Starlight and Trixie were standing around the front doors of the old Playtime Co Toy Factory. They were looking up at the old building and colorful smokestacks with a form of nostalgic reverence. They both visited the factory before when they were kids, so this factory held significance to them, but none more than Starlight Glimmer.
Her mother used to work for Playtime Co., right up until she disappeared along with the rest of the workers inside one day ten years ago. Trixie whistled, impressed.
"It's been a long time since I came here, and it still looks magical to me," Trixie said. "Last time we came here was back in fifth grade, do you remember?"
"Yeah. I remember Sunburst was eating with the rest of us in the cafeteria and he was stuck eating a soggy PB&J," Starlight said. "I traded him my pizza rolls for it."
"To be fair, some people like their PB&J's soggy," Trixie said. "I can't really explain why, but there's something to be enjoyed there."
Starlight shook her head. "Look, we're not here for nostalgia. We're here to find my mom."
"Sorry for the distraction. Your mom used to work here, yeah?" Trixie asked.
"Yeah, my mom worked here. I think she worked as one of the 'Innovationists'," Starlight replied. "I just hope the letter I got is actually true."
"Don't you think that's a bit weird?" Trixie asked. "I mean, your mom disappeared along with the rest of the workers here and some mystery person sends you a letter saying that she's still here in the factory even after it was abandoned for ten years?"
"I know it sounds suspicious, but the writer said that this factory contains answers I need and that she's still alive," Starlight said. "I need to find her. I need to find my mom."
Trixie's face softened and placed a supportive hand on her friend's shoulder. "Then let's go inside already and find your mom."
The two girls walked through the front doors of the factory and entered some kind of main lobby. Colorful floor tiles and colorful characters on the white walls greeted them once they entered. There were posters displaying classic toy characters the company made in the past. Bron the Dinosaur, Cat-Bee, Candy Cat, and Huggy Wuggy all looked at the girls with bright and cheerful smiles. There was a gift shop to their right and a security room on the right.
"Why don't you check the gift shop for anything suspicious while I check out the security room?" Starlight asked.
"Sounds good. Hopefully there's something in there that'll be useful," Trixie said, heading towards the gift shop.
Before Starlight went towards the security room, she checked the front desk for anything and found a VHS tape on the desk with a TV mounted on the wall above her. She placed the tape in the player and waited for the TV to come on. Once it did, a male voice seemingly spoke directly to her.
"Hi. My name is Leith Pierre, and I'm the Head of Innovation here at the Playtime Co, Toy Factory. If you're seeing this, then you're trespassing. Yeah, we play this little tape on loop whenever we close the factory for the day. So, trespasser, just to make you aware, while we pride ourselves on our high-quality toys and excellent childcare, we also pride ourselves on our security. For example, this facility is full of hidden motion triggers, which when set off, will turn on the factory's emergency alarms and directly contact the authorities. And that's one of the more... tame aspects of our security system. No spoilers! So, you've got my warning. I just hope you're certain whatever you're doing is worth it."
The tape began again in its loop just as Starlight headed towards the security room, thinking about the tape. If Leith Pierre was the company's Head of Innovation, then he would've met her mom at some point. And their security system? It shouldn't be a problem since it was a decade since this factory was up and running. Besides, she wasn't about to let that stop her from looking for her mom. Starlight made it to the security room and was not happy to see that it was passcode-protected. What's worse is that the code she needs is color-coded. She was about to try random combos when Trixie came up behind her.
"Hey, Star! No luck with the security room?" Trixie asked.
"No. The doors are locked thanks to this color code," Starlight replied.
"Wait. I think I know the code!" Trixie exclaimed. "It's green, pink, yellow, and red!"
Starlight typed that code on the panel and the doors swung open. She turned to Trixie in surprise.
"How did you know that?" she asked.
"There was a train in the gift shop that had those colors on it," Trixie said. "Might not make much sense, but at least we can enter the room, now."
Starlight and Trixie entered the room and saw a TV, several monitors, and a strange item kept in a glass case. Trixie walked over to the TV and played a tape on it. The TV turned on and showed a yellow figure putting on and operating something called a "GrabPack". Once the video ends, the glass case opens up, revealing a functional-looking GrabPack. Starlight walks up and places the device on her back.
"Does that thing still work after all these years?" Trixie asked.
To test if it did, Starlight aimed the blue hand at one of the chairs and fired it. The blue hand grabbed the chair easily and pulled it towards her like it was built to do. The company certainly had a knack for technology, and this was more advanced than anything else available for their decades.
