Five Nights at Pinkie's

by Gear Spring

Night 2

Night 2

“Here we go again…”

Gear Spring stands in front of the restaurant. The building stands ominously alone on the streets of Ponyville. Its neon lights flicker with what little life that is left in the pizzeria. The low hum of the logo breaks the silence of the otherwise peaceful night. He looks up at the sign hanging above the entrance. The smiling face of Pinkie Pie looks out onto the town as she holds up a cupcake. While it is inviting to most ponies, this stallion knows the truth behind her soulless blue eyes.

“Do it for the bits, do it for the bits.”

He continues the mantra as he passes through the double doors. The restaurant is plunged in darkness, save for the flickering light coming from the office. Gear Spring looks up at a clock, seeing that it is almost midnight.

“I better hurry.”

Trotting away from the main stage, he heads to the back room. There, he finds that the establishment has placed a curtain over the hole he put. Taking the cloth in his mouth, he tears it free, entering the secret room. The place is just as dusty and dreary as the night before, but it gives him some solace that he is now invisible to the animatronics. Finding the desk where he discovered the diary, he sets up a small makeshift office. Magic erupts from his horn, but only levitates an oil lamp from his saddlebag. He places it off to the one corner, and then twists the valve. A small flame sprouts to life inside the glass, dancing happily as it bathes the room in an eerie orange glow.

The next thing to float out of his bag is the purple diary itself. Setting it down before him, he looks at the bindings, realizing that there is a lock on the book, preventing him access. The keyhole appears to mock him, gaping wide open.

He frowns at first, but then smirks, “At least I brought my tool kit with me. I’ll get into your pages yet, little book.”

Magic encompasses his bag again, as a small box floats beside the diary. It opens to a number of small tools that look like they belong to a burglar kit. A blue hue ensnares two of the tools as he steadily starts to work the lock.

Click

“Almost got it,” he squints his eyes to focus.

Suddenly, the sound of gears takes his focus away from his lock picking. Lifting his head up, he nearly jumps when he sees the animatronic Pinkie Pie, staring directly at him from the entrance to the hidden room. There is a big grin on her mechanical face, which causes him to shiver.

“She shouldn’t be able to see me,” he tells himself. “She can’t see me. I’m outside of her programming.”

Yet she continues to stare, which makes him glance up occasionally as he tries to work on the lock. It takes a bit longer than before, as he can hear the hum of the servos, and the occasional giggle causes him to sweat. But at long last, he finally works the lock open. Setting the tools back down. He is about to open the bindings when he hears a haunting sound. It is like a child giving off a deathly wheeze. Picking his head up, he sees Pinkie Pie closer than before. He lets out a scream and topples bag into a pile of boxes.

Pulling his head out of one of the boxes, he looks up, and realizes that she still is not coming at him, only staring. Her eyes have seemed to have sunk into their sockets. White orbs glow in the pitch of her gaze, giving him an uneasy feeling as he approaches the desk again.

Don’t do it…

She’ll come for you…

“What the?” he acknowledges the voice, “Whose there?”

“Hey-hey kids,” Pinkie Pie speaks, causing him to jump. “It’s me, your party-pal Pinkie Pie. Is everyone having a fantastically fun time?”

“Oh so much,” he mocks the animatronic.

You won’t be having fun for long…

“You are giving me the creeps, Pinkie,” he says. “Maybe I should find something to block that face of yours.”

He sees that the original curtain is behind the animatronic. There is no way he is going out there to retrieve it. Instead, he looks around the room. A number of objects are covered up by the same blankets. One in the corner is especially large, big enough to shield Pinkie Pie from sight. Taking another glance over his shoulder, he walks up to it, and pulls it off. What he sees underneath makes him jump again and slam against the desk. It almost knocks over his oil lamp.

Standing there in the corner is another animatronic. It is an alicorn whose coat has been worn away, showing a yellowish metal underneath. She appears suffering from poor maintenance. Pieces of metal and wiring protrude through gashes. Even her mane is twisted with wires, giving the rusted look some color, although mostly red and blue.

“Wow, this thing must be as old as the restaurant,” he looks at it once he realizes it is not operating. “I think I remember seeing this as a filly. Oh what was her name again?”

