Pixel Drop gets a Job

Her boss reluctantly gave her a new mask after Pixel had asked for the fifth time tonight. Pixel wasn't going to bring up the broken tablet. No way, no how. Knowing her luck, the Boss would probably just yell at her for getting a crack on the tablet at all.

Pixel grumbled as she sat down in her chair. Flinching from the bruises on her back reacting to the chair. Yeah, she did get a bit bruised from falling on a hard, metal robot. Well, mostly metal. The outside felt kind of like some sort of hard fur. It wasn't all fuzzy, to say the least. It felt like ice with hair on top. Like, shed hair. Hair from your head. Just all over the ice. Getting stuck in your fingers and over your limbs. Hair is disgusting on its own.

Pixel looked down at the tablet. It read it was two minutes until twelve. Her boss had already left and closed up. The lights were to dim any moment, and Pixel was going to be in for another night. Yaaay. Well, at least she had Phone Guy to entertain her for an hour or so. Maybe. If he was going to call tonight, that was. He usually called at twelve sharp, so Pixel kept her hopes up.

Pixel checked over at the Prize Corner. Box was closed. She supposed that the puppet she had nicked 'Marion' wasn't going to stay with her in the office tonight. It would be better if it did, seeing as how last night it scared off those two plastic robots. Well, then Pixel would've guessed that Marion was also the one that let out the cry that nearly made Pixel deaf. Yeah, her ears still hurt from that. They were just sore whenever she poked at em.

The phone began to ring. Pixel, instead of letting it ring out, picked it up. She wouldn't say anything. She would just pick it up for wishing goodnight and stuff like that. Plus, if she wanted some good final words to be put on her gravestone, she would have to say them to the Phone Guy. Goodnight sounded perfectly fine, in her opinion. Maybe a bit too dramatic.

"Um, Hello, Hello! Uh.. See, I told you that you wouldn't have any problems."

No, there were a lot of problems. She was on the bad side of a bunny that was out for her legs. Plus, the puppet wasn't here to give her an extra shot.

"Hey, uh.. Did Foxy ever appear in the hallway?"

Yes. Then he appeared in the office.

"Probably not, I was just curious. Like I said, he was always my favorite. They tried to remake Foxy y'know. Uh.. They thought the first one was too scary so they redesigned him to be more kid-friendly and stuck him in Kid's Cove. Uh, to keep the toddlers entertained, y'know."

Pixel's interest was peaked. She tapped the tablet and headed over to the Kid's Cove. One portion of the view was shadowed. Pixel poked the flashlight button, lighting up the room. The corner was empty. Huh. Must've moved the redesigned Foxy or something.

"But kids these days just can't keep their hands to themselves."

..Hands?

"The staff literally had to put Foxy back together at the end of every shift. Eventually they stopped trying and just left him as some kind of.. Take-apart put-back-together attraction. Now he's just a mess of parts."

Sounds delightful. Hopefully he was rendered unable to move because of this.

"I think the employees refer to him as just 'The Mangle'."

What a nice nickname. Pixel just couldn't wait to see what this Mangle looked like. She bet it had flowers and happiness for a body. Yay.

"Uh.. Hey, before I go, I just wanted to ease your mind about any rumors you might have heard lately. Uh.. You know how these local stories come and go and seldom mean anything. I can personally assure you that whatever is going on out there, however tragic it may be, has nothing to do with our establishment."

Pixel wondered what sort of rumors went around about this place. Maybe it was rumors of there being smells in here. From what she could tell, there were no smells. She took in a breath of air via nose. Nothing. Not even the smell of pizza or baked goods. Just the good ol' bland smell of stale air.

"It's just all rumor and speculation, people trying to make a buck, you know. Our guard during the day has reported nothing unusual and he's on watch from opening until close. Okay, well, hang in there and I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Before Pixel could say goodnight, he hung up. Well. Rude. Pixel put the phone back down. She looked at the tablet. There was a blinking red caution sign by the Prize Corner. She quickly switched over, pressing onto the 'Wind up Music Box' Button.

Pixel sighed in relief. Then, she heard footsteps. She grabbed the flashlight in her mouth and flicked it down the hallway. Well, she flickered it at Foxy, who was literally in her doorway. After a couple seconds, he turned tail from light annoyance.

