//------------------------------// // Where the Darkness Cries // Story: The Circus Of Pretending // by Why To Know My Name //------------------------------// The sounds of gears and springs echoed through William's ears. He inhaled deeply and smiled.'' This is where the real magic happens...'', the maniac man thought. He chuckled and moved near a little stage, barelly lighten up, standing in front of him. The smell of metal and electricity could be hinted anywhere in this place. William looked at the stage, never letting jis grin leave his face. This was his little secret. No one should ever know about this place, save for him. A curved figure upon the stage straightened its posture and brought up a microphone to where it would be its mouth. A serene, feminine voice echoed through the facility. ''The show will begin momentarilly...'' The machine said. ''Everyone, please, stay in your seats.''. William's eyes brightened up like a child's would during Christmas. He started laughing and hooping around the stage. ''OH, YES! The bastard's blueprints only needed a lil' work! I knew it! Hah...'' Then, his grin started fading away. ''If only...'' He stopped, looking down, slihtly tearing up. ''If only Chloe was here... She'd love it.'' William wiped away his tears and slapped his grin back again. It has been about two years after his daughter's death. But William knew a way to bring her back, and his lasting hopes laid in these robots. William laughed again and shut the machine down, breathing deeply. His robots were ready to go to the children reach. He was sure they would love his new creations. In any other case... He'd have to fulfill the job by himself, which shouldn't be hard. William started boxing the robots up and sendind them to the truck parked just outside his factory. The men that were supposed to deliver these were not allowed inside the factory, and were told to stay in the truck. William finished loading the truck and gave the men a piece of paper. The man in the driver's seat looked puzzled at Afton. ''What's this?'' He asked. William rolled his eyes. ''The adress, of course.''He gave the driver a dead-pan look. The man looked even more puzzled with this and just threw the piece of paper in any random spot in the cabine. ''We already know where i-'' The man was cut short by Afton's respons. ''I know, but since I don't trust in your sense of direction, I rather give you the adress.'' The driver grunted and looked forward in the truck's window. ''Whatever, bro.'' He said and drove away. Celestia sat on her office, thinking about the excitement her students have been through lately. Celestia was sure having a lot of problems about this whole ''Anon-A-Miss'' thing. Everything was so... Stressing! The students were really distressed, and honestly, she was in the same state. After the Battle of the Bands, students stopped picking up on Sunset Shimmer. Students would say that the former unicorn was supposedl spreading rumors about them. From the pettiest things to the most embarrassing fiascos of their own. Some students even tried to attack her! Celestia looked over the window on her office, waiting for the answser for her problem to just pop from this very window. And it indeed has. A truck's honk took off Celestia from her thoughts, as she ran to the main entrance of the school. Five men brought out of the truck her very solution for all her distress issues. One of the men approached her with a billboard on hands. He touched her shoulder, and she turned around to face him. ''Excuse me, miss, are you Celestia Sunflare?'' He asked, with a stern face painted on. ''Yes, I am,'' The principal anwsered the bulky man. ''I presume you are waiting for your payment?'' She asked. The man nodded and wrote something down at the billboard, giving the object to the principal. ''You had some luck that Mr. Afton made a good trade with you. I couldn't afford one of these even if I worked my whole damn life.'' The man said. He ooked at the last boxing being taken out of the truck and chuckled. ''Since these are just out of the factory, I don't think you'll need to call any other service for repair.'' He assured the distressed woman in front of him. Celestia gave a sigh of relief kowing that she wouldn't need to spend more money in these old robots. She already spent enough money expanding the school area to make a few areas for the animatronics to perform for the students, and a room that William himself told her to build anywhere hidden. He described it as the ''Scooping Room''. Whatever it was, surelly didn't sounded like something to hide away from the students, but since he's the one building the robots, he must have a pretty good reason to tell her to build such room. As Celestia finished filling the billboard, the man walked away with his workers. They assured her that they had installed the robots in the stage that was in the cafeteria. Celestia thanked the men and watched them drive away. A few hours after the robots being installed as a surprise to the students, Luna's voice echoed through the speakers in the halls and rooms in CHS. The students were told to come to the caffeteria at once, and the teachers were to follow them. As the sea of known faces gathered in the caffeteria, the first thing everyone noticed was the new stage that was newly placed there. This sure was something that they never seen before in their lives. Sunset Shimmer and her five friends were the very last to arrive at the caffeteria, deciding to wait for the curious wave of people to go ahead first. Celestia looked over the students and smiled. ''Good morning, students!'', She cheered. A few grunts could be heard from the crowd, but most students cheered along. ''This is our first day at CHS, and I belive you are all excited to come back,'' She paused, and