He turns around, tapping the side of his horn with his hoof as he tries to ponder. Swarmed in his thoughts, he does not see the blood start to drip from the muzzle of the new animatronic.

“Oh yes, that’s right,” he turns back. “She was called Spring Sparkle.”

Slowly approaching, he looks over the damages done by the neglect. More blood seeps through the eyeholes, as if the robot were crying. Still he does not notice.

“Well, that’s odd,” he finally sees a large hole in the machinery. “It looks like there is something lodged in here.”

He sees a mixture of red and white just near the mouth. Shining his horn, he takes a look. Ruby shimmers in one of the teeth belonging to Spring Sparkle. Looking closer, he suddenly feels something warm exhale onto his face. Wiping his muzzle, he sees the tinge of red clinging to his hoof.

“This looks like…blood.”

Noise like a wheeze makes him look at Spring Sparkle. And she is looking back.

Both of them let out a scream, although his is more from terror. A metal wing slams into him, sending him sprawling across the room, and into another pile of boxes. Poking his head out of the disheveled mess, he sees her stomping over to him.

“Oh my Celestia,” he shouts, springing from the box.

Running to the exit, he slams into something hard and metallic, knocking him to the floor. He sees Pinkie Pie standing over him, her grin even more maddening than before. A shrill groan comes from the secret room, as Spring Sparkle is almost upon him. Diving out of the way of both, he runs into the restaurant, his horn the only thing keeping him from being blinded.

He makes his way for the office. With the hallway is cleared, he dives inside and immediately hits the door switch. The big metal doors slam down behind him. He takes a gasp of relief, but then it is gone when he hears groaning coming from the other side of the doors.

Turning around, he sees the door aglow with a purple light. A loud mechanical scream comes from the door as it starts to lift despite the button keeping it down.

“No, that’s impossible,” Gear Spring gasps. “Animatronics can’t use magic!”

And still the door is forced open by Spring Sparkle. The decomposing animatronic lets a moaning hiss leave her metallic lips. She lunges at him, but he manages to evade just as she slams into one of the walls. Finding an opening, he runs out of the other doorway.

Got you…

A deafening whirling scream comes from an animatronic just outside his door. The light from the office gives a faint glow to Apple Jack’s body standing there to greet him. Lifting her hoof, she slams it into him, knocking him to the floor. Left in a daze, Gear Spring is only able to lift his head as he feels himself being dragged.

Apple Jack and Pinkie Pie have him by the hooves, while Spring Sparkle follows close behind. He is too weak to move as they take him into the Spare Parts room. Unforgivingly, he is slammed onto a table where the two animatronics have him pinned down. Looking, he sees the alicorn animatronic standing at the other side. Blood seeps through her eyeholes and mouth. He watches as the same purple magic envelops her face. The upper jaw of Spring Sparkle is ripped open, revealing the skeletal remains of a pony underneath. White, soulless eyes that look at him are entirely pony.

The bloodied horn on her head is illuminated with magic as a spare animatronic head floats above the table. Its back is open, revealing cross beams and gears that have no room for a pony skull.

“No,” he pleads. “Don’t do this. Let me go!”

“You…,” Spring Sparkle speaks, her bottom jaw held on by a few scraps of tendons. “Will…die…”

Slowly the head descends onto him, and starts to press against his muzzle. He feels the back of his head smash against the metal table, as it slowly crushes him. As much as he wants to scream for pain, his mouth is too cramped by the beams to move.

I’m going to die, he gasps. I’m really going to die. I got to get myself out of here. I got to use that spell. Come on, Gear Spring, you can do it. You can…

Suddenly the spare head smashes against the table, but Gear Spring has vanished in a flash of blue light.

Outside of the restaurant, he looks at the same sign as before. Bruises have formed a bit around his muzzle, and a cut bleeds just below his right eye. Otherwise he is safe and sound. He looks as the sun breaks the horizon, and the shadow of the Pinkie Pie’s Pizzeria falls upon him. Without another word, he walks away. His shift over.

Comments

[Speedy Silverstreak]

10 outa 10. I like the effect of almost dying. It adds suspense.

Can't wait for night 3.

SS

[ExplosionMare]

I like how he casually walks away instead of runs for his life