Rarity woke to the soft knocking on her bedroom door. With a groan, she looked at the clock on her bedside table, illuminating it with the soft glow of her horn as she opened the door. Sweetie Belle, in her jammies, holding her favorite doll tightly with a hoof, looked up at her sister with large, watering eyes.
“There's a monster in my bed.” The young unicorn whined. “Can I sleep with you?”
Rarity fell back onto her pillows. Of all times. It was two thirty in the morning, tomorrow she had to be up at six so she could finish the last touches on her yearly order for Sapphire Shimmer. This was the worst possible thing to happen.
“Fine.” The fashionista sighed. “I wasn't getting much sleep anyway.”
Her sister scrambled across the floor, until she hopped onto the bed, burying herself under the covers, shivering with fright.
Though irritated, and slightly deprived of sleep, Rarity was sympathetic to her sister. Sweetie Belle was not the bravest when it came to the strange noises that the old building made, and her over active imagination, only fueled by her friends, often interpreted these sounds to be anything but the actual causes themselves.
“Come here Sweetie.” Rarity held out her forelegs, allowing the frightened filly to snuggle close, letting her older sister hold her so her back was firmly against her chest. “You know there is no such things as monsters, right?”
“There mantacores.” Sweetie piped up.
“Well, yes.” Rarity agreed.
“And Hydras.”
“True, true.”
“And-”
The white unicorn sighed. “You've proved your point.” She relented. “But Sweetie, honey, the monsters you imagine are just that. Your imagination. They can't hurt you.”
This did little to settle the child, but when Rarity started to hum, the tension and fear started to ebb from her little body. Soon, sleep over took them both.
Rarity, for reasons that escaped even her, had let Sweetie Belle talk her, Rainbow Dash and Applejack into taking the Cutie Mark Crusaders to the new pizzeria arcade that had opened up in Ponyville recently. One could only guess what Pinkie Pie was thinking when she came up with the idea.
“Pinkamina's Pizza! That's what I call it, and that's what it'll be!” Pinkie grinned.
The restaurant was busy, ponies laughing, playing, eating pizza and-
“Uuhh, Pinkie? What in tarnasions are those contraptions?” Applejack asked, pointing a hoof at the strange machine that seemed to look a lot like herself.
“OH, they're something Discord helped me come up with.” Pinkie giggled snorted. “We call them, animatronics! Catchy huh?”
“I'd say, but it'd be waaay cooler if you had one of me.” Dash smirked.
“Com'on Dash. You think eevveeryything would be cooler if i'd be ya'.” AJ snorted.
The cyan Pegasus smiled. “Now your getting it.”
“Oh sillies,” Pinkie giggled. “Diskie and I made one for every one of my friends. And we're all themed too!”
Rarity looked at the Jakkiebot, as she's learned it was to be called, talk with the costumers and play little riddle games with the kids.
“An n-n-now, what is hun-hun-hungry, and yet never drinks?” Jakkiebot asked with a mechanical grin.
After a babble of possible answers, each getting a 'ee'nope' or a 'nice try partner' the fillies and colts gave up.
“It's fi-fi-fi-fire, kids!”
There was laughter all around as the answer became simple. Jakkiebot smiled, looking around the children, as if the metal pony belonged. Rarity couldn't be sure, but it looked like it's head gave a slight twitch. As if shaking something from it's head.
“Come on!” Pinkie sang. “I'll take you to Pirate Cove, where El Dashitan hides!”
“Uhh, El Dashitan?” Rainbow asked, eyebrows raised.
“Yeah, in the Chincoteague's language, El Capitain means the captain! So naturally, if I made you into a pirate, you'd be a pirate captain, so I called you El Dashitan! It's Dash and Capitain! Dashitan! Thats right! I has SMARTS!”
Dash seemed rather pleased with Pinkie's thinking. “Yeah. The fact that it's me makes it-”
“Lemme guess. Twenty percent cooler, right?” Applejack cut in.
“Sure does!” Pinkie hopped in place, looking very much like springs were attached to her hooves. “I even made a song for her, wanna hear it?”
Before any pony could express or deny feelings on hearing such a song, Pinkie Pie launched into the Dashitan song.
“Who that swaggering through?
Dashiiiitan, El Dashiiitan!
Wicked with her hook, and she's cyan too!
Dashiiitan, El Dashiiiitan!
Dashitan, she's really cool!
Dashitan, can do a Sonic Rainboom!
Dashitaaaan, Dashitaaaan, DAAAAASSHITAAAAN,
Ruler of the skies of BLUUUUUUUUUE!”
