"PRINCESS CELESTIA!" Twilight yipped happily as she clambered into the polished marble kingdom.
Behind her was her little pet dragon, Spike, who bore green spikes from his head to tail.
Celestia immediately straightened her posture as the two ran towards her. She smiled warmly and gave a curt nod to the two.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle" she stated calmly. Twilight skidded to a stop in front of her, suddenly blushing.
"Ah- Where are my manors?!" She bowed down quickly, actually falling onto the floor as Spike ran into one of her outstretched wings.
Twilight quickly got up, casting a quick glance at Spike before looking back at Celestia.
"You wanted to speak to me? About a monster?" she sat down. Celestia nodded, yet kept looking at the door, as if expecting some pony else to come in too.
"Uh... Princess?" Twilight waved a hoof in front of her old mentor, who snapped back into reality.
"Yes?".
"Is everything okay?" Twilight carried out her words carefully.
"Oh, of course, my dear princess. I just, uh, thought you were going to bring... The robot" Celestia gave off a sheepish smile. She knew she shouldn't be stalking any pony with magic, and it was worse with Twilight being the secondary subject.
But Twilight didn't seem fazed as she quickly gasped, "Oh! I didn't think you wanted me to bring him! I can-"
"No, no, It is quite okay, dear Twilight. I only need to speak... About it" she gained a serious attitude quickly, and Twilight scooted into a more formal position.
"What about it?" she smiled widely.
Celestia sighed.
"Something," she made it a point to not mention her name, "brought this robot here. I think we can help it".
"With... What, exactly?" Twilight tilted her head to one side.
Though Celestia already knew about how and why they could help the fox animatronic, she decided to play dumb- considering Twilight didn't need to know she had been watching this whole time.
"Has this thing refused to talk about anything?" she asked lightly.
"Well, yes actually" Twilight answered simply," Quite a few things. Mainly something about the bite of... 87, I think it was".
Celestia made herself seemed surprised.
"Oh really? Could you tell me what you know about it?".
"Well, not much, really. He didn't even say anything more about it. Though he did mention a bear, duck, and... And a Bunny, I think" Twilight thought for a moment, before nodding.
"A bear, duck, and bunny? Are these other robots too?" Celestia asked.
"I would believe so. I mean, Foxy's a fox animatronic. I would guess the others would be too".
"It would make sense" Celestia sighed. Even though she'd been able to pull the creature into Equestria, she hadn't been able to see any other robots- being in too much of a rush in order to escape being caught.
"You know, you can ask him yourself if you wish" Twilight put in suddenly.
"Wha?" Celestia snapped into reality yet again.
"I mean, you can ask him about the bite and other animatronics" the purple alicorn repeated.
"I... I would rather not. I seem to be a bit... Intimidating, and I think it's best not to worry it" Celestia smiled weakly, trying to hold her fake smile.
Why was it so hard to smile right now?
She was always smiling and nodding curtly in front of crowds, it was almost planted on her face.
"I understand," Twilight responded," it might lock his servos up if he's forced to talk to the monarch of Equestria".
"Exactly. I think you might want to go, now in fact. You are housing the robot, correct?".
"Yes, actually!" Twilight jumped to her hooves, quickly turning to leave.
"Thank you!" she began to gallop off.
"Wait! Actually Twilight," Celestia held up her hoof to stop Twilight, " since I can't speak to it upfront, I would like you to send me letters, if you please".
Twilight turned around, only to nod with a proud smile, before running off again.
She flared her wings, and the last she saw of Twilight, the purple alicorn was flying off with Spike on her back.
Celestia bit her lip.
Why did she just lie?
She could've told the truth, even if it was delayed. Why... Celestia shook off the thought.
Something was wrong with her, she knew it.
Something about her was off.
But she couldn't place a hoof on it. With a long sigh, Celestia got to her hooves, and turned around to return to her duties.
"Magic?" Freddy echoed the golden robot's words. One hand was up in a questionable position as he gave the half dead looking animatronic an odd look.
"Yep. Magic" Fredbear was staring at them awkwardly, as if he expected them to believe it.
"Magic" Chica deadpanned.
Bonnie hit the desk with his head.
"You think it was... Magic" Freddy yet again echoed the robot's words.
"Yes" Fredbear nodded.
"Are your circuits still intact?!" he exclaimed, "Magic doesn't exist!".
"Of course it does. How else do I teleport?" Fredbear smiled deviously again.
For once, all the animatronics were silent, as they took in the information. Chica glanced back and forth at the pirate's cove.
"Okay, okay.... If Foxy somehow 'vanished' from magic, then.. Who did it?!" Bonnie snapped. He glared at Fredbear, who put his arms out defensively.
"It wasn't me. Even you could tell I hadn't powered on in so long when you found me. Anyways, what would my purpose be to make your little fox friend disappear?".