A bang in the vents. Mask goes on, winding button keeps being held down by her hoof.

This time, a new face showed up. From the left side, a robot boy with a smile. A robotic boy with a balloon. One could say he was a balloon boy.  He wore one of those beanies that had rotary plastic blades on the top. He also wore a tacky built-on shirt. He also didn't have any hands. Just nubs.

Pixel didn't like him and his creepy, smiling face. Or his GIGGLE. YOU STOP THAT RIGHT NOW.

"O-Oi, it's F-Fazfuck! W-What're y-ya doin out ere o-old man!?"

The mouth on this thing. How did they let it go out in front of children? He spoke like some sort of angry New Yorker that was still looking for a taxi, even though it's been three hours. That's just the way he spoke. He sounded like an eight year old.

"You've got a bad mouth on you, son. Get out of here before I shove soap down your throat."

Pixel hissed. She wasn't going to be called 'Fazfuck'. Not by a little boy who sounded like a foal. No. She'd stand for adult-sounding robots. Not little boys. She got up out of her chair. She got a full view of the tiny obese humanoid robot.

"Y-Ya wanna g-go s-shit head!?"

Balloon Boy replied, his voice box filled with sudden rage. He was a fearless one, wasn't he? Well, to be fair, he wasn't as creepy as the blue bunny or the yellow chicken without the beak. Even though the chicken sounded obnoxious.

Pixel went around her desk and towards the little robot. She pushed him over using one hoof. He fell directly onto his solid metal-fat. He rolled around, trying to get back up as Pixel just left him there to roll and swear like a sailor. One robot conquered. She doubted she would be able to do the same with the other robots she was going up against tonight.

Pixel then got an idea. She pushed Balloon Boy over to the vent where he came from. Head first. She didn't know how he managed to crawl through the thing, as once it hit his fat bulge, he got stuck. His existence would be useful tonight. If anything crawled through that vent, it'd be blocked off by the Boy Balloon over there. Heh. He certainly was big enough to be a balloon.

Pixel sat back down. Then, she heard a familiar tune.

Oh.

Well.

Pixel didn't know where Marion would come from. She took off the mask. Phone Guy said that it wouldn't work on Marion a night or two back. Pixel was going to test her luck. She held out her hooves in front of her. If Marion came through the hall and lunged at her like Foxy did, then her strategy would work.

"Pop goes the weasel."

Pixel muttered, as Marion lunged at her from the darkness. Marion went straight for the throat, grasping around said place with its hands as the chair tipped backwards.

The clatter of the chair against the floor was surprisingly loud, as Pixel pushed against Marion's soft fabricy body. She sputtered and choked, as Marion held onto her throat surprisingly strong. As the two battled against eachother's forces, Pixel got to stare directly into Marion's default emotion. A large smile, eyes showing joy. Though, there was one thing that scared her. There were pupils. Glowing, white (with a hint of purple) pupils staring directly back at her.

Pixel kicked at Marion with her hind legs. Surprisingly enough, this did nothing.

The footsteps from the hall did not reach her ears over her loud choking. Pixel was busy fighting for her life right now. Pixel did what she needed to do. She took a hoof off of Marion's chest and smacked the fiend straight across the mask. This made Marion slightly stunned, allowing Pixel a second to breath before Marion went back to the strangulation.

She felt her limbs grow weak as her air was taken from her. She twitched, her eyes rolling back into her skull, face turning even more blue than her fur.

Then, Marion let go. Not because it was showing mercy, but because something stopped it. Pixel sputtered, nauseous. Her eyesight was blurry and the flow of light from the lightbulb above was not very pretty looking.

"L-Lass, w-wot'd I tell ye?"

The voice of 'Boob Fox' commented as she held Marion underneath her hook arm. Marion was squirming underneath the sheer force of Boob Fox's arm. Marion didn't seem too happy with being stopped.

Pixel staggered to her hooves, feeling dizzy as she did so. The sudden intake of air was nice, almost heavenly to taste. Despite the fact it was stale air.

Pixel put her chair back up, putting the tablet back onto the desk where it belonged. It had fallen to the floor because of Marion's little strangulation fest. Definitely something Pixel would prefer to never do again.

"Why are you being so nice? I'm not even wearing a mask."

