The train seat Mike was sitting in was beginning to dig into his back. It had looked comfortable enough when he had first seen it, his arms tired from carrying his heavy suitcase all day. When he had first sat down, it had been refreshing. Mike's legs had welcomed the chance to sit down, his back leaning further into the chair. Even his eyes had relaxed, shutting before Mike could even realize it.

When he woken up, most of the few other passengers on the train had vanished. It seemed like mere luck that he had woken up a few stops short of his own.

The chair was growing more and more uncomfortable the longer that he sat down. He considered standing up, but stopped himself. With the way his stomach was twisting in knots, maybe it was better to just stay seated.

Pulling a letter from his pocket, Mike absently read over it again. Though he had read it hundreds of times before, his hands creasing and wrinkling the paper, it still made his jaw drop.

Dearest Mike,

You have been selected to be the mayor of our dearest town of Fazbear! Our previous mayor has recently retired, leaving us in need of more help around the town. You will surely be welcomed in this new town, and already the residents are eager to meet you.

The only things you will need to bring is a suitcase of basic items. The town has a number of stores in its shopping districts to help accompany your needs. A weekly pay is guaranteed of one-hundred-twenty bells, though selling items and doing tasks for villagers will help you to accumulate more bells quite easily.

Another hearty congratulations on becoming the mayor! I am quite pleased to work with someone as esteemed as you are. I can only hope that I can assist you to the best of my ability.

Sincerely,

Freddy Fazbear
Mayor's Assistant

The letter came with an attachment of both one-hundred-twenty bells (pay in advance, Mike wondered, or a little treat?) and a train ticket scheduled to depart for the eleventh.

I'll surely arrive on the eleventh, Mike thought, crossing his arms over his chest, of next year. Can this train go any slower?

With his luck, it probably could. No wonder he had fallen asleep earlier.

Still, he couldn't shake away the worry he felt, which had only grown ever since he got the letter. He had heard of other people his age going off to become mayors, but never in his life had he seen himself as having the chance for it. He just wasn't the guy for it; the closest that he had ever been to a leader was when he led group projects at school.

Just be happy, Mike reminded himself. Lots of people would love to be in your situation.

Though no one was looking at him, he forced a smile. That was something, after all, that mayors had to do.

When the train finally reached its station, Mike was just barely awake. It had been hard to entertain himself over the last few hours, so he'd been going back and forth from his thoughts on the town to the idea of taking another (quite tempting) nap. Had the train taken any longer, than he was sure the second idea would have ultimately won, no matter how uncomfortable the train chair might have been.

A house should be provided, Mike thought. Surely that has to have some sort of bed in it.

The train station was small, with what looked to be enough room for only one train to come in at a time.

No one ever said that it was a booming town, Mike thought.

The train station was cold, and only two others were inside. One was one of the workers, a monkey dressed in a blue worker's uniform, and the other was a brown bear wearing a tuxedo and top hat.

"Mayor Mike! Mayor Mike!" The bear waved his hands up and down, as if Mike was struggling to catch him among a crowd. "It's me, Freddy Fazbear! I'm over here."

Mike nodded and walked the few feet towards him. As he walked, his footsteps echoed through the small train station.

Mike's suitcase was held tightly in one hand, but he held out the other towards the bear. Freddy took it and gave Mike's hand a firm, hard shake.

"Oh mayor, I've been eagerly awaiting you." Freddy grinned. He leaned a hand up and adjusted his top hat. "In fact, the whole town has. Everyone's just been dying to meet you."

Mike raised an eyebrow. He had sounded excited in his letter, but Mike had always been sure that was just to excite Mike himself about being a mayor.

With no election, Mike realized. No election whatsoever, no tacky "Mike for Mayor" T-shirts, and no voting. I hadn't even heard of this town before.

"Oh, it's just so good to finally see you!" Freddy grabbed Mike's free hand and pulled him forward, (quite literally) tearing Mike away from his thoughts. "I must show you to your office immediately! We don't have any time to waste."

The small bear was much stronger than he looked, and easily pulled Mike from the train station. It was only when they were outside that the bear relaxed his grip. Slowly, the two walked side by side.

"Oh, Mayor Mike!" Freddy suddenly said, releasing his hand. "Such heavy luggage you're carrying! Allow me to take that."

Mike stiffened, his grip instinctively tightening on his luggage. He shook his head.

Freddy's smile wavered for a moment, but then suddenly returned, even wider than ever. "Oh, alright. I just thought you might need a little break."

The two continued walking forward. Despite Freddy's earlier words about Mike needing to get to his office, the bear took his sweet time showing Mike the town. From its orange trees to a few of its villagers, Freddy described everything in detail and with a smile on its face.

