Rainbow Dash's Five Nights at Freddy's

by PrometheusX

Coffee Shop Talk

Ponyville (Morning)

Ponyville.

A quiet little town in the backcountry, far enough away from the bustle of places like Manehatten and Camelot to retain an old-fashioned rustic feel, yet it wasn't what anyone versed in the region would called 'outdated' either. It struck the balance of old and new while leaning towards the former, giving an air of 'the good old days' to anyone weary of the city life.

Not exactly the place anyone would expect for the personal protege of one of the two alicorn princesses to have made her residence of stay, nor where six of Equestria's greatest heroines made their home.

It was also the last place anyone would expect to have seen the rise and fall of a dark princess, a lord of chaos, or a demon of ancient days in that order, but all had happened, the proof of the last battle being in the form of the grand crystal castle standing tall and proud in the very area where the town library, Golden Oaks Library, had met its untimely destruction. It was here that the previously-mentioned protege now made her home, a far cry from the humble beginnings she had started with.

It was here that Twilight Sparkle, student to Princess Celestia of Equestria, now alicorn and Princess of Friendship, now spent her days, currently in the process of renovating the castle to her liking.

"Where could she be, where could she be, where could she be..."

...Of course, that process was currently put on-hold as she spent her time pacing back and forth within the library room, multiple boxes of books and old tomes waiting to be organized near their assigned shelves. And while Twilight normally would have pursued such an endeavor like a filly who just got her birthday presents, she couldn't even build up the focus right then to do that.

"It's been three days now without a word... darn it, what's taking Rainbow Dash so long?" she muttered to herself as she continued pacing. If one was to observe her current physical state, they would take note of the fact that her mane didn't look like it had been brushed in quite some time, in addition to the occasional twitch in her eyes along with the slight bags of underneath, all obvious indicators of stress.

"It's not that far between here and Baltimare... if my calculations are correct, she should have made the trip here and back twenty times by now!" She suddenly paused. "...Or was it 200?"

She shook her head. "Doesn't matter right now! The point is she should have been back by now!"

She turned her head towards a table, noting the pile of notes and equations sprawled out all over it. "Maybe if I account for a wing breaking-"

"Twilight..."

The alicorn's head snapped towards the entrance to the room, only relaxing slightly when she caught sight of the young purple dragon walking inside with a plate loaded with snacks and some tea in one claw and a slightly concerned expression on his face.

"Oh... good morning Spike," she greeted her number-one assistant. "How did you sleep?"

He glanced over to the table of notes before looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "Better than you, from the looks of things," he answered, placing the tray down. "Twilight, don't tell me you stayed up all night."

"I-" Twilight began, but stopped when a great big yawn escaped her mouth. Quickly covering it, she took a moment to rub her eyes before staring at Spike. "I'm fine, Spike. Don't worry about me."

Spike did not in any way looked convinced. "Uh-huh."

Twilight sighed. "Okay, so maybe I stayed up a little late. I always do that."

"Yeah, but not for three days straight," Spike answered her. "And you've spent the entire last one cooped up in here with your notes. Seriously Twilight, you can take a break. Staying like this really isn't good for you."

She looked away for a moment. Spike was right, she knew that, but...

"I'm just worried about Rainbow Dash," she replied. "We haven't heard hide nor hair of her since she went to Baltimare. She could be in hospital for all we know. I just-"

"Twilight, Dash is fine," Spike said. "I don't think you should be worrying about her like this."

"I'm the one that made her go Spike," she reminded him. "If she got hurt, that means I was responsible for it. I don't like not knowing what's taking her so long. I mean, it wouldn't be so bad if we got a message-"

Suddenly, there was the sound of something colliding against the library window. Both Twilight and Spike jumped at the noise before turning towards it, only to see a blonde-maned grey pegasus flapping her wings outside, shaking her head from the impact before taking notice of them both, quickly waving a hoof towards them.

"Hey, mailpony's here," Spike noted lamely.

Twilight just sighed. 'What are the odds?' she wondered to herself as she walked over to the window, using her magic to open it and pegasus in.

