It was a night like any other. Darkness hung over all of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and dead silence came along with it.
Nights like these were nothing new for him - he had stopped counting the quiet, lonely hours he had spent in his musty little ‘Pirate Cove’ long time ago, and he had gotten used to just sitting silently for horus and hours, waiting for the next morning to come, without thinking too much about it.
Recently however, things had begun to change – after the restaurant’s management had employed a new night guard a couple of months ago, the nights at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza had gotten a lot more … livelier.
However, things seemed to be different in this night. From what he could tell, it must have been at least a couple of hours since the lights in the restaurant had been switched off, and the place had been abandoned by everyone safe for the night guard. Normally he would hear his fellow animatronics roam the restaurant by now – the muffled humming of the small servo motors would normally inform him that playtime had begun.
Now, however, he couldn’t hear a single thing – dead silence and absolute darkness was everything that surrounded him.
With a light mechanic hum, his head turned to look at the big purple curtain that divided his domicile from the restaurant as an idea crossed his mind. He hesitated.
Normally, it would be either Bonnie or Chica to make the start – could he really do this?
He stared at the curtain; one of his ears twitched as he was sure he had heard something that sounded like steps somewhere in the restaurant. He held still for another moment … nothing.
Shaking his head and plucking up his courage, he took a step towards the curtain – maybe it was his time to begin the party tonight.
With a deliberate slowness, he reached forward, shoving his shiny metal hand between two partitions of the curtain and opening a gap just enough for him to peek his head through.
Nothing. Not even the red light on the camera right across the room was lit up, meaning that whoever the new night guard was was not watching him in this moment.
With slow, careful steps he stepped out into the open, his look constantly focused on the camera, dreading the moment when the red light would be activated again.
Still, nothing happened.
He could feel a tingle of excitement running through his mechanic body as he took another step forward; the curtain fell back into its place behind him. His look darted over to the door that would lead him out into the hallway – only a few more steps and…
His head shot back around, wide-opened eyes staring at the camera – it still hadn’t activated.
This was his chance! Holding back a growl of excitement, he stepped through the door, entered the dimly lit corridor, and ran for all he was worth. He would show this new night guard who was the boss! His frenzied run for the door seemed to increase in speed even further as he spotted the wide-open door that led to the guard’s control center coming up ahead of him. Yes, he could do this! He would run to the door, jump into the room, face this new guard and … find a completely empty room.
His artificial body seemed to deflate as he stood in the doorway, staring with disbelief at where most of his prior victims had sat. The small room was deserted – the chair was empty, the video screens the guard used to keep him and his friends under surveillance were all black … heck, even the small fan across from the chair had been switched off.
He led his non-hooked hand up to his head, rubbing his left eye in disbelief: in all the years he had been in this restaurant, none of all the night guards had ever left their office. This … this was heresy!
His frustration quickly turned into anger – who did this night guard think he was!? It was the animatronics’ job to roam the restaurant at night; the night guard was supposed to stay in his office and keep an eye on them!
An angry huff escaped his muzzle – this was unacceptable! He needed to tell the others about this! This rule-breaker had to be punished!
Casting a determined look at the other door right opposite to him, he adjusted the eyepatch on his right eye, then reassured himself with another nod of his head – this issue needed to be taken care of right here, right now!
“Ahoy, landlubbers!” Foxy spoke up with a voice barely louder than a whisper as he –step by careful step- walked towards the big stage in the main hall, his head swaying to and fro every few seconds, watchful eyes scanning their surroundings for any suspicious activity. Not that he was afraid or anything – a real pirate such as himself didn’t even know what fear was! He was … careful. Yes, that was it. The dusky main room was filled with abandoned chairs and tables, and he didn’t want to bump into anything, so he was walking slowly and always keeping an eye on his surroundings.
Finally Foxy had reached the stage, and his eyes went up to its dimly lit center where he –to his surprise- found his three animatronic fellows neatly positioned, instruments in their hands, standing as still as the lifeless machines they were.
“Hey,” Foxy said again, looking at his friends who were staring into the darkness behind him with empty gazes, “Night guard’s gone. Lil’ bilge rat has left his office and went to hobgoblin knows where.”
Again, the fox received no reply; his fellow animatronics seemed completely oblivious to him, as if they had been turned to stone.
