Pixel Drop gets a Job

"What do you mean you're not going to do anything!? That bunny THREATENED TO TEAR MY LEGS OFF!"

Pixel shouted at her boss, who leaned back in her chair. She didn't seem to care too much.

Pixel had confronted her boss about the blue bunny threatening to tear her legs off. Pixel met her boss inside the manager's room. It was small, but well decorated. Pixel sat in a small wooden chair while her boss sat in a large office chair. This place really didn't have a lot of money for comfortable chairs.  Anyways, chair comfort was not the main concern at the moment.

"I'm afraid I can't help ya. Just do your job, kid. I don't want you to see you here in my office complaining ever again."

Pixel's boss said in her upbeat tone. She never sounded serious about anything. Maybe her boss was just so used to talking happily that her voice got stuck that way permanently. It was annoying, to say the least. Pixel snorted, getting up.

Pixel closed the door to her boss's office behind her as she left. She grumbled insults underneath her breath as she stomped down the hallway. Just five more days before this job was over. She hoped that those five days would be over with quickly. She didn't want to bother with these robots and other things.

Her ears folded backwards, she made the trek back to her office. Her shift was starting soon and another night of possible death was in store for her. How fun. How glorious. How absolutely frightening. Yeah, she still hadn't gotten over the eyes of the animatronics. When she was trying to go to sleep the morning after the first night, she kept seeing those eyes pop up in the darkness of her eyelids. She would always immediately open her eyes as soon as she saw them.

Pixel sat down in her own security guard chair. She looked down at the tablet. It was currently 11:47 PM. She had gotten to work early. She wasn't to get here at 12:00AM or else she risked the threat of the robots finding her while they were on their little walk around period. From what 'Phone Guy' told her, it seemed like a bad idea for her to walk around during that time.

Pixel fiddled her hooves, switching the tablet's view onto the Prize Corner. She kept that music box wound up. She didn't want that hidden animatronic to get out. Unless that puppet from last night was the animatronic. She seriously doubted it. That puppet was a puppet. It doesn't have a metal skeleton inside of it, she was pretty sure. Who puts a metal skeleton inside a puppet anyways?

The questioning of this logic whittled away at the minutes of peace she had. She didn't even notice her boss's "goodnight" shout from down the hall. Nor did she listen to the start of 'Grandfather's Clock' from the tablet. She was just in her little world for a couple minutes. Her conversation with herself lead to other things. Like friends, the state of the world, how she was alive. Like, have you ever wondered how you're alive? That sort of stuff is just so expansive.

The ringing of the phone snapped her out of her deep thought. Maybe it was for the better, huh? Though slightly annoyed, Pixel let the phone ring out as it did the night before. She was tempted to pick it up, just to see the guy's reaction.

"Uh.. Hello, Hello! Uh, I told you your first night wouldn't be a problem. By now, I bet you've noticed the older models sitting in the backroom."

Yeah. Those old, broken down machines she got to spend almost the entire night with last night. They sure were the best, weren't they. Their dislocated jaws and missing faces. Creepy lookin things. Pixel never wanted to go back there again.

"Those are from the previous location and we just use them for parts now. The idea at first was to repair them, uh.. Refitting them with some new technology, but they were just so ugly, y'know?"

Pixel definitely knew first hoof how ugly those things looked.

"And the smell."

Smell? She didn't recall a smell. Maybe she just didn't breath in any smells while she was back there. Lucky her.

"So, the company just decided to go in a whole new direction and make them super kid friendly."

Kid friendly. How funny. Very, very funny. Those things on the stage were not kid friendly up close. No.

"Those older ones shouldn't be able to walk around. Uh.. But if they do, the whole Freddy head trick thing should work on them too. Uh.. Heh.. I love those old characters. Have you ever seen Foxy the Pirate?"

Okay, first off, those things in the backroom shouldn't walk AT ALL. Pixel just hoped they would stay back there and do their own thing. Second off, she literally had never been to Freddy Fazbutt's Pizzeria of Nightmares before.