Pixel looked up at Boob Fox's face. She probably was doing this just to make Pixel have a false sense of trust. Yes, what a smart thing. Pixel had already figured it out. She wouldn't let Boob Fox gain a friendship or a trust like Marion had.

"I-It's because I g-got r-reeeal eyes!"

Boob Fox leaned forward, letting Pixel take a look at her face. Yeah, no, those were fake eyes. They looked like plastic eyes.

"..R-Rough crowd, a-aint it?"

Boob Fox stood up straight again as she looked down at Marion for an answer. Marion didn't reply. It was still struggling to release itself from Boob Fox's captivity. Boob Fox gave a metallic sigh.

"Are you supposed to be that bad at jokes..?"

Pixel asked. Boob Fox wasn't too entertained by this question.

"L-Lass, I just saved y-ye life. T-Tha least ye c-can do i-i-is show a bit of a-appreciation."

Boob Fox stated.

"I-If ye w-want to insult m-me jokes s-some more, t-though.."

There was an obvious glint from the hook on Boob Fox's personage. Pixel gave a nervous smile. That thing was a bit pointed.

The vents to the right clattered, as static sounded.

"I-I never thot t-the day would come w-when I-I'd see the K-Kraken a-again!"

Boob Fox was looking directly over at the vent to the right.

"T-Take cover L-Lass, this is g-gonna be ugly."

Boob Fox warned, shoving Pixel underneath her own desk. Pixel didn't even see what was in the vent, or where that static was coming from. All she knew was that she was now underneath a desk. Well.

Footsteps in the hallway, a screech, then a Foxy tripping over Pixel's desk and slamming into the wall behind it. Boob Fox called for 'Captain's' assistance as it sounded like things were breaking out there. It sounded like glass and electronics were breaking. Most likely the televisions piled up in the corners of the room.

Pixel played no part in the fight as it went on. She just sat under the desk. Then, something appeared around the corner of her desk. Marion. Well, shit.

Pixel prepared herself once more for another strangulation. Though, she did not get one. Rather, Marion just sat up against a wall of the desk. Not the same wall as Pixel, but the one to the left. Marion didn't speak. Pixel just glared at Marion with utmost resentment. Marion didn't meet eye contact. Or maybe it did. Pixel couldn't tell, those pupils were gone. It seems like Marion's want to kill was only around when it had pupils. Now the blacks of its eyes were hollow, like a void. Marion's smile had shifted down into a slight frown.

"If you think that I'm going to forgive you, I'm not."

Probably not the best thing to say to something that could kill her.

Marion sniffled. It didn't even look at Pixel. Rather, it looked down at its right arm.  All along the bottom of Marion's arm was a huge tear. It showed off cotton, fluff, and all that good stuff that dolls usually had inside of them.

Pixel nearly went deaf last time. She wasn't going to be near the blast's source when the bomb explodes. She would defuse it now to avoid any sort of destruction.

Pixel brought Marion over into a hug, like she did last time. She still hated Marion, beyond no doubt. The audacity of this puppet was astounding. Coming in here, nearly choking Pixel to death, now sniffling (Pixel wasn't sure how it sniffled, it had no nose) over a wound. What an asshole.

At least it was soft. Like a sentient pillow.

Pixel sighed as the robots clattered against the floors and electronics. Pixel managed to reach around the top of the desk with her free hoof and grab the tablet. Any further harm to the thing could cost her a lot of money to get it repaired. Plus, she didn't like the chances of the robots bumping into the table or using the tablet as a weapon against this 'Kraken'.

Speaking of weapons, Pixel couldn't tell, but Boob Fox had yanked Balloon Boy from the hold of the metal vents. She was much bigger in size and height than the fat thing, so she was able to pick him up. Nevertheless to say, the sound of his angered toddler voice didn't reach Pixel over the robotic pirate puns spouted by an unknown voice. She either guessed it was Foxy or the Kraken.

"W-What in t-the hell a-are ya'll d-doin f-f-fightin!?"

The familiar voice of Bonnie rang out, attempting to shout over the sounds of metallic scraping. Pixel reckoned the bunny got into the office through the vent, like it always did.

Bonnie did not quell the fight whatsoever. No, no they did not. Pixel was pretty sure that the fight intensified. She could hear more stuff breaking now that Bonnie had joined.