"Hi, Twilight Sparkle! Hi, Spike!" she greeted them both of them warmly, though the way her eyes seemed to refuse to focus on either of them, due to their crossed nature.

"Hey Derpy," Twilight greeted the mailmare warmly. "Having a good day?"

"Never better!" she replied with a smile, then frowned slightly. "Though you know it's 'Ditzy' these days, right?"

Twilight blinked. "Oh! Uh... of course, Ditzy!" she quickly replied. "Sorry about that-"

"It's no problem!" the newly-christened 'Ditzy' replied warmly. "I've gotten used to it!"

'You know, just last week you told me to call you 'Derpy' when we had this conversation...' Twilight thought to herself, then shook her head. "So, any mail?"

Ditzy blinked, then quickly rummaged into her saddlebag. "Where was it... know I put it somewhere... Ah ha!"

With that triumphant yell, Ditzy grabbed whatever was inside, pulling it out. "Straight from Baltimare's 3-day delivery service!" she declared proudly. "Right on time!"

'Baltimare?' Twilight wondered, but she didn't have a chance to fully process the meaning behind the words before she took a look at the package. It was a black hardcover book with silver engraving on the surface, the title spelled out in cursive.

Past Sins: Return of the Nightmare

Underneath, the silver took the form of a unicorn's head, with the visible eye being the only thing different in color: Black where a pony's would be white and a deep gold in the normal part of the eye.

However, what had her attention was the letter attached near the bottom with some tape, hastily scrawled with Dash's writing To Twilight.

She had a thousand questions running through her head and so desperately wanted to rip that letter off and read it right then and there to satisfy at least a few of them, but she composed herself, remembering her manners. Looking up, she gave Ditzy a smile.

"Thank you, Ditzy."

The pegasus saluted. "Happy to be of service, ma'am!"

With that, she turned around and flew out the window, somehow avoiding the window despite her eye condition and soaring clear outside. Twilight quickly used her magic to close the door, then turned her attention to Spike, holding up the letter while putting the book down. That could wait until later.

Spike had a slightly smug look on his face. "What did I tell you? Probably just tied down with something."

"You're not right yet," Twilight replied as she opened the seal and pulled the paper out. "For all we know, she could be in big trouble and needs us to bail her out..."

She trailed off as she scanned the writing.

Then reread it.

And then again.

Finally, she put the paper down on the ground and brought a hoof to her face, rubbing her eyes slightly. Whether it was because of sleepiness or something she read, Spike had no clue.

"Darn it Dash..."

...Okay, it was probably the latter.

He reached down for it. "Can I..."

She made a dismissive gesture. Spike took as a 'yes' and started to read the letter himself.

Dear Twilight,

You're probably wondering where the hay I've been for the past three days once you get this letter. Sorry, but apparently this is the fastest mail can go from here to Ponyville, so blame those guys. They should have special express mailponies for these sorts of emergencies, you know? ...Probably couldn't afford it though, so I guess that wouldn't have mattered either way.

Anyways, I'm alive, if that's what you're wondering. I'm also not in the hospital. I was as healthy and free as a bird by the time I wrote this. Why I'm sending this book of yours by mail and not giving it to you myself then? Well... I kinda... broke some stuff while I was here.

Okay, first off, it was stormy. I didn't do it on purpose. Second, nopony got hurt, and I only broke one thing! That's a plus, right?

...'Cept where the 'thing' was a sign that costs 120 bits.

Yeah...so, long story short, I'm working off the debt in the stallion's business. It's called Freddy Fazbear's Pizza or something like that, 24 bits a night for five nights. I'm working as a nightguard watching the place and the magic dolls. Yeah, magic dolls like you talked about that one time, apparently these ones can sing! Don't know how they got them though...

Anyways, I'm gonna be gone for awhile, but I guess I'll be more than halfway done when you get this letter. The place is actually closing on my last day, so maybe you and the girls can come down to see me in my new gear and watch the dolls play a little bit. Bring Spike if you want.

Don't you go and start sending bits though, Twi. I got into this mess, and I can get myself out of it. I mean, c'mon, what can five nights do?