"Oh wait, Foxy.. Oh yeah, Foxy. Uhhhhh, hey listen. That one was always a bit twitchy.. Uh, I'm not sure the Freddy head trick will work on Foxy. Uh, if for some reason he activates during the night and you see him standing at the end of the hall, just flash your light at him from time to time. Those older models would always get disoriented by bright lights. It recalls a system restart or something."

Great, more things to worry about. Not like she didn't have enough. How many things were there to worry about now? Eight? How delightful.

"Uh, come to think of it, you should try that on any room where something undesirable might be."

Undesirable sounded like an understatement. Pixel didn't know any synonyms to replace undesirable, but it would be a word that was much more intense and filled with panic.

"It might hold them in place for a few seconds. Uh.. It might've carried over to the newer models too. Uh, one more thing. Don't forget the music box. I'll be honest, I never liked that puppet thing."

It didn't seem too bad. At least it didn't have some huge ass smile on its face constantly. Last time she saw it, it had a tired or sleeping face. Which probably connected to it being asleep by the music. Meh, she didn't know.

"It's always.. thinking and it can go anywhere. Uh, I don't think the Freddy Mask will fool it, so just don't forget the music box."

..That puppet was here to kill her. Her thoughts were correct. So, maybe the tune of 'Grandfather Clock' calmed it down or something.

"Uh, I'm sure it won't be a problem. Anyways, have a goodnight."

Well, at least he was nice.

"Goodnight."

Pixel replied to the Phone Guy. Even though he couldn't hear her.

"Oh, wait, uh.. There is one thing I forgot to mention. Apparently they brought over an animatronic from the old place today. Uh, she was put in the backroom as well, so she probably won't be much of a concern. Uhh.. I'm pretty sure the Freddy mask should work on her as well. Anyways, talk to you tomorrow."

With that, he hung up. Pixel looked down at the tablet. The music box was slowly unwinding. She pressed down on the little tab to wind it back up. She didn't want the evil side of the puppet to come out of that box.

If it.. was.. inside the box..

Pixel frantically pressed the flashlight button on the screen. She lit up the room. The top of the box was uncovered. The box was OPEN.

She heard something inside the vents. The one to the right. Pixel picked up the flashlight quickly and flashed it down that vent. No, yeah, there it was. Shit. SHIT SHIT SHIT.

Pixel grabbed the fan from the desk. It was battery powered. She needed some sort of weapon just in case the puppet was here for blood. She just hoped it wasn't. She didn't hear any music emanating from the puppet, like last night. If she recalled correctly, it played Pop the Weasel when it got to the door. This time, it was almost completely silent. Except for the sounds of fabric rubbing up against metal vents.

The puppet got up onto it's stubby feet. It had a tired looking face, like the night before. Now that she saw it fully, she saw all the details. The things she missed before were now right in front of her. It had three large, painted on white rings around its legs and arms. It also had three large buttons along its stomach. Yup. Still a puppet.

The puppet walked over to her on it's little needle feet. Those things were weird. Pixel could feel a cold sweat develop as she froze up. Then, the puppet spoke.

"I had a bad dream. Can I sleep with you tonight..?"

It spoke with the voice of  a small child. It was high enough that Pixel couldn't tell the gender by the voice alone. It also had a slight echo to its voice. It was weird, nevertheless to say. With something that tall, she expected more of an adult voice, honestly. Still, at least it wasn't here to kill her.

"Uh.. Sure. I don't see why not."

Pixel's ears folded back as she put on a nervous smile. The puppet came closer to Pixel. Uncomfortably close. It got down and climbed onto her lap. Its legs receded as it curled up into a ball, like a cat would do. The puppet was fairly soft, though it was weird to have it all balled up on her lap. She couldn't sit like a regular pony due to the chair not being big enough. So, her lap was the only place for the puppet to lay down.

This was weird.

