I was trotting furiously through the abandoned building. No matter what I did, no matter which way I turned, I couldn’t escape. The purple unicorn continued its pursuit, eager for my blood. Soon, I had reached the front door… BUCK! It was locked! I threw myself against it… nothing… I kicked it… nothing… then, I heard it…

“It’s me.”

The purple unicorn looked at me, a slasher grin on her face as her empty eye sockets glared into my tattered soul. She went in for the kill...

I woke up, enveloped in a sheet of cold sweat. I turned and found that Cadence was still sleeping. The fear vanished as I saw my wife sleep peacefully. Every morning was a reminder of how lucky I truly was. No matter how horrific things got, the sight of my lovely Cadence seemed to make them go away… but for how long? How long would it be before I became an emotional wreck like my predecessor?  

I decided that today, I would finally do what I should have done at the beginning of the week: I would leave. I would quit and get out of the pastel-colored nightmare that made Tartarus look like a charming bed and breakfast. I planted a kiss on Cadence’s forehead and walked out the door, heading straight for Pinkie’s Party Palace.  

I saw Fluttershy at the stage as I walked in, but her usual cheer was not there.  The look on her face showed sadness... fear... barely any happiness at all.  

“Fluttershy? What’s wrong?” I said.    

“It’s Jet.” She replied, her voice barely a whisper. There was a tear forming in the corner of her dark blue eye.    

Oh, Faust. “What did he do?” I asked.    

“He’s just not the same as he was a year ago. He’s become… a lot more jaded, maybe crazy and scared. I don’t know what he’s scared of, but it terrifies him to no end.” She wiped her eyes, trying to clear the rapidly forming tears. “And every time I try to ask him what’s wrong he just says the same thing, ‘I’m doing it for you…. and them.’”  

I gave her a comforting hug, which she returned.  “Well…. where is he? Maybe I can talk to him, I have something to tell him anyway.” I said.  

“He’s in the office, reading that same book he always reads.” She replied.    

I saw a little yellow filly walk up to her and give her a hug, then lead her off to join her at the Stage to watch the animatronics. I watched for a moment as Fluttershy returned to her normal self, lost in the sight of her childhood heroes performing. The sight warmed my heart, despite my knowledge of their true nature.    

I walked down the hallway and found Jet there, sure enough, reading that book.

“I. Bucking. Quit.” I said, in as stern a voice as could muster.    

He didn’t respond. I don’t think he even heard me..    

“I said-”    

“I get it.” He said, cutting me off mid-resignation. “But you can’t. You can physically leave, but the scars are there. You’ve been here for four nights. That’s enough to give you the nightmares. Enough that you’ll get the voices, enough that you’ll become crazy…. just like me.”    

“What’s wrong with you? You were crazy a year ago, weren’t you? To stay at this job this long, and want it back… it’s just utter madness!”    

Jet chuckled. “Madness…. You see, Shining....” He set the book down, revealing eyes red-tinged from crying. “...no matter what anypony tells you… I’m not a monster…. I’m just ahead of the curve. I know what’s really going on when everypony else sees what they want.”    

“What do you see?” I asked.    

“I see five dead children. No matter what, I can’t make them go away. They’re here, in the back room.” He said.    

“What?”  

“It’s me, Shining… it’s me. The incident in ‘86? It’s me. I did it. I killed the children, I stuffed them into the animatronic suits, I made them this way, I caused Aura’s death, I am the sick, disgusting waste of life that deserves punishment for his crimes.”    

“You? You?” I said. “You killed them? You’re the pony that was put away for five years?”    

“Yes.  I come back to this job… every. Single. Day. Because I need to, because I have to.”

He closed the book and slid it to me. It was the novelization of the Ghost Rider movie that came out a few years ago. Why was this so special to him? It was a crappy comic adaptation.

“In the end, Johnny Neighs has the chance to be free of his curse. But something the devil says makes him reconsider. ‘Let someone else carry this curse. You're free now. After all... a deal's a deal.’”

So that’s what he was watching on the tablet!