"You could be picking us off one by one" Chica piped up.
"Or maybe it's because of those children" Freddy pitched in.
"Or you want to find a way to escape" Bonnie smiled proudly. Fredbear could only sigh.
"Again, I couldn't have powered on and done something like that. I'm not THAT powerful you know".
"Then what is?" Freddy asked suspiciously.
"I don't know... Princess ponies?" Fredbear suggested, before realizing how stupid the idea was. He stepped back slightly, as the other three broke out into laughter.
"H-Hey! Now we have a kidnapping white unicorn with wings!" Freddy laughed.
"And don't f-f-forget! SHE'S a PRINCE-E-ESS!!!" Chica pitched in happily.
"Guys, stop. Your servos are acting up really badly now".
Eventually the laughter DID stop, but not quick enough for their voice boxes to completely glitch out. Fredbear waited, soon sitting down, with a bored expression on his face.
"You done?" he finally asked when they were calm enough to talk to.
"Y-yeah, I think".
"Then, allow me to explain something" the golden bear continued.
The three settled down. With a final sigh, he looked back over them.
"I can see memories" he explained simply.
the other three stared at him blankly. Chica kind of rolled her hand, waiting for more of an explanation.
"That's really all there is. I can see into the past, mostly only what has been witnessed, but also to a large limit".
"And you expect us to believe that how?" Bonnie asked in a flat tone.
"Do I really HAVE to show you" Fredbear face-palmed, but was met with three nods.
"Fine... It'll be really hard, though. Don't expect a miracle or anything".
A golden light emanated from one robotic hand, similar to but definitely not as bright as the 'thief's' magic.
It looked frail, really, the magic he possessed. It was weak in illumination, and did fairly nothing to the darkness that blanketed the room.
The frail wisps of golden aura that fluttered away from a small sphere died out as soon as they were separate.
The main three were in awe. Even if it was the weakest of magic possible, it was something.
Along with the fact magic's not even thought of as real.
"I think I can make it to where you can all see the memory..." Fredbear winced.
"Twilight? TWIIIIILIGHT!" A pink frizzy haired pony jumped through her castle, bouncing up and down as she traversed through each hall.
Her mane was only a darker shade of pink from her coat, and looked messy beyond repair.
On her flank were three balloons, and her smile only added onto the 'party' look she gave off.
Her icy blue eyes glittered all the stiffness away from them.
"Twilight!" she called out yet again. With yet again silence reaching her constantly twitching ears, she a small 'hmph' and shrug of her shoulders before turning down another long, yet dark, hallway.
It wasn't much darker, no. But the shadows hung much more densely, casting large parts of the corridor into a deep black.
The pink pony was unfazed by this, of course, as she kept jumping happily through the hallway.
She passed a few brighter rooms, finally stopping at one shadowy one near the end. Her smile widened as she jumped up and stuck her head inside to look around.
She couldn't see much except a small desk, like the one that sits beside your bed, and a tiny unlit lamp that sat on the floor.
"Oh, Twilight! You silly filly, why're you sleeping in the middle of the day!" Pinkie yipped as she trotted towards a limp form on the floor. It looked like it was sitting down.
She was about to shake her friend awake- until she realized the glinting metal off of it's left hand.
She faltered in her previous action as she studied the creature in front of her.
It definitely wasn't anything she'd seen before, for sure. But it didn't seem to deadly...
She lifted what looked like the top jaw of the creature, to find sharp metal fox-like teeth.
She jumped back, before closely observing the metallic thing.
It was red, though in the shadows seemed to be a dark crimson or purple, and had a tan upper jaw. The creature had a metal hook, and an eye patch that was flipped over it's eye.
The thing resembled a fox from what the Pink pony saw.
She stepped forward again, and with a tender hoof, tapped the thing on it's forehead.
Nothing.
She tapped it a little harder.
Still nothing.
With an annoyed sigh, she put both of her hooves on it's shoulders, and shook it vigorously.
A small mechanical ticking sound caught her by surprise, in which she quickly jumped back. The robotic creature buzzed, before the one uncovered eye blinked open.
It was a bright yellow, quite unnerving compared to normal eyes.
The pony tilted her head at the thing as it eyed her with wide eyes. It seemed to be observing her, but she was oblivious to it's cold lifeless stare.
"There be pink ponies now, too?" it finally grunted. The voice sounded like that of a pirate's. The pink pony giggled softly.
"What?" the bipedal thing asked wryly as it moved it's joints into a less dead position.
"You sound funny" she answered simply.
"An' so? You soun' odd too" he argued back. The pony only laughed.
"What's your name?" she asked suddenly, her smile unwavering.
"...Foxy. What be your's?" Foxy asked suspiciously.
"Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie yipped happily, "I've never seen you before here! Are you new?".
"Er, yes. In a way... Why?".