I slowly walked towards the restaurant. It looked newer than the old one did, and the ponies that worked there obviously took care of the place. I didn’t really want to go inside . . . I’ve heard rumors about this place. Some say it’s haunted by a child that went missing there a couple of weeks ago while others say that the animatronics can move without anypony controlling ‘em. I-I don’t really believe the first one, but the second one . . . erm, yeah. I set one hoof into the café and I see three, smaller animatronics. At the old place, they were larger, and less smooth than this, but they’re still equally creepy.

The new animatronic’s names were Surprise, Twilight, and Posie. They were once Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, and Fluttershy, but they changed them. I have no idea why . . . I never asked, but I’m sure the other employees know. As I pass one hallway, a faint static noise starts to buzz in my ears. I flatten them to block it out, but it doesn’t really help. I-I’m probably just nervous on my first day. The dark hallway in front of me doesn’t help at all. I see only a faint light from the large entrance to my office. I walk towards it until I see a door that says parts and service. It slowly creaks open, I scream, and start to run down the hallway. I breathe heavily when I get to the office.

I sit down, and put on my hat and uniform. I fix my tie, moving it in place, and I smile. I look around me, seeing two open vents and the dark hallway in front of me. Then I hear the phone ring. “H-hello?” a mare asks on the phone. I sigh, and I start to listen again, picking up the tablet. “Hello, um if you’re hearing this, then you’ve made a very poor career choice. But let’s get started. Hello, and welcome to your new summer job at the new and improved, Surprise’s Café. I-I’m here to talk you through some of the things you have to do throughout your exciting first week.” As I flick through cameras, I begin to hear the static noise that I had heard while passing the first hallway. I press a button on the tablet in the room that I passed, and I see a ripped apart animatronic with only one eye.

I shiver, and start to listen to the mare again. “Uh, first I want you to forget everything that you heard about the old place. Some ponies have a somewhat . . . negative idea of the company that holds this café. And that old restaurant was kind of left to rot, but I want to reassure you, Surprise Entertainment is committed to family fun and over all, safety. They’ve spent a small fortune on the new, or toy, as some ponies call it, animatronics facial recognition, advanced mobility, they even let them walk around during the day. Isn’t that cool?” She cleared her throat a bit, and I started to pick up the tablet again. “But most importantly, they are all tied into some sort of criminal database, so they can detect a predator a mile away. Heh, we should be paying them to guard you.” I rolled my eyes and started to look through the camera again. “Uh, now that being said, no new system’s without it’s . . . kinks. Uh, you’re only the second security guard to work in that place, actually. The last pony finished his week, but he complained about . . . conditions. Uh, we switched him over to the day shift, so hey, lucky you.” She started to nervously laugh, and I started to feel a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“She mostly complained about certain characters that seemed to move around at night, and even attempted to get into her office. F-from what we know that should be impossible. Uh that restaurant should be the safest place on earth. So while our engineers have no idea why this happens, the work theory is that the robots were never given a proper ‘night mode’.” I looked at the phone for a couple of seconds, thinking about muting the call. I pulled my hoof away, and placed it back on the camera. “So when it gets quiet, the animatronics get confused, thinking they’re in the wrong room. So they go to the room with ponies in it, and that would be your office. So our temporary solution is this: there’s a music box in the prize corner, and it’s rigged to be wound up remotely. So every once and a while, go over there, and click on the screen to wind it up for a few seconds. It doesn’t affect all the animatronics, just . . . one of them.” She cleared her throat, and began to sound shaky. I put down the tablet, and start to pay more attention to her.

She cleared her through once more, and she went on. “Umm, as for the rest of them, we have an even easier solution. You’re face to them doesn’t seem well, I don’t know, very similar to their style. So when they see you, they think you’re an animatronic endoskeleton without it’s costume on, and they want to stuff you into a suit. So, we gave you a helmet that matches the old mascot’s face. Problem solved! You can put it on whenever you want, and you can keep it on as long as you want.” I look around, eventually finding the small head. The eyeless face scares me at first, but then put it on. It’s not very easy to breathe in it, or to see through its small eye holes. I take it off, and pick up the tablet again. “So whenever the animatronics, erm, anything really, wanders in, it should wander back out. One other thing worth mentioning is the modern design of the building. You may notice that there are no doors to close. But hey, you have lights in the vents, and a flashlight for the hallway. And, even if the flashlight can run out of power, the facility can’t. So don’t worry about the place going dark. Well, that’s about it. You should be golden. Uh, check the lights, put on the head if needed, oh, and keep that music box wound up, piece of cake. Have a good night and I’ll talk to you tomorrow” The phone turned off, and I looked at the time. It was one fifty-nine.

