My Little Fazpony
'Twas but an ordinary Friday afternoon here in this quaint little town known as Ponyville. The sun was warm and shining, birds were chirping, and there was a gentle breeze flowing through the air. The Pegasi outdone themselves, as they usually do, and today was absolutely perfect.
I was currently in the home of my beloved marefriend and was as happy as any colt could ever be. Inside the home of my marefriend, she had a newspaper - the Ponyville Express - on the coffee table. I had glanced at it for a while and noticed the headliner for today's edition: Giant Food Chain to Open Ponyville Location.
I swear that my marefriend knows all about me and can read me up and down, back and forth, inside and out, just like a page-turning, mind-grabbing novel. She called to me from the other room as she was preparing hot cups of coffee for us both.
"Have you heard that the new place is hiring?" She called to me.
"I have, Twily," I replied back, although I hadn't exactly heard the last part of her question correctly.
"They're supposedly looking for a few applicants and transferring other ponies to that spot as well," Twilight answered back, reentering the foyer of her home, cups of coffee dazzled with her magenta colored aura, following her close behind.
I had taken my cup and wrapped it around in my indigo colored aura and thanked Twilight for the preparation of the coffee, not only for myself, but for herself too. She didn't need to do this, but she wanted to do it. That's why I love my little Twily; she goes out of her way to make myself happy. But, her presence alone makes my day ten thousand times better than it was before I've seen her.
Twilight smiled, taking a seat next to me on the love-seat, the two-sectioned couch. Placing the coffee down for a brief moment, she had grabbed the Ponyville Express with her magic and brought it closer to us both, opening up to the first page, the page that explained, in elaborate detail, about the new restaurant location and the background and history of the chain company. I had skimmed through it while Twilight read it in full.
"Wow," Twilight lightly gasped, "locations all over Equestria and in other countries as well."
"Must be a pretty large corporation if they have locations in other countries," I sniggered.
"I wonder how they'll do here in Ponyville." Twilight told me.
Something towards the end of the article managed to catch my eye. It was a subsection that explained that the restaurant was taking in new applicants. I pointed to it and jokingly spoke to Twilight.
"Heh," I chuckled, "maybe I should apply for a job there."
Twilight turned her head to me. "If you want to, Lunar," she smiled, "it would be interesting to see you working there."
I took that as a bet. "What?" I smirked. "Don't think I can last in the work force?"
"Uh, no," replied Twilight.
"And whys that?"
"Well," she continued, "for one, you've never actually worked an honest day in your life."
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong, Princess," I smiled.
"You know I don't like you calling me that, Lunar," Twilight told me, although this was information I knew prior.
"I know," I stated, looking at my wings, then at Twilight's, then back at mine, "it 'places you ahead of me.' I know what you mean."
"How does it place me above you?" Twilight questioned, tickling me with her wing. "You're an alicorn too, you know; an alicorn Prince, mind you."
"I don't know," I bluffed, "it's just something that I feel."
"Well," continued Twilight, hugging me closely as we sat on the love-seat, "it shouldn't and doesn't."
There was a long period of silence filled in the room, only being broken by the occasional sipping of coffee and humming of the aura that was our magic. Life was perfect the way things were at this moment; I don't have any regrets.
Here I am. I, one Lunar Nights, just sitting here next to the most beautiful mare in all of Equestria, one Twilight Sparkle. Time spent with Twilight passed by much, much slower than real time and I had never minded it.
I was mere moments from falling asleep and drifting towards taking an afternoon nap along Twilight's body, when the petite princess broke the silence softly. She turned her head so that she was looking at me and spoke aloud.
"Lunar," she spoke in her soft, elegant, and sexy voice.
Falling prey to the pressure of conversation, I answered my love's call rather softly and in a very deep and heavily bass tone.
"Yes, Twily?"
"Were you serious about applying to that place?" She asked me, a high amount of curiosity being traced in the sound of her voice.
Admittedly, I was thinking about applying there and Twilight's earlier joke made me want to apply even more. Answering her question, I explained to her how I felt.
She smiled, "Okay then,"
"Why'd you ask?" I asked curiously.
"Well," she continued, "they say it's supposed to be a fancy place, all chrome-casted walls and whatnot. I was thinking maybe we could get dinner there one day with...an employee discount, y'know? Try it out first."
I laughed a bit at the idea, but understood where Twilight was coming from. "I'll give the place a tryout," I told her, "then we can decide on dinner, Twily."
"Thank you, Luny," Twilight laughed jokingly. She knew I hated being called "Luny." To me, it sounded too feminine, but then again, getting my name and my mentor's name mixed up was an often occasion.
Lunar and Luna, not a very subtle difference, wouldn't you say? Add one letter to one name and you get a different pony in a different gender, but y'know, I often get mistaken as a mare based off of my name. Let it be known that I am a colt; a Prince. I am in no way, shape, or form a mare or princess nor will be.
Twilight often teased me by calling me "Luny," but the joke is on her that I don't mind 'her' calling me that. Were it anypony else, then I'd have a problem. But, alas, it is her, so there need not be a problem that exists in my simple-natured self.
Not too long after our little sub-conversation, a knock came from the front door. Groaning slightly because she wanted to remain alone with me - I could tell - Twilight gently arose from the love-seat and approached the birch door. The knock came again rather quickly, so I had jumped to the conclusion that our good friend Pinkie Pie had dropped by to pay us a visit.
"Hold on, Pinkie," Twilight assumed, "I'll be right there."
The knock came a third time by the time Twilight had reached it. Surrounding the birch door with her magenta colored aura, Twilight opened up the door carefully and with ease. It was an older door and so it needed to be treated with much TLC. Once the door opened up fully, our assumption of the company being Pinkie Pie had been confirmed as the pink party pony had been bouncing up and down in place at first glance.
Chuckling slightly, Twilight acknowledged Pinkie Pie's visit and invited her inside.
"Not right now, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie spastically replied.
"What's up then?" Twilight questioned. "You're usually never this hyper about something."
"The new restaurant opened their doors!" Pinkie pie smiled before bouncing away elsewhere.
I called from the couch while Twilight watched Pinkie Pie bounce away. "Wanna check it out, babe?"
"Sure," Twilight smiled, turning to face me while simultaneously shutting the large, birch colored door.
Smiling and obliging by Twilight's decision, I had sprung up from the couch much like a slinky springs to the next step. I stretched out both my hooves and my wings and took in a long, satisfied breath to soothe my innards. Twilight stepped up to me and looked at me with her innocent lilac eyes; her hypnotic eyes.
"Ready?" She asked me.
"Ready." I answered back, wrapping a wing gently around Twilight's petite body.
I didn't see it, nor could I, based off of our angles, but I knew Twilight smiled brightly and pressed up against me whenever I did this. She liked it when I wrapped my wing because it provided warmth and hospitality to her, at least that's what she claims.
We made our way over to her door and as we neared the old birch door, I begun opening it with my magic. I was a true gentlecolt because of Twilight and knew she appreciated little acts of kindness like this from me all the time. Smiling, I allowed her to exit through the door first before I followed her out, closing the door gently behind me. Twilight smiled at me brightly, showing her signature white-toothed smile.
"Thank you, Luny," she teased playfully.
"Anytime, Your Highness," I buoyantly responded before we began making our way towards the other side of town.
Ponyville at this time seemed to be bustling with a bunch of tiresome worker ponies heading home after a long day of working heavily. It was like seeing rush hour back in Baltimare at about this time. You know, I sometimes miss my apartment in Baltimare and even miss the city noises. But, as great as those things were in my life, they stand nowhere near where Twilight stands. She is my love and she is my life and she knows it. It is all thanks to her that I have earned everything I've gotten in my life to this point. It's thanks to her that I have these wings and a crown to wear, although I forget to wear it a lot.
Walking through these streets of Ponyville, plenty of ponies had turned their heads over to both Twilight and myself. Surely this would make news and I could see the headlines now: Royal Couple Confirmed? Trust me, I had recently gotten my wings and have actually gone out of my way to hide them for a while. I was born a unicorn so having feathered wings be magically attached to my body felt awkward. It was only recently that I had gotten used to my wings, although I hadn't attempted flying yet. Either way, neither Twilight nor myself let the little attention bother us as we began approaching the new restaurant. It was a decently large building and had lived up to its chrome stature.
