When super "Fazfan" Stella Astaire starts restoring the rotting robots from the abandoned Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, all she expects is some engaging content for her VidTube channel. But, things get strange when the supposedly lifeless mascots begin ta...
This story had been bouncing around in my head since 2019. Of course, it went through many changes before finally being written.
- ALTERNATIVE COVER:
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Freddy looks too devious here, which would be fine if this fic was closer to canon.
- FREDDY'S POV:
This is the biggest change made. Originally, the story was going to be told entirely from Gabriel/Freddy's point of view. We would've followed him through the Missing Children Incident and the Bite of 87 firsthand. We would see fully his relationships with the others, especially his strained one with Foxy. THEN, we would fast forward to 2014.
I rejected this idea for numerous reasons. First, I started finding the 2014 part more interesting. Second, having everything spelled out to us would drain the animatronics of their mystique. Third, that would just make the book too bloated. Fourth, I loved the idea of the animatronics having history that we never see. It makes them feel more alive.
- WILLIAM VISITS THE PIZZERIA 1993:
As part of Freddy's POV, we would've flashed back to 1993, when the pizzeria was about to shut down for good. The animatronics meet a new night guard, and try to catch him. However, 6:00 am rolls around and they freeze.
The night guard walks up to the frozen animatronics, and then reveals himself to be... William! The animatronics cry in despair as their killer walks away unscathed.
Even if it's not in the story, I still consider this event to be canon.
- THE CUPCAKE:
Originally, William was going to spy on Stella and the others through Chica's cupcake. This would've been a neat reference to that old FNAF 1 theory, which stated that Freddy watched you with the cupcake in the office.
I even started writing this, as you could see in Chapter 19. Ultimately, I took it out because it didn't really mesh well with the rest of the story. I had to spend a not too insignificant amount of time reworking this part.
If I ever redo this book, I'll replace this scene with William finding the Shadow Freddy virus on a floppy disc.
- CHICA'S DATE:
Originally, Chica would've ended up asking Freddy put on a date. Of course, with both parties being dead children with no idea of romance, things would've gone hilariously wrong.
I took this scene out, as I felt it was too mean-spirited towards Chica (and people who enjoy FNaF shipping).
- STELLA'S APPEARANCE:
Originally, Stella herself was going to appear in the illustrations. I made a Picrew of what she would look like. I even drew up a whole model sheet for her.
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She would've looked something like this.
I didn't go through with it, because I'm still not very confident on my ability to model human characters. I also figured it was somewhat canon, as humans were never seen in the original FNAF games.
- TWISTER:
There was going to be a scene of the animatronics playing Twister. It's a cute scene that would've further demonstrated the animatronics' familial bond.
I cut it as it slowed the pacing down.
- KEYS:
After the Twister scene, Stella would've handed the storage pod keys to Freddy. This would've let the animatronics wander the neighborhood, and lead to the House scene.
I cut this, as I realized this would've cut Kyle out of the finale.
- FREDDY'S HOUSE:
At some time after the Twister game, Freddy and Chica would've wandered around town. Eventually, they come across Freddy's old house. He peeks inside, and sees the new residents.
With this, he would've made a somber reflection about how the world moved on without them.
- SILENT ANIMATRONICS
During the first chapters, I briefly played with the idea of the animatronics being completely silent. This would've been more accurate to the original games and the Silver Eyes trilogy. This would've been awesomely mysterious, as we wouldn't have the animatronics' motives spelled out to us!
I rejected this idea as I didn't really know how to depict the animatronics' personalities without them speaking. Also, I figured it could be more like the newer games, in which the animatronics speak directly to you.
Of course, I ended up having my cake and eating it, too! By only having one character (Stella) be able to talk to the animatronics, I can keep their mysteriousness for everyone else!