"Now that we have this, it could make searching the factory a lot easier," Starlight said. "Let's go."
The girls left the room and walked over to the door that was shut by a huge metal gate. Above the door was a blue handprint on a panel of some kind. Starlight fired the blue hand at the panel and the door opened, revealing a central atrium with something they haven't seen in years.
Standing in the center of the atrium was a tall, blue, and fuzzy character that they both loved as kids. Before them stood a twenty foot tall creature named "Huggy Wuggy".
2) His Name is "Huggy Wuggy"
"Is that... Huggy Wuggy?" Trixie asked with sparkling eyes and a big smile.
Trixie ran forward and hugged one of the tall toy's legs. Starlight grinned at her friend's show of affection to the tall fuzzy thing as she walked into the atrium.
"So, you like Huggy Wuggy, Trixie?" Starlight asked.
"Are you kidding? I used to have a Huggy Wuggy and a Kissy Missy as a kid," Trixie replied. "I remember performing old card tricks for them whenever I played with them."
Starlight looked up at the Huggy Wuggy statue and at the panel in front of him. It had basic information on the toy that brought Playtime Co. millions in profits and children lots of joy. A weird nostalgia welled up within Starlight as she looked up at Huggy. Her mother used to bring her different toys from time to time thanks to her employee discount, and Starlight remembered seeing this huge Huggy statue when she used to take the factory tour. Looking at the Huggy Wuggy statue now, something about him looked... different somehow. Like his eyes were following her around the room. Looking back to the panel, Starlight saw a little red button and clicked it. A little jingle played in the echo-y atrium.
Once the song was done, Trixie removed herself from Huggy's leg and looked up at the smiling statue.
"He looks surprisingly good after all these years of the factory being abandoned," Trixie said.
"Well, it's only been ten years, so he hasn't had the time to look bad," Starlight said.
"So now what? Where are we going?"
Starlight looked around to find any place to go. All around the atrium were closed gates that led to different wings of the factory. Innovation, Cafeteria, and Testing to name a few. Each of the doors had blue and red hand panels above them for the GrabPack to use. If there was one thing Playtime Co. was famous for aside from their toys, it was their unique security system. Starlight saw a door labeled "Make-A-Friend" and used the GrabPack to open the door.
As soon as the hands hit the panels, the wires leading to the gates sparked and slowly opened the door. Trixie whistled aloud.
"You're quite handy with that GrabPack, Starry," Trixie said. Starlight chuckled at the obvious pun.
"Don't make puns like that, Trix. That's Pinkie's thing," Starlight said. "Besides, this place is super-familiar to me."
"Same. I used to love seeing the Make-A-Friend Machine and making my own toys. I think the CatBee was one of my personal favorites," Trixie said with a far-off look.
The duo entered the room and saw the famous Make-A-Friend Machine. The whole machine was made up of three parts, each for assembling, painting, and inspecting the toys. The room had a special security feature that literally forbade people from leaving without using a toy to be scanned by a scanner next to the door. On the left side of the room were three containers with toy parts for the machine. Trixie gently nudged Starlight in the side and gave her a cheeky smirk.
"You should try to make a toy of your own, Starry," Trixie said.
Starlight looked from Trixie to the Machine and back to Trixie again. She could make the machine work now that she had a functioning GrabPack.
"You know what? Why not?" Starlight said.
She then pressed the power button to the machine, but there was text on the screen in red letters.
"POWER OFF. TURN ON POWER"
"Great. The damn thing needs power," Trixie exclaimed. "That's what you get for being abandoned for ten years!"
"Don't worry, Trixie. I'll find the power circuits and restore power to the Machine," Starlight said.
Starlight looked above and saw that above them were catwalks that led to a power circuit and some strange poles that looked similar to light poles.
"Trixie, wait for me down here while I go and restore the power," Starlight said.
"Fine, but don't take too long," Trixie said. "I really want another CatBee."
It was weirdly cute for Starlight to see Trixie getting so excited about getting a toy like a kid in a toy store. Now Starlight felt compelled to get her a toy from this machine. She went up the stairs to the catwalk and saw the circuit on one end and another circuit breaker on another end of the catwalk. Trixie called up to Starlight from below.
"Starlight, I think you need to use the GrabPack wires to wrap around the poles to really restore the power!" Trixie called.
"Thanks, Trixie. I'm gonna try that," Starlight said.
