The Circus Of Pretending

by Why To Know My Name

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Other, Original Character, Equestria Girls, Mystery, Horror, Princess Celestia, Crossover, Sunset Shimmer, Main 6, Gore
Length: 5130

What could happen when a few crazied clows stop pretending to be normal?

During the Anon-A-Miss thingy.
With all the distress going on her school due to the whole ''Anon-A-Miss'' case, Celestia decides to buy five clown robots to entertain her students. The robots work perfectly! Until night time... Baby's Rental Service, not responsible for damage/death/dismemberment of person or property!

Published 2016-12-14 13:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-12-15 09:24:52 UTC

Where the Darkness Cries

The sounds of gears and springs echoed through William's ears. He inhaled deeply and smiled.'' This is where the real magic happens...'', the maniac man thought. He chuckled and moved near a little stage, barelly lighten up, standing in front of him. The smell of metal and electricity could be hinted anywhere in this place. William looked at the stage, never letting jis grin leave his face. This was his little secret. No one should ever know about this place, save for him. A curved figure upon the stage straightened its posture and brought up a microphone to where it would be its mouth. A serene, feminine voice echoed through the facility.

''The show will begin momentarilly...'' The machine said. ''Everyone, please, stay in your seats.''. William's eyes brightened up like a child's would during Christmas. He started laughing and hooping around the stage.

''OH, YES! The bastard's blueprints only needed a lil' work! I knew it! Hah...'' Then, his grin started fading away. ''If only...'' He stopped, looking down, slihtly tearing up. ''If only Chloe was here... She'd love it.'' William wiped away his tears and slapped his grin back again. It has been about two years after his daughter's death. But William knew a way to bring her back, and his lasting hopes laid in these robots. William laughed again and shut the machine down, breathing deeply. His robots were ready to go to the children reach. He was sure they would love
his new creations. In any other case... He'd have to fulfill the job by himself, which shouldn't be hard. William started boxing the robots up and sendind them to the truck parked just outside his factory. The men that were supposed to deliver these were not allowed inside the factory, and were told to stay in the truck. William finished loading the truck and gave the men a piece of paper. The man in the driver's seat looked puzzled at Afton.

''What's this?'' He asked. William rolled his eyes.
''The adress, of course.''He gave the driver a dead-pan look. The man looked even more puzzled with this and just threw the piece of paper in any random spot in the cabine.
''We already know where i-'' The man was cut short by Afton's respons.
''I know, but since I don't trust in your sense of direction, I rather give you the adress.'' The driver grunted and looked forward in the truck's window.
''Whatever, bro.'' He said and drove away.

Celestia sat on her office, thinking about the excitement her students have been through lately. Celestia was sure having a lot of problems about this whole ''Anon-A-Miss'' thing. Everything was so... Stressing! The students were really distressed, and honestly, she was in the same state. After the Battle of the Bands, students stopped picking up on Sunset Shimmer. Students would say that the former unicorn was supposedl spreading rumors about them. From the pettiest things to the most embarrassing fiascos of their own. Some students even tried to attack her! Celestia looked over the window on her office, waiting for the answser for her problem to just pop from this very window. And it indeed has. A truck's honk took off Celestia from her thoughts, as she ran to the main entrance of the school. Five men brought out of the truck her very solution for all her distress issues. One of the men approached her with a billboard on hands. He touched her shoulder, and she turned around to face him.

''Excuse me, miss, are you Celestia Sunflare?'' He asked, with a stern face painted on.
''Yes, I am,'' The principal anwsered the bulky man. ''I presume you are waiting for your payment?'' She asked. The man nodded and wrote something down at the billboard, giving the object to the principal.
''You had some luck that Mr. Afton made a good trade with you. I couldn't afford one of these even if I worked my whole damn life.'' The man said. He ooked at the last boxing being taken out of the truck and chuckled. ''Since these are just out of the factory, I don't think you'll need to call any other service for repair.'' He assured the distressed woman in front of him. Celestia gave a sigh of relief kowing that she wouldn't need to spend more money in these old robots. She already spent enough money expanding the school area to make a few areas for the animatronics to perform for the students, and a room that William himself told her to build anywhere hidden.