"Freddy Fazpony's Pizzeria," Twilight read as we reached the front doors.
"An...interesting name for a giant corporation such as this," I admitted, opening the door for Twilight, letting her in first.
An employee had opened up the secondary doors to the building for us both and introduced and greeted us both.
"Welcome to Freddy Fazpony's Pizzeria!" He chimed.
"Hello there," Twilight acknowledged.
"Table for two, I'm assuming, Your Highness?" The employee continued.
"If that's okay with you," Twilight giggled, aiming the joke towards me.
Smiling, I nodded towards the employee for the table for two request. He escorted us both to a larger table than a majority of them, hopefully not putting our titles above the other ponies that were eating here. As Twilight and I both say: we may have a set of wings and a title, but that title is just a word smacked in front of our names; we are not better than anypony else.
The waiter handed us both a couple of menus and left us alone for a while to overlook what they had to offer. Instead, however, I was looking around and admiring the modern quartz design of the building. Not many places have designs like this because it's a harder design to pull off, but this place seemed to do that and excelled at doing it.
Twilight noticed me observing the building and commented on it. "Pretty, isn't it?"
I nodded. "It's tough to pull off a quartz design."
"I'm pretty sure it is," agreed Twilight, "Rarity would love the design of this place."
"I was just thinking the same thing," I smiled before finally giving some attention to the menu. There were a lot of things to choose from, most of them being pizza related. There was a regular pie, a pepperoni pie, salad, Sicilian styled pies, and other types as well.
Twilight smiled and made up her mind as to what she wanted to order.
"I'll probably get a Sicilian pan pie," she told me, "how about you, Luny?"
I smirked. "I'll probably get the same thing, Your Highness," I lightly laughed.
"What about the job application?" Twilight added.
"I'll probably ask for that as soon as- Ah, here he is now."
"Good evening, Prince Lunar and Princess Twilight," the waiter smiled.
"Please," Twilight butted in, "you need not call us that."
"If you insist, ma'am," the waiter continued, "my name is Sir Cawthon, the owner of this fine establishment and industry, and I'll be-"
"The owner?" I repeated.
"Precisely, Pri-err, sir," Sir Cawthon answered, "I'll be serving you both personally tonight."
"So, if you're the owner of this incredible establishment," Twilight spoke, "that means you also handle hiring processes, correct?"
"Indeed I do, ma'am," Sir Cawthon smiled in response, "why do you ask?"
"Well," I began, "I was thinking about trying out a job here, y'know, to see how this place really is."
"If that is the case, Prince," Sir Cawthon continued, looking over to me, "I would be glad to hire somepony such as yourself."
"Oh, excellent!" Twilight beamed delightfully.
"I hope you don't mind working as our night guard though, Prince," Sir Cawthon continued.
"A night guard?" I curiously answered.
Sir Cawthon nodded. "That is the last position open that we need at this establishment. Other locations have their night guards and different positions open and available, but the nearest location from here is in Manehattan."
"And that's a bit of a hike from Ponyville," I said, looking towards Twilight.
"So are you still up for it, Prince Lunar?"
Twilight smiled. "It's okay with me if you want to try out the night guard position. You are nocturnal after all."
I smiled in response, then paid my attention towards Sir Cawthon. "I will take the job, Sir Cawthon."
He seemed delighted by my choice, shaking my hoof in the process. "Alright! You'll start tonight, if that's okay with you."
"Most certainly," I acknowledged, "I'll just aid this little one home first, then I'll start working, Sir Cawthon."
"Okay," he replied, "and please, do call me Scott."
"As you wish, Scott," I spoke.
Scott smiled, then proceeded to take our orders before subsiding from the table. Once he had left, Twilight and I began conversing about how interesting it was to have the owner of the industry and corporation right here in Ponyville.
"It is interesting, my dear," I said, "but why here?"
"What do you mean?" asked Twilight.
"Of all of his locations," I started to explain, "he chose this one, Ponyville...I wonder why..."
"Perhaps because it's a new location." Twilight suggested.
"I guess that could be true," I remarked, still not satisfied, "but still, he has a Manehattan location. Manehattan! The greatest city in the world!"
"That may be so," smiled Twilight, "but there are certain ponies that don't like the hustle and bustle of the city life."
I laughed lightly. "Twilight Sparkle, otherwise known as the pony you can't beat in a debate."
"Years of practice, Luny," Twilight smiled brightly.
"Clearly, Twily," I smiled in response.
Moments later, Scott came back with our orders and set them down in front of us. He gave us a warm smile, then invited us to enjoy the meals. Thanking him for what he's done for us, we began having our meals as Scott left to attend other things.
The pizza we had was some of the best pizza I've ever had before in my life! It had so much flavor packed into the pizza slices, it actually had me wanting more, to be honest. Hehe.
Towards the end of the meal, Twilight asked how I enjoyed the meal, and I explained to her that it was the best pizza I ever had. Repeating the question to her, Twilight admitted the same thing; she loved the pizza too.
"My compliments to the chef!" I smiled brightly.
Scott came over a little while later to check up on how we felt. He already wore a large grin upon his face, seemingly knowing that we enjoyed our meal.
"How did you enjoy meals, you two?" He politely asked us.
"That was, without a doubt, the best pizza I've ever had, Scott," I answered.
"Glad to hear that!"
"Our compliments go to the chef!" Twilight added pleasantly.
"Why, thank you, Princess Twilight," Scott smiled, "I made it myself."
"You are gifted in the art of pizza making then, Scott," I said.
He pointed to his cutie mark, "That's why this little guy is there."
"I suppose so," I smiled.
"Well," continued Scott, "is there anything else you two need?"
"I'm good," I looked to Twilight, "how about you?"
"I'm fine, thank you."
"Well then," Scott smiled, "the meal is on the house, courtesy of me, and I'll be seeing you in a bit, Prince."
"Oh, why thank you!" Twilight beamed.
"My pleasure, Princess," he replied, "I hope you have a good night."
"You too," Twilight said, lifting herself for the table.
"I'll see you in a bit, Mister Scott," I acknowledged, lifting myself as well.
"Remember," he told me, "your shift starts at midnight. It isn't a long shift; it will go to six o'clock."
"Got it," I said, aiding Twilight out.
Twilight felt full and comfortable as we left the pizzeria. Her body felt warm along the side of my body. The warm, evening summer air was wonderful and the slight breeze was very pleasant. I had escorted her home, as any colt should do to their marefriend, and kissed her goodbye. I told her I will be back in the morning and can continue enjoying her company then.
"Be careful now, Luny," she told me, kissing my lips gently and lovingly, "I expect you to come back in one piece now."
I laughed, kissing Twilight back with equal amounts of love. "I expect you to be here when I get back, Princess."
Twilight giggled her sweet and innocent giggle; her heart melting giggle. "I'll still be here, Luny,"
"Good!" I smiled, preparing to leave for my new shift. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Goodnight, Lunar," Twilight replied.
"Goodnight, Twilight," I said, "sweet dreams now."
I turned around and had left Twilight's home for my new shift down at the pizzeria. The cool air running against my mane felt good and livened me up just a bit. Twilight said it earlier that I am nocturnal and this is true. A pony of the night, much like myself, comes to enjoy all the features that it has to offer. From the vast number of stars in the sky to the bright full moon, even to the calm serenity and peaceful tranquility, the night is honestly the best part to my day, and it is all thanks to my mentor, Princess Luna…well, actually, my former mentor.
That in itself is a story worth another time, since I had begun approaching the large chrome building for my shift. The entrance was still open, but I had arrived just in time. While approaching the doors, I saw Scott start locking them up. He had a discerned face while I entered into the facility, but he let it go, seeing how I was a Prince.
Entering into the chrome building, Scott addressed me for being a bit late, but turned the other way in regards to the events. I had apologized, assuring him that I have never been late for anything in my life before and that time had seen to slip by a bit quicker than usual.
"It's okay, Prince Lunar," Scott told me, leading me down a darkened hallway, "things happen in life and nopony is perfect."
