It’s so dark in here. I can’t feel, I can’t move, I can’t control what I’m doing, yet I’m still here. Every weekend I see them come in, little fillies and colts. They laugh, they cheer, and they scream my name over and over.
But it’s not my name. I was never like this before. I was with them, at this restaurant. Then he came…and he took me and a few others away into the dark. That was it.
Today was no different. Nor would it be at night.
“Hey there, everypony!”
The voice coming from me spoke again. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t my voice speaking. The cheers from numerous fillies and colts seated in front of me filled whatever remained of my ears. I strained to look down, to see them all. Their smiling faces all faced me as they devoured their cake, punch, and pizza.
Gosh…I really missed food.
The false voice of mine spoke again.
“It seems we have a birthday colt today!” I could feel my arm lift up above my eyes, as if I was searching through the crowd. “Now, where is the birthday colt?”
A blushing young colt nervously raised his hoof.
“There’s the birthday colt!” the false voice said, pointing to the colt in the crowd. “I think he deserves a special song on his special day! What do you say, fellas?”
I was forced to turn to my left and right. I could still remember their names. Chica and Bonnie, the two others who were taken to the dark all those years ago. I never knew them. We were all so young back then, just ponies lured by false promises hidden behind false smiles. I wonder if they could see me, not the mask, but the pony behind the mask, if there was even a pony anymore.
Somehow…I see them…but I couldn’t feel them. Not anymore. Not like the day we first met at the restaurant. Not like the day we were brought into the back room. Not like the day we saw…him. The purple monster took us away, our lives, our family, everything.
They turned to me.
“Hit it, Freddy!” Bonnie shouted with joy.
The song started, and the false voice began to sing into the microphone. Even then I couldn’t stop it. My body was wired, my brain was electronic, my heart was metallic, and yet my soul was still equine, still pony, still alive.
They cheered for us, the colt with the birthday blushing even harder. With every word that spewed from the jaw that I couldn’t feel, I could feel my sanity continuing to slip away. I wonder if the others still had feelings, still had any bit of sanity left. If they didn’t I wouldn’t blame them, and it just meant I was my own. If they did…
…I certainly wouldn’t know.
Somehow I found the control as the song continued on and on. My eyes shot forward, and in the distance I could see the parents of these fillies and colts cheering our names. There they stood, smiling and mingling with one another. They had no idea, no idea of the evils this restaurant was capable of…and who was still haunting it.
Protect them! I screamed. Get them out of here!
Nothing. Nothing but horrible lyrics spewing from the jaw of my new body.
It was several more painful minutes until the song ended. Thank Celestia, I could hardly stand it anymore. The cheers from the young ones did little to heal the puncture in my soul, the inescapable tragedy that I was forced to live through.
Somehow, the false voice fell silent. My arms began to lower despite whatever control I had left. In the eyes of the children, I could not move, could not reveal what I was or who was really behind the mask. They wouldn’t see the pony, just the animatronic. There was nothing left of me.
And yet I still stood there, forced to smile and wave.
That’s when she came.
“How are you doing today, party ponies?” the pink mare cheered, hopping up onto the stage right in front of me. Her smile was the greatest, most genuine smile I had ever seen grace the face of any pony. She had the same light pink coat, the same dark pink, puffy mane, and of course the same light blue eyes.
It was her again. Pinkie Pie.
I had no idea how many times she visited this place, but every time she showed up the light of the world followed her. Every frown changed into a smile whenever she walked by, and for once…I didn’t feel the same tragedy haunt my soul. Whenever she was around, who couldn’t feel happy?
The crowd cheered for her, and why wouldn’t they? She always hosted the birthday parties here at this accursed restaurant. She was famous here, almost as famous as me or Chica. If anything, she was part of the family. The sick, twisted family that the purple monster tried to create.
She was so innocent, completely unaware of the tragedy that stood behind her. If I could only reach out, touch her, tell her who I was and what happened all those years ago, maybe then she could help us, maybe then we could be free.
But as I tried again and again, week after week, I could do nothing. I stood as a statue frozen in time, forced to watch as the world constantly changed. It was so long ago since I was alive, since I had first come to the restaurant that haunted me to this day. I was so young…so very young…
I had no idea where he was taking us…
Gosh…
“I think a little birthday colt deserves another song…” Pinkie said in a sing-song voice, grabbing a microphone out of nowhere and turning towards all three of us. She smiled that genuine smile, and pointed her free hoof right at me.