He described it as the ''Scooping Room''. Whatever it was, surelly didn't sounded like something to hide away from the students, but since he's the one building the robots, he must have a pretty good reason to tell her to build such room. As Celestia finished filling the billboard, the man walked away with his workers. They assured her that they had installed the robots in the stage that was in the cafeteria. Celestia thanked the men and watched them drive away.

A few hours after the robots being installed as a surprise to the students, Luna's voice echoed through the speakers in the halls and rooms in CHS. The students were told to come to the caffeteria at once, and the teachers were to follow them. As the sea of known faces gathered in the caffeteria, the first thing everyone noticed was the new stage that was newly placed there. This sure was something that they never seen before in their lives. Sunset Shimmer and her five friends were the very last to arrive at the caffeteria, deciding to wait for the curious wave of people to go ahead first. Celestia looked over the students and smiled.

''Good morning, students!'', She cheered. A few grunts could be heard from the crowd, but most students cheered along. ''This is our first day at CHS, and I belive you are all excited to come back,'' She paused, and mumbled something away from the microphone in her hands. ''Since I wanted to do something different this year to celebrate your return, I present you...'' Celestia started opening the curtains of the stage behind her. ''Circus Baby and friends!''

There were a few gasps coming from the crowd, especially coing from the younger ones. The older students looked either terrified or just confused. Behind the curtains, there were six robots. They were all human looking, and three of them had ears and tails of different animals. All of them had their masks divided by many face plates, that seemed tightly closed to their metallic skeleton. The first in line was a male looking robot, with teal-blue eyes, bear ears and a bunny hand puppet in one of his hands, and a microphone in the other. He was wearing long black pants and a purpleish/white upper outfit, as well as a black top hat and bow tie, that matched perfectly with his pale face and purpleish cheeks. He was then turned on, and his puppet slightly waved to the crowd, giggling and smiling cheerfully at the kids.

''Bon Bon, say 'hi' to our friends!'' He said to his puppet, as the bunny waved and giggled.

The next in line was a tall, blue haired and violet cheeked ballerina. Once turned on, her eyes didn't open, even once. While dancing, her skirt started twirling slowly around her waist, making the little bells hanging on her skirt slightly ring. She started to dance on stage. But the fact that she never opened her eyes was simply somehow terrifying for a few students. Her music box started playing and echoing through the caffeteria, as the younger girls cheered up as they saw the robotic blue haired dancer.

Next in the line was a red haired tall female like robot. A red, pig tailed haired circus stage assistance girl, for the way she was dressed. One couldn't quite describe her facial features. All that the students could see from her face were a few divisions from her chin to her red cheeks, as for the rest of her face was darkened. This one had a skirt similar to the ballerina's, but it was red, it didn't had any bells and it didn't seemed to move at any moment.

The next in line was a white/pink haired girl, bearing fox ears and tail, that matched her hair. Her pinkish tail seemed to wiggle when she saw the kids. Her own face plates started slightly loosening. She had an pirate like outfit and used a matching skirt. Her big fox tail wiggled up and down, as she waved for the kids and smiled.

The last one was a clown like robot, wearing a red button on his neck and a green party hat. His colorful clothing seemed to cheer up everyone in the cafeteria, as the clown started his act, making every girl and boy in the caffeteria laugh and smile.

That was when the red haired robot lifted herself up, showing her green eyes to the crowd, as well as her many face divisions and her red nose. She held up her microphone and waved at the cheering crowd.

''The show will begin momentarilly...'' She paused, as for one moment, Sunset Shimmer could swear she saw blood leak from the robot's eyes. ''Everyone, please, stay in your seats.'' The red haired former unicorn started looking funny at the robots.

''Did principal Celestia really spend her money on these?'' She whispered to herself. She looked at the five girls on the other side of the room. They wouldn't even dream to stay near Sunset right now. Even if Sunset did nothing to them, they wouldn't listen to a word she had to say. They didn't care. They weren't her friends at all...