While the song was kinda catchy, and Dashie seemed to blush with enjoyment, Rarity had to grit her teeth as random singing numbers were one thing about about her pink friend that she could live without.
Every pony within earshot, that is to say the entire room, stomped their hooves in applause. Pinkie bowed and waved her friends on to follow her, as she bounced her way to Pirate's Cove, singing,
“The wonderful thing about Pinkies,
Are Pinkie's are wonderful things!
Our tops are made up of cotton candy,
Our hooves are made out of springs!
We bouncy, truancy, bouncy, Truancy,
Full of fun, fun, FUN!
And the most wonderful about Pinkie's iiiisss,
IIIIIIIII'm the only one!”
She stopped, giving a wink up towards the ceiling, adding in a loud whisper, “That's for you Bronies who are fans of Whinni the Pooh....Or you Pegasisters...I don't know which one you are, can't really see you from here.”
“Aaahhh, who is she talking to?” Sweetie Belle asked her sister. Till now, the little filly was content looking around and gawking with her friends at all the bright colors and how cool Jakkiebot was.
“I haven't a clue.” Rarity replied honestly, following her friend. “She does tend to do that every so often.”
“Just talkin' to the reader.” Pinkie smiled.
“Say wut now?” AJ asked, thoroughly confused.
“Noooothiiiing.” Pinkie giggled, now skipping into the theater room. “Uh, Discord, what's going on?”
Rarity rolled her eyes, and stepped into the room. Discord was standing nervously on the stage, with the curtains closed behind him, rubbing his paw and claw together.
“Ahh, there you are.” Discord smiled. The smile, however, seemed forced and did not meet his eyes. “Applejack, Applebloom, looking swell if I may say so myself.”
“Ain't causin' no trouble, are ya'?” Applejack said, looking a little skeptical at the draconequus.
“Why, of course not!” He looked offended. “Why, I'd give my left claw if was lying.” He popped off his left claw, magically spawning a poker table, complete with chips and cards and a stack of bits, placing his claw on top. “But, oh, lookie here!” He laid down his hand, showing off four cartoon characterizations of himself.
“We win~” They said silkily in unison.
Discord picked up his claw, screwed it back on to his arm and the whole display vanished away. Though the nervousness of his body was still very much evident.
“Diiiskiie?” Pinkie asked, eyes narrowing. “Where's El Dashitan?”
The Draconequus gulped. “A-about that.” He began, motioning Pinkie to come with him behind the curtain.
Rarity, was not one to eavesdrop. That was wrong, and very unladylike. However, when every pony, including Applejack lifted an ear to the curtain, she just sighed and listened in as well.
“...What do you mean, she just up and vanished?!” Pinkie demanded. “You told me that these machines would stay put!”
“They do, that is, they should.” Discord replied defensively. “But giving life into these anitrons still yields unknown results. We should have tested them more extensively before opening the pizzeria.”
“I kinda had my hooves tied behind my back with that one.” Pinkie growled, sounding very unlike herself. “Mayor Mare told me very clearly that this was such prime rel estate that if I didn't go through with it, she'd have to rent out to another.”
“Maybe that would have been better.” Discord voiced. “We don't know how these things will do with such large crowds.”
“You're the Lord of Chaos.” Pinkie pointed out dully. “Where's your backbone?”
Discord seemed to huff at that. “I may be the Lord of Chaos, but I have been reformed, and would like to NOT risk my freedom on an experiment that went wrong!”
Pinkie was silent for a moment. “Jakkiebot seems to be doing just fine. So is Shyly and Rare. What have you seen of Mina and Li?”
“They seem to be fine...”
“Good.”
“But...”
There was a long, heavy silence.
“...But...?”
“They glitch.”
Rarity and the other ponies blinked. Glitch? What in Equestria did that mean? I couldn't really be all that serious, right?
“Glitch?”
“They're fighting the program.”
The ponies on the opposite side of the curtain were even more confused now.
“H-how bad?” Pinkie asked.
Discord's voice was shaky. “I...I caught Dashitan eying some fillies last I saw her.”
“That's what their suppose to do.” Pinkie laughed nervously. “They interact wi-”
“She was licking her lips.”
Applejack backed away from the certain. “Applebloom, we’re going. Right now!”
Dash nodded to Scootaloo, who's eyes were as large as saucers. Rarity started to follow, when she noticed something.
“Sweetie? Sweetie Belle?”
The others stopped.
“Sweetie?” Rarity couldn't see her sister. “Sweetie?!”
Discord and Pinkie, hair now deflated, came out of the curtain, looking worried. In the upper part of the theater, on one of the walls, was a screen, meant for text for ponies who were deaf to read the songs that Dashitan would preform. For a split second, a crowned bot showed up on screen, with gold eyes.