Pixel moved the chair forward a tad, so she was as close to the desk as possible. She put the tablet down onto the desk and picked up the flashlight. She checked down the hallway. She nearly flung the damn flashlight down there from the startling appearance of a Fox animatronic just feet away from running through her door. She rapidly flashed the light at the fox that was probably Foxy.

This animatronic was probably old. It had patches of its fur taken off all over it's body and legs. Parts of the skeleton on the inside were shown off. Foxy also seemed to have a hook. Oh, she bet that never poked anypony's eyes out.

She continued just flashing the flashlight. Eventually, Foxy covered his eyes and walked back down the hallway. She made sure he walked out of sight. She didn't want him running back down the hallway.

Pixel looked down at the tablet, switching it over to the stage. Oh. It appears as if they were all gone. All three of the robots were off the stage. Great. Fantastic. You know what's even more fantastic? The sounds of things in the vents. She had nothing else to do but throw on the Freddy mask and pray to Celestia she wouldn't have her legs torn off. So, she sat.

She looked around at the vents, shaking. Shit. If that blue bunny was here again, it would probably tear off her legs. Oh god. Oh shit. Oh no.

She was still. The sound of machinery was near, as two animals entered her mask's limited vision.

"F-Freddy darlin-n. I-I told ya l-last night t-that I-I'd t-t-tear your legs o-off if I-I saw y-ya out again."

It was the bunny again. It was joined by a.. a.. Celestia, what the hell was that thing..? It looked like the chicken from the stage but minus the beak. Thing looked like an alien. Pixel didn't like the alien robot. Thing was terrible. Terrible.

"B-Bonniee-chaaaan! W-Why would y-you do such a h-horrible thing?"

There were no words to describe how annoying the beak-less chicken sounded. Actually, there were. Pixel couldn't put any words, but I can. It sounded like one of the high-pitched anime girls with little to no personality other than sounding and looking 'cute'. That sort of annoying.

"B-Because I don't w-want him o-out here sc-caring all the kids! J-Just l-look at how u-ugly he i-is!"

'Bonnie' hissed, pointing its finger directly at Pixel's face. They were really fooled by the mask, huh. She was still blue. Also, a pony. She didn't know how this mask business worked anyways. Neither did she care.

The chicken bent over and looked directly into Pixel's eyes. The chicken was damn creepy. It had a permanent smile on its face, it seemed. Pixel didn't like it. No, she did not like the chicken at all. She felt her heart in her throat once more. Her breaths quickening every passing second the chicken just stared at her.

"I-I think you're b-being r-really rude, Bonnie-c-chan."

The chicken went back up, looking back over at the bunny.

The two continued bickering as Pixel just listened. Her ears flicked, shooting straight up. That sounded like running. It was getting closer.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The fox jumped from the shadows, colliding directly with the blue bunny and chicken. This did not stop his flight, it just changed his trajectory as he continued to fly through the air. Pixel thought on her instinct, ducking as the fox grazed her head. He smacked directly onto the back of her chair.

Now, gravity's a cool thing. With the fox pressing down on the chair's backside with great force, it made the chair fall over quickly. For every reaction, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Pixel and the Puppet were flung from the chair, hitting the wall. The two fell over onto the ground rather quickly, as Pixel had the unfortunate luck of falling directly onto the disoriented Foxy.

The mask was smashed and damaged. The nose was all dented and the rest of the mask pressed up against her face tightly. Her eyes nearly bulged out the front of the mask now. Though, something else was wrong. To the right of her, the puppet was now sitting up. A huge, huge frown crossed almost the entire face of the puppet. It's eyes changed to something that looked a tad sad. It looked like it was about to cry.

Almost the entire room was in silence as the puppet began to sniffle.

"Oh no."

The chicken and Bonnie said simultaneously. If the robots were saying 'oh no' chances were that the puppet crying was a really, really bad thing. It was like a ticking time bomb, it seemed. The sniffles slowly kept building as the robots just stared. Foxy eventually shoved Pixel off and booked it out of there.