This went on for a good couple of minutes. No sign of the fight stopping anytime soon. Pixel looked down at the tablet. Well, at least she could check on the other things in this place. She poked on the back room. She was pretty sure that none of the things in there came out. They were deactivated and missing limbs, after all. That purple thing even was missing a face.

Pixel tapped on the flashlight button. The room lit up. Everything was there. The purple thing, that brown head of a robot bear.. The camera didn't show the chicken thing that had its mouth forced open. Pixel was pretty sure that was a bad thing.

It appeared as if Marion had calmed down completely now. Well, it now clinged onto Pixel fairly tightly. It was nothing to worry about. It couldn't cause any real pain like a strangulation could. If Marion went for the throat, she'd make sure to toss it back out into the fight. Well, if she could. Since she was pushed up against the back wall of the desk, she would be able to just topple it and most likely use that gravity to her advantage.

Plus, from what she could tell, Marion was sensitive to pain. Even that smack from the wall yesterday was enough to make it cry.

Though, for some reason, Marion was hiccupping. Like, they weren't too spaced out inbetween hiccups. They were nearly rapid. They were small, reserved hiccups. Barely audible over the sounds of conflict in the office. It sounded like they weren't calming down anytime soon with those pirate puns either.

"Do you need water or something?"

Pixel asked Marion. Marion didn't reply for a couple seconds, due to the hiccups.

"No, *Hic* I.. I *Hic* just get *Hic* hiccups when *Hic* I'm scared.."

What a baby. Well, Pixel was slightly scared by the fighting. More concerned than anything. Since her life wasn't currently being threatened, she was still a bit worried about the fighting. They did sound like they were damaging stuff out there.

Pixel looked down at the tablet. She poked around on the screen. She checked up on the show stage. It seemed like the chicken and bear were talking. Their mouths were moving, but Pixel couldn't tell what they were saying. Mostly because the fight was too loud to hear the little tablet.

Suddenly, the chicken nodded, removing its beak with ease. Pixel looked upon the scene in disgust as the beak-less chicken gave over her beak to the bear before exiting range of the camera. Something told Pixel that the chicken was going to be heading over here.

Also, how.. How was it only 3AM? The nights before this one seemed to progress ever so quickly. This one, not so much.

When the anime-pantied chicken entered the room, her presence did not go unnoticed.

"GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUYS!!!"

She shrieked in her high-pitched voice.

"L-Lass, this a-ain't ye fight."

The voice of Foxy replied before the sounds of fights continued.

The ground started to shake at this point, as robots banged up against the table. Pixel had no idea what the balls they were doing out there. She really didn't. All she knew was that it sounded bad.

Marion was nearly pushed up against Pixel at this point. Pixel would not admit she felt the slightest bit of pity for her former strangler. Marion held onto Pixel ever so tightly with its long arms. As the fight grew louder and louder, (Anime Chicken didn't help at all with the calming down of the fight with her loud voice) Marion began to shake. What a serious baby.

Pixel poked around on the screen a bit more. Just checking random rooms. Nothing showed up, of course.

Wait, what was that? Pixel swore she saw something just as she changed the feed. She switched back over to Parts and Services. Something was missing here. Yes, there was something missing here. She studied the scene. That purple thing with no face was gone. Where did it go?

There was a loud hissing sound from the fight. The sound of a retreat through vent was next.

Between the foxes, Pixel heard sounds of congratulations. Sounds of rejoice. Of puns. Amazing.

"Y-Yeah, yeah. S-Shove off, y-ya old s-seascums."

Bonnie hissed.

"W-Whatever ye a-are, m-man or w-woman, y-ye k-know t-these hooks aren't f-f-for show."

Boob Fox replied.

An argument ensued. Anime Chicken and Foxy were generally quiet, as Boob Fox and Bonnie just went on with the arguments. Pixel was getting curious as to what the surrounding area looked like. So, despite the risk of Foxy, she dawned the Freddy Mask (after fishing it off the top of the desk) and popped her head above the desk. Marion still clung to her like a monkey child as she moved.