mumbled something away from the microphone in her hands. ''Since I wanted to do something different this year to celebrate your return, I present you...'' Celestia started opening the curtains of the stage behind her. ''Circus Baby and friends!'' There were a few gasps coming from the crowd, especially coing from the younger ones. The older students looked either terrified or just confused. Behind the curtains, there were six robots. They were all human looking, and three of them had ears and tails of different animals. All of them had their masks divided by many face plates, that seemed tightly closed to their metallic skeleton. The first in line was a male looking robot, with teal-blue eyes, bear ears and a bunny hand puppet in one of his hands, and a microphone in the other. He was wearing long black pants and a purpleish/white upper outfit, as well as a black top hat and bow tie, that matched perfectly with his pale face and purpleish cheeks. He was then turned on, and his puppet slightly waved to the crowd, giggling and smiling cheerfully at the kids. ''Bon Bon, say 'hi' to our friends!'' He said to his puppet, as the bunny waved and giggled. The next in line was a tall, blue haired and violet cheeked ballerina. Once turned on, her eyes didn't open, even once. While dancing, her skirt started twirling slowly around her waist, making the little bells hanging on her skirt slightly ring. She started to dance on stage. But the fact that she never opened her eyes was simply somehow terrifying for a few students. Her music box started playing and echoing through the caffeteria, as the younger girls cheered up as they saw the robotic blue haired dancer. Next in the line was a red haired tall female like robot. A red, pig tailed haired circus stage assistance girl, for the way she was dressed. One couldn't quite describe her facial features. All that the students could see from her face were a few divisions from her chin to her red cheeks, as for the rest of her face was darkened. This one had a skirt similar to the ballerina's, but it was red, it didn't had any bells and it didn't seemed to move at any moment. The next in line was a white/pink haired girl, bearing fox ears and tail, that matched her hair. Her pinkish tail seemed to wiggle when she saw the kids. Her own face plates started slightly loosening. She had an pirate like outfit and used a matching skirt. Her big fox tail wiggled up and down, as she waved for the kids and smiled. The last one was a clown like robot, wearing a red button on his neck and a green party hat. His colorful clothing seemed to cheer up everyone in the cafeteria, as the clown started his act, making every girl and boy in the caffeteria laugh and smile. That was when the red haired robot lifted herself up, showing her green eyes to the crowd, as well as her many face divisions and her red nose. She held up her microphone and waved at the cheering crowd. ''The show will begin momentarilly...'' She paused, as for one moment, Sunset Shimmer could swear she saw blood leak from the robot's eyes. ''Everyone, please, stay in your seats.'' The red haired former unicorn started looking funny at the robots. ''Did principal Celestia really spend her money on these?'' She whispered to herself. She looked at the five girls on the other side of the room. They wouldn't even dream to stay near Sunset right now. Even if Sunset did nothing to them, they wouldn't listen to a word she had to say. They didn't care. They weren't her friends at all... Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, looking pretty annoyed. ''How old do they think we are?! Eight??'' She asked loudly, since the rest of the younger students were already cheering around the animatronics. ''This is ridiculous.'' The rainbow haired girl finished. ''I... I think they're pretty, um... Cute...'' Fluttershy stated meekly, hiding her teal blue eyes behind her long, pink hair. ''Especially the bunny puppet...'' She whispered. ''Oh, c'mon! They're so childish!'' Dash protested. ''This ballerina seems really classy, though.'' Rarity said, whiping her hair away from her face. ''It looks creepy.'' Rainbow Dash dead panned. Rarity giggled and looked at Rainbow Dash. ''Are you afraid of them, darling?'' Rarity asked. Rainbow Dash bursted into laughter. ''Afraid? Of these?'' She pointed at the stage where the kids would be interacting with the clowns. Pinkie Pie then popped out of nonwhere, smiling wider than her friends ever seen her smile. She grabbed Rainbow Dash by her shoulders and shook her crazily. ''WENEEDTOGOOVERTHERESHECANMAKEICECREAM!!'' She screamed at Dash's face. Rainbow seemed dazed by her friend's suddent burst of excitement. Pinkie was the kind of person who was always excited, but there were three kinds of Pinkie's excitement, including this one. Her normal excitement, her sugar rush, and this. Rainbow Dash escaped from Pinkie's grasp, looking at her annoyed. ''No way I'm going there.'' Pinkie frowned, as her hair seemed to lose a bit of it's natural volume. ''Aaaawww, why not?'' Pinkie asked. ''Cause' Dash's afraid of em'.'' Applejack answered, tipping her cowboy hat. Pinkie's hair volume seemed to come back, as she grabbed Dash's wrists and started laughing. ''Oh, c'mon, Dashie! They're alright!'' Pinkie started dragging the cyan girl to the stage. ''Pinkie, I'm not afraid of em', robots. I'm just too cool for them!'' Rainbow Dash said, snatching herself away from Pinkie. That was when the clown robot appeared behind Pinkie Pie, his face plates glitching slightly. ''Violence isn't allowed round', buddy!'' The machine said. Pinkie looked back and hugged the creepy clown, giggling and pressing his nose repeatedly, as it made some sort of annoying squeaking noise. ''Hello, Mr. Ennard!'' Pinkie giggled and hooped her way near Rainbow Dash.