The next day, Abby slept until noon. She didn't even hear the alarm clock that was currently blaring its alarm in her ear. Abby groaned and slammed a hoof on the object, silencing it before getting out of bed. Well, sliding out of bed was more like it. She didn't know why, but she felt so drained. She slowly walked into her kitchen, turning on the tv that was in the adjacent living room. The news blipped on, oh yea, that's right. She was watching the news yesterday.
"And in other news", the newscaster stallion was saying,
"The Pizzaria of Alicorns has been shut down because of an incident that happened just this morning. There are 2 more events scheduled for the next two days."
Abby sighed rolling her eyes. She knew that the place was going to be shut down sooner or later. Those robots, with the exception of Jackie, are cold blooded killers. She grabbed a carrot and some apple cider from the fridge and walked to the living room to watch the rest of the broadcast.
"A filly had her head bitten out by the orchid alicorn at the cove" , the broadcaster was saying, "She lost most of her sight because most of the bite was around her eyes. She had most of her frontal lobe spared so there wasn't much worry, but the blood loss was too much. The filly was in shock but she is expected to make a full recovery."
"Tch, if only they saw what I saw at night", Abby said to no one in particular, "Then you all would shut it down tonight."
Abby took a swig of her juice then looked at the time. 12:45 in the afternoon, so she had plenty of time. She changed channels and watched her favorite cartoon, Looney Toons. Abby laughed a little to herself as she sat back and ate her small meal thinking that tonight should be her last night on the job. She was going to quit after this.
Abby walked into the pizzaria, nodding at the janitors that were heading home for the night. She stopped at the stage, looking at the white alicorn with the black mane. Hm, Abby saw that the alicorn had grey freckles, cute. Abby smiled a little and headed to her office. She would've made it had she not heard the sound of footsteps and mechanics approach. She whirled around to find the white alicorn standing behind her with a sharp toothed smile. Abby sighed in relief, motioning for the robot to follow her. Once they reached the office, Abby finally turned to the alicorn proper.
"So, you're up early", Abby said, sitting on her seat.
"W-wanted to h-h-help."
"That's great and thank you, but I'm gonna quit tonight."
The alicorn seemed shocked and.....hurt....at the Earth pony's words, but felt a hoof on her chin bringing her now downcast eyes up to Abby's own.
"I want you to come with me. You'll love it outside."
The robot stepped back shaking her head, "I-I-I can't.....t-the....She...."
Abby huffed, "Screw the rest. Jackie I want you to be happy and you have helped me so far so I want to help you."
Jackie smiled, and if she could cry she would, and she threw her forelegs around Abby in a tight hug which Abby returned happily. The sound of more hoofsteps broke them apart and Abby looked outside the right door. Nothing.....nothing there. Confused, she looked out the left door. Again.......nothing. What is going on? Why isn't anything there? Abby started to sweat and turned to Jackie. Jackie was ashen, well, as pale as she could go for a robot. She was looking toward the desk, or what was in front of it. Abby jumped back in shock and surprise as she saw a slumped over pony, eyes as black as coal and teeth razor sharp. The fur was gold, a dirty gold as if it was left to rot. It looked oddly familiar......Abby,s face had gone pale at the realization. It was a gold version of the lead pony.
"Oh......sweet Celestia", Abby whispered.
The pony's head suddenly moved to look at the two ponies before it. Jackie was shaking and she backed up, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. Abby backed up alongside Jackie as the golden pony started to lift off the floor, the two front hooves levitating up as if being controlled by a puppet master. Its mouth opened and something similar to a child's scream mixed with a mechanical error sound erupted from it. Abby covered her ears but Jackie just stood there, fear now gone from her face as she glared daggers at the golden pony.
"Y-You will n-n-not hurt my friend", Jackie shouted as her horn lit up with a white gold aura, "Go to hell!"
The golden pony shrieked as the beam hit it and it faded away. Jackie was practically growling and she was now standing in front of Abby, having moved while firing the beam. Abby slowly stood rubbing her ears.
"Damn that thing got some lungs," Abby groaned, "Thanks for saving my poor ears Jackie."
Jackie turned and smiled at the blue earth pony, hugging her. Abby gladly returned the hug then looked at the time when they finally dislodged from each other. It was 4:30 am. Abby looked out the right door and saw the lead pony slowly approaching. Abby slowly ducked back into the room and nervously laughed.
"I think the brown one is angry", she said as she backed next to Jackie.
"I-I-I'll handle Charlotte", Jackie said, walking out the right door.
Abby couldn't stop her, seeing the steeling determination in her eyes. It was one of the most lively things she's seen so far from the animatronic, and she was curious as to why. Jackie stood in front of Charlotte, her forelegs braced about shoulder length apart. Charlotte just smirked and stopped just a few feet away from Jackie.
"Y-You go against m-me", Charlotte asked.
