Sunset walks down the hall of Her home, the place empty and bland, she hasn't paid for lightbulbs in who knows how long, and is tight on money, ever since she graduated from Cantalot high, her life had been going down the drain, She sat down on the carpet in the center of her apartment, her head filled with thoughts, she hasn't seen any of her friends in so long...
Ever since her friends moved away, she had very limited contacts with them, Applejack was one of the only ones who didn't move away, works way too much to spend time with Sunset. After all she was the only one who worked there after her grandma passed on, her older brother moved away and... ever since the CMC went missing. The thought of the CMC filled her with great worry and a heavy heart, the three young Girls had gone missing without a trace, despite all the efforts by the police, she could only worry and hope they were ok.... If that wasn't enough, three more went missing, all three being the former bullies of the CMC who went looking for them. She felt even more distraught, the three girls who used to bully them all now missing with them, the fact that they hadn’t been found filled her with rage and worry, why hadn’t they been found yet?!
But best not to dwell on the past and try to look for a job... again. She began to look through job searching sites on her old computer, she'd apply for one, get rejected, then continue, over and over, it seemed no one wanted to hire her... but while looking, one caught her eye, it was a high paying job, $230 per hour, lasting from 11pm to 6am. a uniform was also provided. The job intrigued her, the pay was insanely high, and the hours... She quickly began to read the description.
"Help Wanted, we need someone to look after our POP Star Animatronics from 11pm to 6am, you will not only get $230 per hour, but an extra $10000 at the end of the week, also one free pizza every month and 10% discount on all pizza's. Our requirements are simple, you must stay up late, and don't be a pedophile."
She raised an eyebrow at that last requirement, what a weird one to include, but she shrugged it off, her eyes being caught more by the ‘$230 per hour’. All she had to do was just watch some robots? It sounded like a cakewalk. She began to move over to the Apply button, but a thought came to mind... what company even had Animatronics? Why did they need someone to watch them at night? And why were the hours so long and paying so much? It felt to good of a deal... She thought it over, her curiosity and need for the money winning over her caution... she moved the cursor back over to the Apply button and clicked it.
A new page opened, it was a form, it asked for basic things, age, birthday, etc. but it also asked for a few things in the bottom that were less normal, there seemed to be a list of check boxes:
· Have you ever been convicted for child abuse?
· Do you have a criminal history with children?
· Are you a registered sex offender?”
She blinked at the last two, what kind of job was this exactly?
At first, she was a bit uncomfortable with the questions, but continued on anyway, checking the No box for all three, and completing the rest of the form, before finally hitting Submit, She laid her head down on the desk, thinking it would take some time before she got a response, but a notification sound came from her computer only a few minutes after hitting submit,
She quickly got up and sat down in front of her computer, looking back at the page, it had the words “APPLICATION ACCEPTED” in bold, large letters, She was shocked at how fast she was accepted, why had they accepted her so fast? The description hadn’t said to expect a quick response, unless they needed the job to be done as soon as possible.
She was a bit worried over the fast acceptance, but her eagerness to finally get at least some form of work was enough that the worries faded from her mind, she would have to be at the place tonight after all. She quickly got up and began to get ready, she only had a few hours after all until she would have to be there, and it wasn’t like it looked like it was a uniform that needed much prep, she just put on a hoodie, some yoga pants, and sneakers. She then got in her car, the engine sputtering and the air conditioning not working, she quickly checked the address that had been given when her application was accepted and punched it in to her phones navigation and began to drive.
She soon arrives, and sees how big it is, it was the size of a coliseum. She was shocked at the size, she didn’t know what kind of building would need something so big, she quickly looked for a place to park and parked in a spot near the large double doors.
She got out of the car, her legs feeling a bit stiff from the drive, this definitely was the place, the large sign above the doors simply reading “Cutie Mark Dreamers” she never heard of a place like this...
She slowly walked up to the doors, feeling nervous, she had no idea what was going to be on the other side of those doors, but she was definitely going to find out soon enough... she took a deep breath, and pushed open the doors...