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, looking pretty annoyed.
''How old do they think we are?! Eight??'' She asked loudly, since the rest of the younger students were already cheering around the animatronics. ''This is ridiculous.'' The rainbow haired girl finished.
''I... I think they're pretty, um... Cute...'' Fluttershy stated meekly, hiding her teal blue eyes behind her long, pink hair. ''Especially the bunny puppet...'' She whispered.
''Oh, c'mon! They're so childish!'' Dash protested.
''This ballerina seems really classy, though.'' Rarity said, whiping her hair away from her face.
''It looks creepy.'' Rainbow Dash dead panned. Rarity giggled and looked at Rainbow Dash.
''Are you afraid of them, darling?'' Rarity asked. Rainbow Dash bursted into laughter.
''Afraid? Of these?'' She pointed at the stage where the kids would be interacting with the clowns.
Pinkie Pie then popped out of nonwhere, smiling wider than her friends ever seen her smile. She grabbed Rainbow Dash by her shoulders and shook her crazily.
''WENEEDTOGOOVERTHERESHECANMAKEICECREAM!!'' She screamed at Dash's face. Rainbow seemed dazed by her friend's suddent burst of excitement. Pinkie was the kind of person who was always excited, but there were three kinds of Pinkie's excitement, including this one.
Her normal excitement, her sugar rush, and this. Rainbow Dash escaped from Pinkie's grasp, looking at her annoyed.
''No way I'm going there.'' Pinkie frowned, as her hair seemed to lose a bit of it's natural volume.
''Aaaawww, why not?'' Pinkie asked.
''Cause' Dash's afraid of em'.'' Applejack answered, tipping her cowboy hat. Pinkie's hair volume seemed to come back, as she grabbed Dash's wrists and started laughing.
''Oh, c'mon, Dashie! They're alright!'' Pinkie started dragging the cyan girl to the stage.
''Pinkie, I'm not afraid of em', robots. I'm just too cool for them!'' Rainbow Dash said, snatching herself away from Pinkie.

That was when the clown robot appeared behind Pinkie Pie, his face plates glitching slightly.

''Violence isn't allowed round', buddy!'' The machine said. Pinkie looked back and hugged the creepy clown, giggling and pressing his nose repeatedly, as it made some sort of annoying squeaking noise.

''Hello, Mr. Ennard!'' Pinkie giggled and hooped her way near Rainbow Dash.

Deep Bellow The Ground

Sunset Shimmer watched her former friends interact with the new robots, as she looked sadly at their faces. She tried talking to them before, but they wouldn't listen to her! Damn, Rainbow Dash even punched her once. Applejack and Rainbow Dash would mostly act agressive around her, while the rest of the group would simply ignore the former unicorn. In an attempt to take her mind away from her recent loss of her only friends, Sunset Shimmer looked at the new animatronics, smiling at how cute they actually looked. This smile didn't last, though, as she wiped it away as soon as she brought it up, feeling tears come up on her eyes. One thing that Sunset Shimmer always hated was crying in public. She felt weak everytime she cried in front of others. She felt pathetic. Shen then got up as quickly as possible and ran out of the caffeteria, through the endless looking corridors of CHS... Until she tripped over something. The red haired girl fell to the ground, letting the tears run free out of her eyes. Sunset looked behind her, and spotted an small plushie of a white wolf with some pink details and a chicken hand puppet. It seemed to be somehow a fusion of two of the animatronics she saw earlier on stage. She slowly reached for it, carefully looking at the small plush animal in her trembling hands.
''W- Who would leave that here...?'' She asked herself. ''This one doesn't even look like any of the ones at the caffeteria...'' She thought out loud. She looked at every possible way around the corridor, and having no sight of someone, she got up and headed to the classroom to gather her stuff and go home, taking the plush with her.

Rarity looked in awe at the machine in front of her. The tall, blue haired and graceful dancer was indeed, a scene to behold. Each move she did was carefully measured b the creator of such robot. But something was rather odd about that one robot, in Rarity's eyes. eyes... Is it because the graceful dancer never opens her eyes? Is it the rotting smell that comes from that wonderful ballerina? Is that... Strange energy that surrounds the robots? Rarity couldn't quite put her finger on it... She stared at the ballerina, without even noticing that she was actually staring at the mechanical dancer. She could take an auditive hint of the music box that she played during the whole show, as well as gears, and... Something else. The robot then allowed her own voice echoe through the fashionista's ears.
''Is someone there?'' She asked calmly.
Rarity's spine froze as the robot's voice came to her ears. Her voice sounded normal, but... Something there wasn't really normal. One could say the the ballerina's question was simple, but Rarity would say that the way she asked it... It sounded more like a thread. Rarity's guts to answer such a simple question seemed to fade in a matter of seconds. The fashionista decided to head back to her group of friends. As the dancer had no response, she followed her programmation, and continued dancing.