“Girls, split up!” Applejack instructed. “Youngin's stay with in sight of us. Dash, you go back to the main entrance. Rare, you an' me will take the food court. She might hav' gotten hungry an' wondered off. Pinkie, Discord, ya' all look in staff areas. We all know how Sweetie Belle is, and she can very well be anywhere.”
The ponies nodded and split up, each hoping that Sweetie Belle was alright.
Rarity, Applejack and Applebloom surveyed the food court. Ever since the conversation they herd, each one felt rather jumpy to be around the animatronics, which there seemed to be a lot of in here.
“H-hey, Shyly.” Li, obviously based off of Twilight, said to a Fluttershy looking bot, who was carrying a chick on her head. “You wanna-wanna-wanna-eatsomefoals- eat some pi-zza?”
Rarity looked at Li, who was staring dead straight at her, mechanical eyes the only thing that was moving, as if zeroing on different parts of her face.
“D-did you just say, east some foals?” She asked shakily. For a long moment, Li didn't move, the sole exception being the beady, glowing eyes.
“Why y-y-no!” It smiled, showing off sharp, jagged teeth. “I said wanna-wanna-eatsomefoals- eat some piz-za!”
Rarity gulped, and the bot's head twitched. So fast and so violent was the twitch, the fashionista wasn't even sure she even saw it.
“Hey,” Applejack could be heard talking to Shyly. “Have ya' seen a little filly? White with purple an' pink curly mane?”
“O-oh, well I-I-I don't know-know-know...” Rarity saw it again, a fast, sudden twitch, as if the head of the bot was a fast spinning top that hit a wall. “H-h-have you tried the lost-lost-lostshewillbelostforever- and found?”
Applejack replied, but Rarity wasn't listening. She just stared at the pony bot, that now had eyes just for her. Was she the only one who would hear these undertones? The only one who saw the twitches?
“Why don't we go to the arcade?” Rarity suggested to Applejack, trying to keep her calm, while feeling two sets of malicious eyes on her. “I remember Sweetie telling me all about the different games they would have here, and how she'd saved up a lot of bits to play them.”
Applebloom's eyes went large. “An arcade? I wanna play!”
Applejack patted her head. “Alright sugarcube. Let's ge-”
Rarity was already moving, completely missing the relaxed look of her friend, and the slow moving of Shyly's tongue as it slid over her metal lips.
The arcade was vast, to say the very least. To say the most would be to write a book on the amount, variety and random assortments of free standing console, carnival and skill games. Pinkie and Discord had really out done themselves on this one. Rarity had no idea where to look, and by the way Applejack was looking, she didn't remember what she was doing there.
“Remember.” Rarity whispered to her friend. “We're here to find Sweetie Belle. After that, we get out before the animatrons see us.” Rarity didn't know why she was whispering, but she just felt dread being here, seeing the seemingly endless games and, worst, the three animatrons walking the aisles, congratulating, hoof bumping and consoling fillies and colts at their games.
“Way-way-way to go, ki-ki-kiddo!” Mina laughed, bouncing in place as she smiled at a winner. “You're petty to-to-tasty-tough!”
Rarity gulped. These ones were doing it too. She had to find Sweetie Belle and get out of there fast.
“Can I-I-I- help you?” A white unicorn bot asked them. The tinny, recorded voice almost made Rarity jump.
“Ya' bet!” AJ smiled, oblivious to the panicked looks her own unicorn companion gave her. “Mah' sister an' I wanna play some game, but w'r a little on the broke side.”
“Ah-ah-ah-.” Rare smiled, her eyes darting to Rarity and staring her down, as if silently challenging her to say something to her friend. “I ha-ha-have a quiz for you then-then-then.”
The animatron's horn lit up a light purple and an image started floating in midair. At first, it was hard to tell what they were looking at, but as the image cleared, Rarity could see I was her sister, in a bathroom stall.
“Who-who-who is this-tastymorsal- young filly?”
“Why, it's Sweetie Belle!” Applejack proclaimed proudly.
For a moment, so fast, Rarity would have thought it was her imagination, a shining purple animatron flashed across screen, golden eyes and golden crown upon its head. It was gone before she could properly see any part of it.
“I have to go to the little filly's room.” Rarity said, tying her best to smile embarrassingly. Something was very very wrong, and her friend somehow had been sucked in without knowing. How else could she had forgotten the conversation they had heard between Discord and Pinkie?
“D-d-down the hall-hall-hall, and to the ri-ri-right.” Rare instructed as her chest opened and two golden tickets popped out.
