Entrant 10: Peach
Night 1
12 AM
The princess of the Mushroom Kingdom sat in the creaky swivel chair, brushing her bright pink dress free of dust. She roved her blue eyes between the two open security doors, the monitor, and the whirring desk fan, and then rested her glove on the antiquated phone as it rang.
"Hello, hello?" the message began. "Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?"
Peach didn't pay much attention to the phone caller as he droned on, instead focusing more on the battery indicator blipping at the lower left corner of the monitor. "99%," it read.
The monitor itself showed three human-sized anthropomorphic animatronics: a brown bear with a black top hat, a lavender bunny with a red bowtie, and a yellow duck-like chicken with a white bib that read "LET'S EAT!" in bold, yellow type.
"Those must be the animatronics," Peach muttered to herself.
A crude, 8-bit mini map of the entire building adorned the lower right corner, which Peach tapped with her white-gloved finger to flip between views of each room. As she flipped back to the view of the show stage, she noted that the bunny animatronic had begun to move.
"So, just be aware, the characters do tend to wander a bit," continued the man on the phone. "Uh, they're left in some kind of free roaming mode at night. Uh...Something about their servos locking up if they get turned off for too long."
She lost herself in the views of the rest of the rooms, from the cylindrical curtain of Pirate's Cove to the empty blackness of what was supposed to view the Kitchen.
"Uh, now concerning your safety, the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uh, if they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person. They'll p-most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on. Now since that's against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, they'll probably try to...forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit."
"Wait. What?" she asked, snapping back to the man on the phone.
"Um, now, that wouldn't be so bad if the suits themselves weren't filled with crossbeams, wires, and animatronic devices, especially around the facial area. So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death."
"Death?"
"Uh, the only parts of you that would likely see the light of day again would be your eyeballs and teeth when they pop out the front of the mask, heh. Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."
The phone clicked into deathly silence as Peach eased herself out of the swivel chair and strolled to the West security door. She brushed her hair aside as she stared down the hall. "What would Mario do?"
2 AM
Peach's finger tapped the monitor's map to flip between views of each room, ever wary of the power indicator.
"60%," it read.
As she lowered the monitor, she nodded and flipped her hair away from her eyes, strolling to the East door and turning on the lights. Not far from the doorway stood Chica, the yellow chicken animatronic, which Peach promptly closed the door on. Turning her sights to the West door, she flipped the lights to see Bonnie, the purple bunny animatronic, approaching. Thus, she closed that door as well.
Looking back at the monitor, she glimpsed Foxy peeking out of Pirate's Cove, his fanged maw hanging open as his eyepatch was flipped above his eye. She faintly heard low, maniacal laughter ringing through the halls, but dared not raise the doors to find out its source.
Flipping the lights to check to see if the coast was clear, she finally raised both doors and breathed a sigh of relief at Bonnie and Chica's absence.
"I can't believe I'm so nervous," she whispered to herself. "Why am I so nervous?"
There would be time to answer that question later, she figured, as the laughter rang through the hallway again.
4 AM
The West door slid shut as the crimson fox animatronic beat futilely thereupon, and Peach backed away from the switch.
"Ha!" she scoffed as she peered through the window to see Foxy retreat while she raised the door. "I've been kidnapped too many times to fall for that again!"
In her moment of triumph, however, she failed to notice the power indicator.
"0%," it read.
The lights turned off, the doors sprang open, and all the animatronics stopped in their tracks. The balefully cheerful chime of a music box rang through the halls. Instinctively, Peach raised her parasol and crouched down beneath it, knowing that none of the animatronics would be strong enough to tear through it.
Suddenly, the music stopped, and everything went pitch black. A few tense seconds later, Peach peeked out from beneath her parasol to make sure the coast was clear...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" screeched Freddy as he popped up in front of her and attacked.
Peach was never seen again. The only sign that she had even been in the building was an empty parasol.
Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...
"If only I was allowed to use my sword," the former Gerudo chieftain grumbled.