Two hours later...

Celestia allowed the students to go home earlier. It's almost Christmas, for God's sake! Let the kids enjoy some time at home, and even some extra time for their homework. As the sea of the students walked through the corridors, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash shared a conversation among themselves.
"Um... H- has anyone seen Sunset...?'' Fluttershy asked meekly. The other girls would look away with a disgsted look or look down with a frown.
''Why do you even care?'' Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. Fluttershy stood silent, not knowing why she would or should care about said girl.
''Well, she did try to talk to us...'' Fluttershy replied. ''Don't you think that there should be a reason for that?'' The meek girl asked.
''I still think that she's just some manipulative bitch.'' Rainbow Dash said.
''I don't know... If she's really back to her old self... Why would she-'' Fluttershy barelly had the time to finish her setence, as Applejack slashed into the conversation.
''Listen, sugarcube, I know you and Sunset became really good friends and all but... Let's face it. She was using us all along.'' She said.
Fluttershy opened her mouth for an argument, but decided to stay quiet.
''So, that whole sleepover thing at my house is still up?'' Applejack asked.
''Sure is!'' Rainbow Dash said. ''Can't wait to have some apple pi-'' She stopped her setence as she noticed the girls slightly glaring at her. ''AND also, being with my friends.'' She said. The girls smiled and walked to the front yard of the school.

Sunset rushed through the stairs of the building where she lived, opening the door to her apartment as quick as she could. Once inside, she kicked her boots off and tossed her backpack away carelessly, as she rushed to her room and threw herself at her bed, shoving her face in her already soaked pillow. The girl then started sobbing, thinking about the loss of her only family, friends and her own patience. This has been her routine since the whole Anon-A-Miss thing started. Sunset would come from school walking, since she had no money to take the bus, quickly open the doors to her small and messy space, randomly toss her belongings around the house and throw herself in the bed, crying to her sleep. She would usually remember how painful the words that her friends spit at her were at the first time she heard them. And she would feel even worse everytime she thought that in every other time she heard the same words... It wouldn't hurt that much. She then started cutting herself for the pain, in the hope it would make her feel alive. But it didn't helpat all. Sunset would faint from the pain she introduced herself sometimes. It was terrible. But it was an addiction of hers.
"Talking about which...'' Sunset thought, as she lifted herself from the bed and headed to the kitchen. Or at least, she planned to head to the kitchen, but she stopped in the middle of her own track, noticing that her backpack was now open.

But how?
No one else lives with her... Sunset walked tothe open bag and checked if anyting was mmissing, and surprisingly enough, anything was missing. Except for the plush that she found earlier. Sunset looked around the small room for any signs of the small stuffed animal, but she found nothing. After having no success at her search for the plushie, Sunset gave up and walked to her small kitchen. The girl then let ot a small shriek of surprise, finding the plushie she was looking for sitting by the sink, staring at the kitchen's doorway, as if it was expecting her. Sunset looked terrified at the small animal, slowly reaching her hand to pick it up.
''Are you all that surprised because I moved?'' An feminine voice echoed through the room, making Sunset freeze in place.
''W- what?!'' The former unicorn screamed. ''How the...?! WHAT??'' The girl shrieked in confusion and fear, bacing away from the sink where the plushie would be found.
''Oh, quit it, woman.'' The plush talked to her yet again, as it got up from the sink and jumped to the ground, walking to Sunset's feet. ''I don't bite... Well, I do, but I have no teeth. Ehh, wait... I do have teeth buut... Eh, they're plush too. So even if I bit you, it wouldn't even tickle you.'' The small wolf said.
''That's NOT the point!'' Sunset screamed. ''HOW CAN YOU TALK??'' She asked in horror.
''Hey, hey, no need to scream. My ears are sensible. And nice to meet you too, name's HellHound, and that's ChiChi.'' She pointed to the chicken hand puppet. Sunset let out an irritated growl.
''HOW CAN YOU TAAAAAAALK?????'' Sunset shouted.
''Eugh... Less scandal about me. Not like you're supposed to know much about me just yet. Now, let's talk about you.'' The tiny plush climbed to Sunset's foot and used it as an bed to herself. ''I did heard you crying, after all.'' HellHound said, placing her tiny plush hands behind her head. Sunset rolled her eyes and shook HellHound off of her foot, revolting the tiny plush.
''That's not of your business.'' Sunset stated.
''Well, I state it is now.'' HellHound got up, picking up her tiny top hat an fixing her small bowtie.
''And since when you have these rights at my house and being a... Plushie?'' Sunset asked the small wolf.
''Well,'' HellHound placed her top hat back in her own head and looked up to Sunset. ''Since I arrived here, which makes that, uuuh... I'd guess 4:20PM of today? Eeeh, anything like that.'' HellHound waved dismissively at the subject brought up by herself.
''Ugh..'' Sunset facepalmed. ''Look at me... Discussing the power over my own house with a plush that is probably an hallucination.'' The red haired girl told herself, slowly sliding herself from the wall to the floor. HellHound, however, seemed triggered about being tagged as an hallucination.
''I ain't no hallucination!" She stated. The plushie then hooped to Sunset's lap. ''Since you're so curious, I'll tell you who am I."