The damage was.. Fairly bad. The televisions were almost all gone from her vision (they were probably on the floor, broken) and Balloon Boy was nowhere to be seen. The drawings on the walls (ones pinned up there by previous security guards) had been ripped down and were probably on the floor. The flashlight was gone. Pixel presumed her flashlight was used as a weapon.

Pixel looked up.

Oh. There was Balloon Boy. He was hung up on the ceiling by a bunch of rope things. He was entangled in them, actually. Pixel didn't know how he got up there. Nor did she care. Balloon Boy was like a sailor with his swears. Pixel didn't like the spoiled brat at all.

Balloon Boy appeared to have his balloon stuck down his throat. Well. Wonder how that got there. At least he was quiet. The sounds of muffled choking did come from him, barely. The argument really overpowered the near silent swears that came from Balloon Boy's blocked vocal box.

"W-Well Well Well.. I-If it i-isn't Freddy. D-Darlin, w-what're you d-doin underneath t-that desk?"

Bonnie was obviously talking to her. Pixel didn't respond. She simply caught eye-contact. She was silent as Bonnie stared back at her.

"F-Freddy? Y-Ye need yer e-eyes c-checked, c-confused gendered B-Bun."

Boob Fox smacked Bonnie upside the head with her hand before heading over to Pixel. Pixel was picked up by Boob Fox's hand and lifted up into the air like she was a prize. Marion was literally attached to Pixel like a leech as Pixel was picked up.

"N-No, that's F-Freddy, look at the f-f-face, Darlin!"

Bonnie pointed at Pixel's mask. Please don't tell her that Boob Fox was going to take off the mask.

Boob Fox stabbed the mask with her hook and ripped it off, revealing Pixel's face. Well. Thanks.

"Y-You literally t-thought F-Freddy was a pony, y-ye l-landlubber!"

Boob Fox chuckled. Thanks, Boob Fox. This a fantastic position to be in. Fantastic.

"D..Darlin.. I-Is it a real pony..?"

Bonnie's voice box suddenly took on a sort of repressed excitement tone. Its pupils seemed to dilate. Anime Chicken (who stood close to Bonnie) was quick to swipe Pixel from Boob Fox.

"S-She's mine, baka!"

Anime Chicken declared in her squeaky, high-pitched voice. Anime Chicken held Pixel like a baby. Wh.. What was going on? Pixel looked down at Marion, who looked slightly worried as well.

"S-She ain't n-no seahorse. C-Can't use the l-lass for the crew."

Foxy sounded slightly disappointed. He obviously didn't want her.

"C-Chica, give h-her here. Ya d-don't know a s-single thing 'bout h-horses!"

Bonnie demanded.

The two robots bickered over Pixel, stealing her from each other. Didn't Phone Guy say that the animatronics would be doing this. She was pretty sure they were supposed to be doing the complete opposite.

While they tugged her back and forth, Marion got more and more worried. All the motion was causing the wound that Marion had previously gained to continue to split. Seams were being torn from Bonnie and Chica using Marion as a way to grab Pixel at times (seeing as how tightly Marion was holding onto Pixel). Marion was beginning to whine. Just small whines of pain. Not very loud. Pixel could still hear them.

"Y-Ye two a-are goin t-to rip 'er in half if y-ye keep goin like that!"

Boob Fox finally interjected, snatching Pixel away once more. Though, that was the final tug. Due to Marion being held by Chica and Pixel being snatched the opposite direction by a stronger force ever so suddenly.. Marion's grip on Pixel was destroyed as it flopped to the ground. The entire bottom of Marion's arm was ripped open now, reaching up to the palm of its hand.

The room was silent as Marion sat up. Foxy booked it as Marion sat up. He wasn't having any of that tonight.

"T-This is your fault, B-BAKA! B-Bad Bonnie-chan, bad!"

Chica tried to sound as serious as possible. Pixel couldn't take her seriously as long as she had that voice, to be honest. There was just no way that Pixel would be taking that chicken with no beak (in panties) seriously.

"Y-Yar, lass.. I-I think y-ye should take care of t-this one.."

Boob Fox nervously chuckled, putting Pixel down next to Marion before wailing 'WAIT FOR ME CAPN!' and sprinting out of there. She seemed to have some trouble in the hallway, as Pixel heard a crash of metal.

Pixel's ears folded back as she saw the looks on Chica and Bonnie's faces. They said nothing before getting out of there via hallway. Once more, Marion had scared off the robots with the threat of crying.