Well, see you in a couple of days. Tell everypony I said hi!

Rainbow Dash

P.S: Still, you owe me a favor for this, Twi.

Spike looked up at Twilight. "See? Nothing to worry about."

Twilight sighed. 'Guess I was worried for nothing,' she thought to herself. Still, Dash sounded like she had things under control, so she supposed that was a plus.

"You gonna tell everypony else about this?"

"Yeah," Twilight replied, already walking towards the door. "Might as well hurry up and get it over with. That way, everypony doesn't has to worry about Dash being in danger or me freaking out."

A sudden gurgle interrupted her just as she reached the door. Twilight glanced down at her stomach before turning back to Spike, who just gestured towards the plate he brought inside.

"...After something to eat of course," she added.

"Mind if I join in?" Spike asked, his own stomach suddenly growling.

Twilight allowed herself to smile. "Of course, Spike. Dig in."

After three days of worry, things were starting to look up.

---

Baltimare (Same Time)

Three days in, and the stress was starting to get to her.

Rainbow Dash blinked slowly as she sat in a coffee shop, bags under her eyes as she gazed with a glazed look around. Across from her, Griff Schmidt sighed as he pushed a cup of coffee towards her.

"Here, drink this," he told her. "This should help you focus a little. It's on me."

Dash slowly took it between her hooves and brought it to her mouth, slurping it down and not caring for the way it stung at her throat.

"...Rough night?" Griff asked her rhetorically.

"What do you think?" Dash mumbled back, cup still over her mouth but not drinking anymore. "Couldn't sleep when it was over with."

Griff didn't have a witty answer for that, so they simply sat in silence. As they did, he thought back to how the day had gone so far.

After he had come in that morning to find Bonnie and Chica in various stages of entrapment under furniture while Freddy and Foxy were in their respective places, he had immediately gone to the backrooms to make sure that Rainbow had not become the newest addition to the Fazbear cast. Once he had managed to assure himself of that, he had gone back to see that several of his employees had arrived and were now staring at the two fallen dolls.

Some goading and heavy lifting later, they managed to get the dolls up and back on the stage (surprisingly, they were actually in rather good shape, all things considered: No rips or tears in their costumes or even any real damage unlike with Bonnie.) After also replacing part of Freddy's costume, the part with the scorchings on it, Griff had taken his leave and decided to go searching for Rainbow Dash personally to learn what had happened. In all his time as manager, he had never come in to find the dolls in such a state, so he figured something big must have gone down.

He hadn't exactly expected to come across her just sitting in a booth in a coffee shop, looking like she was about to pass out, but hey, small world.

"Mind sharing?" he finally asked. "Anything to do with Bonnie and Chica being crushed under furniture?"

She suddenly chuckled. "Yeah, that was funny. That was Foxy, not me, by the way."

Griff blinked. That was not something he had expected to hear. "Foxy?"

"Yeah, the guy's a riot," Dash replied lazily, slurping from her cup. "We have a bit of a system going on, you know? I come to Pirate Cove before the shift starts, keep him company and talk a little bit, and he stays there for the rest of the night and doesn't bother me, as long as I remember to look at him through the cameras every now and then to let him know I'm still watching. He even sings songs that we hum together when it gets boring."

She looked at him from straight for the first time in the conversation. "Don't you remember Bonnie the day before yesterday? Foxy roughed him up when he tried to get me near the end. I guess he doesn't like it when dolls mess with ponies he likes."

Griff was silent. Foxy had been helping her this entire time? Granted, he had expected something had been going on with Bonnie and Foxy's conditions yesterday, not to mention the fact she seemed to always stare over at Pirate Cove with a different expression than with the three on the show stage, far less... fear and loathing.

Besides, if the dolls truly were sentient as he occasionally indulged in thinking, who wasn't to say they couldn't end up making their own decisions on who they wanted to attack? Maybe there was something about Dash that Foxy liked enough that he didn't want to stuff her in a suit.

'Maybe he's just a sucker for praise,' a part of his mind thought to itself.