Pixel was unsure of what to do here. It seemed like the robots didn't want the puppet to cry. Well, they didn't want it to cry because it probably brought upon bad fortune.

"Um.. B-Bonnie-chan.."

The chicken looked over at the bunny. The bunny gave a quick nod.

"H-Have fun w-with that, F-Freddy Darlin!"

With that, the bunny and chicken ran down the hallway Foxy had escaped down. Pixel was alone in the room with the sniffling puppet. Every second that went by, the risk grew.

Pixel shuffled closer and closer to the puppet, who swung its head around to look at her. The action was sudden, startling her. Pixel thought of what to do next. How do you calm down a kid? Uh.. Put your hoof around them and hug them. Yeah, that should work. So, that's exactly what she did.

This was really weird. Was it 6AM yet?

The hug seemed to calm the puppet down slightly. Though, before the hug fully took effect, an animatronic jumped over the desk. It was a large, orange colored fox. Unlike Foxy, this one had a sort of watery looking tail. It also had BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBS. The fox pushed Pixel away from the puppet before grabbing said puppet with it's huge hands.

It then dashed off, as the entire restaurant was silent for a good thirty or so seconds. A sound pierced the silence. A wail. A eardrum bursting wail of pure sadness. It was loud. It was highpitched. It made Pixel cover her ears and get underneath her desk. She didn't bother to take off her mask, considering it covered part of her ears.

The cry pounded in her ears like a powerjack. It hurt her brain to think about anything sensible. Were her ears bleeding? She couldn't tell.

Then, just like that, the ringing of the clock hitting 6AM cut off the loud sob.  The sob stopped as soon as the clock hit. The sweet sound of silence comforted Pixel's ears like pillows. Well, she took off the mask and put it onto the table. Now she had to go find the puppet, just to make sure it wasn't out of its box after her shift ended.

She removed herself from underneath her desk and looked at the tablet. A crack had formed from the loud crying. Great. Now she was going to have to explain this to her boss. She snorted in anger. She hated this place. At least having the puppet around helped her from not dying tonight. She was thankful for that, at least.

Also, what was up with that random robot that ran in here and grabbed the puppet before running off?

...

It was standing in the doorway. How was she going to deal with this? Phone guy didn't tell her anything about the animatronics being out after hours.

"L-Lass, ye s-should know n-not ta l-let the p-puppet in ere. C-Captain already t-told m-me that if tha p-puppet getcha, i-it strangles ye."

The orange fox commented, walking up to the desk as Pixel just looked up at the she-fox. Now that she looked at it fully, it also had an eyepatch (much like Foxy).

"Are you guys just friendly after 6AM or something? Why are you talking to me?"

Pixel questioned. She also hadn't questioned the choppy audio that came from them. Or the fact that they could LITERALLY SAY ANYTHING. It's like they were actual beings that had actual brains.

"O-Only during t-the si-i-ix hours do w-we get t-tuh d-do what w-we want. Ye s-should listen to m-me warnin, l-lass. D-Don't let t-that puppet b-be foolin ya or ye'll be f-fish food-d."

The orange fox continued.

"Yeah, alright. I'll see you tomorrow, boobed fox."

Pixel pushed past the 'boobed fox' and down the now lit hallway. She would check around to make sure the puppet was in its box, then go home.

So, that's exactly what she did. She went to the Prize Corner first, seeing the puppet on the floor. With a quick pick up using her mouth, Pixel put the puppet inside the present box.

"Thanks for saving me today," Pixel paused. She didn't know this puppet's name. Well. She'll just make one up, "Marion. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight."

With that, she closed the box and headed to the entrance. She received a glare from the boobed fox on her way out and its way to the backroom.

Tonight went by quickly. As all nights will.

"I don't like you."

"Well, I like you.. You did help me, afterall.."

"Shut up."

"You do like to give life, don't you..?"

"Yes, I do."