Same Place, Same Faces

-Pinkie's Cupcake Palace threatened with shutdown over sanitation concerns.-

The ever so popular family entertainment center, Pinkie's Cupcake Palace has been threatened with shutdown by the health department again after several complaints of foul odor coming from the much-loved animatronics modelled after Equestria's late ██████.

Royal guards were alerted when several parents reportedly noticed what appeared to be blood and mucus around the eyes, nostrils, and mouths of the animatronics. One parent even compared them to "reanimated carcasses".

Today was the day.

Applejack arrived at the front of the establishment, not very ecstatic at the fact that she had to arrive at such a late time. She stumbled on over to the entrance, already wanting to get her first night over with.

"Well, look who showed up. And just on time too."

Applejack looked to the side, noticing an unfamiliar looking, purple stallion, albeit with a now familiar voice.

"Though, you don't look very enthusiastic. But, I guess I can't exactly fault you for that, it is late after all."

"You've got that right..." Applejack chuckled.

"Well, let's get down to business. Now remember, your shift lasts from twelve to six in the morning. Your instructor has left you nightly voicemail in your office to help you through your first week. As soon as the clock hits six, you're free to leave. Oh, and one last thing,"

The stallion reaches into his pocket and hands over a pair of keys, before finishing.

"Well, that's all you really need to know, I better not waste anymore of your time now. I'll be here again tomorrow night."

"Thanks, I hope you have a better sleep than I do, heh." Applejack joked to the stallion who was already walking away.

As she brought her attention to the front doors of the establishment, and began to unlock them, she stopped and turned back around.

"Hey, if you don't mind, I never caught yer name yesterday morning on the phone."

The stallion stopped and turned his direction back to the mare.

"William. I never caught yours either, surprisingly."

"Jacqueline. Jacqueline Apple. But everypony just calls me Applejack."

The stallion stares for a brief moment, then nods and continues walking. As he walks away from the building, he lowers his head downwards and mutters to himself.

"...Applejack. That name is very familiar..."

The first thing Applejack noticed upon entering the building was the freezing cold temperature.

"Why does it have to be so cold in here?" she thought to herself.

Opening up her saddlebag, she reached into it and grabbed a flashlight before turning it on. She aimed her light around, not finding anything really worth keeping her attention on for too long, just a plethora of old chairs and tables.

That is, until she aimed it towards a large stage, her light illuminating the main "attractions" the newspaper was referring to.

Three life-sized metallic ponies towered over her, catching her off guard and causing her to take a step back.

After getting her bearings, she took a step forward to get a closer look at the machines. Suddenly, she remembered why this place was so special to ponies.

The robots. The robots that looked just like her friends.

She recollected the few memories she had with this place and her friends. They would always visit the establishment whenever they got the chance, to admire the machines and the songs that they would sing for all the ponies that visited.

She vividly remembers the day her friend Pinkie announced to all her friends the project she and a group of other ponies were working on. She could barely contain her own excitement while telling the news to her friends. She was always so cheerful, wanting to put a smile on everypony's face.

Remembering the times she spent with her friends, Applejack resisted the urge to cry, and quickly wiped away her forming tears, not wanting to let her emotions get the best of her, and continued to roam the building.

As she came across two long connected hallways, she saw a distinct, albeit barely noticeable glow at the end. Assuming it was coming from the aforementioned office she was supposed to watch the cameras from, she navigated her way down one of the adjacent halls.

As she trotted down the hallway, the corner of her eye noticed the wall packed full of old, torn drawings. It was very blatant to her that the drawings were made by the countless visiting fillies long ago, judging by the scribbled art and hoofwriting. She stopped for a moment to admire the old forgotten 'artwork' before continuing down the hall.

Reaching the end of the hall, she stepped into a small, tight, dimly lit room. Looking over to a small desk, she noticed a large round device with an equally sized screen sitting there for her.

Applejack wasn't sure what she was expecting when she stepped into the office, she wasn't too familiar with the new technology Equestria introduced either, despite it being around for many years now. She never really did use any of the fancy new gadgets besides a phone, as she was always on the farm bucking away at the countless apple trees.

