Chapters Rainbow took another bite from her cupcake, glancing at her five friends, all partaking in this sugary feast. It was obvious, however, that the cyan pegasus' mind was on other matters.
Guessing the cause of her friend's absent-mindedness, Twilight inquired, "So… Dash, how's the job hunt going?" The purple mare set down her cupcake and turned toward her friend.
"Ugh! Don't remind me!" Rainbow groaned, taking another bite, but not before causing all of Sugarcube Corner to take note of the commotion at their table.
"Your going to have to find another job. Your job as weather mare is slightly slipping because of your Wonder-bolt practice."
Rainbow finished off her cupcake, turning to Apple Jack. "You know I need to practice. they'll kick me out if I don't."
Fluttershy straightened up "You could always take up that offer on watching my animals?"
Rainbow shook her head. "No offence Fluttershy. But I don't take care of animals. That's your job. remember what happened when our cutie marks switched? Not cool."
Twilight perked up "Now that I think about it. There is a couple new posters of the job board over there." Rainbow jumped up
"Why didn't you say so?!" and she ran over to the board, followed by bouncing Pinkie
"Does Pinkie need a job too?" Apple Jack asked and Twilight shrugged
"I don't know. I don't think she does." Twilight responded
Rainbow scrolled through the board until she found the new posters.
She grabbed the first one Equestria Daily 10 bits an hour "Nope. I ain't got that time!"
Pinkie held up the next one Gardening. 15 bits a day "Absolutely not."
Rainbow grabbed the final flier, there were two of the same flier actually.
The paper looked brand new. Muffin's Theme Park. 150 bits a week. "Hmm." Rainbow walked back over to her friends.
"Hey guys do you remember Muffin's Theme Park?" the group instantly smiled
"I remember. We used to go on Ender's End Coaster til' we were bored!" Apple Jack laughed
"My favorite was Lightning's Castle. It had so many libraries and observatories!" Twilight said
"I liked them all. My favorite was probably the Art Station." Fluttershy answered and Aj grinned
"I liked the Purrcade! Chase always had the coolest games." Rainbow commented
"Flame and Storm's Playground was awesome." Apple jack cheered
"Muffin Hub!" Pinkie cheered and the mane 6 relished the filly-hood memories
"Well the job starts at 12 to 6 am. Guess its a Night Shift." Rainbow stated, reading the rest of the flier.
"Cool. Doesn't mess with your practice hours." Rainbow nodded and headed for the door.
"Were you going?" Twilight asked
"I don't have practice today. I need to go get the job and take a nap." and she left.
~Time-skip~
Rainbow found herself at the entrance to the Theme Park, ponies were running around and everything. She walked to the Muffin hub were everything was. She walked to the desk at the front.
"Hey i'm here for the job for Night Shift." Rainbow stated, holding the flier in front of the person.
"Really? Okay. Fill this out." and the person handed Dash a paper.
Do you have 10/10 eyesight Yes? or No
Are you at least 16. Yes? or No?
Will you strive to be on time. Yes? or No?
What's your name (last, first)?
Where is your place of residence?
How can we contact you in an emergency situation?
Rainbow circled the yes' and slid the paper back This is really easy! Dash thought to herself
"You got the job. Be here at least be 12:57. The manager will be here to let you in." the pony stated and went back to whatever she was doing and Dash flew home to take a nap, unaware of the animatronic set of eyes watching her all the way out the Theme park
Dash kept blinking the sleep from her eyes as she flew to the theme park under the light of the moon. When she reached the entrance she landed and walked up to the shut gates.
"Dashie!" and Rainbow was tackled in a hug from someone.
"AGH!" Rainbow yelped until she saw Pinkie's face.
"Pinkie? What are you doing here?" Pinkie kept smiling
"I got the job with you!" Pinkie held up a pair of keys. "Time to open the gate! Then close it!" she cheered, running up to the gate.
~Timeskip~
After getting inside the park, the two mares walked to the Muffin Hub.
"This place is creepy when no one is here." Rainbow commented but Pinkie didn't seem to notice.
Rainbow shrugged and opened the doors to the Muffin Hub and walked inside. It was slightly creepy in the dark hall and flickering lights as they walked to the office were two black swivel chairs were set up in front of a paper and monitor covered desk.
