Five Nights at Celestia's

     I was on the road, excitement filling every inch of my body. I had just recently found out about a restaurant called Celestia's Castle. The restaurant had been around for about three years now, but somehow I didn't hear about it until now. I had seen the commercial on Discovery Family. I was so excited about eating at a restaurant based off of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

     From what I had heard about it on the commercial, it was a pretty huge place. It was said to be the largest pizzeria around; much larger than Chuck E. Cheese. I still don't understand how I hadn't heard of it until now. It seemed pretty successful.

     I finally reached my destination, stumbling out of my car, nearly tripping from excitement. Tons of kids and adults approached the building, heading towards the entrance. I stopped for a moment, examining the outside it was a large building with many ponies painted on the outside. As expected, Celestia seemed to be the main pony here.

     I headed inside the restaurant, seeing the bright lights and balloons. I could hear the animatronics' voices echo through the building. I walked up to the front desk, since we had to pay up front.

     "I'm sorry, the place is packed," the lady frown, giving a sympathetic look. I sighed, my excitement fading.

     "How long will I have to wait before I can get a table?" The lady looked through some papers of hers for a minute or so before looking back up.

     "About five hours," she answered bluntly, as if waiting that long was no big deal. I had a sad expression on my face and my head was drooping. The lady looked at me, realizing that I was really disappointed. "Do you have a child with you?" she questioned me. I blushed slightly. I guess it was a little strange since I wasn't little.

     "No, I just enjoy the show a lot. I really wanted to see the characters," I spoke honesty.

     "Would you like a job here then?" My head popped back up. The lady smiled at me.

     "What kind of job?" I raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was referring to. I was hoping it wasn't a janitor job or something.

     "As a security guard. You know, to watch over the animatronics at night," I looked at her strangely. Why would they need to be watched over at night?

     "Why do you even need a security guard? Just wondering." She thought for a few seconds before answering my question.

     "I'm not sure. All I know is that the spot is open, which is surprising," she paused a few seconds. "Maybe so no one will break in? The animatronics are very expensive." I nodded my head, agreeing with her. That made sense actually. I guess they really cared about the animatronics.

     "Okay, I'm cool with taking the jo-" the lady cut me off.

     "Great! Come back tonight! Your shift starts at twelve. Nothing is required, you don't need any skills. Just show up in time tonight and you can get started."

     I entered my office, taking a seat at the desk. The chair wasn't that comfortable, but I guess I'd have to make due with it. I wasn't actually given anymore information about the job. I was told that I'd catch on rather quickly. I propped my feet up on the desk and leaned back. It was really dark, all I had was a small light above me. This place had a spooky look at night.

     Suddenly, I heard the phone ringing. It startled me so much I nearly fell out of my chair. A message began to play. I figured I better listen to it.

     "Hey, hey? Welcome, stranger! Are you enjoying Celestia's Castle at night?" The man laughed lightly before continuing, "Eh, probably not. The place is spooky at night. I need to tell you a few things so you can survi- I mean enjoy your first night here. There are eleven rooms including the one you currently occupy, so there are ten cameras," the man sighed before continuing, "There are a lot of animatronics here. I don't remember how many. You can count them on your cameras tonight. So, let me explain a little of the layout of the place. Celestia's stage is the  main, most popular, and biggest party spot. It's also the farthest away from you. The second most popular is the spot for the mane six. The sing, do skits, and do other stuff. I haven't really watched them myself. There are three more stages that contain animatronics, but you don't have to worry about them tonight. I'll explain it later. You are coming back tomorrow, right? I'll have another message for you. Um, I hope your first night goes well. By-," the man was just about to say goodbye, but then continued, "Hey, I almost forgot! The animatronics cannot be turned off at night, their servers would lock up; so we keep them on free roaming mode. The animatronics do walk around a bit at night. If they come outside your office, just shut the door. That'll stop them. Oh, and be careful with your power. The animatronics were a fortune, so we don't have money to spare!" And with that, the message ended.

     I looked at the time on my watch. It was already 2 A.M.

     "Heh, this is going to be a piece of cake," I said as I brought up my cameras. The first camera, as expected, was the main stage, Celestia's stage. I saw Celestia, Luna, and Cadance standing still on the stage. They looked so lifeless. I flipped  to the mane six's camera. The guy said I only had to worry about these stages tonight.

     I looked at the camera and was about to nod off. The camera started to glitch and the noise woke me back up. I looked at the now cleared camera and noticed something was different.

     "There's AJ, Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, but-" I suddenly stopped talking as I heard loud footsteps. They sounded far off, but it still made me uneasy.

     "D-do you want to learn how to make d-dresses, d-darling?" a voice echoed through the building. There was no mistaking it. It was Rarity, the white, purple, fashion pony.

     I flipped through the cameras searching for the missing pony. I flipped to the bathroom camera. I could see Rarity staring intently at the camera. It seemed as if she knew what I was doing. It almost seemed as if she were aware that she was being watched. The pony giggled softly.

     "D-darling," her voice echoed through the building once more. She sounded weird and creepy. I loved Rarity as a character, but this Rarity was creeping me out. Her eyes were so dark and lifeless as she stared into the camera.

     I continued to watch Rarity, forgetting about the other animatronics.

     "L-life is a party!" I could hear a pony yelling. The sound frightened me, and once again I nearly fell out of my seat. I flipped back to the mane six's camera. I saw Pinkie Pie looking straight at the camera while the others faced towards the right.

     "D-do you want to come to my party?" Pinkie Pie asked, peering at the camera. It felt as if she were speaking to me. She was an animatronic, she couldn't know anything, could she? She wasn't aware of me being here, right?

     "Shut up, Pinkie Pie," I stated, just before flipping back to the bathroom camera. I gasped, realizing that Rarity was gone.

     "Yes, Sw-sweetie?" I looked to the left of me, switching on the light. I saw the white and purple pony standing in the doorway staring at me. She had a creepy smile on her face. I quickly shut the door in the pony's face.

     "Sorry, Rarity," I mumbled as I flipped through the cameras again, realizing Applejack was gone.

     "Where are you, sugar cube?" I heard AJ's voice. She seemed nearby. I panicked and closed the other door.

     "Come on 6 AM!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. My power was at ten percent and I was freaking out. I hugged myself tightly, awaiting death, but then it finally turned to 6 AM and the alarm on my watch beeped.