"Guess I'll have to use that help after all." she said to herself.

Next to the large device was an office phone with a tiny screen displaying a list full of unread voicemail, all of which were from last month. She selected the message at the top of the list, assuming it was the first one she was supposed to listen to, and laid back into her swivel chair.

When the message began, an unexpected, yet very familiar voice filled the office.

"Alright... uh... hello. I- uh, just wanted to record a message for you to help you get everything prepared for your first night."

"Shining Armor?"

Her friend, Twilight's brother? She wasn't sure if she was hearing correctly, or if the lack of sleep was getting to her. His voice was the last she expected to hear at a place like this.

While the voice of a familiar and close friend gave her company, that was quickly drowned out by a wave of sorrow and pity.

After the news of the tragedy became widespread, she knew that out of all the ponies in Equestria, Shining would be one to take the news the hardest.

The pain and anger he must've felt was unimaginable. He failed to show up to his daily guard duty ever since the news came out. After a long wait, Shining finally broke the silence, and publicly announced that he would be stepping down from the royal guard, saying he wasn't fit for the job.

The news came as a shock to everypony, and when Applejack heard about his retirement she felt terrible.

As she sat in her chair, she suddenly remembered the message Shining left for her was still playing. She snapped out of her depressing thoughts and scooted forward, listening intently to the call.

"-but I'm here to assure you there isn't anything to worry about. That being said, let's just focus on getting you prepared for your first night. First, there's an introductory greeting from the company that I need to read. It's just one of those boring legal things, you know? 'Welcome to Pinkie's Cupcake Palace, the most lively palace for fillies and grown-ups alike, where the best, and most magical cupcakes in Equestria are served. Magipony Entertainment is not responsible for damage to property or pony. Upon discovering said damage or death, a missing pony report will be filed within 90 days-"

Applejack sat there listening to the cheesy company monologue, before her eyes widened after the weight of what was said after hit her like a brick.

"-or as soon as all of the company's property has been carefully cleaned and washed, and the carpets have been replaced.' Blah, blah, blah. Now at first that might sound kind of bad. But, I promise there's nothing you need to worry about."

"Ya think?" she thought to herself.

"Now, the animatronics here do become a little... lively at night. But, do I blame them? No. If I were forced to sing those same annoying songs for years and I never got a bath? Yeah, I'd probably be up all night too."

His little remarks got a small chuckle out of her, before she sat up, unsure of what he meant by "lively."

"Wait, lively?" she said aloud.

"So, just know that the animatronics do wander around a bit. The company said they're left in some kind of free roaming mode at night. Apparently, their "servos" lock up if they get turned off for too long. I, uh, don't really know what any of that means, to be honest with you, heh."

"Well, ain't that comforting." she grumbled.

"Oh, and I forgot to mention, there's a tablet on your desk. That thing, is how you view the cameras around the place. Press the little button on the side to turn it on."

Applejack grasped the large device in her two front hooves and did as she was instructed. Upon pressing the button, the screen illuminated her face with a view of the place through one of the cameras.

"When you do, you'll be seeing the view from one of the cameras. To the side of the screen is a map of the place and buttons for you to press, those buttons are the corresponding cameras. Use these to watch the place and animatronics, and make sure they don't walk into or damage anything."

"Sounds simple enough, I guess I was right about this not being much work after all." she says to herself, beginning to feel a little more optimistic.

"Now, concerning your safety, the only real risk to you as a night guard, if any, is the fact that these animatronics... uh, if they see anyone after hours they probably won't recognize them as a pony. They'll most likely see you as one of the animatronic's metal interiors, an endoskeleton, without its costume on. Now since the animatronics wear suits at all times, they'll probably try to... forcefully stuff you inside an empty suit?"

"Uhm... well, that doesn't sound so bad." she thought.

"Uh... now, that wouldn't sound so bad, i-if the suits themselves were actually empty. They're filled with... metal, wires, and other animatronic devices. So, I'm sure you could imagine how having your body forcefully stuffed inside one of those would cause a few... problems... namely death."