"Let's get started!" Pinkie chirped, jumping into one of the chairs, Rainbow following suit.
Rainbow looked at the desk. Some news articles. balls of paper. Fast food trash. and a Phone nothing very important. She clicked the play button on the phone recorder and the two listened.
"Hello! Welcome to your new job at Muffin's Theme Park were fantasy and delicious dreams come to life. Muffin Theme Park is not held responsible for damaged property or person. Upon discovery of damaged property or person blah blah blah. My name is Sparkler. I worked here before you.
Now about the animatronics. You know the metal humanoid robots that served as the main attraction for this park. They normally walk around at night due to the fact they can't walk around during the day after the problem with the previous animatronic which was a old version of Muffin scaring customers and just...bucking people. . It seems to have put a after affect were no one wants the robots walking around.
So the company just shut down the robots at all times when they weren't in use to preserve power and gain back customers. Until....they began to fall apart during the day, sometimes a limb would break off. Once we found Ender's tail pieces and wings but the rest of her was solid. Anyway you need to know the habits of these robotic people.The previous night gaurds complained how the robots had tried to get in their office " Rainbow could barely believe what she was hearing.
"You got Lightning Sky who sits in his castle observatory were he teaches constellations. He isn't too easy to piss off. Not that you should try though.
Now for Muffin and Fallkat. They stay in the Art station. There are only two rooms there. Fallkat tends to go wherever. She is kinda easier to tick or uspet.
Flame and Storm are pretty hard to tick off but...just...don't challenge them okay. They normally stay behind the playground underneath a tarp.
The last animatronics are Chase, Justin, and Ender.
Ender is harder to see, because of her black attire but the purple glow she has normally gives her away. She should stay in the End coaster.
Justin and Chase are almost impossible to tick off. But you can offend them, but yeah. They stay behind the arcade counters most of the time. They'll probably be the first to run to your room.
So please just be careful about them alright? If they get in the office..your chances of survival are really low. Okay. Good night..I hope."
Rainbow stared at the phone and she turned to Pinkie whose eyes were wide.
"Y-You don't think this is serious...do you?" Pinkie asked and Rainbow just looked at the time.
"He talked for two hours. I doubt its a prank." Rainbow picked up the camera tablet and the two checked the cameras. Everyone seemed fine.
Pinkie began to click the lights buttons whilst Dash checked the cameras. Then the camera Rainbow was currently looking at went dark.
"Crap!" Rainbow yelped and the camera went back on, only to reveal that Justin was no longer behind his counter.
Justin and Chase are almost impossible to tick off. But you can offend them, but yeah. They stay behind the arcade counters most of the time. They'll probably be the first to run to your room.
Rainbow turned to Pinkie who was checking the door lights still and then she turned back to the cameras and flicked through them, she froze when she saw two green glows coming from the art station.
She ignored it and flicked through the cameras to find Justin. When she found the camera next to Ender's End Coaster were Justin stood, staring at the Art Station. As Rainbow took one last check at the cameras before putting them down.
She kept this up until 4
Pinkie had begun to doze off by the doors and Dash had stopped looking at the cameras. Then there was a loud crash from the cameras. Dash jerked awake and pulled up the cameras. She saw Justin, face-planted in the hall. Pinkie noticed him but forgot the danger for a brief few moments. She ran over and held out a hand.
Dash peeked out of the office and almost screamed out her friend's name. The robot looked up before taking Pinkie's hand and pulling itself up.
"Hello!" Pinkie chirped "Are you okay?" The robot stared at her, nothing happened.
"Oh...." Pinkie nodded when she quickly realized the danger she was in.
Rainbow walked through the gates of the park looking at the shadowy, quiet buildings, it gave an eerie feel to the cyan pegasus' surroundings.
She pressed past the Muffin Hub doors and walked down the hall to the office in the far back. She looked around for her candy colored friend but she was no were to be seen. Dash shrugged it off and sat down in one of the swivel chairs. She picked up the camera tablet and checked the time.
11:59
"One minute till the shift starts." Dash muttered, she pulled out a bag of chips and began to eat them.
After she finished she heard hoofsteps and turned to see the party pony she had been waiting for.
