Chapter One: A Party Gone Wrong
-Belle Residence, Ponyville-
"Are you sure you want to go to Pinkie's Pizzeria for your party, Sweetie?" Juliet Rarity Belle asked her little sister, Sweetie Belle, a look of doubt lacing both her tone and expression as she asked. "I mean, with all of those rumors... That place seems... Disturbing," she noted, looking down at the unicorn filly.
"There's nowhere I'd rather be!" Sweetie Belle chirped with a wide grin, practically hopping up and down on the tips of her hooves in excitement. "Besides, does Mister Snappy really seem dangerous to you?" she asked her sister, her smile faltering slightly as she furrowed a concerned brow.
Rarity kneeled down slightly to look Sweetie in the eye. "It's not Snappy that I'm worried about... I know how much he cares about you. It's just the rumors. And if it really is so important for you to see him, than I will allow it," she sighed, wrapping the filly into her arms briefly. She cared about her sister more than life itself, and upon hearing about what strange events took place at the pizzeria a couple years ago, Rarity worried more than ever that Sweetie Belle might be involved... After all, it wasn't every pizzeria that needed somepony to guard the place from twelve to six every night. And it also wasn't every restaurant who was responsible for the death of a customer via its animatronic mascots.
"Thank you," Sweetie grinned, returning the hug gratefully.
-One Week Later, Pinkie Pie's Pizzeria 7:30 PM-
A wide grin was visible stretching from ear to ear upon Sweetie Belle's face as she and Rarity walked hoof and hoof up to the double doors of a familiar restaurant, a spring in her step and a party hat on her head. Rarity looked down at her sister and couldn't help but usher a sweet smile at Sweetie's enthusiasm.
If only it was mutual...
Before Sweetie could bolt from her sister's grasp to see her BAFF (Best Animatronic Friend Forever), Rarity spoke. "Sweetie?"
"Yeah, Sis?" the unicorn filly practically shouted in her excitement, looking up at Rarity's worried face.
The older mare shrugged and replaced her frown with a smile before kissing Sweetie Belle's cheek. "Have fun." With that, she released the filly's hoof, watching as the tiny pony leapt up, giving a brief, goofy salute, and marched inside.
Upon entering, Sweetie Belle was left aghast, the sight of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, along with Applejack and a pile of festively wrapped boxes leaving her speechless. Some called it childish excitement, others naivety, but she just called it a family gathering for her birthday. With a joyful squeal, Sweetie Belle rushed to meet her friends, gifting them with a bear hug that belied her small size. "You guys made it!" she giggled, joining the laughter of that of her friends as she broke away from the small group hug.
"Of course we made it," Scootaloo grinned, rolling her eyes as if it was obvious.
"Wouldn'ta missed it fer the world, Sweetie!" Apple Bloom agreed, unaware of the shape looming over her until she noticed the fact that there wasn't any light above her head. "What th'-?" she queried, swiveling her head slightly. Visible horror stretched across her face at the sight of long jaws and a mischievous grin.
"Snappy!" Sweetie Belle blurted before Apple Bloom could scream, taking a running leap into the arms of an eight foot tall animatronic crocodile mascot clad in his classic black bow tie and similarly shaded bowler hat.
Said crocodile erupted with laughter as he gave his friend a tight hug before looking down at Scootaloo and Apple Bloom's horrified faces. "D-did I scare you?" he asked in his characteristic Australian-programmed voice concernedly, leaning down not only to allow Sweetie to clamber onto his shoulders, but to look the two in the eye. "I-I'm sorry," he muttered, holding out his arms and giving the fillies a kind, though visibly worried, smile. With that, he leaned forward slightly to give the duo a hug.
After another moment, the fear that the two had felt waned, and they returned his motion with mutual growing smiles.
"So!" Mister Snappy the crocodile started after putting them down. As he spoke, the animatronic clapped his clawed hands once whilst rubbing them together with a grin. "Who's ready to party?"
Sweetie Belle let a goofy grin slip across her muzzle as she hopped up and down on her tippy-hooves, awaiting the moment that her big robot friend would release the confetti. "Ooh, ooh! I am!" she blurted, raising a hoof high into the air as the other two Cutie-Mark Crusaders joined in her actions.
"I'm sorry, my audio sensors must be failing! I saaaid, 'who's ready to party'?!" Mister Snappy grinned, lifting a claw to his ear and tilting his head.
On cue, nearly everypony in the room, save for a nearby security guard on day-shift and a couple adults, began to cheer, pumping a hoof in perfect synchronization.
Mister Snappy laughed before lifting a microphone off of its stand upon returning to his show-stage and tapping a claw to its mesh surface. "Is this thing on? Checking, 1, 2, 3." The result was an audible thud with each tap and an ear splitting voice from the speakers mounted at the ceiling and corners of the room.
Instantly, the cheers ceased to make way for groans as everypony covered their ears.
"That's a yes," Mister Snappy grimaced, returning the mic to its proper place before he turned a small dial upon his shoulder clockwise. "Okay, welcome everypony," he started, the speaker in the back of his throat having been dialed up to the point that all could hear him clearly. "And welcome especially, Sweetie Belle! Let's all put our hooves (or claws) together, as it is my understanding that today is a particular unicorn's birthday!" Mister Snappy grinned, clapping his hands in rapid succession to join that of the ponies around him.
Sweetie Belle flushed slightly as those around her, such as friends and family, began to sing "Happy Birthday".
