Twilight Sparkle was looking for a job, absolutely broke of bits as she meandered through the streets of Ponyville. There weren't any occupations that truly looked appealing to the purple unicorn, with the exception as a librarian. She loved books, but perhaps working with them weren't exactly her type of thing. After all, she left most of the organizing to her hefty assistant dragon, Spike.
She started each day looking for a job, still unable to find one. Day after day was an unsuccessful search; day after day occupations were looked down at by Twilight. Finally, tired of the stress, Twilight trotted absently into one of the local dessert shops. It was Discord's, a cute little place with animatronic entertainment. It always smelled of sweet sugar and whatnot.
The main attraction practically hogged up the whole show stage: Discord himself, twitching in a robot-like way and gesturing mechanically towards two other robotic ponies next to him. One was a cheerful pink one with a curly, cotton candy mane, also donning a bib that said "LET'S EAT!!!". For a fake pony with an endoskeleton inside of her, she could really hop like a real one. On another side of Discord was a more collected animatronic character: she had a blond mane tied up with a red band and a hat donned on her head. White freckles dotted her orange face and she kicked her hind legs relentlessly, mostly getting them tangled in the colorful curtain.
"W-w-welcome to Discord's, huk huk!" the Discord sputtered, probably noticing Twilight's arrival. "Make your-you-yourself comfortable, huk huk!"
Twilight shivered. The animatronics were creepy and seemed to peer into her soul. She took a shaky step forward and noticed a smaller stage near the booths, covered by a purple curtain and a sign planted on it. It read: "OUT OF ORDER. -SORRY!-"
"I wonder who's in there?" she murmured, shrugging and walking to the dessert booth. A waitress with cream-colored fur immediately popped up, looking both tired and cheerful. "Welcome to Discord's, may I help you with any sweets or treats?"
"Hm...Well, I'm not very fond of sweets, ya see-"
The mare interrupted her with a shocked look. "Not fond of sweets? My, my! What brings you in here, then?"
"I actually was looking for some sort of solace, I think. I just wandered into here. Look, I've got this problem: I can't find myself an occupation in this town, and well..None really appeal to me as much as I'd hope," Twilight gushed, slightly embarrassed for explaining the whole dilemma to a mere waitress.
"Well, we've got a job open here," the mare suggested, suddenly taking a peculiar interest with rubbing at the counter. She seemed uncomfortable, as if their open application had something sinister beneath it. This only made Twilight curious, and she inquired further.
"You do? What position?" she asked eagerly.
"Perhaps you'd like to speak with the boss for that one, darling," she sighed, gesturing with her head to follow her to the back of the counter. Twilight did so, suddenly glad with the prospect of an appealing job. As she walked through the rather messy kitchen, she noticed a security camera in obvious disrepair. Huh.
"Boss? Boss?" the mare called out. A voice replied back gruffly. For a moment the two exchanged words and finally, the hoofsteps of the boss were approaching Twilight. She peered expectantly at his appearance, and finally asked, "So, I um heard that you have a job opened up for something?"
"Oh. Yeah, actually, we do. Working the nighttime shift. A pretty simple job, you know? And you get paid, oh, hm, 120 bits at the the end of the week with an additional 50 bits if worked overtime-basically, another night. We've been planning to um, put an ad in the paper but budget cuts you know? Anyways, are you up for the job?" the stallion explained breathlessly. It was quite a bit to capture, but 120 bits a week didn't sound too bad. It was just a wonder why they'd need a nighttime guard.
"Sure, I guess," Twilight sighed. "Are there any requirements I have to meet?"
The pony thought for a minute before replying, "All I gotta say is that we aren't responsible for any deaths or dismemberment caused by your shift."
That was absolutely unrelated to what Twilight just asked, but she nodded and bit her lip. But..Deaths or dismemberment? What kinda job entailed that sort of threat, especially with harmless animatronic characters?
"Oh, and we'll have a prerecorded message for you when you get here tonight, at 12 AM," the boss added.
"12 AM?" Twilight said uncertainly.
"Yeah, the shift lasts about six hours, so um let's do the math...Yeah, you'll be done at 6 AM." He put on a peculiar smile. "What, does that interrupt any schedules you've got? 'Cause we could uh push your shift until tomorrow night. But you know the first night ain't so bad, you know?" He looked so hopeful that Twilight simply had to turn down the offer about pushing her official working time until tomorrow. He looked just as relieved, too.
"Good, good! Anyways, uh, yeah. Be here by 11:30 so I can, uh, show you around and point you to where your office will be. I wish I had the time to share the basic rules with you, but I'm leaving that to the previous guard who will be sending you the prerecorded message. In the meanwhile...What's your name?"
"Twilight Sparkle."
"Welcome to your new job at Discord's, Twilight! Let's hope you stay safe for your first night! But the first night is the easiest, ah course, you know? Anyways! Enjoy your nighttime stay!"