"You know," Chica the Chicken said, interrupting one of Freddy's long monologues (of which Mike had long since stopped listening to). "I can tell Mike about myself just fine." She giggled and held out a hand (a wing?) to him. In the other was a half eaten, pink frosted cupcake. At the sides of her beak were pink frosting, and her white shirt read "Let's Eat!"

Mike gave her a firm hand shake and a smile.

"We've just been so excited to meet you." Chica looked over to Freddy for a moment and then back to Mike. "My name is Chica, and I've lived here for a while. I love to bake, and my favorite foods are pizza and cupcakes."

"You probably never would have guessed," Freddy said, and the two animals laughed.

"I know you must be very busy," Chica said, stepping away from him. "How about you get settled in and then come to my place sometime? I'd love to have you over for lunch or a snack. I promise that my food is wonderful!"

Mike nodded.

Chica gave him a large, beaky smile before waving goodbye. She walked away, eating her cupcake as she went.

When they finally did arrive at Mike's office, a red brick building with a bright blue roof and a large flag that bore Freddy's face, Freddy had showed him what must have been the entire town. It was even smaller than Mike had originally expected.

The inside of his office was larger than it looked from the outside. Chairs were placed at each side of the wall, and over them hung black and white pictures of what looked to be other humans.

"Past mayors," Freddy said.

Mike took a quick look over them. He didn't recognize any of the names, but he did notice one thing in particular. Below the printings of their names were the dates in which they'd been in office. Most were a few months or weeks, but some were mere days.

Before Mike had time to fully analyze them, however, Freddy was pulling him away.

"This," Freddy said, gesturing to a large desk covered in papers, "is my desk. I've been a bit caught up in work, having to look over the town while the mayor was out. But with you here I'm sure things will go back to normal."

Freddy walked forward, and Mike followed.

The next desk, though free of paper, was covered in dust and cobwebs. An old desktop computer lay out, though it was shut off. The only thing that seemed to be on was an ancient looking desk fan.

"My apologies for the mess," Freddy said. "I'll dust that off for you and make sure it looks good as new. It's just been a little while since we last had a mayor here at our little town of Fazbear." Freddy turned back towards him. "No point in keeping you cooped up here, however. You know that small house we passed by to get here, the one with the red roof? That's the mayor's home, where all of our past mayors lived. We hope you don't mind, and you can always build a new house instead. It's just that if you did that, Tom Nook would first have you sleeping in a tent, and that hardly seems comfortable." Freddy chuckled.

Mike nodded. For a moment, he considered grabbing a notebook and writing down all of his questions, but then decided that could be for another day. The sun had just begun to set, and Mike had grown tired.

He waved goodbye to Freddy and quickly left the office.

"Hello, Mister Mayor!" One of the other neighbors, a pink fox, called. Freddy had mentioned the fox siblings, Mangle and Foxy, though Mike didn't see how Mangle got her name. She seemed perfectly normal.

Mike waved to her.

When Mike got to his house, he turned the key into the door with pride.

At least this is better than going off to college, Mike thought.

When he opened the door to his new house, he saw a small, dust filled home. The inside was empty, and the tall stairwell seemed to go on into forever.

I don't think Freddy will clean this place for me, Mike thought.

He had brought cleaning supplies with him however, stuff his mother had insisted he pack.

He walked upstairs, his suitcase still in hand. There was actually furniture up there - a small bed that looked to have been made a while before and then never slept in, and a small dresser with an old phone and lamp on it.

Mike placed his suitcase down. For now, it wasn't much, but he knew for sure it could have been worse.

Mike pulled a pull apart broom and a few old cloths his mother had used for cleaning from his suitcase. Next to it were some notes his mom had left him.

Out of school and already a mayor! I'm so proud of you, Mikey! One note read in his mother's neat handwriting, and next to it were doodles of smiley faces.

Mike began to clean, wiping dust away. For now, he would just clean upstairs. He could get the rest in the morning.

After dusting off the (rather useless, at least in his opinion) phone, a message suddenly went off. Mike froze. He hadn't clicked any buttons.

Judging by one of the phone's red lights, however, the message was pre-recorded.

"Hey, welcome to Fazbear!" Mike didn't recognize the voice. Despite himself, he didn't turn off the call. "If you're hearing this, then that means that you're the new mayor! It's a great job, and I absolutely love it. In fact, I'm finishing my own last week here right now before moving on and turning over a new leaf." The voice sighed. "Ah, I love this town. It's perfect here!" The voice went silent for a moment, and Mike would've thought the call had ended were it not for the still glowing red light. "Well, almost perfect. Let's just say that this town can get a little weird once night rolls around. Some of the animals act a little funny." The guy laughed.

Mike froze. He had long since stopped sweeping, making sure no other noise broke through this phone call.