Starlight stuck the red hand to the nodule for power and walked around to the poles. She wrapped a wire around the two poles and used the blue hand to hit the other breaker's nodule. With a rhythmic dinging sound, power was fully restored to the machine. Trixie looked back to the button panel and called up to Starlight with a smile.
"Starlight! The door out of the room is closed, but the machine now has power!" Trixie said. "We can make a toy to get out of here!"
"Great! I'm coming down!" Starlight called.
The next thing Starlight did was to use one of the GrabPack hands to zip down the ground. Starlight joined Trixie next to the power panel and pushed the big red button. For a few seconds, nothing happened.
With a loud whistle, the Make-A-Friend Machine burst into life. It was a fond memory for the two of them to see this machine up and running after all these years. Starlight then used the GrabPack to pull the levers on the toy part containers and released some parts for the conveyer belt to feed into the machine for assembly. The duo watched enraptured by the same childhood awe of seeing the machine make a toy. The last time Starlight herself was in this very room was when her mom was in charge of the tour that day. It was one of the best memories Starlight had of her mother.
After a good minute of waiting, a fully assembled CatBee toy was making its way down the conveyer to the vent leading to some other part of the factory. Trixie scooped up the little toy and hugged it close to her chest, conjuring memories of how excited Trixie was when she came here.
"OK, Trixie, you got your toy, so let's keep looking around the place," Starlight said.
"Sure, Mom!" Trixie said sarcastically.
The girls walked over to the toy scanner and placed the little CatBee on the scanner. The scanner accepted the toy and opened the door to the atrium, which was pitch black from the lack of power. Power in the atrium must have shut off when Starlight restored power to the Make-A-Friend Machine. Still though, the girls had to check out the rest of the factory. Trixie took out a flashlight from her backpack.
"I got this in case we needed it," Trixie said. "I'll help light the way."
When Trixie turned on the flashlight and shone it into the pitch-black atrium, something was illuminated in the flashlight's beam. Something tall and blue and fuzzy. It was the familiar mascot Huggy Wuggy, but something about him was different.
Huggy Wuggy wasn't in the center of the atrium but instead was staring right at the girls from within the darkness of the atrium. He was smiling at them, but this smile was with an open mouth and had four rows of sharp needles for teeth. Both girls were standing in shock at seeing Huggy Wuggy like this.
"Uh... Huggy Wuggy? Is that... is that... you?" Trixie asked fearfully.
Huggy Wuggy lifted up his arms in a clawing motion and let out a horrible screech before charging towards them. Starlight and Trixie ran away from him and towards one of the open vents leading deeper into the factory, with the door closing behind them. Trixie was freaking out the most out of the two of them.
"What was that?! Was that Huggy?! Why and how is he alive?! Why is he chasing us?!" Trixie shouted in a panic.
"Trixie! Calm down! I don't know what's going on with Huggy, either, but we can't worry about that right now! We have to focus on getting away from him!" Starlight called back to her friend.
These vents were like a claustrophobic maze, with the girls having to crouch down in order to move around. From up ahead came the sounds of something else making its way into through the vents along with them. These sounds make both girls stop to listen to the sounds.
"Uh, Starlight? You don't think that Huggy could be in the vents with us, do you?" Trixie asked.
"I'd rather not stick around long enough to find out," Starlight replied. "We gotta keep moving!"
The girls kept making their way through the vents and then hears the sounds coming closer and closer until they see none other than Huggy Wuggy coming at them from up ahead. Starlight and Trixie luckily managed to duck into another passage to avoid the hungry Huggy. It was terrifying for them to be stuck in these vents with a hungry toy monster chasing after them. Trixie could practically feel Huggy's breath on her neck as they fled.
Starlight found a slope in the conveyer and grabbed Trixie by the hand and pulling her down the slope. They both sled down until the landed on another conveyer that led to a large underground space littered with conveyer belts and industrial catwalks. The door behind them closed on Huggy, but they could hear him banging on the doors.
"Trixie, do you have anything we can use as weapons?!" Starlight asked.
"I'll check my backpack!" Trixie replied.
As Trixie was rummaging through the backpack, Starlight could see that Huggy was making dents in the metal door. It was an impressive display of strength by what was supposed to be a toy. Starlight was wracking her brain about how this was possible. Before she was able to form another thought, Huggy burst through the metal door and ran down to the conveyer belt where the girls were standing and charged towards them.
"Trixie! Anything?!" Starlight shouts.
"All I have is a bag of Pinkie's brownies!" Trixie replied.
"Maybe we can make him choke on them!" Starlight said.