"Hey Pinkie! I was beginning to think you weren't coming." Pinkie laughed
"Me? Not come? That's preposterous! I just grabbed some things to teach Justin with!" she said with a smile and pulled out a bunch of writing books and alphabet and some flash cards.
"Welp! I'm off to find Justin!" Pinkie chirped, grabbing a flashlight and tossing something to Dash.
"What's this?" Dash asked, rolling the object around in hr hooves
"A Walkie Talkie silly! Just in case I need to tell you something." and Pinkie shot off into the darkness, eager to visit her new friend.
The rainbow maned pegasus sighed and turned back to the cameras. She would never understand how Pinkie's mind worked, If Rainbow had been alone last night the robot would probably still be in that hallway. She shook her head and played the waiting message
"Hey! You made it! So um yeah...has Ender gotten out of the coaster yet? Just curious. She was always my favorite you know. Anyway so tonight the other robots, Flame and Storm, should come out. You shouldn't worry too much but.....Flame can be dangerous.....Okay I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, they're both dangerous. I don't know if this is an actual feature but Flame....Flame can catch on fire."
Rainbow's blood went cold as she stared at the empty doorways as if she expected the orange coated animatronic to run in and burn her mane off.
"I don't know why that happens but the engineers have tried to fix this. But they let it be when the book about him, yes there are books, being a super hero with fire powers came out. So he just can't be near children. But he will overheat after being on fire for more then 15 minutes. Its proven he can only light up without destroying himself every 24 hours. So you shouldn't always worry. Storm is also hard to see do to the fact he is also black but he is kinda similar to Justin in color design so you shouldn't worry. But...if his eyes turn yellow....closed the left door. He runs whenever his eyes turn yellow....So...avoid coming in contact with him in any way when his eyes are yellow. Goodnight."
Rainbow looked at the time. "1 am? That was a shorter call." She pulled up the cams, she flicked through them but when she reached the arcade she didn't see Pinkie. She saw the books and bag on the ground but something frightened her. Two menacing yellow eyes stared up into the cameras, there was something red splattered across the ground as well. Blood?! Dash stood up and grabbed her walkie talkie.
"Pinkie?!" the line was quiet. Dash frantically grabbed her phone and flashlight and ran towards the arcade.
Dash peeked through the opening of the purrcade, her phone had the numbers 911 dialed onto it, her thumb over the call button.
There was definitely a thick red puddle by Pinkie's bag, the only thing that was missing was the robot that was staring into the cam.
Dash walked inside and looked around. The bag was next to a line of back to back games that led to a prize counter with signs labeled
Prize Counter or 50 Tickets
Dash walked over to the pile of books and flash cards. Then she heard a sound and turned around to see a robot. It opened its mouth and a loud scream came from its voice box, a mash of robotical sounds being put at highest pitch, some sounds were scratchy for not being used often.
Dash's pupils shrunk and she screamed as well. She tripped over the bag and fell into the puddle, the red splattering across her legs and she held up a hand, her eyes filling with horror. She stared up at the robot but instead of lunging it let out a glitchy noise similar to a laugh. Rainbow tilted an eyebrow and then she heard more laughing in the background.
"Gotcha!!" Rainbow turned to see Pinkie creep out of the space between the games, she was laughing her tail off.
A robot straightened up from behind the prize corner, his face in some sort of smile. It was Justin.
"P-Pinkie?! What is this then!?" Rainbow snapped, pointing at the red puddle "And who is t-that?" she pointed to the robot that had screamed at her and made the glitchy laugh.
"Oh. That's-" Pinkie attempted to answer
"Chas-s-se." Justin responded with a grin and pointed at the red puddle on the ground and pulled out what looked to be a bottle of ketchup.
"Flamw had a s-s-s-spare bottle." Justin answered and Rainbow's blood ran cold.
"Flame?" the cyan pegasus stammered the name of the firey pegasus animatronic and Pinkie giggled.
"Turns out he likes to pull pranks! Justin taught him some words too! Hey. Did you know he could light on fire ?" Pinkie sounded extremely hyper and excited and Rainbow nodded
"Also did you know that when Storm is mad or ticked his eyes will turn yellow and he'll run towards you." Rainbow asked, struggling to keep calm with the two robots staring her down.