The phone call used up two hours of my time. When is started to hear noises, I felt my heart pump in my chest. Hoofsteps seemed to be echoing through the café. I looked at the camera, looking at camera 9. Twilight had left the stage. I started to flick through cameras, realizing I could turn the flashlight in the cameras. I turned it on in one of the party rooms, and saw Twilight standing there with her guitar being held by her magic. I shivered, and put the tablet down. I started to whistle a small tune, and I looked around, checking each light. After a while, I pretty much just started to act like a filly, and spin the chair around. I giggled, and picked the tablet up again. I looked through the cameras, seeing Twilight in the same place, but soon came to a small room with a small filly standing near the prize corner. She looked adorable, but her small giggle started to become annoying. I turned to the next camera, and I saw the broken . . . thing in Filly’s Cove. I stared at it for a while, but the static soon started to drive me crazy, so I flicked to the next camera. I saw the parts and service room again. It was dark and all I could see were wires until I turned on the flashlight. I saw the old Twilight with no face, Pinkie’s head, and Fluttershy’s mouth ripped open. They were obviously scrapping them. The old restaurant really was just an old piece of junk that was open since I was like six. The animatronics that used to make me laugh really scared me now. Not because of this job, but because of all the rumors I’ve heard throughout the years. In about seventh grade, one of the fillies in my class went missing. I heard there was a psychopath somewhere around here, but I never really thought it was true. The filly probably just got too close to one of the animatronics.

The giggling soon stopped, but I still heard hoofsteps coming from the hallway in front of me. I flicked the flashlight on and I saw Posie standing in front of me. She held a small bunny on her back, and she smiled at me, her eyes seeming to be gone. I stared at her for a couple of seconds, and then let go of the flashlight. I put on the helmet, and I never wanted come out of it. I then remember the music box. I pulled off the helmet, chafing my neck underneath it. I pull up the camera, and I flick to the Prize Corner. I see a small button on the tablet, and I press down on it until the music box is fully wound up. I look at the time, seeing two fifty-three. I sigh. Four more hours to go; I looked at the cameras, turning to another party room. Twilight’s face was all I could see. I put the tablet down, and I clicked the flashlight on. I saw that Posie was gone, and pulled up the camera. I looked at each one, flicking the lights on and off, until I got to the party room closest to me on my left. I see Posie sitting by the vents, her muzzle piece missing, showing the back teeth on the endoskeleton. I put down the tablet, and start to hear noises in the vents.

I pushed the lights on, seeing nothing there. I pulled up the camera, and looked at my left vent. I saw Posie sitting in it, trying to get into my office. I shake my head, and I look through the cameras. I see Surprise in the same place as usual, and I start to wind the music box a little more. The song starts to get stuck in my head, and I begin to whistle it. I look at the clock seeing three forty-three. My eyes start to become tired and heavy. My wings become shaky, and as I click through cameras, I start to hear hooves in the vent. I put down the tablet, and I flick on the light to the camera on my left. I see Posie staring at me through it. I squeak, and I push on my helmet. I can’t really see where I put my hooves, so I don’t try to press the light on. I only wait to hear her walk out. I start to breath heavily, and I take off the head. I click the light on to make sure she was gone.

I sigh, and I start to spin in my chair. The idea of the animatronics stuffing me into one of their suits makes me shudder. I pick up the tablet and start to look through the cameras. It was Three thirty-one. I sighed, and looked at the stage area. I see Surprise still standing there, staring at the wall. I thought she would’ve moved by now, but apparently not. I shrug it off, and I start to look through the cameras, winding up the music box for a couple of seconds, and then looking around once more. I look at the show stage again, and see Surprise is gone. I was surprised the cameras didn’t black out, but I shook my head, and started to check the other cameras.

My wing starts to feel numb, but I keep going until I finally find all the animatronics. I put down the tablet, and I look at both the vents. My head starts to spin and I turn on the light. I see no pony there, so I click the button again to turn it off. My chair starts to feel uncomfortable so I stand up start to trot across the room. As I trot around, I click on all the lights. They couldn’t turn on all at once, I couldn’t just keep them on the whole time is what I mean, so I sit down and try to make as little noise as possible. I look at the time reading four fifty-two. Just an hour left! My tensed shoulders drop, and my breathing becomes slower. I close my eyes for a bit and I start to whistle the same tune. This job was worse than I thought it would be. I really should have listened to the others and turned down the night shift offer.

The tablet starts to feel warm in my hooves. It had been on all night so I can see why. I start to flick through cameras until I see Surprise with the small dragon near the prize corner. I shudder and I flick to the next one. I wind up the music box a bit, and when it’s done, I put down the tablet. The head seemed to be Pinkies. At least I think it is. How dumb are these animatronics exactly.? I shake my head and I put it down. I start to hear hoofsteps walking towards the stage area. I pull my tablet up and look at the show stage. It was still empty. Then I looked at the time. I could see why they were going towards it. It was five forty-nine I still had a couple of minutes, but they probably wouldn’t come at this time. I sigh, and start to spin in my chair. I turned to tablet off and I checked the vent lights. No one was there, so I turned it off. My tired eyes were just about ready to be sealed shut when I heard the alarm on the clock go off and I could go home.

Author's Note

Look at all the Phone Mare! I've decided to name her Scarlet *cough* Scott? *cough*!!! She's adorkable! :3! Anyway . . .