As the large doors swung open, Sunset Shimmer stepped into the main room, and was shocked at the size, it looked bigger than the size of the building on the outside, it was like a large mall with multiple floors, everything was a shade of pink and magenta, the place looked like it was designed for little girls, And as if that wasn’t shocking enough, she soon saw what looked like the largest stage she’d ever seen, the walls around it lined with speakers, a large curtain covering it, She slowly walked further into the place, amazed by everything she saw, this is what she would be working in for a week? The sight of the stage intrigued her, something was behind that curtain, what was it?
She made her way over to the stage, climbing up the stairs and looking at the curtain, she was so tempting to simply pull it open and see what was behind it, She took a deep breath and slowly began to pull the curtain open, her curiosity was killing her, and on the other side, she saw an animatronic Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, all deactivated for the time being. Sunset stared at the three animatronics, she hadn't expected them to be of those three, the CMC were the ones who had gone missing... so why was their animatronics here? And why were they up on a stage so big?
She examined the three animatronics, the first thing she noticed was the clothing, the three were all wearing short dresses that left their legs exposed, that and they were all pink, like everything else here... she also noticed the design of them in general, the faces and body shapes looked like the CMC, but the details were off, they were made to... look attractive. The realization of that almost made her skin crawl, who would make animatronics of three little Girls designed to be attractive?!, she quickly backed away from the animatronics, her skin feeling cold.
She quickly got off the stage, trying to shake off the feeling the sight of the animatronics gave her... she wanted to find the office and begin work already, so she turned and began to search for the office...
Soon after some searching, she found it and hanging on the wall was her uniform. It looked quite normal, taking it off the wall and examining it, she let out a sigh of relief, she had expected something...more sexual, but no, it looked like a normal, basic uniform, she was glad for it not being what she feared, Sunset quickly began to change into the uniform, taking off her clothes and putting on the uniform, it was a bit tight and form fitting, but it was nothing too bad, she was just glad it was modest. She looked over in the mirror, examining her appearance, the uniform left her midriff exposed, but other than that, was normal and modest, at least she wouldn’t have to deal with anything uncomfortable.
Sunset turned to look at the clock in the office, it was 12pm, her shift had begun, she let out a nervous breath, but took a seat at the desk to begin her first night of work, after a small amount of time however, a phone on the desk started to ring, She jumped at the sudden sound, she didn’t want to admit it but it had startled her a bit, but she took a deep breath and picked up the phone.
"Umm hello, hello,” The person on the phone announced. “welcome to Cutie Mark Dreamers, a place where music and food are cheap and were catchy pop songs get permanently scratched into your skull."
Sunset was a bit put off by the strange introduction, but pushed through and tried to respond calmly "Uh... hi... I'm- I'm the new night guard..."
"ya, ya, I know, and now you're going to work a 12 to 6 shift to make some money, and like in the job application your job is to watch over the animatronics and make sure no one tries to... well you can guess."
Sunset Shimmer's skin felt cold, it was pretty obvious what was being implied by that last part, she swallowed her rising feeling of unease and responded "So... I just have to watch the animatronics until 6am? That's it?"
"Thats about it, now I should let you know what the equipment dose and certain details, you have a monitor that shows the entire location, from the stage to the backrooms to even the basement and vents nowhere will a child be hidden."
She listened intently, the information making her feel better, having a live security system covering the entire facility would mean she had zero need to go out of the office "A live security system? That covers the entire building? that should make things easy"
"Infront of you is a pressure powered door, able to block any bullet that comes its way, you can close it rather from the button next to the door or the one under your desk."
She looked down at the desk, spotting a button to operate the door, that felt a bit excessive to say the least, why would they think someone would break in to attack or even shoot at her? "Ah, that's good to know, I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to try to break into here anyway..."
"Despite common sense, we do have the occasional brake in from ' Filthy animals' looking for the girls."
She shuddered and gave an uneasy chuckle, the words ‘Filthy Animals’ making her skin crawl, and the thought of a break in was not a comforting one even with a security system and a bulletproof door "R-right... you said ‘Filthy animals’ what are those?"
"Those, oh those are just what we call those people who get 'turned on' around girls."
That answer almost made her sick to her stomach.... it was even worse than she thought... "I, see... do those kind of people try and break in often?"
"Unfortunately, yes, and most of the time they do and all the time they end up in jail from a few minutes to a few weeks after."
Sunset shivered again, all this talk of people breaking in was not making her feel better... but at least she didn't have to go out of the office now that she had security... she tried to change the topic "Do, the animatronics have any weird quirks or anything I should be worried about?"