I was wondering where exactly we were headed. The place looked a lot bigger on the inside than it did on the outside and I had not seen this section of the pizzeria before. I asked Scott politely where we were headed, but didn't need an answer as we entered into a bright room at the end of the corridor.
Scott turned around and smiled at me. He handed me a small tablet thing and a large mask and told me to take a seat, which I did in the up against the middle of the back wall. I exchanged looks between the tablet thing and the mask, then asked Scott what these two things were for.
"Well," started Scott, "the item in your right hoof is the security cameras for the joint and the object in your left hoof is an empty Freddy Fazpony mask."
"What for?" I repeated.
"The cameras are meant to monitor the animatronics that are kept here."
"Animatronics?" I questioned.
Scott nodded. "Yup. They are the pride of Fazpony Entertainment and are super kid friendly. They are allowed to walk around during the day and mean no harm."
"So why do they need to be monitored?" I spoke, examining the different rooms in the facility.
"These animatronics haven't been given a proper night mode yet," Scott explained, "so they tend to wander around during the night."
"Wander around?" I repeated, putting the cameras down and staring at Scott.
"Yeah," Scott confirmed, "but they mean no harm."
"So what is this for?" I asked, lifting the mask with my magic.
"That is for you to put on, should anything come in to your office."
"They come in here?" I cautiously asked.
"They aren't supposed to," Scott eased, "but in case they do, you can just put the mask on like so," he put the mask on in front of me, "and eventually, whatever wanders in will eventually wander its way back out."
"So...how many animatronics are there?"
"Let's see..." There was a long pause before Scott actually answered said question from moments ago. "There are ten of them, but one doesn't move and another won't move as long as a music box is kept wound throughout the night."
"Music box?"
Scott took the cameras and hit one of them in a room that seemed far from here. He pointed to a little box on the camera that said "tap to wind music box." Giving the cameras back to me, he explained that a music box was wired remotely to be wound up and keep one animatronic at bay.
"...as for the others," he continued, "they aren't affected by the music box."
"Okay," I said, feeling a bit uneasy now.
"Don't worry about a thing," Scott assured me, "they are tied into local databases and can detect a predator a mile away. They won't hurt you if you don't hurt them."
"By 'them,'" I hinted, "what exactly are we talking about?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well," I continued, "what type of animatronics are they all? Are they different? Are they the same? Which ones are more aggressive? Which ones are more passive?"
"A lot of questions for a royal pony," joked Scott, looking towards the time, "it's almost time for me to leave, but I'll answer that one last question you had. The animatronics include: Freddy Fazpony, the furry and friendly Earth pony and the face of this fine establishment, Chica the Pegasus, a very attractive Pegasus, Bonnie the Bunny, an...interesting character, Foxy the Griffon, the fastest of them all, then there are the newly design animatronics."
"Those you just mentioned," I spoke, "they are…?"
"They're the older models and they shouldn't move around throughout the night." Scott answered. "They're in the "Parts and Services" room right now as spare parts for the newer animatronics."
"Why's that?"
"Well, they were from the old owner of the corporation and they've been in service for many years." Scott chuckled. "I've decided to retire them and use them as backups."
"Seems like a legitimate reason." I acknowledged.
"Precisely."
"So if they're out of commission," I continued, "who are the animatronics that I'll need to watch over?"
"Those that have the same name," Scott smiled, "aside from the last one."
"What do you mean?"
"Well," he continued, "you'll be looking over what I call Toy Freddy Fazpony, Toy Chica the Pegasus, Toy Bonnie the Bunny, Mangle, or, as she's officially known, Toy Foxy the Griffon, and Balloon Filly. They are all the animatronics that are currently in commission and would be the ones moving around throughout the night."
"I see."
"Any more questions?" Scott asked.
"Uh, not at the current moment, no." I replied.
"Well," continued Scott, starting to leave through the back exit, "your shift starts now and I wish you the bet of luck," he chuckled, then continued again, "but you'll do fine, I just know it."
"Thank you," I smiled.
"Okay, your replacement will be here at six to take over for you," Scott told me, "goodnight and I'll speak to you tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Scott," I said as Scott left through the back door.
The door locked behind me as he left for the evening. I looked towards my left and right and noticed two small air vents. Above each vent, there was a button and, above each of those buttons, there was small text that read "LIGHT" in big, bold letters.
"I wonder what they lead to," I told myself, then glanced at the cameras, noticing that, in the bottom right of it, there was a map of the entire facility and a small room that let me know where I was in the entire place.
I looked through each room, coming across various places that I hadn't seen with Twilight earlier. It seemed that the majority of this place was kid friendly, as per Scott's words earlier in the night. There was various party rooms, the Parts and Services room Scott showed me, a few restrooms, something call the "Show Stage," a place call "Kid's Cove," and a "Game Room."
Scott had told me that Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie were all upon the "Show Stage," so that was where I checked first. There they were; three unusually creepy creatures just staring into a blank abyss. I stared at them, yet they stared elsewhere in the facility towards a spot I could not see. Pretty soon, I began seeing a yellow exclamation point surrounded by a white and yellow triangle positioned right next to Camera 11, the "Prize Counter."
"What's this?" I asked myself before checking to see what was wrong. Hitting the area where the camera was located, I noticed that the music box wasn't making any sound; the dial had run out of power.
Remembering what Scott told me, I wound the music box back up and began hearing the calm and creepy sound from the music box once more. Opting to check the stage again, I had noticed that one of them was missing!
"Wa-where did you go?" I asked nopony in particular.
I had begun spastically checking the other rooms and noticed that they were all empty, except the last room I checked: Party Room #3.
"Ah! Whoa!" I shouted.
There, staring into the camera was a creepy blue bunny - Bonnie. He had what appeared to be a guitar in his hooves and was just standing there, watching me, menacing look in his robotic eyes.
Just then, the notification for the music box came back on and dragged me away from Bonnie. I wound the music box back up, then immediately went back to Party Room #3 to check on Bonnie, only to find that he wasn't there.
"Where'd you go!?" I asked nopony, putting down the cameras and checking down the hall with a light spell, seeing Bonnie run across the hall. "Ah-ha! What the flying-!?"
I went back to the cameras and noticed that Bonnie ran across the hall into the other room, Party Room #4. Checking directly into that room, I was greeted to an unpleasant sight when Bonnie's entire face covered the camera. It made me jump out of my seat and almost chuck the cameras in general when something else grabbed my sight.
Up in the top right corner of the cameras, there was a counter that read "Night 1" and, right below that, a time counter that currently read "2 AM."
"Two hours down," I told myself, "four more long ones to go."
The notification for the music box came back on again and dragged me away, yet again, to rewind the music box back up, which I did. But when I went back to check up on the room Bonnie was in, it had read "Signal Interrupted" up at the top of the camera.
"Interrupted?" I asked myself. "What happ-?"
Before I could finish, signal was restored back inside the room, showing that Bonnie was no longer in the room.
"Where'd you go now?" I sighed., flipping through the different rooms until I had reached one that said "Party Room #2."
Inside the second party room, I was greeted to, once again, Bonnie the Bunny. This time, he was crawling on the floor in the room and was entering a vent!
"What are you doing!?" I shouted, only to be answered by a loud thumping sound coming from my right vent.
I had started to get paranoid. Between Bonnie and myself, there was only one camera left, which I switched to and was unable to see anything; that is, until I saw a robotic arm crawling towards me.
"Dear Celestia!" I shouted, exiting the cameras to put the mask Scott gave me over my face and muzzle.
I couldn't see anything and breathing was a hard thing to do, but I stood inside this mask for a while. A few minutes later, the lights had begun flickering and, right in front of me, Bonnie had moved through the room!
"AH, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?"
The room went dark then, slowly, the lights began coming back on, but not before I began hearing another thumping sound coming from my left vent.
Scared, but determined to make it through the night, I opened up my cameras, wound up the music box slightly, then checked out the left vent, noticing another robotic arm nearing me. I placed the cameras down and looked over towards the vent, noticing, once again, the "LIGHT" button above the vent opening.
Using my magic, I grabbed something that could push the button and activate the light in the vent, only to notice that, staring at me directly from the vent, Chica the Pegasus was almost inside the room!