"Oh...Flame told me with some difficulty. Turns out the robots used to speak to each other in really glitchy noises. But now they know more words!" Pinkie bounced around happily when a bell chimed and the robot with blue eyes-Chase- made a sighing noise and walked behind the prize counter. Justin helped Rainbow up and Rainbow looked at the mess.
"We should have cleaned this up faster. I hope the employees don't flip out." Justin walked to a game and pushed it, covering the puddle.
"Or we could just hide it." Rainbow finished and looked at her red-stained walkie talkie and flashlight. Picking them up, she walked back to the office and retrieved her things before leaving the park, still shaken from the ketchup prank.
Dash walked into the amusement park. She checked her newly bought, black rubber watch.
"12:07. Not to shabby." She walked through the grounds. She heard a sound of laughter and turned to see a race course wrapped around a playground, two animatronics were running on the track and Pinkie was sitting on a swing cheering for them.
"Hey Pinkie!" Dash called and Pinkie turned. Dash quickly noticed that Chase and Justin were sitting on a bench with a book.
"Are they reading?" and Pinkie nodded, bouncing off the swings, she walked over to Dash, the two animatronics on the track slowing to a halt and following her like a dog follows its master.
"Dash. Meet Flame Strike and Black Storm. You can call them Flame and Storm." Rainbow waved to the two animatronics, one had a black hide with a white muzzle and hooves, his painted on cutie mark was a black storm cloud while the other had a mane colored like a flame and had orange coat with white hooves, their eyes were green. Dash mentally flinched when the two ponies stared at her, it looked like they bore into her soul.
"I wonder who becomes active tonight...." Pinkie wondered aloud and Dash looked at the End Coaster and Lightning's Castle.
"I think Muffin becomes active on the last night." Dash commented, heading towards the office to hear the phone call.
She plopped down on the chair and played the message
"You made it? Congrats! Only two more nights to go and your free of this place!" Rainbow swore she could hear banging in the background
"So tonight Ender and Lightning becomes active. Tomorrow Fallkat become active and maybe Muffin. By the way. Do not. And I say. DO NOT, open the back room. You will regret opening that door." In the static sounding recording Dash could hear pounding feet and a horrifying growl. "Holy Sh-" and the line went dead with a screech that sent Dash's cyan hair on end. Dash's heart began to beat faster as fear-filled adrenaline raced through her veins. Jumping up Rainbow grabbed her walkie talkie.
She knew these robots couldn't be trusted. Why would Sparkler not want her not to open the back room?
So many thoughts coursed through her brain but she somehow managed to get the walkie talkie to her face, running down the halls Rainbow attempted to regain her cool.
"Hey Dashie!" Pinkie chirped on the other line.
"Pinkie! Were are the robots?"
"Um....With me..In Lightning's Castle. Why?"
"Listen. You have to get away from the animatronics. NOW!!"
"Dash. The robots are my friends. The bell will ring soon anyway. Lightning's reading us a story so shhh!" and the line went dead
Dash just ran, but once she reached Lightning's castle the bell rang
Rainbow trotted into the carnival themed park, but it was obvious she wasn't at all eager to be back in the nightmare inducing park.
She trotted past the "Purrcade". The Pun was about as bad as the theme park's attendance rate. Apparently ponies had commented that the animatronics were behaving too 'realisticly' for giant metal creatures. She didn't plot on going into the trash-ridden office this time. She would check on the animtronics personally . It slightly frightened her but it wouldn't matter if she would end up dead. How did the robots kill Sparkler, or anyone for that matter? Chase and Justin's tails couldn't move enough to strangle them, their hands often locked up so it would be hard to wrap them around anything. Maybe they tore the gaurds apart limb by limb, or threw them off the top of the End Coaster. Rainbow shook her head of the gorey thoughts, stopping outside Storm and Flame's booth. They stood there, their eyes stuck open and seemd to stare into the cyan pegasus's soul, she shivered at the thought. She stare dta the two animatronics for a couple more moments when she heard a laugh come from behind her. Turning around she saw the pink party pony who had practically danced with the metal animals.
"Hey Dashie! Did you come to hang out with Flame and Storm?" the pony bounced over, landing on the booth with the two robots.