"Them, let me introduce you to three of the four animatronics, or as we call them 'The Girls' "
Sunset was curious, she wanted to know more about the animatronics, so she gave an affirming nod "Alright... I think I need to familiarize myself with them, so, go ahead"
"The one in the middle is Apple Bloom, she's the leader and star of the show, the main lead and quite hard working, to her right or your left when looking at her from the audience, is Sweetie belle, a nice girl who's quite generous, and to her left or your right is Scootaloo, She’s quite competitive but loyal"
She nodded as the voice on the phone gave brief descriptions of each animatronic, it helped her get an idea of what they were like... "And the fourth animatronic?"
"Oh, I'll tell you about her when she comes back from repairs tomorrow"
Sunset raised an eyebrow at that, was it someone important that they were getting repairs? she was tempted to ask more questions about the fourth animatronic, but decided to save it for when they came back "Right... I'll just focus on the other animatronics then. Are there any specific things I should know about them?"
"I should mansion that they are programed to move around, and due to an error in the code they are able to wander time to time, but they shouldn't be a problem."
Sunset's eyes widen a bit when hearing that, they could wander around? This was a completely new bit of information that made her feel a bit worried "Err, what? The animatronics wander around off stage?!"
"Ya, but they will return at 6am. well anyways good night."
Sunset was left feeling a bit startled as the phone call ended, she didn't realize the animatronics were allowed to move around, and she had no idea when they would move or what they were doing out there. "Good night..." She muttered to herself as she looked down at the monitor and took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down a bit, there was no reason to panic, she was completely safe in the office, no matter what Shifting in her chair, she looked over the monitors again, looking at the three animatronics on the stage
Sunset looked at the time again, only 1am, and the animatronics hadn't moved an inch, a small wave of relief washed through her, at least she didn't have to stress about them wandering away and moving around, She leaned back in the chair, beginning to get a bit bored
She let out a yawn and looked around the office, it really looked like more effort was put into the rest of the building than the office itself, she was tempted to go around and look more at the building, but she didn't want to risk the chance of being out of the office at the same time as the animatronics She looked at the cameras again, they were still motionless on the stage. However, now Sweetie belle was looking at the camera, why was she looking at the camera? Was there a glitch in her program, or did she realize it was a security camera?
She couldn't shake the feeling that the animatronic was staring directly at her, it made her skin feel cold, she quickly looked away from the screen, trying to shake off the feeling, but she soon couldn't control her curiosity and looked back at the monitor, she wanted to confirm if she really was staring at the camera, or if she was just hallucinating…
It looked normal with the other two on stage, just one problem. Sweetie Belle was gone...
Sunset Shimmer’s heart skipped a beat as she saw that Sweetie Belle was gone, she quickly sat up and began to look at all the cameras, trying to see if any showed where she was, luckily, she soon found her on the field just Infront of the stage, Sunset's heart began to slow a bit as she saw Sweetie Belle, but she was still on edge, wondering why she left the stage. "She's... she's on the field... but why?..."
Sunset sat back down in the chair, feeling a bit uncomfortable, why was the animatronic off the stage? She knew that she said they were allowed to wander in their programming, but that didn't make it less eerie to her, she sat there, watching the cameras, and checking the one with Sweetie Belle periodically, she was tempted to use the security camera system to look around other parts of the building, but she didn't want to risk losing sight of the animatronics in the process, however, she knew if she wanted to know what the three animatronics were doing, she would have to constantly switch between looking at each camera, and that just made her worry more.
She continued to watch the cameras, trying to check each one at least once every few minutes, her eyes stung a bit and the boredom was setting in, how much longer did she have to go through this? Sunset looked at the clock, 4am, almost there, only a couple more hours and the shift was over, and hopefully the animatronics would stop moving too…
She looked at the monitor again, checking to see what the animatronics were doing, trying not to get distracted, this was starting to get very boring, Sweetie belle had barely moved, only moving to the left side of the field and Apple Bloom was on the stage alone... Wait a second. Sweetie Belle was still in the field but why was Apple Bloom on the stage by herself, where was Scootaloo?!