I quickly put the mask back over my face and waited for something to happen, but the only thing that I heard was some more thumping sounds, these sounding like they were sounds that were getting farther from my position.
I took a chance and took off my mask and pushed the button again, revealing that Chica had gone away. I briefly collected some much needed breaths of relief, then went back to the cameras, which now read "4 AM."
"God," I groaned, "this night is lasting so long! I just wanna go home!"
The notification for the music box started up again, so I checked it and wound it all the way back up, noticing that the time now was "5 AM."
"It took me an hour to fully wind that thing up?" I questioned. "And it desecrates within minutes? What kind of-?"
Thumping sounds came from the right vent again, meaning that Bonnie was making a second trip around to see me again.
The thumps were getting louder and closer, so I exited the cameras and put the mask back on, turning and facing the vent.
"Come on," I spoke through the mask, "show yourself."
Bonnie must have heard my request because not even seconds had passed before the lights had started flickering and Bonnie himself strolled through the room. This time around, I was prepared and was not scared.
When the lights came back on, I took the mask off and noticed that the time in the upper right of the cameras I had gone back in to now read "6 AM."
"Thank god..." I sighed, hearing the door shake behind me.
The door was opened and there stood my replacement. She was a small Pegasus mare and seemed to know what she was doing. Upon entering the room, she asked me how things were.
"Do they normally attack the guards?" I asked, handing over my equipment to the mare.
She laughed. "Who came to visit you?"
"Bonnie and Chica." I answered. "But it seemed to be more than a simple 'visit.'"
"Don't worry, Your Majesty," the Pegasus smiled, "you'll get used to them."
That's assuming that I stay there. I thought as I left my shift and started heading back to Twilight's home.
"That was the scariest thing I've done in a while," I told myself as I walked down the street and trough the crisp, cool morning air.
I decided to go for a little walk before heading back to Twilight's home and ended up stopping at the local coffee shop and picking up a copy of today's edition of the Ponyville Express.
The headlining story of the Express intrigued me a lot. The story: Local Restaurant Chain Being Investigated.
"Interesting," I told myself as I gave the clerk two bits for the Express.
I tucked the paper away and proceeded back towards Twilight's home. Hopefully she was awake and I could tell her all about my frightening experiences the last six hours of my life.
One day down…one long and exhilarating day…
The morning air felt good against my mane and I wanted to enjoy it a little bit more, but i ultimately decided to head over to Twilight's home and see how she was. As a royal pony, she was expected to be awake by now for any royal duties that may pop their (dreadful) heads into circulation.
Approaching the front door to her home, I gently knocked on it and pretended to be somepony else, expecting her to open the door.
"Who is it?" called a male voice. The voice belonged to Spike, so I wasn't scared; Twilight would never cheat on me.
"Delivery for Princess Twilight!" I answered back playfully.
Spike opened up the door and spotted me. Smiling and laughing slightly, he played along with the joke.
"Seems like the package is all in order," he joked, "Twilight is in her room. I assume you know where that is."
"Most definitely," I laughed, "thank you, Spike."
"Anytime, Lunar," he smiled as I entered Twilight's home.
I took the right turn immediately after walking up the stairs in the main foyer and made my way towards Twilight's room. Trust me, it might be a big house - formally, a castle - but once you know where everything is, it's pretty easy to navigate through.
"I don't think she'll believe me when I tell her what happened to me last night," I said out loud to myself.
I have been known to have that problem recently - speaking my thoughts out loud. They aren't negative thoughts, but when somepony overhears me talking to myself…let's just say they view me slightly differently.
The door to Twilight's room was open and as I approached the open crystallized door, I saw Twilight leaving her room and walking down the hall in the opposite direction. I decided to call out to her as if I were a regular citizen.
"Your Highness!" I called, grabbing her attention.
"Hmm?" I heard her say as she turned around. "What do we have here?" She smiled.
"Your Highness!" I called again, bowing to her in the process as I got closer.
"What is it, fine subject?" Twilight playfully replied, but she tried to be more serious than playful, trying to keep her royal status self in tact.
"Something's happened to the Prince." I spoke, looking up at her beautiful, lilac colored eyes.
"What happened?" Twilight smirked, though she wanted to keep a straight face more than anything.
"Well," I continued, playfully being nervous, "I hope you forgive me, but he wanted me to give you this."
"Give me wh-?"
Twilight was unable to finish her question as I embraced her lips with mine slowly, lovingly, passionately, and perfectly. She did the same and we embraced in affectionate exchanging for what seemed like forever, but turned out to be a few minutes. When we pulled away from each other, our eyes were locked together and half-shut, but nothing was said for a long time. Finally, Twilight broke the silence.
"Welcome home, my Prince," she whispered to me, smiling in the process.
"How'd you sleep, my Princess?" I whispered in response, smiling back as well.
"It was empty without you," she admitted, "and I dreamt about you the entire time."
"How sweet," I replied, "and I'm sure Princess Luna enjoyed your dream for a change. Normally," I approached her and kissed her horn, "that's my job."
"I know, Luny," she giggled, "and I hope she did."
"I know she did."
"How was your shift at the pizzeria last night?" She asked me, turning and walking down the hall with me by her side.
"Uhh," I started, coughing slightly, "it was…stressful."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked me as we entered into her throne room, as per her morning routine. "Why was it stressful?"
"Let's just say that there were 'things' trying to pay me a visit during the night." I answered.
"Things?" repeated Twilight.
"Yeah," I said, "animatronics."
"Animatronics?" She questioned.
"Yeah," I confirmed, "we didn't see them when we went yesterday, but apparently they are kid friendly and this set of animatronics is a fresh batch, so they have some kinks in their systems. Scott told me that the face of the franchise is Freddy Fazpony, an Earth pony animatronic."
"How interesting!" Twilight admired. "Animatronic robots! In Ponyville no less! I have to see how they are programmed!"
"You'll have to ask Scott that," I said, "but I think they're trying to kill me…"
"Why do you say that?" Twilight asked me.
"Well for one, Scott said they're kid friendly, but I see nothing friendly about those animatronics if they interrupt the camera signal and crawl in the vents to reach me in my office." I paused to catch my breath. "And another thing, Scott said they were never given a proper night mode and could detect a predator a mile away."
"Sounds like they should be the ones who should be watching you." Twilight joked.
"Yeah," I sarcastically replied, "they'll watch me when they kill me!"
"Oh come on, Lunar," Twilight sighed, "be reasonable!"
"What's to be reasonable?" I asked. "My life or them killing me?"
"It was just one day," she continued, "try the job out for one week and see if you don't like it by then…unless you don't think you can last a week. Is that it?"
"I can so last a week there!" I confidently replied. "Is that a bet, my dear?"
"If you can't last a week there," Twilight smirked, "then you have to go around Ponyville wearing a dress in front of everypony to see."
"And if I do make it a week," I chuckled, "then you have to wear whatever Pinkie Pie and myself think of in front of Ponyville for everypony to see!"
"Okay," Twilight laughed, "you're on!"
"It's a deal!" I said as Twilight and myself bumped each others' hooves, showing that the bet was on and a go.
All I had to do was last a week in that hellhole and I'll be good as gold! What's the worst that can happen?
That night, I had arrived at the pizzeria on time and set myself up for a heavily six hour guarding shift. The employee that locked up tonight said that Scott had come under some conditions and wasn't here to talk me through things, but said that some recorded messages will let me know what to do via the telephone.
I knew that certain things happen in life and understood why Scott wasn't here tonight; everypony gets sick from time to time.
After setting myself up inside the office, I sat down and awaited for "12 AM" to hit, the moment the animatronics entered into their "night mode." I went into the cameras and wound the music box all the up before I had done anything else. Once I wound the music box all they way up, I went to check on the Stage – the origin to my nightmares from last night.
The phone in the office then started ringing, which startled me to no end. I put the cameras down by the sudden sound, then remembered that I was told that some instructions were going to come in via the phone, so went right back to the cameras, watching, waiting, waiting, watching.
The phone rang a few more times, then eerily stopped. It was silent for a while, then a recording started playing while I kept looking at the cameras.
"Uh, hello, hello!" The guy on the phone spoke. "See, I told you your first night wouldn't be a problem. You're a natural!"