"Um no.." Dash responded, Pinkie's smile slightly faded
"Is Sparkler filling your head with those little lies about the robots being evil?" Pinkie asked, poking Flame's leg to see if he was active.
"Um..." Dash didn't know how to respond. She wanted to tell Pinkie that Sparkler wasn't lying, that she had told the truth, and was inable to tell more. But her loyalty to Pinkie made it difficult, sure she wasn't Apple Jack but that didn't make it any easier to lie.
Pinkie immeadietly caught on and the pink mare's entirely vanished, replaced by a frown. "You don't trust them do you?"
Rainbow took in a breath and blurted everything out so fast she could barely understand herself. "Sparkler said the animatronics are evil and in her last phonecall one killed her!"
Pinkie stared at Dash before holding up a hoof and saying in a manor similar to Twilight giving advice. "Fine. Believe what you want."
Dash couldn't keep her mouth shut "Pinkie! Every night you go near these things your life is in danger! Why won't you just stop getting so close! They could hurt you and I wouldn't be there to help you!"
Pinkie bit her lip and walked away, prohibiting Dash from continuing.
Dash stared after her friend before turning to the End Coaster. She turned but her friend's pink coat was no longer visible. "May as well continue checking on the animatronics." and she trotted off, heading to the Art Station next.
The cyan pegasus passed a small food booth and several overfilled garbage cans on her way to the Art Station. Stopping outside to observe the faded rainbow building. Stepping forward, she peeked through the glass doors. She could hear footsteps ramming around the wood floor.
Slowly she opened the door, pulling out her flashlight, sending the shadows scattering with the light as it rolled across the walls. She saw a animatronic standing by a canvas, their arm moving around with a paint brush stuck between their fingers. She racked her brain for the name when the animatronic turned. Its eyes were green, some slight gold around the pupils. Rainbow's blood ran cold and she felt like her hooves were part of the floor. The animatronic just stared at her, before turning back to the canvas and continuing to paint. Dash backed up when she heard the footsteps again, heading towards her . Frightened out of her whits, Dash slid behind the door and slammed it shut, spinning around and bolting with a rainbow trail.
Rainbow stopped outside the End Coaster. Staring at the obisidan-style structure for a few brief minutes. Finally, checking behind her, she walked inside. "Why do they leave the doors to all the attractions unlocked?" Dash muttered to herself, pulling out her flashlight and shining it across the attraction entrance.
After scanning the attraction, Dash realized Ender was no longer there. Dash ran outside and scanned the area around the attraction, but to no avail.
"Were is she?" Dash whispered to herself, panicked. She decided to head to the office, she knew she would be safe for a while, Ender did have sharp teeth and claws for some reason, then again she didn't interact with children or anyone for that matter, she just moved around reciting the rules for the End Coaster. Then how come she could go outside the coaster?
As Dash walked towards the Muffin Hub she heard a sound. Turning she saw Storm, standing several yards away from her.
Dash felt slightly alarmed, seeing Storm was only standing in the playground a while ago. Then again she probably took a while to check everything. Then she noticed the robot's black eye sockets.
Rainbow began to slowly back towards the Hub. Suddenly the robot flickered to life, its eyes flickering from black to blue. Then its eyes set on yellow. Rainbow stared in shock as the animatronic looked straight at her, its sunken eyes sockets yellow. Before Rainbow could take another step backwards, the animatronic lunged forward, sending adrenaline through the cyan pegasus' veins. Spinning around, she made a mad dash toward the hub, her heart beating at alarming speeds.
Jumping into the hub, Dash slammed the doors shut, grabbing a nearby table and pushing it up against the door, spinning around, the pegasus ran into the office, slamming the metal doors shut.
Putting a hand over her pumping heart, Dash let out a sigh of relief as she slumped against the wall. Tensing when she heard Storm bashing against the door. Then she remembered Pinkie. Suddenly worried, Dash snatched the tablet from the desk, switching frantically through the cameras.
When she saw a pink blur on the swings her heart skipped a beat. Pinkie was alive. That was all that mattered to Dash at the second.
"4:00....not bad.." the pegasus set down the tablet and opened the door, Storm was gone.