She began to look at all the cameras on rapid speed, hoping desperately that one shows Scootaloo, so she doesn't have to spend any longer switching between cameras and she soon finds her... she found her just outside of the room that led to the office. Sunset's heart skipped a beat.
She quickly looked at the other camera screens again, making sure to switch between them every few seconds to make sure the other animatronics were still in their positions, Sweetie had moved into a bar room left of the field, while Apple Bloom was still on the stage. she sighed with a bit of relief when she saw where the animatronics were, but her reprieve was cut short as she looked up and saw Scootaloo was even closer now, she was in the Hallway to the office... Moving closer.
Sunset quickly remembered the door, she had completely forgotten that she could close the door, her eyes darted over to the button, and quickly pushed it hard, trying to close the door before Scootaloo could enter the room. The door slammed shut… she froze for a moment, staring at the door, waiting for the sound of footsteps, or banging to come from behind the door, showing that Scootaloo was trying to get in. Soon, metallic footsteps walked away, fading...
She let out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding, she hadn't even noticed herself holding her breath, and felt a wave of relief, Scootaloo was gone, and the door was closed, she was safe. She turned back to check the monitor again, she wanted to make sure the other animatronics were still in their positions, Sweetie belle wasn't where she was last seen, instead she had moved back to the stage with Scootaloo, the three girls now on the stage once more.
Sunset leaned back in her chair again, glad that all the animatronics were together at last, though her mind was still reeling from the near miss with Scootaloo a few minutes ago, she didn't even want to imagine what would've happened if she hadn't remembered the door...
Sunset perked up a bit as she heard the clock chime, 6am was here, and her shift was over, the animatronics were still and unmoving on the monitor, which was a relief to her. She pushed herself up from the chair and began to stretch, feeling stiff after sitting down in the same chair all night, she wanted to walk around a bit, stretch her legs before she left. She walked over to the bullet-proof door, and after a moment, pushed the button to open it, and slowly walked out of the office, taking in the sight of the rest of the building.
She looked around the room with the stage, now having a good look at the place, her eyes fell on the animatronics on the stage, all of them unmoving in the same position, part of her felt uneasy at their blank expressions, the same unchanging expressions they always have, She began to make her way forward towards the stage, not sure what possessed her to go closer to the animatronics, or why she even really wanted to, she stopped in front of the stage, looking at the three animatronics.
She didn't know why they were designed the way they were, and she did not know if she wanted to know or not. She couldn't help but feel a mixture of fascination, and disgust, at the animatronics, they were well made no doubt, but there was something... off, about them, that made them feel eerie, especially the fact they were modeled after children, and were made to be... attractive... She looked closely at the faces of the animatronics, they were well made, but again, there was an uneasiness they gave off, the way they looked at her with a seemingly blank expression, the fact they were modelled after little girls, and were made to look... attractive... it all felt wrong. She stared a moment longer at the animatronics, but eventually turned away and walked away, no matter how well made they were, they still gave her a weird feeling, she was tempted to go find the fourth animatronic, the one that was in repairs, but decided to save that for tomorrow, she had already had a stressful and boring enough night, she didn't want to deal with anymore animatronic weirdness right now.
She soon left the building, went to her car, opened it, got in, closed the car door and turned the key in the ignition, the car roared to life and she began driving down the road, she was definitely going to get a ton of sleep when she got home, she continued to drive through the town, and eventually got home to her apartment, she pulled into the driveway, parked the car, and got out, looking forward to collapsing into bed after the strange night.
Author's Note
This chapter has been waiting to be publish for quite some time, might as well publish this chapter now and start working on this again.
Day 2
After the Night sunset had, she made her way up the stairs to her floor, and walked down to her door, unlocking it and walking in, she shut the door and let out a sigh, finally home and away from the weird animatronics.
Making her way over to her bed, she striped out of her work outfit and changing into a simple black tank top and black shorts, she laid down on her bed and immediately became comfortable, the stress and anxiety of the night slowly starting to loosen its grip on her.
She let out another sigh, and closed her eyes, letting the comfort of the bed and the warmth of her blankets soothe her mind, she was ready to get some sleep, and maybe dream of more pleasant things than animatronics.
Suddenly her phone dings, she's got an email, she sat up groaning, the peaceful moment broken as she reached her hand down and grabbed their phone to check the email, annoyed at the disturbance, letting out a huff, she read the email, $1,380, the pay for her night of watching over those animatronics, she was certainly glad to have that extra money, that was for sure.