Where Memories Sleep

Sunset looked at the plush being settled in her lap, as the little stuffed animal stretched her own limbs and, as much impossible as it sounds, started talking to the former unicorn.
''You see...'' HellHound started. ''We were not always like this. We're...'' She stopped for a while, sighing. The plush looked at her puppet hand, as her ears went down in sadness.
''We're cursed to look like them.'' She finished. Sunset looked in confusion at the plushie. When HellHound told that she would give Sunset better explanations, the red haired girl sure expected more than this.
''That didn't really shed any light at the situation.'' Sunset dead panned. HellHound rolled her brownish plastic eyes, returning Sunset's look.
''Does the name 'William Afton'' ring any bells?'' The plush asked. Sunset tilted her head, searching for the name the plush mentioned in her mind, but in the end, she had no success.
''Well, if you don't, it's not MY role to tell you what you want to know.'' She told Sunset. HellHound then used Sunset's shirt as a support to climb to the red haired girl's head. Sunset shook the plush off from her in annoyance, glaring at the small wolf, crossing her arms.
''If you don't have anything to trade me, I'm pretty sure you have the notion that you won't stay here.'' Sunset said.
''Oh, but I CAN trade you.'' Hellound replied.
''Oh, can you?'' Sunset lifted and eyebrow, doubting from the words that left the small plushie's mouth.
''I'm pretty sure you'd love a friend in some troubled times like these, hmm?'' HellHound asked her, allowing herself to grin as much as her cheeks would let her.
That quote from the plush caught Sunset off-guard.
How does she know about it?, Sunset thought. Well, I was crying when I found her... And she did mention something abouut hearing me cry. Well, makes enough sense., she finished her mental quotes.
HellHound stared at Sunset, waiting for her answer, with that arrogant smile splattered all over her face, as if she was already sureof what was going to happen.
''A friend for a favor. What do you say? Not like I'll give you any trouble. I'm not some pet.'' The wolf said. Sunset made an carefully analised the situation she found herself in. She took a second or two to spit out her reply to the convinced plush.
''No.'' Sunset said. HellHound's expression immediatly dismantled itself from that cocky grin to a badly surprised frown.
''What?!'' She screamed.
''I said no. If you're not willing to give me answers, you're not staying.'' Sunset said.
HellHound's grin slowly got back in her face.
''I see... A hard bargain. I like this! I really appreciate knuckle heads like you.'' The wolf mocked Sunset. ''But you know what? You can only get me out if you can ACTUALLY catch me!'' She said as she ran to hide from Sunset.
The former unicorn growled, rubbing her temples, as she brought herself out of the ground and started to look for the plush.