"Yeah," I laughed, "and I'm Princess Celestia."
"Uh, by now I'm sure you've noticed the older models sitting in the back room."
He must be talking about the old animatronics Scott told me about last night. I thought to myself as I went back to wind the music box back up.
"Uh, those are from the previous location. We just use them for parts now."
"Yup," I quietly spoke, "he's talking about the old animatronics."
"The idea at first was to repair them...uh, they even started retrofitting them with some of the newer technology, but they were just so ugly, you know?"
"You're telling me," I joked, going back to check on the Stage, seeing everything was still in its rightful place.
"The smell...uh, so the company decided to go in a whole new direction and make them super kid-friendly."
"Still haven't seen that side of them yet." I sighed.
"Uh, those older ones shouldn't be able to walk around, but if they do, the whole Freddy head trick should work on them too, so, whatever."
"Wait, what?" I looked towards the mask from last night. "This thing?"
"Uh...heh...I love those old characters. Did you ever see Foxy the Griffon? Oh wait, hold on..."
There was a slight pause between sentences, so I took the opportunity to wind the music box again. Soon, the guy on the phone continued with his recording.
"Oh yeah, Foxy. Uh, hey listen, that one was always a bit twitch, uh...I'm not sure the Freddy head trick will work on Foxy, uh. If for some reason he activates during the night and you see him standing at the far end of the hall-"
"Come again!?" I said, hyperventilating a bit. I placed the cameras down and casted a light spell to see through to the end of the hall and, thankfully, there was nothing there.
"...Those older models would always get disoriented with bright lights."
"Well, I guess that's good information," I sighed, checking the Stage again.
"It would cause a system restart, or something. Uh, come to think of it, you might want to try that on any room where something undesirable might be."
"Try what?" I questioned. I was hyperventilating while he was speaking, so did I miss something important?
"That glitch might have carried over to some of the newer models too."
"Okay..." I sighed in relief.
"One more thing."
"There's more?" I asked myself.
"Don't forget the music box."
"Don't worry, buddy," I chuckled.
"I'll be honest, I never liked that puppet thing."
"Puppet?" I repeated, going into the camera the music box was at. "What puppet?"
"It was always...thinking, and it can go anywhere..."
"What!?" I shouted.
"I don't think the Freddy mask will fool it, so...just don't forget the music box."
"I will make it a mission not to!" I fearfully stated.
"Anyway, I'm sure it won't be a problem."
"Hopefully not." I said as I wound the music box up, like my life depended on it.
"Uh, have a good night, and talk to you tomorrow."
With that, the recording had ended and I was once again on my own with these animatronics. Tonight, though, they were behaving nicely; they have yet to leave the Stage.
"Just like animatronics during the night should behave!" I smiled, checking the Game Room, noticing nothing out of the ordinary.
The top right of the cameras showed that it currently was "3 AM." Time seemed to be moving a lot quicker tonight than last night. Perhaps it is because Scott gave me the lecture before my shift started, or perhaps it was because I was less scared than last night. Maybe it was because the animatronics weren't moving this time around. Whatever the case, I didn't mind it one bit. I just sat in my office and wound up the music box over at the Prize Counter remotely.
Time was going by quickly, which is what I had hoped for when I came in today. Nothing was going on, which was amazing and easy. Suddenly, there came a sound from beyond my office.
"What was that?" I questioned.
I put the cameras down, which currently read "4 AM," then shined my horn down the hallway in front of me. The light reached all the way towards the end of the hall and, in its path to the far wall, revealed nothing out of the ordinary, although I wasn't convinced.
"If I'm a night guard here," I told myself as the overhead clock chimed past 4:30, "why can't I go down the hallway to see what's going on instead of using nearly helpless cameras?"
I opted to wait a little while longer instead of just going down the hall to see for myself. It was better to ask another employee if I could meander about throughout the night instead of just assuming so.
I went back to the cameras and wound up the music box again in order to assure that "The Puppet" would not leave his post, wherever it may be. Tonight was surprisingly a very easy night, comparing it to my first night.
The sound came from the hallway again, forcing me to put the cameras back down and use my light spell to check on the deep, dark hallway. This time, when my light reached the far wall, in the middle of the eerie hallway stood an animatronic.
"Foxy the Griffon?" I questioned.
The animatronic at the far wall simply stood there and stared at me. It resembled a lot like a griffon does – with the front claws, rear paws, large wings, and whatnot – and just stared at me...menacingly.
"Foxy?" I called, receiving no answer. Why is that thing even called "Foxy" in the first place? Foxy would imply that it is a fox, but that thing is a griffon...
My thoughts were cut short as I saw Foxy start slowly moving towards my office, which sent slight shivers down my spine, causing my wings to shake and shuffle a bit.
Why are you getting closer? I thought. The guy told me that bright lights disorientate you and would cause a system reset!
The wacked out animatronic was getting closer and closer to my office. I didn't know what to do, but was fortunate to have another employee come in at just the right moment and help me out.
"Bad Foxy!" The Pegasus mare shouted, flashing the flashlight that was left on the table. "Go!"
The flashing light seemed to have disorientated Foxy and he began leaving and backing away from the office, back down the hall, and, eventually, out of sight.
My breath was short and my heart was pounding against my chest, but I was able to collect enough air and look over to the mare. She was smiling at me as I was breathing heavily.
"Scare ya?" She asked me.
"How did you do that?" I gasped, trying to fall into normal breathing patterns now.
"Easy," she replied, "you have to flash the light in his face, or anypony that reveals themselves in the hallway. That is the number one thing to do. What did you do?"
"I used my light spell and flashed him." I said.
"Did you keep a constant flash, Your Majesty?" She continued. "Or did you blink it at him?"
"Blink it?" I repeated.
"By blinking the light, quickly turning it on and off repeatedly," she explained, "it confuses the animatronics and causes the system to reset."
"Oh," I chuckled, "that must've been the portion of the recording I missed."
"Vital information, Your Majesty." the mare smiled.
"Indeed," I smiled in response, looking towards the clock, noticing it read "5:30 AM." I looked back towards the Pegasus mare. "You're here early tonight."
"Seemed like you needed help." She laughed.
"Good day to fall into trouble, I suppose." I joked.
"So it seems," she replied, "go on. I'll finish up your shift."
"Are you sure?" I asked, not wanting to anger anypony.
"Perfectly fine, Your Majesty," she answered, "besides, you look like you've seen a ghost."
"You could say that." I sniggered, rubbing my neck.
"Go on, go home," she repeated, "I'll cover things around here."
"Thank you, uhh,"
"Purple Grape," the mare spoke.
"Thank you, Purple Grape," I said, collecting my things and leaving for the day.
"You're welcome, Your Majesty." she smiled at me, closing the door behind me.
She seems very nice, I thought to myself, I do hope that she goes a long way with her life decisions.
I thought nothing more of tonight's shift as I went towards the coffee shop to pick up today's edition of the Ponyville Express. Today's headliner for the Express was even more interesting than yesterday's: Dead Ponies Found Inside Local Restaurant.
"Jeez," I told the shopkeeper, paying for the newspaper, "this restaurant isn't looking too good, is it?"
"Yeah," the shopkeeper replied, "supposedly, the owner of that new restaurant that came into town is in some real trouble or something."
"The owner of that Freddy Fazpony's Pizzeria down the road?" I asked.
"That'd be the one, Your Majesty," he smiled, "have a good day now."
"Thank you," I responded, "you too."
"Thank you."
I left the coffee shop with the newspaper tucked away in my saddlebag and headed to Twilight's castle. The lovely and shining crystallized castle shone greatly with the rising summer sun. I absolutely enjoyed seeing this castle and loved every inch of it; it was perfect.
When I arrived at Twilight's castle, she was there to greet me and immediately asked me how my shift went down at the pizzeria.
"It was good," I admitted, "I'll be winning that bet, you know,"
"Yeah," she scoffed, "we'll see about that."
"Oh, you'll see." I laughed.
That night, I arrived inside the pizzeria along with Twilight. She wasn't sleepy and wanted to see just exactly what I did here in the office, so I decided to bring her along for the fun. I alerted Scott hours earlier about bringing Twilight and his advise to me was to make sure she was safe, which was part of my job description. He also told me that he would be unable to see me again due to certain things, which I completely understood. That meant that a new recording was being left for me, which I didn't mind.