“Yarr, what is wrong with you lubbers?” he asked, slightly agitated, scratched his head with his hook-hand and walked over to the bear-shaped animatronic standing stiff like a statue in the center of the stage. “Freddy! Freddy I am talking to you!”
Finally, the bear showed some sort of vital sign, even if it was only his eyes turning towards Foxy and looking down at him with an emphatic glare. “Get back into your cove.” Freddy whispered through clenched teeth, his jaws barely moving.
“What?” Foxy asked, slightly taken aback, not having expected this kind of reply, “Why? The night guard is-“
“She is somewhere around here.” Freddy whispered again; Foxy could have sworn he heard something that sounded like fear swinging in his voice, “Get back before she finds you!”
“Who?” Foxy asked, legitimately confused.
“The new night guard!” Freddy hissed with horror in his voice, “She … she is…” suddenly, the bear’s eyes widened and his body began to shiver ever so slightly, “Oh no.”
“What!?” Foxy inquired again, getting tired of these games Freddy seemed to be playing with him, “What are you-“
“Well well well…” Foxy was cut off mid-sentence by a female voice coming from somewhere behind him. His ears perked up, and the animatronic span around on the spot. What he saw was … he could not believe his eyes.
A small horse, not even a third of Foxy’s size, was standing behind him, looking up to him with an evil smirk on its face.
“What do we have here?” the horse asked, its look wandering up and down Foxy’s body, “Another one?”
It took Foxy a few moments to re-gain his composure. In his countless –albeit mostly fictitious- adventures that had brought him all across the seven seas, he had seen a lot of things, but the creature standing in front of him topped them all at once. Not only that this was a small, talking, and apparently sentient horse, said small, talking and apparently sentient horse was pink from head to toe – its straight and loosely-hanging hair was made of a deep, dark shape of pink, while her fur was a tad lighter, yet equally intense pink. Two deep blue eyes focused him with what looked like a mixture of pretended surprise and condescending amusement.
Foxy honestly didn’t quite know what to say – it seemed like the horse had caught him so off-guard that his normally swift mind couldn’t think of a reply. Then, however, his slightly dented jaw seemed to reply for him, as it curled into a grin, shortly before the animatronic fox burst out in loud laughter.
“Yar har har har!” Foxy’s raspy voice echoed throughout the mostly empty halls, “A pony! A little, pink, talking pony!” he wiped his un-patched eye with his left hand, then looked down at the equine creature, “Say, pony, what ye be doin’ in a place like ‘tis? Lookin’ fer love ‘n rainbows?”
The smirk on the pony’s face vanished; its eyes narrowed as is stared at Foxy in an almost threatening manner. “My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie.” it spoke up calmly, yet clearly with tension in its voice, “And I am the night guard. Now…” its eyes narrowed even further, “would you care to explain why you are not in your Pirate’s Cove at this time?”
Again, it took Foxy a short moment to fully comprehend what the pony had just tried to make him believe. This pony; this puny, pink little horse, was supposed to be the new night guard? The one to keep him and his fellow animatronics under control at night?
What followed then was another cascade of laughter only a true pirate was capable of. The pony’s face remained straight – while it didn’t seem to enjoy being laughed at, it remained silent, waiting patiently for Foxy to finish laughing at her.
“Night Guard!?” Foxy spat out as he gasped for air, “Yer kiddin’ right?”
The pony calmly shook its head, not breaking eye contact with Foxy as it replied with a single word, “No.”
Again, Foxy couldn’t contain a chuckle. “She be for real, mateys?” Foxy asked, still laughing, as he turned his head to look at the other animatronics on stage.
Dead silence set in as his laughter slowly faded. Three pairs of wide eyes were staring at him, their expressions reaching from disbelief, over pure horror, up to a grin that seemed to say ‘Now you screwed up.’. However, none of them had moved thus far; all three of them were still standing in perfect formation, their faces as expressionless as ever.
“Yes I am.” The sober reply came from behind Foxy, making his ears perk up as he looked back again, lowering his head to see the pony still looking at him, her expression now showing a touch of anger, “And you better look at me when I’m talking to you. Or else the two of us are going to have a problem.”
“Lil' hard wit' your size!” Foxy burst out, visibly entertained, “Can’t be lookin’ down at ye lil’ midget for too long.”