"Y-You stay a-a-away from my friend", Jackie growled.
Charlotte charged her horn and fired a deadly bolt of energy at Jackie who deflected it into the wall next to them. The wall exploded leaving a gaping hole in it. Neither robot paid any attention to it. Both charged their horns and fired beams of energy at each other. Abby watched the fight unfold, paying no heed to the two alicorns now behind her. The only warning she got was a mechanical growl from the orchid alicorn, Shanay, as she lunged at her. Abby delivered a swift buck in the alicorn's direction, a pained shout coming from the alicorn. The cyan alicorn, Marabella, fired a spell at Abby, hoping to stun her, but Abby ducked and rolled under the blast coming up under the cyan alicorn. She barely had time to change expressions as Abby uppercut the alicorn, sending her flying into the side of the door. The alicorn hit her head hard and slumped to the floor. Abby turned her attention back to Shanay and she herself barely had time to react as she was tackled to the floor.
They grappled on the floor for a bit before Shanay spread her wings. She lifted Abby off the floor and slammed her to the ceiling. Abby grunted in pain as stars speckled her vision. She closed her eyes for a split second and when she opened them again, what she saw in front of her scared her.
"OH SWEET CELESTIA", she shouted, as she looked at the animatronic before her.
The once pristine animatronic now looked dirty. The once sky blue eyes were now pitch black. Abby looked into those eyes seeing no possible end to the inky blackness within. Leaking from the eyes looked like ink....but it wasn't. It was....blood. Blood leaked from those eyes. The animatronic smiled revealing razor sharp teeth that now went for Abby's throat. Panicking, Abby kicked out with her hind legs, catching the animatronic off guard. The grip faltered a bit, but not enough to drop her. The animatronic gasped in surprise but was otherwise unharmed.
"N-Nevermind killing you," Shanay said, scowling, "Y-You will stay alive for this. Y-You will become a new a-addit-tion to t-the ba-a-and."
The alicorn smirked as Abby's eyes widened. She screamed.
Outside, the fight between Charlotte and Jackie still raged on, both now in the air and trying to get an advantage over each other. Jackie fired a bolt of electricity that sent Charlotte faltering. Charlotte retaliated with her own bolt of electricity that struck Jackie in the chest, sending the white alicorn crashing into the ground. Jackie struggled to get up but couldn't as her vision swam. Charlotte walked up to the fallen alicorn, using a hoof to gently lift her eyes to Charlotte's own.
"I-I-I'm sor-r-rry", Charlotte said, "B-But i-i-it must be d-d-done."
Charlotte looked genuinely sad as she rested Jackie's head back to the floor. A scream from the office caught their attention and Jackie slowly lifted her head. It was Abby. She was screaming bloody murder, but it was suddenly cut short. Jackie's eyes widened as she feared the worst.
In the office, Abby hung limp in Shanay's hooves and the alicorn landed, slinging the blue earth pony onto her back. She nudged Marabella to wake her up. The cyan alicorn groaned and rubbed her head before standing and turning to the right door seeing Charlotte.
"I-It's time", Charlotte said as she walked toward the dining area.
The other two alicorns went out the left door heading to the dining area as well. Jackie leaned against the wall as she tried to stand and tears, well oil, slipped down her cheeks. Fire was in her eyes, the fire of determination. Placing one hoof in front of the other, Jackie slowly followed the other two alicorns.
Charlotte, Marabella and Shanay went into the back room that was reserved only for the staff of the pizzaria and tossed Abby on top of the table in the middle of the room. There was a suit that sat just to the left of the table that looked exactly like the earth pony, but it was an alicorn instead of an earth pony. Gotta keep up the alicorn name. Marabella grabbed the suit with her magic and took it apart, handing various parts to the other two alicorns. Shanay smirked as she held the head and torso of the costume. Charlotte held the rear and the hind legs of the suit while Marabella held the front two legs.
"L-legs first", Marabella said, "Less blood to clean."
The other two nodded as Marabella started to put Abby's front legs into the parts she was holding. Abby felt the pain as the mechanics dug into and through her muscle and skin. She screamed and jerked upwards but an odd sensation was holding her down. It was magic, magic that felt wrong and.....twisted. She felt that magic fasten her mouth shut as she went to scream again. She managed to move her head to the side and saw that her right front leg was already within the suit's front right leg. Her eyes widened as Charlotte went to get her right hind leg. That one was put on as well. The blood dripped to the floor and Abby's face was wet with tears. The pain was too much, and she was losing a lot of blood. The suit punctured one of the major arteries in her legs and she could almost feel herself slipping from consciousness.
Then, there was a scream as Shanay was sent flying across the room. Charlotte and Marabella turned to find Jackie standing in the doorway, her horn already alight with another spell ready to fire. Abby smiled weakly and she heard Jackie say something...but.....it was lost to her as she slipped into the darkness.