Tonight, however, the recording didn't kick in until the clock read "1:30 AM." Tonight, I had Twilight keep an eye on the hallway while I kept my attention towards the Stage and the music box. The music box was the number two priority to me, right after making sure Twilight was kept safe at all times throughout the shift tonight.
The phone began ringing and stopped a couple of minutes later, followed by the trademark recording.
"Hello, hello!"
"Hello!" Twilight smiled.
"See? I told you you wouldn't have any problems!"
"Not a single one." I lied.
"Did, uh, did Foxy ever appear in the hallway? Probably not."
"Nope." I lied again.
"I was just curious. Like I said, he was always my favorite."
"I'm sure he was." I smiled.
"They tried to remake Foxy, ya know?"
"No," I said, a bit intrigued, "I didn't know that..."
"Uh, they thought the first one was too scary, so they redesigned him to be more kid-friendly and put him in Kid's Cove."
Kid's Cove... I thought. Camera 12?
I hit Camera 12 and, sure enough, there was a white colored griffon laying along the floor in there. I remembered: Toy Foxy the Griffon.
But then...where's Balloon Filly?
I searched all over for the last animatronic I have yet to see, unable to find her no matter where I looked. I didn't let that bother me too much as I went back to winding up the music box while the recording continued.
"But the little fillies and colts these days just can't keep their hooves to themselves. The staff literally had to put Foxy back together after every shift. So eventually, they stopped trying and just left her as some "take apart and put back together" attraction."
"Sounds like fun for the little ones." Twilight smiled, flashing light from her horn down the hallway to show that it was completely empty.
"Now she's just a mess of parts. I think the employees refer to her as just "The Mangle." Uh..."
"'The Mangle.'" I repeated.
"Oh, hey, before I go, uh, I wanted to ease your mind about any rumors you might have heard lately."
"Rumors?" Twilight asked me.
"You know how these local stories come and go and seldom mean anything."
"What stories?" she asked again.
"I can personally assure you that, whatever is going on out there, and however tragic it may be, has noting to do with our establishment."
"What is he talking about?" Twilight asked me again.
"I'll tell you once the recording is done." I replied.
"It's all just rumors and speculation...ponies trying to make a bit."
"I hope so." I quietly remarked.
"You know...uh, our guard during the day has reported nothing unusual, and he's on watch from opening til close."
"Sounds like a long shift." Twilight commented.
"Okay, well anyway, hang in there and I'll talk to you tomorrow."
With the recording over and the time at about 2:40 AM, I decided to share what the pony on the phone meant when he said "rumors and speculation" with Twilight. She wanted to know, so it was my duty to tell her.
"Recently," I began, winding up the music box some more, "there have been some articles in the Ponyville Express and the main headliner is that there is an investigation going on here about some dead ponies being stuffed in the suits and the animatronics malfunctioning and whatnot."
"Dead ponies?" Twilight repeated, putting much emphasis on 'dead.'
"It hasn't been confirmed, Twilight," I told her, checking the Stage, "but the investigation is around this corporation and they're threatening to shut this place down, I think."
"Sounds serious." Twilight inputted.
"I guess," I agreed, putting the cameras down to look at Twilight, "anything?"
"Not yet." Twilight confirmed.
"Okay," I smiled, "tell me when you see something out of the ordinary."
"Oka-"
"Twilight?"
"Wh-...Is that a griffon?"
I put the cameras back down and turned towards the end of the hall to see Foxy the Griffon paying a visit.
"Oh," I chuckled, "hey Foxy. How ya doing?"
"Foxy?" Twilight laughed. "That's its name?"
"Yup." I smiled. "That is Foxy the Griffon."
"Any others I should be aware of?" Twilight asked me.
"Well," I spoke, "there's a few of them."
"Care to tell me?"
"Sure!" I smiled. "There's the old animatronics: Freddy Fazpony the Earth pony, Chica the Pegasus, Bonnie the Bunny, and Foxy the Griffon. Then, there are the new animatronics: Toy Freddy Fazpony, Toy Chica the Pegasus, Toy Bonnie the Bunny, Toy Foxy the Griffon – otherwise known as The Mangle – and then there is Balloon Filly – the only one I haven't seen to this point."
"You told me there were ten of them," Twilight explained.
"Yes," I answered, "that's what Scott told me."
"But," she continued, "you only mentioned nine names."
"What?" I asked, checking the stage again.
"Foxy, Freddy, Chica, Bonnie, Toy Foxy, Toy Freddy, Toy Chica, Toy Bonnie, and Balloon Filly," Twilight reiterated, "that only adds up to nine names. Where is the tenth one?"
"You know," I spoke up, changing to the Prize Counter to wind the music box back up, "I don't know...I have only seen nine of them."
"Eight of them, Luny," Twilight corrected, "if you haven't seen Balloon Filly yet, you've only seen eight."
"Hmm...that's a question I'll have to ask one of the other employees when they come in."
"Sounds like a plan, Luny," Twilight giggled, her giggle echoing throughout the empty halls and vents.
I put the cameras back down and noticed something odd. At the end of the hall, Foxy appeared to be moving away, even though Twilight wasn't flashing her horn any more. Twilight kept her light constant while she had giggled and I noticed that Foxy had moved away, as if he...he was scared...of Twilight's laugh.
"Hey, look," I smirked, pointing to the retreating Foxy.
"What about him?" Twilight asked.
"When you were giggling," I continued, "Foxy was moving away."
Twilight laughed some more, "I'm the scariest animatronic of them all!"
"Haha!" I laughed, jointly. "I guess so."
"Hahaha!"
Foxy had completely left the hallway while Twilight and myself laughed on some more. I loved Twilight's laugh and actually tried to make her laugh a bit more so that I could listen to it some more. That's when I remembered the music box and went to go wind it back up.
I went back into the camera and noticed the time read "5:30 AM" and the stage was completely empty of all three toy animatronics. The camera to the Prize Counter had a red notification flashing, so I went to go wind the music box again. However, when I went to wind it back up, I saw this puppet-type thing revealing itself from a nearby box. I was literally so scared that I almost dropped the cameras, but managed to hang on and wind the music box all the way again. That seemed to stop the puppet from leaving the box and settled my heart down slightly.
I put the cameras away, then noticed the doors behind us had been opened. In the doorway stood Purple Grape and I greeted her to Twilight.
"Hello, Purple Grape," I smiled.
"Good morning, Your Majesty," she smiled. She then turned to Twilight. "And good morning to you, Princess Twilight."
"Good morning." Twilight acknowledged.
"Twilight is my marefriend and accompanied me on my shift today." I explained.
"Does Scott know?"
"He does and he said it was okay." I said.
"Okay then," Purple Grape continued, "well, your shift is over and I'm here to take over. Were there any mishaps?"
"Not a single one." I happily obliged.
"Well then," she replied, "time to start my shift."
"Good luck, Purple Grape," Twilight said, collecting our things and exiting the door behind us.
"Thank you, Your Highness."
"I'll see you tomorrow, Purple Grape," I said, leaving through the door behind me, "have a good day."
"Thank you, and you too." Purple Grape smirked.
I turned to Twilight and smiled at her, wrapping my wing around her body, keeping her warm. Today's weather was slightly cooler than average and she looked a bit cold, so I thought that I would help her out.
"So how did you enjoy the shift?" I asked as we started making our way towards her castle.
"I thought that it was fun." She admitted. "Can I come back with you tomorrow?"
"Scott said that it was okay," I smiled, "and I loved having you for company while we worked together."
"So, is that a yes?"
"Yes," I laughed, "it is."
"Oh, thank you, Luny!" Twilight cheerfully replied.
"You're welcome, Twily!" I answered with equal cheerfulness.
We continued to enjoy the entire day together as I waited to go back for my fourth night at the restaurant.
"Hello? Hello? Uh, hey there, night four! I told you you'd get the hang of it!"
Twilight and myself had already been busy at work for the last couple of hours. Tonight was a busier night than usual for the animatronics, as they were all out and about, though they hadn't shown their faces to either of us yet.