The pony remained silent for a moment, just staring at the fox as her eyes slowly narrowed. Then, however, she drew in a short breath, turned around, jumped onto an empty table standing next to her with an ease at which Foxy couldn’t help but to feel impressed, and turned around to face the animatronic again. With a deadpan, slightly annoyed face, she looked Foxy in the eyes and said, “There. Better?”
The pony’s head now was on the level of Foxy’s chest, meaning that he still had to lower his head if he wanted to lock eyes with her, but the pony did indeed feel a little less puny from this perspective.
Regardless, Foxy’s jaw curled into a toothy grin as he crouched down to get face-to-face with the pony. “Still not a-feared … little horse.” He said, smirking teasingly.
“Well, you should be.” The pony replied, her expression turning more and more grim by the second, “I am the night guard, and you will listen to what I say.”
Foxy wanted to object, but was cut short by the pony who raised her front hoof and threateningly pointed it at him, saying, “Now, get back into your pirate hole, and stay in there for the rest of the night.” She leaned forward, her face less than an inch away from Foxy’s, “Or else…”
“Or else what?” Foxy asked slightly amused, not retreating from the confrontation, “Ye be … shootin’ me? With a rainbow-canon or somethin’?”
“No.” the pink pony replied softly, a delightful grin forming on her face as she took a step back from Foxy, “I am not going to fight you.”
“Heh, not like ye would stand a chance anyway.” Foxy chuckled raspily as he arose back to his full height, towering at least one foot over the pony. “Ol’ Foxy’s three times yer size – no way ye could defeat me in battle.”
The pony looked at him with a maleficent grin on her face. “Oh, don’t worry about that.” she bared her teeth, looking at the stage behind him, “Haven’t you wondered why your … friends have been so silent recently?” Foxy turned around and looked at the stage too, a light shiver running through his mechanical body as he remembered Freddy's strange behavior earlier.
“They know me.” The night guard-horse said, seeming to savor every single word, “And they know to fear me.”
Without leaving Foxy time to reply, she shouted, “Hey, you! Bear!”
Instantly, Freddy’s head shot around. Looking at the pony with fear in his eyes, he shouted, “Y-yes, ma’am?”
“Take your hat off.” She commanded him dryly. Foxy was appalled to see the lead animatronic obey unhesitatingly as his right hand went up to his head, reaching for his small black top hat and taking it off shakingly.
“Now hand it to duck duck.” The night guard continued, her voice dry, but showing clear signs of pleasant anticipation.
Without hesitation, yet clearly with reluctance, Freddy handed his signature accessory to Chica, who grabbed it with equally shaky hands, their eyes never leaving the new night guard.
The pony took a moment before she said her next words. When she said them, she said them with pleasure, and even without looking at her, Foxy could tell that there was a big, malicious grin on her face.
“Now eat it.”
The chicken’s eyes widened as she looked at the pony, then at the top hat in her shaking hands. A moment of total silence passed, then Chica hesitantly led the hand holding the hat up to her artificial beak, opened up her mechanical jaws, and bit down on the felted piece of apparel.
Since Freddy Fazbear’s top hat was made of thick fabric, and Chica’s teeth were about as sharp as a wooden club, it was clear that eating it –or chewing it to begin with- was utterly impossible for the poor chicken. However, that didn’t stop the devilish night guard from enjoying to watch her struggle with the old garment.
But Foxy had seen enough. With a mixture of disgust and anger on his face, he turned around again to look at the grinning pony. “What have ye done with ‘em?” he asked her accusingly.
The pony replied with an innocent smile and a shrug. “They tried to mess with me last night.” She said casually, “Left their places on stage and walked around the restaurant instead. So I put them in their place.” Her look went back to Chica who was still chewing on Freddy’s hat, “Isn’t that right, duck duck? Or would you like some … fricassee with that hat?”
The chicken flinched noticeably and let out a muffled whimper, continuing its work on the top hat.
“See?” the pony said, looking at Foxy with a grin, “They know better than to disobey me.” Her eyes narrowed, “And I recommend you follow their example. Or else…”
“Or else … what?” Foxy replied, unable to notice how his voice dropped at the end of the sentence, and how his poise slowly began to crumble.
“Or else I will turn your life into a living hell.” The pony replied calmly, locking eyes with Foxy and staring at him with a glare that looked like it could turn him into stone. “I am going to mess you up so badly you’re going to regret ever setting hoof out of your pitiable little pirate-hole.”