“He tells the devil to go buck himself. He’s gonna use that curse against him. He keeps his powers, even though it destroys any possibility of him having a normal life.” He said. “Why? You can say that he just wanted some cool, badass powers. Let’s be honest, it’d be awesome to ride around on a flaming motorcycle with your skull on fire and protect the innocent with fireballs and the penance stare. You’d get used to the burning sensation after a while. But I now understand why he really keeps them. It’s not because he wants to, but because he has to. He’s thinking of the other poor souls the devil would trick into taking the curse, like what happened with him when he tried to save his father. He made it his responsibility to make sure that no one else has to go through what he did. He took his curse, and he owned it.”

He took the book and put it in his desk drawer. “I stayed here, every. Single. Night. Because I’m thinking about others, like you, that’ll take this job and see the animatronics for what they really are.” He said. The dam burst. He started sobbing.    

“...I’m sorry Jet.” I said, as I gave him a hug.. “I’m sorry for that.”    

Jet continued to cry. “I still see them, you know?” He said. “The children. When I figured out what the animatronics really were, I couldn’t stop seeing them as the children I killed. I could no longer see them as the animatronics that put smiles on the faces of little children.”    

“Does Fluttershy know?” I asked, as Jet broke the hug.    

“She was at the trial…” He said, his voice a whisper, his head hung low.    

“I’m truly sorry, Jet.” I said, from the bottom of my heart.    

His head shot up. “Have you stayed here during the day? Have you seen them perform?”.    

“No. I usually haul flank as soon as 6:00 rolls around.”  

“Come on, I need to show you something.” He got out of the chair and started down the hallway. I followed him and he led me to the stage. He pointed to at the three animatronics coming out from behind the stage curtains.    

“What are we doing?” I asked.    

“Just watch them. You’ve been here for four nights… You should be able to see and hear it, too.” He said.

“Hear what?”

Jet just stared at the stage. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, so I turned my attention to it, too. Everything seemed normal… then Pinkie Pie started talking.    

“H-H-H-H-Hi kids!” She said. “Is everypony h-h-h-h-help me-having a good time?”    

I jumped back a bit. ‘Help me?’ What the buck did that mean?    

“YES!!!!!” The kids said in unison. Pinkie chuckled.    

“Of course you are-are-are! Everypony has a good time at Pinkie’s Party Pa-Pa-Pa-Palace!” She said.    

I looked around the room. Strangely,  nopony else was reacting to this.    

“Jet, what’s going on?” I asked. “Why are they malfunctioning?”    

“They’re not malfunctioning.” He replied. “But since you can see them acting like this, that means you left the music box alone for too long. You let that... thing... out.”    

“I was pretty occupied with Rarity and Applejack.” I said. “They just wouldn’t leave me alone.”  

“But it still got out. That’s why you can only see them like this. Begging for mercy and help that they’ll never get, begging for us to run because they don’t want us to suffer the same fate.”

“Well darling, while I do find enjoyment in a healthy salad, I must say that a slice of p-p-p-ponies-pizza doesn’t hurt anypony.” Rarity said.    

“Ah prefer me some good ol apple pizza Pinkie P-P-please run-Pie.” Applejack said.    

I turned to Jet. He was staring at the prize counter, talking to himself. He looked miles away at this point.    

“What are you thinking about, you little bastard?” I heard him say.    

“Jet!” The voice was that of a filly, one with a Southern drawl. I turned and, yep, saw a little yellow filly running towards us. She jumped up and hugged Jet.    

“Hey, Applebloom.” He said, as he hugged her and spun her around. For the first time since I had met him, I heard genuine happiness in his voice.    

“Who’s this?” I asked. “Your kid?”    

“No.” He said. “An old friend’s.” He said, a giant smile on his face. He looked up and saw Fluttershy walking to us. her lovely smile restored.  

“Come on Applebloom, your mother need to take you home.” She said.    

“Awwww... can’t ah stay just a bit longer? I didn’t even get to see Jet!” The little filly said.    

“I’m sorry, Applebloom, but your mother said they need you home now.”    

“Hey. I’ll walk you to where your parents are, okay?” Jet asked..    

Applebloom was ecstatic. “Yes! I can’t wait to tell yah all about the stuff me and mah friends found during school!” Applebloom said as she dragged Jet to the front door. I watched as the two walked away. Jet was actually calmer than usual… he was actually, genuinely happy. It was a relief to see him like this… normal. Not acting crazy. Not speaking in riddles. Just him, happy.    