"Okay, so uh, just to update you, uh, there's been somewhat of an, uh, investigation going on."
"Yeah," I sighed, winding up the music box, "we know."
"Uh, we may end up having to close for a few days...I don't know."
"Sounds like a convincing investigation against this place." Twilight added, flashing the light coming from her horn at Foxy repetitively.
"I want to emphasize though that it's really just a precaution."
"Yeah, sureee." I scoffed, flashing the light from my horn at Toy Chica in the hallway.
"Uh, Fazpony Entertainment denies any wrongdoing."
"As any corporation does," Twilight commented, taking a bit of a well-earned break.
"These things happen sometimes. Um...it'll all get sorted out in a few days."
"Sure it will," I sighed, winding the music box back up again.
"Just keep an eye on things and I'll keep you posted."
"Thanks, buddy." I sarcastically responded.
"Uh, just as a side note though, try to avoid eye contact with any of the animatronics tonight if you can."
"Why?" questioned Twilight, going back to flashing the light from her horn down the hallway again.
"Somepony may have tampered with their facial recognition systems – we're not sure."
"Sounds bad," I stated.
"But the characters have been acting very unusual, almost aggressive towards the staff. They interact with kids just fine, but when they encounter an adult, they just...stare."
"Wouldn't that be a good thing?" I asked.
"Uh...anyways, hang tight. It'll all pass. Good night!"
"I have a feeling that this guy is feeding us news to get us killed, Twilight," I sighed, flashing my light down the hall, "don't you agree so?"
"I agree one hundred percent, Lunar." Twilight smirked, flashing her light down the hall as well.
"Hello!" called a robotic, feminine voice.
"Alright," I sighed, "what was that?"
"I don't know," Twilight coughed, "and I don't really want to find out right now."
"Nor do I, my dear," I replied.
The system Twilight and myself had going lasted us for quite some time. Before we knew it, it was already 5:00 AM. Twilight and myself were trying to fend off these creepy animatronics for as long as we could but, something felt...off about them today. These animatronics seemed like they had the motivation to kill one of us...or both of us.
"How you holding up, Twily?" I asked, winding the music box up some more quickly.
"I'm tired from this." Twilight admitted.
"As am I," I agreed, "but you made a bet that I couldn't last a week and I am going through with it, whether I kill myself doing so or not."
"Lunar," Twilight sighed, "you don't have to do that. It's suicide!"
"I promised myself that I could make it through to the end of the week, and I will do just that."
"But, Lunar!" called Twilight.
"Nope," I smirked, winding the music box yet again, "I've already made up my mind to make it through to the end of the week and I will do just that."
Twilight shook her head, slyly smiling. "There is nothing I can do to change your mind, is there?"
"Nope." I chuckled shining my light down the hall, revealing absolutely nothing.
Twilight laughed as the door behind us began opening up. Purple Grape smiled in the doorway as she began setting her saddlebags on the ground in the corner of the office, opposite from our things.
"Busy night?" She asked us both.
"You have no idea," I sighed, resting the cameras to collect Twilight's saddlebags and mine.
Purple Grape laughed. "Well, go on, Your Majesty. You're relieved of your duties tonight."
"Thank you, Purple Grape," both Twilight and I said.
"You're both welcome," Purple Grape smirked.
"See you tomorrow?" I asked.
"You bet," she answered, "and remember: tomorrow is payday."
"Thank Celestia, hehe."
"You said it." Twilight and Purple Grape simultaneously said.
With that being said, Twilight and myself left the demented pizzeria to rest up and attempt at enjoying the day that was ahead of us. We were both tired, but knew that our royal duties called first, although they were easy compared to what we had to do at the office.
"Hello, hello? Hey, good job, night five!"
"Thanks, buddy." I sighed.
The time was 2:45 AM. The place was the office. My objective was to stay alive and make it through to the end of the night. Tonight was the final night in the week – I'm assuming – and I just wanted to make it through it so very much. Twilight and myself were back at our strategy and could do this until the end of time, should we need to. It was tough work, but we needed to do it and get through it together, even though I tried convincing Twilight to stay home. It was her idea to come back with me and no matter what I did, I could not convince her to stay home.
"Um, hey, um, keep a close eye on things tonight, okay?"
"Way ahead of you..." Twilight slightly giggled.
"Um, from what I understand, the building is on lockdown, uh, nopony is allowed in or out, y'know, especially concerning any...previous employees."
"Does that even make sense?" I questioned, winding the music box back up rapidly before I went back to flashing my light down the hallway along with Twilight.
"Um, when we get it all sorted out, we may move you to the day shift, a position just became...available."
"That is if you're still here, Lunar," laughed Twilight sarcastically.
"Yeah." I agreed.
"Uh, we don't have a replacement for your shift yet, but we're working on it."
"Are you now?" I scoffed, flipping through the cameras rapidly to check on everything.
"Uh, we're going to try to contact the original restaurant owner. Uh, I think the name of the place was..."
"What for?" Twilight questioned. "What would you need to ask those ponies?"
"...like that. It's been closed for years though, I doubt we'll be able to track anypony down."
"Figures..." I said, winding up the music box yet again. "Darn music box."
"Well, just get through one more night! Uh, hang in there! Goodnight!"
"Goodnight, you little-"
"Temper, temper, Lunar," Twilight interrupted.
"You're right, Twilight," I acknowledged, "it's just that this is incredibly stressful."
"You said it, Lunar," Twilight laughed, flashing her light down the hall, causing both Foxy and Bonnie to retreat elsewhere within the restaurant.
The time was 3:30 AM and the end of the shift could not come by any quicker. Twilight was busy flashing the animatronics that dared to show their faces in the hallway, but they appeared to be getting closer. The stress of the flashing was starting to strain Twilight, forcing her to take a break.
"It's too much for me, Lunar." She told me.
I tried winding up the music box as quickly as possible before I went back to flashing the animatronics down the hallway. I was with Twilight on this one – this was very painful and it was starting to become more than just a two-pony job. I looked towards the cameras, then towards my tired princess. A ridiculous idea popped into my mind when I stared at Twilight.
"Hey," I called, "take a break for a while and wind up the music box for me?"
"If it doesn't require any magic," she tiredly responded, taking the cameras.
"Make sure that music box is wound up at all times, Twilight," I advised her, "I'll take care of these psychopaths."
"Sounds like a plan," Twilight smiled, winding up the music box soundly.
"Come to Lunar!" I shouted towards the animatronics, wherever they all were.
"Don't sound too cocky now, Luny," Twilight laughed.
"I'm not cocky, Twily." I smiled, flashing my light at Toy Chica the Pegasus. "There's a new face."
"Who?" Twilight asked, looking down the hallway to check. "Toy Chica? Is that right?"
"Correct." I confirmed.
"But, if she's there, where's Foxy the Griffon?"
"Beats me." I boldly stated.
Twilight went back to checking the cameras to attempt at finding Foxy. That's when I had an assumption as to where he was.
"Check the "Parts and Services" room, Twilight." I said, still flashing Toy Chica.
"Which cam-never mind. I got it."
"He in there?" I asked.
"Uhh...yes, he is."
"Okay," I sighed with relief, "check between there and-"
"He's gone." Twilight called.
"Damn..." I grunted. "I see him moving into the hallway. What time is it?"
"Uhh, the cameras say that it is currently 5 o'clock."
"Okay," I said, "so we're almost finished here." I smiled. "Check the music box. Is it all good?"
"Fully wound up, Lunar," Twilight alerted me, "do you want some help?"
"It would be much appreciated, Twilight," I said, coughing slightly, "just make sure you keep checking the music box from time to time. I don't want that puppet thing to leave that box and come here."
"Will do, Luny." Twilight stated, flashing her light down the hallway with me.
"Almost done!" I called.
"Just a little bit longer!" added Twilight, who stopped flashing her light to check the condition on the music box.
We had flashed the animatronics with our lights for a little while longer, although it seemed like forever. I was growing tired, as was Twilight, whom was now winding the music box back up. Eventually, I ran out of strength for magic spells and could no longer flash my light down the hallway.
"Time?" I asked Twilight, a sense of panic settling in the sound of my voice.
"It is currently 5:30." Twilight told me.