Pixel looked back over at Marion. Marion was not sniffling. No, rather, it was twitching. Its eyes seemed to be focused on it's wound as Marion tried to lift up its arm. Pixel just looked. Stared. Then, she sighed. She knew what she would have to do. She would have to go home and fix Marion up herself. Well, once the bell rang for Pixel to leave. Pixel would have to go home and come back in order to fix Marion up.

"I'll fix your arm if you don't choke me again."

Pixel offered. Marion didn't reply. It was just staring at the injury. Pixel wondered what it was like, to have an injury like that. It would be the equivalent of peeling back her own skin to reveal the muscles and stuff underneath. Okay, uh.. She didn't want that to happen. Ever. It must hurting ever so terribly, that wound. There goes the sympathy. Great.

"I know how to sow things. Just stick it out until six rolls around. I'll go home and get my sowing stuff, then come back."

Pixel promised, picking up the limp Marion in her hooves. Marion was quiet. The only noise that Marion made was a slight whine when Pixel accidentally brushed over the rip with her hoof.

Pixel sat down in her chair once more. What a night. What a night. She placed Marion down in her lap, letting it do whatever it wanted. Marion curled back into the cat-like ball from last night. Marion was shaking. Pixel placed her free hoof on Marion and pet Marion like it was a cat. It didn't seem to help or harm anything.

There was a clunking sound from the hallway. Well, Pixel didn't have a flashlight. Blech. She doubted it was Foxy, as his footsteps were rapid and lighter. These footsteps were slow and heavy.

Just to be safe, Pixel put on the mask.

Before she got a chance to see what the thing in the shadows was, the bell for 6AM rang. Oh. Luna must've messed up on the timing of the moon tonight. Well, nevertheless, Pixel was happy she didn't have to know what didn't manage to get into her office as well tonight.

Pixel took off the mask, shut off the tablet and picked Marion up in her mouth. The lights of the pizzeria turned onto full blast once more. The thing in the hallway.. Was not there. Strange. Pixel didn't hear any footsteps other than the few that were coming towards her. She didn't care. As long as she didn't have to deal with another problem tonight, she would be fine.

Pixel would put Marion into its box, then go home and get the stuff.

Or maybe Marion would refuse to get off her.

Yeah, once Pixel had arrived at the box Marion normally stayed in, she went to put Marion in using her hooves. Despite the fact one of the arms was disabled and wounded, Marion managed to grab onto Pixel's hoof. The thing still had some grip in its hands, obviously.

"Marion, you need to let go. I'll come back in a couple minutes."

Pixel stated, shaking her hoof over the box. Marion reluctantly let go of Pixel's hoof and dropped down into the box. The empty box. Must be hard sleeping in there, with no pillow. It's basically like sleeping on a tile floor, wasn't it? Pity was flowing again. Pixel began to head out of the room.

"I.. Thought you said you weren't going to forgive me for choking you.."

Marion popped its head over the top of the box and said this in one of the most sincere tones that Pixel had ever heard. Holy hell, either it was a really good actor or a puppet like itself felt legitimate guilt.

"Yeah, well, I'll get reprimanded if I don't fix you by the time the Boss gets here."

Pixel didn't want her pay getting cut because of something the robots did. She would also have to get Balloon Boy off of the ceiling. That would be just delightful.

The trek to her house began as soon as she left the Prize Corner.

Pixel had returned to the Pizzeria a full hour later (after getting some food, obviously) with her sowing kit in her saddle bag. She also brought along a flashlight to replace the missing old one.

Pushing through the doors, Pixel found something a bit strange about the place. Maybe it was the conversations. Maybe. She could hear conversations off in the distance. Maybe they were off in the main hall, on the stage. They sounded rather near. Pixel stood in place and just listened in.

"Have a good day, children.."

W.. What the hell was that..? Pixel could barely hear who or what said that, but she could identify a couple features from the voice. One being that she didn't want to hear it again. It was oddly alluring. Hypnotizing, actually. A smooth sounding voice with a calm tone. Normally, that sort of voice would be okay. It would be attractive to mares. When the (obviously male) voice said something like that in a not even open Pizzeria.. Well, something about that just screamed wrong.