She jumped off the table, onto the ground right in front of Foxy’s feet, making the animatronic take a hasty step back. Maintaining eye contact, Pinkamena Diane Pie continued to walk forward, causing Foxy to retreat, forcing him closer and closer towards the edge of the main stage where Freddy and Bonnie were watching the struggling Chica with eyes widened in disbelief.
“You may think I can’t hurt you.” The pony continued, her voice cold, eyes narrowed, “You may think I’m harmless because I’m not as tall or strong as you. You may think I’m not a threat because I’m a damned pink pony, but let me tell you: think again.”
A self-opinionated grin formed on her face.
“I can hurt you in ways you never thought possible. Attacking you and trying to harm your body would be stupid – you’re a machine designed to look like a fox; a metallic endoskeleton powered by small electric engines and covered by a thick layer of plastic. You don’t have a heart; you can’t even feel pain.”
Foxy almost flinched as he felt the cold touch of the stage’s edge against his back. The pony had literally forced him against a wall.
“But your mind…” Pinkamena grinned as she saw him lean against the stage, running out of ways to escape her; she licked her lips in pleasant anticipation, “That’s something entirely different. It’s weak … unprotected … fragile. An easy mark for ponies like me.”
To his horror, Foxy noticed how his legs began to shake. He didn’t like the things this horse was saying. He didn’t like it one bit.
“Your body,” a light shiver ran through Foxy’s spine as the pony continued its verbal attack, “may be strong. Heck, it might be completely invincible. But your mind; your brain…” Pinkamena grinned, slowly shaking her head, “It’s so easy to break – more fragile than a bubble. If I wanted to, I could make you throw yourself off a cliff, and you wouldn’t even notice it until you would crash into the ground.”
Still trying to hold onto the stage, Foxy could feel his legs going weak. What was wrong with this pony? Why couldn’t she just go ahead and … kick him or something? At least he could see that coming! … But, could she really do this? Was his mind really this easy to manipulate? Could she really just … ?
No. No, that couldn’t be! Nobody could do this to someone else’s mind, not even this weird talking pony. Clearly, she was just trying to intimidate him. Clearly, he wouldn’t fall for this bait. And clearly, all these things about breaking into his mind were all made up … right?
…
But what if they weren’t?
“So I’ll give you one final warning.” The horrifyingly calm voice of the pony interrupted Foxy’s thoughts and caused him to look down at … wait. The pony was on eye-level with him. He was sitting on the ground. He could not remember sitting down!
Feeling how his arms began to tremble, Foxy straightened up to look over the edge of the stage, hoping for some kind of support from his friends.
The stage was empty; only a slightly chewed-up black top hat remained, lying on the ground in the stage’s center.
“Try to mess with me again, and you’ll regret it.” The pony clarified soberly, taking another step towards the now heavily shaking Foxy, “I will turn your life into a nightmare; into that one nightmare that never ends; the one there’s no waking up from. Every day of your miserable life you will be suffering, knowing that I’m there – watching you, controlling you. And there’s nothing you will be able to do about it. Every day you are going to come to me, begging me to just kill you and end your misery before it drives you insane. And every day … every single day … I will just laugh right into your face.”
While she had been talking, Pinkamena had come closer and closer to Foxy who was now almost lying flatly on the ground, back resting against the stage. Now her face was inches from his; so close he could feel her hot breath against his muzzle.
“So…” the pony spoke up, slowly, deliberately, “Do we have a deal?”
Foxy’s entire body was shivering by now. He was sure that he could have heard his own teeth clattering, had his jaws not been frozen stiff in shock.
This was insane! He was a huge, intimidating animatronic fox, and she was a small, pink pony! There was no way she could just…
He saw it. He saw it deep in these ocean blue eyes of hers.
There was a way.
She could indeed.
Foxy closed his mouth, trying hard not to look too deep in these mesmerizing blue eyes that would promise him eternal pain and misery.
Then, after a long, drawn-out moment of silence, he plucked up all of his remaining courage, pinched his eyes closed, and whispered, “Y-yes … ma’am.”