Maybe he should have been more suspicious of what Rainbow Dash had to say, but Griff had seen Foxy get in Golden Freddy's way during the Bite of '87, saw him get damaged and put in Pirate Cove discontinued. If there was any magic doll in the pizzeria that he could believe could and would help a nightguard, it would be Foxy the Pirate. It certainly helped that said doll was his favorite one, even as a foal and all the way to adulthood.

Still, something she said felt off to him...

"He speaks with you?" Griff asked confusedly. He could understand Foxy helping her, but speaking actual sentences? Most all of the endoskeletons had pre-recorded lines in their voice box, so exactly how Foxy could apparently, from what Dash was implying, speak in entirely complete and normal sentences like anypony could was beyond him.

She shrugged. "Eh, not much really," she admitted, chugging down the last of her coffee, looking a little more awake than earlier. "He usually only says about a sentence or so a meeting, and sometimes not even that. He usually just stares off into the distance while I ramble on, only talking when I'm about to leave."

"Maybe he thinks you have a nice voice."

Dash snorted. "Yeah, whatever. The most I've ever heard him speak was last night, when Freddy tried to get me after I ran out of power."

"You what?!"

Dash flinched. "Pipe down, Griff. We're in a shop and you're giving me a headache. Last thing I need right now, y'know."

Griff turned his head and noticed several other patrons staring at him for his outburst. After offering a brief apology, he turned back to Dash.

"...Sorry. It's just... well, I guess that explains the scorch marks on Freddy."

Dash snickered. "You should the seen the look on his face when I got outside after six and Foxy got in the way. It was priceless!" Suddenly, she blinked, as if remembering something. "Oh yeah, about that... is Foxy all right?"

"Last I checked him, yeah. Why?"

She shook her head, looking away. "Nothing. Freddy's just looked mad last I saw."

"Worried about the Captain?" Griff said in a teasing tone. "What, is he your coltfriend now?"

Her head snapped back around so fast he could have sworn he heard something crack. "N-No!" she quickly said. "What the hay gave you that idea!?"

Griff just chuckled. "I'm just messing with you." His expression then turned a little more serious. "In all seriousness though, Foxy's fine. He's a tough nut to crack. Golden Freddy was proof of that."

A shadow seemed to pass over Dash's face when he said that. She looked down into her cup, as if wishing there was more coffee in there. It did not go unnoticed.

"...Something wrong, Dash?"

She looked up. "N-No, nothing's wrong," she said with a slightly forced smile. "What makes you say that?"

Griff sighed as he called over a waitress, telling her to bring a few more cups of coffee, then looked back at her. "Rainbow Dash, don't lie to me. If you saw something last night, you can tell me. I won't call you crazy, no matter what."

"I thought you said me taking the job for five nights was crazy."

He shrugged. "Fair enough, but seriously, you can say what you saw. Buck, I believed you when you said Foxy was helping, didn't I?"

Dash was silent for a few minutes, eyes glancing down as if trying to figure out how to put this. Griff waited patiently, knowing better than to rush her. Several minutes later, the waitress came back with the coffee, of which one Rainbow Dash immediately took and started to drink from.

It was when half of said cup was done did she finally start talking again.

"I saw the ghost of Golden Freddy last night."

To her surprise, Griff looked down. "I was afraid of that."

Dash blinked. "Wh-what?"

"You aren't the first pony to claim to have seen the golden bear after his... retirement," Griff replied. "After the Bite of '87 and the fallout, patrons began to claim to hear strange noises like warbling and laughter in some of the more secluded areas of the pizzeria, especially in the West Hall. Some even claimed to see posters occasionally change to that of faces of an eyeless Golden Freddy. Shep actually told me he saw the actual bear himself a few times during last two nights, but especially during his third one."

Dash sensed there was something personal in this. "And you?"

Griff looked her in the eyes. "The day after my family destroyed the costumes and endoskeleton, I was just wandering around backstage by myself while everything was business as usual. All the dolls were in their proper places, even though they weren't being used, and my family was attempting to try and end the police quarantine around the area so that business could start up again. The costume area was one of the few areas which weren't under investigation due to the Bite never occurring near the area, so I was just wandering around a bit."