Was.. Was it a burglar? Oh no. There is literally no way somepony would be stupid enough to rob this place. There was nothing to rob except robots. Pixel had to check on the well-being of the intruder. She never thought she would have to make sure an enemy was alright again tonight.

Pixel charged into the main hall, only to find everything was fine. Balloon Boy must've gotten down from the ceiling by himself because he was standing over there. Smiling. Creepy ass little bipedal creature. Pixel still wasn't sure what he was meant to be, in all honesty. He just sounded like a guy. A little boy.

Pixel trotted through the now silent hallways. She made her way over to the Prize Corner once more. Marion was patiently waiting for her. Kind of shocked her when she walked in to see it just sitting on the floor (Criss-cross applesauce style).

"Alright, I'm back. Hold out your arm and I'll fix it for you."

Marion did as told, holding out the arm that had been cut. Still looked bad. Pixel brought out her white and black thread.

The night went on. Well, actually, it was morning now. The two sat in relative silence. Marion make the occasional whimper as Pixel stitched it up. What a baby, honestly. Pixel wasn't going to live down the whole choking thing. Mostly because it could've killed her.

Pixel wondered about who that voice belonged to. It didn't sound like an animatronic, as their voices were more broken up by their voice boxes. Also, they sounded like robots. That voice sounded like ti came from a pony. Or a ghost. Maybe it was a ghost. Yeah, no. There were no such things around, even in Equestria. There were no such things as ghosts. Ghosts didn't exist.

"Um.. My friend says I can't 'help' you anymore.. He just wants me to kill you tomorrow."

Marion suddenly said in its neutral tone. It sounded rather sleepy. Maybe it was because it hadn't slept for the past couple of hours. Maybe that was it.

"Tell your friend he's rude. You shouldn't be forced to kill somepony just if he says so."

Pixel replied, not making eye contact. She was more focused on her work right now.

"He'll be really mad at me if I don't. He does bad things when he's mad. He punishes all of us if we screw up."

Marion was being too vague with its naming here. Pixel didn't like the vagueness.

"Who is this 'He' you're talking about? Don't just say 'he's my friend'. Tell me his name."

Pixel wondered if they got punished every night by this 'he', considering they had failed to kill her the past three nights (including the one she had just finished). What sort of punishment they got, she didn't care about.

"I don't know his name."

Well, at least there was a reason behind the vagueness.

"He was really angry because we fought each other tonight. He was mostly angry at Beerfox.. She got hurt real badly. She's fine now, though."

This guy was hurting robots. How could he manage to do that? Also, how come none of them seem to be physically damaged except for the old robots? This was really weird.

"I'm going to guess he doesn't like me."

"He doesn't like you at all. You're a.. a.. uh.."

"Security Guard?"

"No.. What are you called?"

"My name or species?"

"What's a species..?"

"It's a type of animal grouped into one name. I'm a pony."

"Yeah, you're that. He doesn't like you being a that. Or the truth that you can avoid being killed by us."

"What, is he not used to ponies? This place is a pizzeria in Equestria."

"..What's an Equestria?"

Pixel found herself finished with the sowing on Marion. She packed up her stuff and picked Marion up.

"Wait, are you going to leave..?"

Marion asked as it was dumped into the box once more.

"Yeah. I have to get some sleep for tomorrow night."

Coming back tomorrow seemed like a really bad idea.

"I don't think you should.. He will probably take control against tomorrow. He makes sure I want to kill you, when the music box stops."

"He sounds like a terrible pony."

"He doesn't look like a pony. He looks like.. A.. Uh.."

How could somepony not look like a pony? That's weird.

"Anyways, just make sure he doesn't or else my life is going to be on the line again tomorrow."

Pixel closed the box with that statement.

Then, she left and went home for the morning.

"..."

"You've been avoiding me.. I heard everything, friend.."

"You always do."

"You're very right, my child.."

"Don't call me that."

"Why not..?"

"It's.. weird."

"I assure you, we're all strange here.. The only one who's the weirdest is you.. Not killing her.. How.. Disappointing.."

"I-I just didn't want to-"

"You chose not to..? You.. CHOSE..?"

"W-Wh.. N-No!"

"There is no reason to lie.. You've helped her twice now.. I think a punishment is in order.."