya need are your friends and a good jar of cider. She thought.
Sadly no one agreed with her. Rarity insisted on turning in early and Twilight just wanted to spend the rest of her time reading books. This left the rest to do whatever they wanted to do. So Fluttershy and Discord went upstairs to spend time alone together. What a bunch of party poopers.
Applejack was beginning to get a little drunk from her cider when she heard commotion coming from the kitchen. She hated to get up, but she was curious to see what Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were up to.
With a push, she got off the couch and headed for the kitchen. As she approached the kitchen, she could see Rainbow and Pinkie exchanging words at the table. They seemed to be holding a wooden board of some sort, but she couldn’t really tell from the cider.
“What ‘chu got there?” Applejack said, trying not to fall over.
“Oh hi there Applejack! Rainbow Dash found this in the basement. We think it’s some sort of board game.” Pinkie waved, holding the board in front of Applejack's nose.
Applejack wasn’t sure at first, but after looking closer she realized what it was.
“An OUIJA board?”
“A what?” Pinkie and Rainbow seemed more interested now, they were leaning closer to hear what Applejack had to say.
“An OUIJA board. Granny always told us to stay away from those things. Said it’s used to communicate with ghosts or something.”
“What? Really? That’s so cool! We totally have to try this out!” Rainbow was filled with excitement, and so was Pinkie. Sadly, Applejack knew better than to play with spirits.
“No can do, Dash. Ah promised Granny ah’d never play with these kinds of stuff. And ah never break a promise...”
“Aww come on Applejack! You probably made that promise like, 20 years ago or something. Granny probably made you promise 'cause she was scared you’d have nightmares or whatever. We’re all grown up now, we don’t have to be afraid of ghosts! Unless...” Rainbow Dash leaned into her with an evil smile, “You’re chicken that is.”
“What ‘chu say?” Applejack shot a look back at Rainbow. She hated going back against her word, especially ones made with close family, but she hated being called a chicken more.
“You know what? We’ll play this little ‘game’. And then, we’ll see who the real chicken is…” Applejack took the last sip of her cider and slammed it on the table next to Rainbow, who returned it with an evil grin.