It was about 4 o’clock when the lights on the big main stage of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza came back to life, illuminating the stage in a rainbow of colored lights, and revealing three animatronic animals –a bear, a bunny, and a chicken- standing in the stage’s center. Colorful, plastic instruments in their hands and happy smiles on their faces, they bowed down to the audience before striking up a happy, somewhat cheesy-sounding song.
Despite the smiles on their faces, the animatronics seemed agitated – their movements were insecure; some would exchange nervous looks every few seconds, and none of them dared to look into the direction of the audience too often.
The song’s intro came to an end, and there was a short pause; the animatronics’ discomfort seemed to increase even further. All of them turned their heads to the side, seeming to look at something behind the stage’s curtain with both, nervous and angry looks.
After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence –and a hissed curse coming from the bear-animatronic- a fourth animatronic came jumping from behind the stage and stepped in front of his three fellows, assuming the role of the lead singer.
It was a fox – a little taller than his fellows, he was standing close to the stage’s edge, his brown fur illuminated by the stage lights, his face contorted to a grimace in a mixture of discomfort and embarrassment, most likely due to the light pink tutu that adorned his waist.
The band started playing again, and with clear discomfort, the fox led the microphone up to his mouth, and started singing. “I am a pretty pony princess … I am a pretty pony princess.” He had to pause for a second as a shiver of disgust ran through his body, “Living in my pony castle, spreading love and rainbows … isn’t this world a wonderful, wonderful-“
“Stop! Stop!” the annoyed shout came from the audience – a pink pony –the only soul watching the late-night show- shook her head. “That was just horrible!”
The music came to a halt, and the fox let out a long sigh, muttering, “Thank goodnesses.”
“You’re making it look like you’re not even enjoying what you’re singing!” the pony shouted at the fox, “Show some more passion!”
The fox tensed up with a huff, throwing an angry glare at the pony. He wanted to say something, but was shut up by the bear who placed a hand on the fox’s shoulder and muttered something into his ear.
“Play the other one!” the pink pony commanded the four animatronics, “And Celestia help me if you’re not singing it with passion this time!”
The four animatronics shared a look with each other; the three band members slowly nodded their heads, making the fox sigh in defeat and turn around again to face the one-man audience.
The band started playing another song, and after a short intro, the fox –reluctantly- started to sing again. “Me name is Fo-oxy, and I be here ta say … I’m gonna make ye smile and I will brighten up ye daaaay.”
Pinkamena Diane Pie was sitting on one of the many chairs in the main hall, watching the four animatronics as they performed their little private concert for her.
A big grin formed on her face as Foxy reached the first chorus – she was far from being a fan of the so-called ‘Smile Song’ one of her friends had created some time ago, since it was a tad too happy-go-lucky for her tastes, but it did do a pretty good job at making the life of this impudent fox a little harder.
The tutu was -suprisingly enough- not something she had come up with. One of the animatronics -the bunny if she remembered correctly- had joked about how making Foxy wear something 'girly' would make the whole appearance even more ridiculous. Unfortunately for Foxy, Pinkamena normally wasn't the right pony to joke around with.
As far as she was concerned, this was the punishment for the things he had said to her - the fact that it also was pretty entertaining for her to watch him literally dry heave after every single word was a bonus she would gladly accept.
“Come on everypony … urk … smile smile smile, fill me heart up wit’ sunshine sunshine.” The raspy voice came from the stage, gaining a light giggle from Pinkamena. She would have to make the animatronics play the song again and record it next time to show it to her friends.
All in all, she felt delighted; satisfied. Not only had she found a job that brought her great fun and entertainment –something only very few things had ever managed to accomplish- but she had also managed to make these animatronics dance to her piping – this ‘dangerous’ place where dozens of other ponies had found their mysterious end, was now a tad safer thanks to her. Thus, she had done a great service to Equestria and the rest of the world by keeping the animatronics under control and eliminating the threat for future night guards.
Of course, she could not have cared less about Equestria. These animatronics had been rude and disobeying – she had put them into their places and clarified once and for all that she was the night guard and thus not to be bucked around with; that was all she cared about.
And still, she felt proud of herself – happy about what she had accomplished.
“Come on and smiiiiiile.” Foxy sang from the stage, sounding like if he was about to throw up from the disgust in his voice.
And indeed, Pinkamena felt how, slowly but steadily, a sincere, full-hearted and truly happy smile formed on her face.
Tonight was a good night.
She was happy.