With a hoot of glee, both Applejack and Applebloom picked them up and shot into the arcade with unlimited game passes for the rest of the day, leaving Rarity alone.
For a long minute, neither Rarity nor Rare moved. The pieces started falling in place in the unicorn's mind, and far too late, she realized that she was the only one who could see these subtle, but malicious, hints that all was much worse than what Pinkie or Discord had thought.
“I'm...going to go...to the bathroom now.” Rarity announced, turning slowly, to head the direction she was instructed to go. The animatron did nothing, simply observing as the dress maker left to go find her sister. Once out of sight, Rare, very slowly, grinned, licking her metal lips in anticipation.
Rarity galloped as soon as she was sure that the bot couldn't see or hear her anymore. The bathroom was simple to find, and soon she was inside.
“Sweetie Belle?!”
“Rarity?” Sweetie Belle's voice came from the center stall. She cautiously opened the door, and poked her head out. “Rarity!”
For a moment, all was right as the sister were reunited.
“I was so scared.” Sweetie confessed, near to tears. “I saw something when we were in Pirate's Cove, and so I followed it. I got lost, and eventually made it here.”
Rarity held her sister out at legs length, looking at her seriously. “Something is very wrong here.” She breathed. “We have to leave. Now.”
They both nodded, and made for the door and opened it.
Golden eyes bore into theirs as the purple animatronic Rarity had seen twice before, stood before them, it's face in a large, hideous grin. At first glance, Rarity thought it was Li, but Li was smaller, lighter in color and didn't have the wings.
Before the mechanical beast could say or do anything, Rarity slammed the door shut, pressing her back against it.
“NOPE!” She yelled. “NOT THAT WAY!”
A purple hoof punched through the door, inches from her head.
“This way!” Sweetie instructed, opening up a loose floor tile, to reveal a trap door. Why there was a trap door in the bathroom? Well, in cases of almost absolute death, one does not have the time to question the thing that could save you.
As the door shook and shattered into little splinters, Rarity and Sweetie Belle dove into the trap door, closing and sealing it with magic, the combination of their magic making it harder to break.
At the bottom of the trap door, they found themselves in a hallway, continuing on either side of from where they fell. As they lay, trying to catch their breaths, they both heard something that made them nearly choke on the very thing they were breathing on.
“T'is-T'is a pirate life fer me-me-me,
Split the hide-hide-hied and sees wh-wh-what I c'n sees,
Blood 'n- blood 'n- blood 'n guts 'n intestine-ine-ines n' bones,
My blade-blade-blade 'll skin ya' but m'h hook send ya' ta-ta-ta Davy Jones.”
The metallic thudding of three hooves on the floor caused the sisters to scurry to their hooves and gallop harder than they had in their lives down the unknown way of the dark hallway. It was impossible to tell how far or close Dashitan was, but they knew that she was closer than they wanted her. With a mighty blow, they hit the door that was hidden in the darkness of the hall.
“I can see her!?!” Sweetie Belle yelled as Rarity fumbled with her magic to jiggled the knob open.
“Aye-aye-aye sees me prize-ize-ize Aye do.”
“Hurry!?!”
“I'm trying! It's stuck!”
“Please! No! I-I don't want to die like this!?!”
“Yar-har-har-har!”
The door opened. Rarity dragged her sobbing sister in, slamming the door shut on the face of the eye patched, robo version of Rainbow Dash, resulting in a satisfying- thump!
They breathed heavily for a minute, both afraid to do more. What in the name of Celestia was going on here?!? Slowly, Rarity lit her horn, giving a faint purple light to the dark world around them.
The room was empty, save a bed.
For some odd reason, Rarity found herself sleepy. “That door will hold of anything.” She decided out loud. Sweetie Belle seemed to agree, already snuggling into bed, waiting for her sister. Rarity laid down, pulling the little filly into her, resting the little back on her chest.
The door crashed open, and Dashitan, along with the rest of the flesh crazed animtrons rushed in, screaming blood curdling stretches.
With a start, Rarity woke, finding herself in her own bed, holding her sister. She sighed. It was only a dream. With a hoof, she gently stroked her sister's mane. Now that she was awake, she felt something warm and wet on her legs and all over the sheets.
Oh great. Sweetie Belle must have a bad nightmare too. Wetting the bed like that, she'd have to talk to her about it in the morning. But for now, she'd hold her close and- Why was she ice cold? Rarity's hoof rose up to Sweetie Belle's neck where she felt-
“The mo-mo-monster isn't in the bed-bed-bed anymore.”