~The Next Day...~

Fluttershy walked through the empty hallways of Canterlot High. She arrived way too early in the school, like she usually did. It was really normal for Fluttershy to be the first student to arrive at the school. The corridors were filled with the student's lockets. Some had some obscene paintings on the doors, others were a little dented, while few seemed to be right out of the factory. The floor was clean and reflected the lamps above her head, making it look like a silver way to the rooms, sometimes, being an blinding shine.
Then Fluttershy's attention about the place was gone.
She heard some quick footsteps coming from behind her.
''H- hello...?'' She caled out meekly. No response. Then she heard banging in the lockets in front of her. Fluttershy quickly turned around to face the way in front of her and... IT.
There was a girl in front of her. She seemed to be a little younger than Fluttershy. Her skin was pale, beyond the humanly possible point. Her black, long and messy hair had some noticeable red ''highlights''. Her limbs were obviously broken and distorted in a way that her arms were twisted backwards in an painful looking angle, and her legs would be totally broken from the bottom to their very top, save for two spots in each leg, that seemed theorically intact. She had a bloody blindfold covering away her eyes, that seemed to cry some red liquid, which ran down her cheeks and fell as one from her chin. Or what was left of it. She stood in a graceful position, in the tip of her toes, legs apart, head looking up and arms posed in some agonyzing perfection. The clothes she was using seemed to be old by the looks of it. They had dust and blood all over her shirt and skirt, but what was most marking was the golden locket she had with her. It was pure and simple gold, as far as Fluttershy could tell (if at this point she was even thinking), and its shine crossed the blood that covered it. But it seemed like it could fall out of the girl's neck at any second. Fluttershy shrieked in terror at the sight of the deformed girl in front of her. As the pink haired girl tried to run away from whatever monster that was, something cold took hold of her wrist.
The meek girl turned around, hoping that this cold hold in her wrist wasn't that thing she saw. But her hopes proved themselves wrong as soon as Fluttershy found herself staring at the deformed girl again. Fluttershy then, noticed that the girl's face was as twice as worse than her body. She had a permanent smile slashed in her face, her chin seemed to be chomped out of her head, and the smell she had... It was from a decaying body. She wasn't able to move anymore, not even one miserable inch. The girl started undoing the ties of her blindfold, revealing those two deep and dark wells.
All that Fluttershy found in these wells was fear...Darkness... Sadness... And lots of hate. She simply shivered and fell to her knees in front of the girl, crying from either the feelings she had from staring ino the eyeless sockets of the girl or from the fear she had from her. She spent at least an hour or so in the hallway, in the very same position, not even bothering on switching it. Other students asked her what happened, but she wouldn't answer any of them. She even struggled away from the hold of any other student that tried tapping her shoulder, hugging her or anything alike. She just cried, holding a piece from that old golden and bloody locket she saw in the girl's neck.

Sunset walked to the caffeteria where she would sit with her friends and discuss about their days, laugh, smile... These were the memories of happiness that Sunset had. These were the only friends she ever had in a lifetime, and she wasn't so sure if she would ever make any other friends like these. They were her family, and everything she had in this life. It was worth another try, right? Sunset walked to the table where she spotted her friends.
''Girls, you ha-'' Sh barelly had time to finish her setence, before Rainbow Dash smacked her across the face.
Sunset brought a hand up to her bruised cheek, as she looked at Rainbow with tears in her eyes. Rainbow, however, wasn't done just yet. She walked up to Sunset and lifted her to her own eye level by the collar of her shirt. The rainbow haired girl brought her fit up, but cold steel held her back. When she looked back, there was Freddy, shaking his head with a dissapoited look in his face.
''Well, well, well, be nice to your friends, buddy! Or we will -T E A R Y O U A P A R T, L I M B B Y L I M B- tell your parents, ain't that right, Bon Bon??'' Sunset froze at the bear man's ghostly quote. Rainbow Dash didn't seem to hear it in first place, however.
Did I heard that right...?, that was the question that echoed in her mind. She heard it clear and nice, but.. How Rainbow wasnb't affected by it?
Rainbow Dash growled and let go of Sunset, which led Freddy to let go of the rainbow colored girl. She rolled her eyes and sat back in the table with her friends, while Freddy asked for the blue haired dancer to lead the way to the nursery room to Sunset.
''But I know the wa-'' Sunset tried to complain with the robots.
''We know you know the way, silly! Hehehe...'' The bunny puppet told her. ''But we'd like to have someone to escort you anyways!'' Freddy said in a happy tone, as Ballora climbed out of the stage.
Fluttershy looked at the ballerina and all she could remember was the girl in the hallway that she saw earlier. She hasn't told any of her friends about what she saw, and she didn't intended to. It was so... Impossible. Yet, when it happened, it felt real.