"30% power... That's okay. I won't need it." and Dash left the hub, heading towards the Castle.
She shone her light down the halls, peeking around corners to confirm nothing was there. The Castle seemed to be cleared of animatronics. The most noise was coming from the Purrcade.
Exhausted, Rainbow Dash ran to the Purrcade, peeking inside to see the animtronics and Pinkie Pie looking at the game consoles.
Finally at ease, Dash ran back to the Muffin Hub, Sparkler's words ringing in her head.
"Do not. And I say. DO NOT, open the back room. You will regret opening that door."
What was in the back room? Dash felt her curiosity get the best of her, she ran to the counter were just a few days ago, she applied for this job.
She grabbed a map, scrolling through it. "Hmph. Looks like they didn't put a map of the Muffin Hub. Then again it is for employees only."
Dash slid behind the counter and began to rummage through the drawers, guilt building up in the back of her mind. Finally Rainbow found a map of the park with extras for employees. The Back room wasn't even in the hub, it was in the End Coaster. Dash put everything back were it was and slid the map into her bag, heading to the End Coaster, flashlight in hoof.
Inside the coaster Dash followed the map to a door labeled Employees Only.
"Well.....I'm an employee." she whispered to herself, sliding into the room. There was a door as well. Walking inside, Dash realized the room was lined with metal parts and animatronic devices.
Rainbow walked to a door labeled Back Room
Dash slowly turned the doorknob but before she could open the door the bell rang.
"Oh...Time to go." she told herself, her exhaustion catching up almost instantly. Dash turned and left, unaware of the flickering lights under the door.
The robot blinked bluntly at the pink mare who was beginning to shake with fear.
Rainbow reached for the tablet on the desk, keeping a steady eye on the black haired hunk of metal giving Pinkie a staring contest and Rainbow didn't want to see how it ended.
"Do you speak?" Pinkie asked, her voice slightly shaky and to the two mares' surprise, the robot shook its head, making a faint grinding noise. At this point Pinkie had lost her fear and a smile spread across her face.
"Well I'll teach you!" Rainbow nearly did a facehoof but when she felt the slightly heated metal of the tablet she tightened her grip and pulled it up to her.
The robot tilted its head as Pinkie pointed at Dash. "That. Is. Rain-bow-Dash." the robot stared at Rainbow and turned back to Pinkie Pie as if to say 'I'm confused. Pinkie made a over dramatic sigh and pointed at herself.
"My name is Pinkie. What is your name?" the robot went still, blinking bluntly at Pinkie but it pointed to a white piece of fabric attached to its hoodie.
"Justin? Is that your name?" the robot nodded. Rainbow could hardly believe what was going on. They are having a conversation!
Pinkie grinned "Were are your friends?" she asked and Justin just blinked and tilted his head and Pinkie gasped.
"You don't have any friends?" The robot nodded and its mouth seemed to make a frowning face.
"Well i'll be your friend!" Pinkie stated and wrapped her arms around the robot. Rainbow set down the tablet so the robot wouldn't see it.
Pinkie pulled a book from her bag as she and the robot walked inside the small office.
The robot was a few feet taller than the two colorful mares. Pinkie held up the picture book and began to name what each picture was. Rainbow decided to set down the tablet and watch.
~6:00~
Pinkie frowned as the mares including the robot walked to the gates and watched as the mares walked through and closed the bent metal bars. "Goodbye Justin!" pinkie chirped and the robot waved its hand in a stiff gesture.
"G-G-Goodbye!" the robot said in a glitchy voice before turning around and walking to a red and white tent not far from the Muffin Hub.
Rainbow walked with Pinkie all the way to Sugarcube corner were she spread her wings to get ready to fly home. Pinkie turned at the gingerbread style door.
"Goodnight Dash. See you tomorrow night!" and she trotted inside leaving dash to hesitantly fly to her cloud home.
Dash landed on her porch, sending small cloud particles flying as she opened the door and walked inside and grabbed some food from her fridge. After a early breakfeast, Rainbow took a shower and went to bed. Rainbow stared at the flier and she thought for a few minutes
Why would I want to return? Its dangerous...though...what Justin did...I guess I will go back. But only for tomorrow and she closed her eyes