"Throughout the entire time I was there though, I couldn't help but feel that something or someone was watching me. I kept glancing around, but only the eyeless faces of spare Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica suits greeted my gaze. Again, we didn't have replacements for Foxy, so I don't include him. After a couple of minutes, I finally decided to leave the room when my eye caught sight of something gold. Sure enough, it was a Golden Freddy suit, limp on the ground like it had been carelessly thrown there, though still propped up against the wall like it was sitting."

Griff took a breath, sipping his own coffee as he took a moment to think. "As you know, we had burned all the spare suits by now, but I figured we must have missed this one. So I decided I should go get rid of it." His voice grew more ominous. "But something was off about it. It was all dirty and smudged, and the feeling of being watched increased as I stared at it, like this was the source. A feeling of dread started to fall over me, and then I was aware of the smell of smoke filling my nostrils, the dirt looking more like ash."

"Slowly, but surely, I started to hear a low warbling noise as I stared, and when I finally started to move towards it, it only got louder. Then I started seeing things. Everything went black, and I started to see an eyeless Bonnie walking towards me, then a Freddy with pony eyes. All the while, the warbling got louder and louder, with an occasionally filly giggle thrown in."

Dash just stared as Griff seemed to shrink into himself. "I remember just staring in shock, my heart feeling like a cannon. I didn't know what was happening, only that it was only gonna get worse. Sure enough, all the images suddenly disappeared, only to be replaced with two words: IT'S ME. Then Golden Freddy popped up right in front of my face and screamed in an extremely low demonic voice, and then I only remember firing something from my horn before losing consciousness. When I woke up, I had apparently blown up the back wall, but no one could find any sign of the suit."

He then shuddered before taking another sip of his coffee. "After that though, the rumors persisted. From what I can tell though, Golden Freddy can only appear after viewing a certain poster in the West Hall these days, at least according to Shep, and all he does is make you see hallucinations that leave your guard down for the others or, worst-case scenario, can cause a heart attack. As for why he doesn't show up otherwise... maybe my panic attack did something to him so he can't appear at will anymore, I don't know. I haven't seen him again since."

Dash was silent as he finished, then suddenly chuckled. "Wow, you've had it rough, huh?"

"Living with killer magic dolls, which may be haunted, mind you, can do that to a pony," Griff replied with his own, though it was less in jest and more to get his mind off those old thoughts. "You tend to see some pretty creepy stuff."

Dash grew silent again for a moment, then glanced around and said, after she was sure no one was listening, "Like blood and mucus bleeding out of them?"

Griff blinked, then looked at her. "What?"

"Another news article," Dash replied. "After the five foals vanished, families started seeing blood and mucus come out of their eye sockets every now and then, like 'reanimated carcasses'." She looked him dead in the eyes, disgust, anger and a slight bit of fear on her face and in her eyes. "That's why the bodies were never found: The killer stuffed them into the suits and left them there to rot."

Griff just stared at her in shock. What could he say to that? Yes, he had long suspected the dolls were haunted by some sort of spirit or spirits. Yes, he had begun to suspect that the five foals mentioned in the previous articles might had been said ghosts after being told about it by Dash, as well as the disturbing implications he had killed one of those foals again when they destroyed Golden Freddy and let the spirit haunt the pizzeria.

But he never imagined that the method by which they had died would be something like that. And that, along with the evidence the killer had been a former employee and did it in a Freddy Fazbear suit, suddenly made the method by which the dolls attempted to dispose of every nightguard all the more ironic.

"...Dear Celestia..." was all he could say in turn.

Dash slumped back down in her seat, gulping down the last of her coffee. "Haven't been able to sleep all night from learning all that stuff," she admitted. "I keep tossing and turning, and then I get nightmares of being stuffed into a suit while hearing foals laughing."

Griff was silent, noticing her frayed mane, ruffled coat and tired eyes, even after those cups of coffee. 'She hasn't even made it to the fourth night yet,' he thought to himself.

"You know, if you want to, you can still qui-"

Dash slammed her cup down on the table, not enough to break it, but enough to make a large enough noise to stop him in his tracks. Griff noticed that several ponies looked over towards them again, but Dash didn't seem to care.