As the song was being sung, Pinkie Pie emerged from the kitchen with a tremendously sized, triple layered cake at hoof, an almost bigger grin on her face. She may have been the manager of the pizzeria, but she was by no means, going to miss out on the joys and festivities that a birthday party brought.
As Pinkie gingerly placed the cake down upon the center table, Rarity lifted Sweetie up to the candles. "Make a wish," she said with a warm smile.
Sweetie Belle mulled over her thoughts for a moment before a light bulb was almost visibly seen flashing above her head. With that, she inhaled deeply, and then let her breath out with all of the force that she could muster. The wind snuffed the candles, but only for a moment before they flickered back to life.
Rarity deadpanned and turned to face Pinkie Pie as she rolled across the floor laughing. "I-it's a CLASSIC!" she roared in her fits of laughter as Sweetie repeated the failed action from before.
Fortunately, the candles remained unlit...
-8:00 PM-
After the cake had been served and Sweetie Belle had her fill of the delicious dessert, she reproached Mister Snappy as he held out a balloon for a colt with a heart-warming smile. Upon seeing his friend, the animatronic crocodile leaned down and inflated a second balloon. "Lift your hoof," he said.
Upon doing so, Snappy gently tied the string of the party supply around her wrist. Sweetie Belle ushered a smile that was infectious upon the crocodile before she reached forward and wrapped a hoof around his thick leg. "Mister Snappy?"
"Yes, Sweetie?" he asked, smiling at her joy as he leaned down and lowered his snout, mint green eyes meeting his aquamarine ones. The joy of children was something that Mister Snappy took delight in, their smiling faces and innocence always a welcome factor to his book. Being a self-aware animatronic had its downsides, sure. But the upsides outweighed those by a good margin.
"We're always going to be friends, aren't we?" Sweetie smiled as she hugged his snout.
"Always," Snappy whispered before he became dimly aware of an unfamiliar aura that screamed towards the duo. Shifting his gaze up slightly, the crocodile animatronic's sensors began to go berserk, his view greeted with static as a dim, malefic aura streaked towards Sweetie Belle. Though unable to see through the now powerful static, Mister Snappy's mechanical pupil constricted in fear before he threw his own safety out a metaphorical window. "Sweetie, MOVE!!" he roared, shoving the unicorn filly aside before his body became enveloped by a black and purple aura.
Rarity, having heard the shout, looked up from the cake she had been savoring before noticing with horror, the energy that had begun to seep into Snappy's joints, jaws, and eyes. "Sweetie," she whispered before Mister Snappy collapsed onto his hands and knees his body convulsing as sparks flew from his joints. The animatronic bellowed in pain, the joints of his lips lifting with clicks in the form of a grimace as his aquamarine eyes meet Rarity's blue.
With another roar, the green morphed into blood red and the crocodile fell to the floor.
"EVERYPONY!! Get out of here!" Rarity screamed, dropping her plate and rushing to Sweetie Belle. "Get them out of here," she ordered Applejack sternly before doing so. The security guard, having some inkling as to what was going to happen, sprinted to the back office for some kind of tool to defend against the potential threat.
"What's happenin'?" Applejack asked worriedly, confusion etched upon her face.
"No time to explain, just get them out!"
The earth-mare nodded in understanding before Rarity sprinted to Sweetie Belle and her friends. "All right, ya heard the mare! Clear out!" Applejack's country accented voice shouted.
"Sweetie! Get your friends and RUN!" Rarity shouted, waving to the filly as she reproached the animatronic and tapped his shoulder.
"Mister Snappy?" she murmured, seemingly not hearing her older sister's words of advice. "Are you okay?"
Upon hearing the voice, the the crocodile snapped his head to face her, a soft hiss leaking from his throat as his body underwent a series of mutations.
Sweetie was unable to watch, as her sister had grabbed her and yanked her away before she could do anything more. "Sis?! What's going on?!" Sweetie Belle asked over the sound of everypony's panicked yells and Applejack's demanding voice.
Rarity didn't answer, and as she came to the exit, a party table soared over her head and struck the wall with a tremendous clang, striking a nearby party goer and pinning them down. The stallion in question screamed in pain as one of her hind legs gave out with a SNAP!, though Rarity was far too shell-shocked to do anything more than skid to a halt and face the threat that she knew was coming.
Upon facing Mister Snappy, Rarity was overcome with fear and twangs of guilt. Mister Snappy was gone, replaced with a mutated crocodile whose teeth were too long and too misshapen for his jaws to be fully closed. His brows, once rounded off and smooth, were now reminiscent of a pair of robust horns, lined with serrations to match the nasal spike. A long, segmented tongue slithered between the jagged teeth and a pair of mandibles on his top jaw flexed disturbingly.
NightMare had worked within Snappy to spread organic flesh across his body, thickening his limbs, jaws, and tail. His typically short, triangular dorsal scutes had since elongated into sharp quills like that of a porcupine.
As another jolt of malefic energy shot through the animatronic's system, Snappy shrieked in pain and slammed himself against a wall, raking his now steel black, serrated claws across his face and creating deep shreds in the process. His segmented tail, lined with short, sharp spikes thrashed back and forth as he collapsed once again, long claws creating jagged ruts in the tile floor.
Rarity forced back a fearful scream as Twisted Snappy lifted his head and stared at her with burning, hateful eyes, a hiss slithering from his jaws as they flexed. His position, she noted through her fear, was like that of a crocodile ready to pounce, walking on all fours...
He was positioned like a monster...
