Braveheart: The Untold Stories

I sat on my bed, thinking of ways to get away with burning down the pizzeria with Springtrap inside. There was always the obvious choice of doing it at night. But I didn’t want to do it that way. It was too clichéd. I wanted to do it subtly, yet effectively. I came up with a simple solution. Blame the destruction of the building on old and worn out wiring. The building was practically falling apart as it was anyway. I stood up and walked over to the window. I had installed a Pegasus landing platform during the initial renovation of my house, and I climbed out the window and stepped down onto it. I took off for the pizzeria. As I flew through the cool Canterlot air, I closed my eyes to savor it. It felt good on my body. I landed at the Pizzeria entrance, and found a sign on the door.

“Closed down due to lack of business,” it read. I checked over my shoulder to see if anypony was around. When I saw nopony, I quietly unlocked the door and stepped inside, closing the door behind me. I looked into the pizzeria, ready to begin.

Adagio Dazzle’s Pizza was darkened. The windows were drawn, the lights were off, and it was hard to see. I cast a light spell to help me see. I carefully stepped through the dining hall, careful to not make a lot of noise. I accidentally stepped on Adagio’s face, causing the nose to honk again.

“Damn it,” I quietly cursed. I kept going. I walked to where the hidden safe room was. I charged up a blast and blew up the false wall. I didn’t feel safe doing so, but I had to ensure the flames killed Springtrap. I took a look inside the safe room, and I saw Springtrap turn his head to look at me. He still twitched occasionally. I immediately turned away and walked to where the generator room was. I opened up the equipment closet and started down the long flight of stairs. I stopped for a moment when I thought I was being followed. I turned around, but nopony was there. I intensified my light spell and kept going. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, a small power generator met my eyes. I looked around for any wiring that I could screw up.

“What are you doing?” A raspy feminine voice asked. I jumped and whipped around to see the Marionette standing behind me. Its black eyes had white dots in the middle, as if they were going to pierce through my heart. I started to breath heavily, and the Marionette slowly walked closer. I took a deep breath and calmed down.

“The purple pony isn’t dead yet,” I told the puppet. “He’s possessed the Spring Sonata animatronic, and is still alive in the safe room. Sort of.”

“Impossible,” the Marionette hissed. “The children scared him into the suit, and it killed him.” I shook my head.

“I witnessed it myself,” I reasoned. “He tried to grab me. He even spoke. He said ‘Help me. Please.’ Of course, I got out of there, leaving him to rot. I even got a glimpse into the future, seeing Springtrap terrorizing another night guard 30 years later at a horror attraction called Dazzle Fright. I’m only trying to get rid of him for good. Please believe me.” The Marionette looked me straight in the eyes. I looked back, dead serious on what I was saying.

“If you really mean this, then show me Springtrap,” the Marionette requested. “Show me the evidence.”

“No need,” a raspy voice hissed. The Marionette and I whipped around to see Springtrap slowly stepping down from the last step of the iron stairwell. How neither of us heard him in that clunky suit was beyond me, but that wasn’t a concern right now. The Marionette was clearly in horrified shock. I stepped in front of her as she stepped back, drawing out my gun as Springtrap slowly hobbled closer.

“How are you alive?” the Marionette gasped, terrified.

“I said that I’d hold out until somepony checked,” Springtrap reminded. “This brat here checked the safe room, allowing me to pass my soul into this wretched suit.” I barred my teeth and fired, putting a bullet into Springtrap’s skull. The hard endoskeleton deflected the bullet. Springtrap gave a maniacal grin, continuing to walk closer. The Marionette and I ended up backed against the power generator. I fired off four more shots into Springtrap, but they had no effect. He reached out a hoof to grab me, but I took the Marionette’s hoof and dashed underneath Springtrap. I turned around upon reaching the stairs and aimed at Springtrap.

“What are you going to do?” Springtrap hissed. “Your petty gun won’t hurt me.”

“I’m not aiming for you,” I returned. I fired the bullet into the power generator, causing a shower of sparks to erupt from it. The sparks caught the oil on the floor, lighting up the room. I ran up the flight of stairs, the Marionette in tow. Springtrap was too slow.

“NO!” he screamed from the generator room. “IT CAN’T END LIKE THIS!” I pulled the Marionette through the dining hall and through the front doors. As we ran out of the building, Springtrap gave a loud, raspy screech, and the entire building quickly caught fire. Ponies surrounded us, watching the building burn. Somepony called the fire department, and a squad of Unicorn firefighters were on the scene within minutes.

“Stand back,” the fire chief ordered. “We’ll handle this.” The squad tried to put out the fire, but the flames kept spreading. The Canterlot civilians stepped away, but the Marionette and I stayed put. As I looked to my side, I could see a white, faded figure. Adagio Dazzle’s filly ghost looked me in the eyes, smiling. My jaw dropped slightly. As I turned toward the Marionette, I could see two more ghosts on the other side of her. The spirits of filly Aria Blaze and filly Sonata Dusk. They also smiled at me. All of the spirits’ faces were stained with grey tear tracks, and their eyes were black with white dots. I couldn’t believe this.

“Do you see them?” the Marionette asked. “You’ve helped me save them.”

“I don’t understand,” I breathed. “How can I see the dead?”

“I’ve allowed you to see for a moment what I see,” the Marionette explained. “To give you a proper thanks for saving these foals from an eternity of restlessness. Thank you, Braveheart.” As I looked back to Adagio’s spirit, she mouthed a thank you, then faded away. I looked to Aria and Sonata, just in time to see them give a small wave before fading. I looked back to the Marionette. She looked me in the eyes and smiled.

“How do you know my name?” I asked.

“I was close to you once,” the Marionette simply said. “Goodbye.” I looked back to the burning building, which had been put out. When I turned around, the Marionette was gone. I walked back home, satisfied that Springtrap was gone, yet confused as to who the Marionette really was.