Setting the phone down, she laid back on the bed, her thoughts drifting back to the animatronics for a bit, she was going to have to deal with them again if she wanted to earn some more money, she shook her head, pushing the thoughts away, she didn't want to think about them now, she just wanted to get some sleep...
She closed her eyes and drifted off... Her mind filling with strange dreams of animatronics... and... something else... The dream was chaotic, strange, she could remember hearing screams and seeing the animatronics moving and looking at her, but something was moving in the shadows... watching, waiting... She couldn't make it out very well, she saw glimpses and hints of it, but nothing solid, it was a huge shadowy mass, but as she reached out, trying to figure it out, it moved away, disappearing into the darkness...
Sunsets eyes snapped open, she jolted awake, her breathing was heavily, and her head was pounding, the dream was so vivid, but it just faded from her mind, leaving her with only a few images and a pounding headache, she groaned and massaged her temples, trying to ease the pain.
Slowly she pushed herself up and looked over at the clock, it was midafternoon, she had slept longer than she initially thought she would, and it didn't make her feel any better, but after a moment, she pushed herself up from the bed, pushing the strange dream to the back of her mind, she knew she had work again at 11pm and decided she should get something to eat, she still had hours before her shift anyway, so she had plenty of time, walking over to her kitchen, she rummaged her fridge for something quick and easy to make and eat, after some time, she found what she wanted, she didn't want anything too much, so simple toast with butter would do, she heated up the toaster and waited for the toast to come out, and once it did, she buttered it and began to eat.
She sat at the table, eating and thinking about the animatronics, she wanted to know why some company would even make something like them in the first place, they were made for adults to look at and find attractive, which was a creepy thought, who would want to stare at some little girls forever?
She finished eating the toast and began thinking about the dream from earlier, it was a very weird one, with the strange shadowy shape and the sound of the animatronics all around her, she was definitely going to have to get used to those creepy things if she wanted to earn a good amount of money.
getting up from the table, she walked over to her room, deciding to check her phone and kill some time, maybe play some games or something to keep bored, she still had a few hours before she had to start getting ready for her shift. laying down in bed, she pulled up her phone and aimlessly scrolling through it, looking at social media and seeing what things other people were uploading, she wasn't really interested in any of it, she was just trying to do something with the time she had until her shift.
But Time to time, she would see news articles about her friends. She even saw one about Fluttershy saving an endangered species, Rainbow Dash winning another sports game, heck most the ads were Clothing from Rarity's boutique. Sunset smiled to herself, it filled her with a sense of joy to know her friends were doing so well for themselves, she even chuckled a bit at the clothing ads that showed up and thought that maybe someday she would need to buy something from Rarity's boutique again.
But as the time slowly got closer to 10pm, she had to put down her phone and pushed herself up from the bed again, she needed to get ready for her night at the pizzeria again, she walked over to her drawers and pulled out a clean work uniform and began changing out of her normal clothes.
She changed out of her shorts and top and into her work uniform, she put her hair up as she usually does, and made sure to check herself in the mirror, making sure that her appearance was good and that she looked completely ready to go to work, she grabbed her keys and wallet afterwards, and looked at the clock, only 10 minutes before 11pm. She sighed to herself and put her keys and wallet in her pocket, and walked over to the door, she stood in front of it for a moment, feeling a sense of dread about the shift tonight, but she pushed it away, it was only a few hours, and the paycheck she'd get would be worth it in the end, pushing the door open, she walked out into the hall and down to the stairs, still nervous about dealing with the animatronics again, she made her way down the stairs and into the parking lot, her car was easy to spot in the nearly empty lot.
She drove over to the Cutie Mark Dreamers Pizzeria, ready to start her shift, she took a deep breath and staring at the sign, part of her was dreading having to spend the night with those animatronics again, but the other part of her was curious about the last one, the one in repairs, She pushed the thought aside and got out of the car, shutting the door behind her and locking it, she began walking over to the front doors, the neon lights from the building illuminating the parking lot and the area around it. She reached the doors and stopped in front of them, she stared at the building for a moment before taking another deep breath and pushing the doors open. The sound of the chimes rang out as she stepped inside...