"I can't flash my light anymore." I admitted.
"What?" Twilight questioned, dropping the cameras immediately.
"I can't cast another spell," I repeated, "I'm too tired..."
"Then I'll finish flash-"
Twilight was unable to finish her sentence for when she tried to flash down the hallway, she couldn't do it either.
"We're sitting ducks if we can't flash our lights down the hall." I sadly spoke, hearing a lone tin can roll across the dark hallway.
"What about the laughing?" Twilight suggested.
"That's right!" I smiled. "They were scared whenever you laughed!"
"So, wanna crack a joke, Luny?" Twilight smirked.
"If you insist." I said. I had to act quickly since we didn't have a lot of time and the animatronics were getting closer to the office. I didn't need that much time, since I had a joke already in my mind.
"Lunar?" Twilight called.
"What did the filly tell her friend when she was asked how old she was?" I asked.
"What?"
"Nein. Nein! NEIN!" I chuckled.
Twilight laughed a little bit, but I could tell that she was milking most of the laugh. I decided to keep on going with witty puns, the lowest form of humor in the comedic world.
"Speaking of fillies, you could say that I am filly-ing you up with plenty of laughs," I smirked, "right?"
Twilight had laughed slightly harder than the last time, but I could tell that she was still milking her laughs. It didn't matter much since the sounds that were coming from the hallway sounded as if they had been getting further away from the office meaning, hopefully, that the animatronics were leaving the hallway to take shelter elsewhere.
"Time?" I asked.
Without ceasing her sweet and innocent giggle, Twilight alerted me that it was 5:57; only three minutes to go; three minutes until the next employee comes.
"So a Pegasus, a Griffon, and a-"
Without notice, the door behind us had opened up and revealed a new pony. This pony wasn't the same as Purple Grape was and was significantly different. This was an Earth pony and a much smaller Earth pony than Twilight was.
"Hello?" I called. "Can I help you?"
"I'm the new mare, Your Majesty." she called.
"What's your name?" Twilight asked.
"Green Emerald is my name, Your Highness." The mare answered.
"Are you here for the 6 AM to 12 AM shift?" I asked.
"I am." Green Emerald smiled.
"Okay," I beamed with delight, seeing Twilight go over to collect our things.
"Anything I need to know before I take over, Your Majesty?"
"Make sure you keep the music box wound up and laugh if you need to." I advised.
"Will do." She smiled.
I went over to the door and was just about to leave with Twilight wen Green Emerald stopped us one last time.
"Have a good day now, you two," she called.
"You too," we both replied, "and good luck."
"I'll see you tomorrow!" Green Emerald said, checking the cameras.
"I don't know about that, Green Emerald." I stated.
"Oh," she responded, traits of surprise sounding in her voice, "Scott told me that tomorrow was your last day. He said that you had to finish the Thursday night shift."
"That wasn't what I was told." I claimed, looking towards Twilight.
"Well," Green Emerald coughed, winding the music box up, "if I see you tomorrow, I will. But if not, thanks for the advise, Your Majesty."
"You're welcome, little filly." I smiled as Twilight and myself left the hellhole that was known as Freddy Fazpony's Pizzeria.
Twilight looked over to me and could tell just by looking into my eyes that I wanted to prove I could last one more night. She scoffed at me, which forced me to address my thoughts.
"You don't think I can do it, can you?" I asked.
"I don't want you to," Twilight smiled, pressing her body up against mine, "but I can already tell that my arguing will not change your mind."
"Nope." I laughed, trying to sound like Big Macintosh for a moment.
"Well," continued Twilight, "you're going to need my help, aren't you."
"I'd like your company, Twily," I admitted, "but I think I have a few tricks up my sleeve."
"Oh?" Twilight questioned. "Like what?"
"You'll see." I replied, looking up towards Ditzy Doo moving a cloud in the wrong direction, giving me a few chuckles as Twilight and myself went back home.
"Tell me, how is this supposed to keep us safe?"
"Trust me, it will."
"What did you do exactly?" asked Twilight.
"I placed a barrier across all the doors and vents inside the building and slightly altered the animatronics behaviors a bit." I admitted.
"Is that allowed?" Twilight questioned.
"Beats me," I smirked, "but my week is up after today."
"So it is," Twilight acknowledged, "looks like I'll be doing whatever Pinkie Pie and you put together for me."
"It's okay," I spoke, "you don't have to do that."
"Thanks, Luny," Twilight smiled.
"You're welcome, Twily." I kissed her cheek.
The time was about 2:30 AM and so far, the animatronics of the building have been unable to break free of the barriers I had set up prior to my shift starting. I was determined to make this an easy night, and that is what I did. Twilight and myself kept on talking to each other until about 3 AM, when the phone had started ringing for some apparent reason.
"Hmm..." I thought. "I wonder who that is."
"I don't know," Twilight said, "another recording?"
"Maybe, I don't know."
Turns out it was another recording. This recording, however, seemed a bit different than the previous ones we had been left with.
"Hello? Hello...uh...what in Equestria are you doing there, uh, didn't you get the memo?"
"What memo?" I asked.
"Uh, the place is closed down, uh, at least for a while."
"Really?" I slightly panicked.
"Somepony used one of the suits."
"What!?" Twilight shockingly shouted.
"We had a spare in the back, a yellow one, somepony used it..."
"Oh no..." I muttered.
"Now none of them are acting right."
"I can't believe that..."
"Listen j-just finish your shift. It's safer than trying to leave in the middle of the night."
Without missing a beat, I felt one of the animatronics manage to break through my barrier, something I could not put back into effect in time.
"They're coming." I told Twilight. "We have to act fast."
"Back to the same old plan?" She asked me, flashing her light down the hallway, managing her power more closely this time around.
"Let's get to it and show these buckets of bolts a thing or two." I smirked, checking the cameras to notice that the puppet was gone. "Uh oh..."
"What happened?" Twilight asked me.
"The puppet!" I exclaimed. "He's gone!"
"Quick!" Twilight gasped. "Activate defense shields!"
"Activating!" I shouted, placing a stronger, more contained force field between us and the animatronics, however, we could see them all approaching our office.
One animatronic seemed to stick out the most to us both. This thing, a white, eyeless puppet thing jumped at Twilight and myself from the darkness, only to be stopped by the force field I casted moments earlier.
Twilight jumped back and into my hooves, frightened out of her pretty little mind. I caught her and eyed her, much love, but a bit of concern with my eye.
"You okay?" I asked her.
"Never better." she answered. "Can you keep up the spell?"
"I can and will, Twily," I smiled, "so long as they don't continue banging on it."
"You want me to put up a secondary shield?"
"That's up to you, my dear," I called, feeling the pain the animatronics were giving me by pounding on the shield.
Twilight smirked, sitting down in my lap. "I'll take that as a yes, Luny." She then kissed my cheek, casting a second shield.
I looked up at the clock and saw that it read 5:30 AM. I saw that the animatronics were able to break through the first shield, damaging me significantly. It actually damaged me to the point that I found it hard casting other spells.
Twilight eyed me, of which I was rubbing my horn. She kissed my horn, then eyed the door behind us. Then she eyed me.
"On three?" questioned Twilight.
"We leave?" I added.
"One."
The animatronics started cracking the shield.
"Two."
The animatronics destroyed the shield.
"Three!"
The animatronics jumped at us. We were fortunate to act just in time and scramble through the door, Twilight first, then me. I slammed the door shut behind us and used larger, stronger rocks to block the way so that the animatronics couldn't leave either.
We may it out just in time and I'm glad my week in this place is over...all that remains is the whereabouts of Scott.
"I wonder why he didn't show up again." I slowly stated.
"I don't know," Twilight replied as we slowly walked home together, "but I wonder where he went."
"Beats me," I sighed, "but I'm glad that it's all over. Now things can go back to normal."
"Yes they can." smiled my perfect little mare.
I continued smiling as Twilight and I walked home together.
"They are never put down."
Scott was busy in an unknown location, working on n unknown project in a dark room.
"They always have a place in our hearts."
And with bolts awry, the unknown project began moving on its own, pleasing Scott to no avail.
"They will see," laughed Scott, sounding evilly in the process, "they'll all see! You can't put us to sleep!"