“I wonder why he’s not like that more often.” I heard Fluttershy say.  

“It certainly is better than always seeing him crazy.” I said.    

“He does have some moments where he’s really normal and sweet… but the depression and craziness always comes back. I worry about him, Shining,  but sometimes I think he’s just too far gone.”

I looked at her. There were tears in her eyes.

“The worst part is that I don’t even know why he’s like this… he doesn’t tell anypony.”    

Fluttershy followed after Jet and Applebloom. I was soon alone in the stage area... alone with the crazy, malfunctioning animatronics. I decided to not tempt fate and hauled flank out of there.    

As I stepped out, I saw Jet and Fluttershy standing there, hugging.    

“I just have to.” He said.    

“You don’t have to. Please let him do it.” Fluttershy said.    

“I have to do it this time, okay? Just this once, and then I’ll leave you alone about it.” Jet said. “You’ll never hear me beg for it again, okay?”    

They pulled apart, and Fluttershy looked down.  

“Okay…” She said, no louder than a whisper. “Only for tonight though, then you’re done asking me for it.”

“Okay.” Jet said. He pulled Fluttershy into a gentle kiss. I started looking around, feeling a bit embarrassed to be there. Soon, thirty seconds had gone by. I marveled at their lung capacity.  

They soon pulled apart. Jet ran over to me with a giant grin on his face. “Good news, Shining.” He said. “I’m working night shift tonight. Congrats, you get the night off.”    

“Wait, what?” I said.    

Jet looked annoyed. “I’m working night shift, go back home to your wife and spend some quality time with her. Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it.”    

“Walk with me. Talk with me.” I said. He walked with me until we were out of anypony’s earshot.    

“What the buck are you doing?” I asked.    

“I need to do this, Shining.” He said.    

“No. You don’t. What are you doing, man? You almost have it all! You have friends, a marefriend, a job with said marefriend, you have a little filly who thinks the world of you… what the hay else could you want?”    

He looked right into my eyes. “Redemption.”

He turned and walked back to Fluttershy. As I watched, he hugged her as if it would be the last time they would ever see each other. It was kind of sweet, when I thought about it. I watched Jet and Fluttershy walk back into the Party Palace, leaving me alone on the sidewalk.

Cadence and I were eating dinner at home: her special hay salad. While she was chowing down, I was thinking over the events of the afternoon, poking lazily at a leaf drenched in thousand island dressing.

“What’s wrong honey?” Cadence said, as she noticed my behavior.  

“This kid, Jet. He’s taking the night shift and… I don’t know what to make of him.” I said.    

“Well, look on the bright side… at least you can stay home tonight.” She said, winking.    

“Yeah. That is a plus.” I said.

“You know, we haven’t had a little… fun time… in a while.”    

My ears perked up. “Lucky burglar tonight?”

“Oh, yes…”

I looked out the window and wondered how Jet was doing. It wasn't time for the night shift yet…. but I couldn’t help but wonder how he would be able to handle being thrown back into the pastel-colored nightmare after being the day guard for so long. As I thought about it, I knew he would do fine. After all, he was the one who installed all of the new countermeasures that Fluttershy didn’t when they moved to that new location. For Faust’s sake, I just hoped he wasn’t rusty.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Jet Black, you are certifiably insane. But you know what you have to do… I thought as I stood outside the Party Palace. It had been a while since my last night shift. Let’s hope I was still as good as I once was.

I walked inside, ready to take on my shift. I was quite surprised that Flutters relented and let me work the night shift, even if it was for one night.    

I sat down at the office chair. Picking up the tablet, I turned it on and was greeted with the feed of the stage, Thankfully, I was here long enough to know none of them dared to move while I was walking in.

I looked down the hallway and felt something churn in my gut. I turned on the hallway light and saw Rainbow there. She didn’t look the way she used to though: her face was warped into a gigantic slasher smile, and her left eye had a white glowing dot in the middle of it. She looked very happy to see me.    

“That’s right, you rainbow-maned son of a bitch…  I’m back.” I said.

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