“I’ll follow your lead, Freddy! Let’s rock this birthday party so all of Equestria hears it!”
Pinkie Pie...help.
I brought up the microphone.
This isn’t me.
The jaw that wasn’t mine began to open.
We’re trapped here!
Bonnie lifted up his instrument.
Somepony get me out!
And we sang. We sang all through the night to closing time. At that time the party finally ended, and all the little fillies and colts too full of cake to move rode on their parents’ backs and left the restaurant. We watched from the stage as they left. Every single one of them.
I was forced to wave goodbye to them, my only salvation, my only hope of escape…gone. And once again, it was just another failure to warn them.
Pinkie came up to each of us.
“Good job, guys! You really make birthday parties all the more fun!” she congratulated, smiling up at me with those innocent eyes of hers. My eyes relaxed on her. I could do nothing but stare.
She yawned adorably, looking up at the three of us with tired eyes. “Well, goodnight! I’ll see you all next month for the next party!”
Pinkie jumped up and hugged me. It was right then and there, and she was in my grasp, my embrace, and yet I could still do nothing. All I could muster, all the willpower I had left, all it created was a weak moan. She didn’t hear me. Instead, she hopped right off as if nothing had ever happened.
Pinkie looked me dead in the eye, or whatever eye she was staring at. It wasn’t mine. It wasn’t the eye I was born with.
Her eyes narrowed, and then her smile returned.
“Don’t go walking off now, Freddy! Goodnight!”
She turned around and hopped off the stage. I watched her leave, and strangely, I felt as if the others watched her too. The last I saw of her for that day was her pink tail disappearing behind the closing door, the restaurant lights turning off one by one.
That’s when I realized what day it was. Oh no…
Oh no…
Monday.
It was happening all over again.
The stage fell dark.
_______________
The camera flickered toward me. I waited for the red light to turn off. When it finally did, that’s when I jumped off stage and hid in the darkness, the area the camera could not see. Just like yesterday, just like all the other days, just like all those years ago…
Here we began.
Here we cannot control ourselves.
Here my soul cried out.
Back then when it was just five of us, all forsaken and lost, we followed him. We were young, we couldn’t do anything. Heck, we hardly knew better. But yet we still stood there, admiring the animatronics like fillies and colts at that age. The technology was incredible. It was such a fun day with my parents that I had completely lost track of them, my young mind entranced with the singing animals.
My parents…
My Mom and my Dad…I could still remember them.
Wherever they are today, if they even remember their little colt anymore, I’m sure they’re happy. It was so long since I was gone. So long since I was with them, in my Mom’s embrace. I never forgot them, and I prayed that they never forgot me, either. Their little colt…
Gosh…
I saw them come back to the place they lost me. Once they discovered…that I was murdered…they wept and cried a horrible cry. I wanted to run over and hug her, my mother, tell her that I was still there, still alive. But I couldn’t. I could only watch from the stage.
We were shut down after the murders, and we were scrapped and sent to somewhere I could hardly remember. The pain was unbearable, and for the first time I could actually hear the painful moans from Chica, Bonnie, and Foxy. We were together back then. We could feel each other’s pain, each other’s sorrow, each other’s unending nightmare.
My body moved on its own through the dark halls of the restaurant, the heavy footsteps echoing throughout the void that I could not see. I didn’t like the light to touch me, and my body forcefully stopped whenever there were strands of it littered by the moonlight.
I could see it down the hallway…the security guard’s office.
Not again…
Broken down, beaten, torn apart, we no longer entertained the young fillies and colts that entered that restaurant all those years ago. We were shipped off yet again. The purple monster said it would be for the very best, for all of us. I knew, and somehow I felt we all knew it was just the best for him.
Not us. We had no choice, no voice, and no freedom. All we could do was nod and sing as the purple monster smiled away.
The door was so close. Through the glass window I could see the shivering pony flick through the cameras rapidly; his eyes wide and sweat pouring down his face. No security cameras turned to me. The door was open.
No…
I stepped forward.
I can’t live like this!
I placed my foot inside the entrance.
Look at me! Close the door! Run! Do something!
My hand shot out and gripped the neck of the terrified pony.
I screamed.
Forgive me.
Author's Note
Just a one-shot story. You can all thank DerpyMuffin7 for offering the intriguing concept of this story to anyone out there willing to take it.