That sounded bad.

"Yeah... they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, I know you won't run into any problems. I'll chat with you again tomorrow. Check the cameras, and close the doors only in case of an emergency. The place doesn't have strong power, so you gotta conserve it. Alright, have a goodnight."

"Power?"

She looked at the bottom of the device's screen, and noticed a meter displaying the building's power, which was at 95%. She looked to the top of the screen, seeing there was a time of day displayed for her to keep track of the time, which read 12:06 AM.

Remembering what Shining said about "doors", she looked around for them, quickly noticing two large buttons on each side of the office's walls correspondingly labelled "DOOR" and "LIGHT".

"Oh boy, It's gonna be a long night..." she sighed.

1:15 AM

Applejack laid back in her chair, camera monitor off and on her desk, making sure not to use the cameras that much, as she quickly realized while using the cameras they used a lot of her power's consumption.

As she sat there, a quiet, yet audible stomp could be heard from outside the office. Not expecting to hear anything besides the buzzing of the office's fan and light, she sprang up in her seat, lifting the monitor off her desk and swiftly turned it on.

Zipping through several cameras, attempting to locate the source of the sound, she ended up looking at the show stage of the animatronics, noticing one of them was missing from their usual spot.

Causing her to panic, she quickly switched through the cameras to look for the missing member. She landed on the dining area, and immediately noticed a large purple figure standing in the middle of the room, it's back turned to the camera.

It was Twilight.

The robot that looked a lot like her friend brought her a slight bit of comfort, but at the same time, dread.

They didn't look exactly like them either, their fur was metallic, and their interior metal skeletons were easily noticeable through their joints. She always found the look of the robots to be bizarre, but never questioned it too much.

As she watched through the monitor, it was suddenly completely filled with static accompanied by a quiet buzzing noise.

Applejack switched to the other cameras, and could only watch in horror and confusion as every single camera she switched to had the same effect. After a few seconds of momentarily panic, the cameras returned to normal.

Thinking the electronic was just acting up, she let out a small sigh of relief. Unfortunately, that relief was cut short.

When she checked the dining room camera again, something changed. The familiar looking robot was gone.

Multiple, slow, audible thumps echoed outside her left door. She sat frozen in her seat, unable to move a single muscle. As the thumps came closer and louder, she stared into the darkness of the doorway, unsure of what to do.

Suddenly, the thumps came to a halt.

Staring at the doorway for what felt like hours, she finally mustered up enough courage to check the light.

Towering over her, was the all so familiar purple robot. That's not all that frightened her, though. What scared her was what it was doing.

It's eyes were locked onto hers. It knew she was there.

Applejack practically threw herself at the door button, immediately slamming the door shut. Hyperventilating, she attempted to calm herself down. She reassured herself they were just harmless machines, likely just programmed to interact with people.

But what about what Shining said about the "suit stuffing"? If that was true, where they programmed to do that? Were they sentient? Surely they could never actually manage to put her into one, she heard how slowly it's hoofsteps were outside the door.

After a few seconds of self reassurance and calming herself down, thumps outside the door picked up again, and slowly faded into the distance until no more sounds outside could be heard.

Checking the cameras, the purple robot was back to it's regularly assigned position; on the show stage next to the other idle animatronics. Seeing that the coast was clear, she opened the door and let out yet another sigh of relief. Bringing her attention back to the monitor, she took note of the power's percentage, already being at 73%. Maybe she didn't have to watch the cameras much, after all.

6:00 AM

The rest of the night was uneventful, much to Applejack's gratification. Once the clock struck six, she made sure the monitor was powered off before trotting out the office.

As she made her way to the building's only exit, tiredly fumbling with the keys to unlock the door, she thought she heard what sounded like a hush, raspy whisper. After looking around and seeing nothing, she quickly shrugged it off, knowing she was just tired from sitting in an office for too long, and trotted out the door; locking it behind her.

"Jacqueline..."