"I ain't quitting, Schmidt," she told him simply. "I can still take 'em. I just got to up my own game. I can still win this."

Griff would have argued, given her condition, but held it in. He knew he wouldn't dissuade her, at least not without a copious amount of yelling, which was something he wanted to avoid in a public place. They were getting nasty enough looks as it was.

"Fine," he surrendered, watching as Rainbow Dash smiled in tired triumph, "But at least get some actual sleep. Even if you don't summon Golden Freddy, it won't do you much good if you're already hallucinating on your own."

She slumped down, tapping her head. "Nightmares, remember?"

"I'll get you some sleeping medicine to calm your nerves, my own personal creation," he assured her, then noticed her look. "Trust me, it works. I would never be able to function without it."

"...Fine..." she muttered, then passed him the two collapsed nightsticks. "Those need a charge, by the way."

Griff took them. "I'll get right on it then."

They paid for the coffee and left, Dash chugging down her third one before throwing it away and grabbing a fourth. Griff just shook his head.

"You won't be sleeping with that much caffeine."

"Trust me, I'll burn out real quick," Dash muttered as she chewed the straw she had brought with her while sipping the concoction. "I'm barely going as is."

Griff sighed. "Such is the life of a nightguard."

"I should get a gold medal for this." Dash replied.

---

11:30 PM

Rainbow Dash stood in front of the pizzeria's doors, feeling much more relaxed and rested than she would have thought. She briefly rubbed her forehead as she thought back to how Griff had given her a small bag of blue-grey powder and told her to mix about half of it with some normal water before drinking it.

"It'll help calm your nerves and ease your thoughts. Blocks out the bad to let you get a couple hours of sleep."

She had been skeptical, but after following the instructions, she had been out like a light once she hit her cloud bed. Not once did she dream of killer magic dolls.

'Guess I got to give credit where credit is due,' she admitted. 'The stuff works.'

Of course, she wasn't here early because she so well-rested. No, she was here now because she wanted answers. Answers that a certain red fox would give her before the night was through.

With a deep breath, she entered the pizzeria. To her surprise, Griff was already there, staring at her as she made her way inside.

"You're early," he noted.

Dash shrugged. "Just felt like coming."

He looked over towards the stage. Dash followed his gaze to see Freddy and company all in their proper places.

"They won't be moving just quite yet," he told her. "You still have thirty minutes."

Dash nodded. "So, uh, about my nightsticks..."

Griff levitated both of them towards her, putting them in their storage areas. "Fully recharged and ready when you are," he told her. Noticing her glance towards the stage, he shook his head. "We're not saying anything important, so don't worry about it."

Dash nodded again. "I'm just gonna..." she made a vague gesture towards Pirate Cove, "Go talk to Foxy."

Griff shrugged. "You do that if you want."

Dash stopped and stared at him. "...You don't find that weird?"

"If you want to talk with Foxy, that's your choice," Griff replied. "Whether he talks back is his. Seriously, after everything you've been telling me and what I've come to expect, I'm not gonna call you crazy. If you want to go and talk, then go and talk."

Dash was silent for a moment. "...Okay then."

She turned around and started to walk away. Griff called after her.

"Just don't spend too much time with your coltfriend, alright?"

"SERIOUSLY, WHERE'D YOU GET THAT IDEA!?"

Comments

[CookieDo]

I KNEW THERE WAS SHIPPING!!!! I TOLD YOU!!!!!

[MoonlitCresent]

LIKE THE MOMENT SHE SAID SHE WOULD VISIT HIM EVERYDAY I WONDERED IF THERE WOULD BE ROMANCE BUT NOOOOOOOO, TEASE US ABOUT IT INSTEAD

[PHONEGUYhello]

A quiet little town in the backcountry, far enough away from the bustle of places like Manehatten and Camelot to retain an old-fashioned rustic feel, yet it wasn't what anyone versed in the region would called 'outdated' either. It struck the balance of old and new while leaning towards the former, giving an air of 'the good old days' to anyone weary of the city life.

Its Canterlot, not Camelot