Trixie grabbed one of the brownies from the bag and threw it right at Huggy Wuggy. Huggy grabbed the brownie in his mouth and ate the whole thing in a second. After he did, Huggy came to an abrupt stop. Huggy didn't try to attack them anymore. He simply stood there staring at the bag of brownies in Trixie's hand, making soft growling sounds as he stared. Without taking her eyes off Huggy, Starlight whispered to Trixie in a cautious tone.
"Trixie, give him the rest of the brownies. I think he likes them," Starlight said.
"You don't have to tell me twice," Trixie said.
She took another one of the brownies from the bag and held it out to Huggy with a shaking hand. Huggy stared at the brownie before swiping the treat out of Trixie's hand and shove it into his hungry mouth. Starlight took the rest of the brownies and fed them all to Huggy, who was looking much more docile now that he'd gorged himself on Pinkie's brownies.
Once he was out of brownies to eat, Huggy suddenly grabbed both of the girls and wrapped them in a big hug and nuzzled them both. He seemed to be happy for the brownies. Trixie took the chance to pet Huggy's head and he seemed to enjoy it enough.
"I... I think we're safe, Starlight. He doesn't seem to want to eat us anymore," Trixie said.
"Remind me to give Pinkie Pie a huge hug when we get back," Starlight said.
Huggy Wuggy put the girls down and stared at them happily. Starlight walked up to the twenty-foot tall Huggy and looked right into his huge black eyes.
"Are you... not going to eat us?" she asked cautiously.
All Huggy did was pet Starlight's head with a gentle hand. Starlight laughed.
"I love you, too, Huggy," Starlight said. "Can you help us look around the factory?"
Huggy Wuggy nodded and pointed to something behind the girls. They looked behind them and saw a huge painting on the wall on the far side of the chamber. A huge painting of a red poppy flower, with several toys hanging around it on rope and several messages written in chalk around it.
"GO AWAY"
"LEAVE THIS PLACE"
"TURN BACK"
"Don't tell me we're going to go to that door," Trixie said.
"It's the only place we have access to, so we have to go," Starlight said before turning to Huggy Wuggy. "You want to come with us, buddy?"
Huggy Wuggy nodded furiously and followed the girls towards the door. As they approached the door, Starlight found a VHS tape on the floor. Starlight picked it up and looked around the room and saw a TV a few hundred feet away. Starlight went right for the TV and put the tape in with Trixie and Huggy following behind her.
The TV hummed to life and saw a black screen with someone's voice coming through. The voice sounded subtly distressed and there were the sounds of screams, banging, and roars in the background.
"Final Log. In relation: 1-0-0-6. The Prototype.
Coordination and cooperation are evidently within his skillset, as well as the skillset of all other experiments of his type. Though still missing, today's events are no doubt in relation to him. His absence was a flaw in the scientific process, which should have under no circumstances been left unaccounted for. That's why I'm making this log: so that the same mistake won't be made twice. Any future experiments will need to be contained and disposed of in a secure location. I'm not worried about myself. One breakthrough and I'll be back. We must forge onwards in the name of science. Whether those who are beneath us understand it or not. End of-"
And the log cut off right there. The tape left Starlight and Trixie feeling disturbed. Someone was talking about experiments and something happening. This tape only made Starlight want to find her mother even more. If she was somewhere in the factory, then she must know what the tape was talking about. Did she know about Huggy Wuggy? Did she know he was a living creature? What happened in this factory? What was her mother hiding? Whatever was behind the poppy door had to hold the answer.
"Let's go, guys," Starlight said.
Starlight led Trixie and Huggy to the door and opened it. She and Trixie were both surprised to see what looked like a hallway for a Victorian home. The floral wall paper and mounted lights gave off the impression of being something old. The trio entered the room and proceeded with caution until they reached a single room that had a dollhouse, pillows, and a glass case in the center of the room. Inside the case was a Poppy Playtime doll, Playtime Co.'s first toy that brought them success and made Elliot Ludwig a very wealthy man. From what she remembered her mother saying, Mr. Ludwig was very attached to this particular Poppy doll.
"So... we're going to open this case and take the doll?" Trixie asked.
"If she's like Huggy Wuggy here, then I think she may be alive as well," Starlight said before mustering up her courage. "I'm gonna open it."
Starlight opened the case. As she did, the lights began to flicker until they went out completely. Before the girls and Huggy could freak out, they heard a female voice in the darkness saying something to them.
"You opened my case," the voice said.
