Springtrapped

Celestia, Luna, and Twilight all searched the castle to no avail; Trevor had simply vanished and they couldn't find a single trace of him. This went on for hours and even the royal guard was having a hard time spotting him. He couldn't have just simply gotten up and walked out, his appearance would have set the whole town off like an alarm clock sitting next to your ear. Celestia felt awful about the whole thing, she knew it was her reaction that made him feel upset and want to leave, she kept imagining the moment they would find him that she would be apologizing almost every second. She didn't like to make others feel hurt in any way, so the fact that she had done just that made her heart heavy. She couldn't focus too much on that though, right now the most important thing was to locate him and get him back to the castle without him startling the community. If he did only heaven knows how they would react.

Trevor knew he had programmed the animatronics to be incredibly fast and that when Spring Lock made the suit he likely went off of the original blueprints, but he had no idea it was anything like this. He could be on one side of the room all the way to the other in the blink of an eye; it had only taken him about a minute to escape from the castle and already be on his way to Spring Lock's house. The speed he could gather was amazing and that was nothing compared to the durability of even the old rusted suit permanently stuck to his corpse. He had lost his footing and taken a bit of a tumble that hardly left a dent in him. The only thing he could imagine that was holding it together so well was the magic used to power it on. There was no other explanation; when it was powered off and sitting in that room for years its colors faded and it was falling apart, but now it felt like he was indestructible. It felt good, scratch that it felt amazing! He swore that if he had the chance he could take on a military tank head-on back in his world. He snapped himself out of his fantasies, right now the biggest thought in his mind was revenge. Spring Lock would pay for what he had done, for killing him.

The royal sisters, Twilight included, finally regrouped in the throne room. They had all come up with nothing in their search and the guard's reports were just as displeasing. They had to find him, they just had to. Celestia could feel a strong sense dread building in her chest and that never meant anything good. Something was wrong and something bad was going to happen, she just knew it. Luna shared these feelings, her connection with her sister told her that nothing good would come of these events. Just as the chain reaction in the suit had ended Trevor, the chain reaction in his revival was likely to bring an end to something else. Luna knew that pain was just the beginning, and not too far behind that, vengeance follows. Twilight however just felt worry, she didn't know what was going to happen and that was what scared her the most. She didn't know what she was dealing with so he would be completely unpredictable to her until she started to see a pattern, which wouldn't show up until he started the process of completing whatever task he had in mind.

When Trevor made it to the house of his old friend he wasted no time in breaking in. He had gone around the back so that he wouldn't be noticed and managed to slip in through an open window. Surprisingly it was just big enough to fit his large robotic form. He remembered back when he used to come here to hang out with the old stallion. They would sit back with a couple of drinks and look out the window at the passers by. They had a game that they would play where they would come up with background stories for certain ponies which always made them laugh, especially since they would always give them something along the lines of being an old prostitute that married a wealthy stallion; the only reason to him agreeing was do to the fact that she knew what she was doing more often than not. He shook his head, trying to keep his intentions on track, but there was a certain uneasiness in him now. He started to question whether or not it would be worth it, it was an accident after all, wasn't it? His friend didn't mean for it to end this way, but his recklessness and lack of knowledge on how to build something like this was the cause. However, he couldn't shake the anger he felt, he kept thinking about how Celestia had looked at him. It made him feel disgusting, like he was some kind of monster. After searching the house and finding no sign of Spring Lock he came face to face with himself in a mirror. It's no wonder she looked at him the way she did, he was a monster and it was all his fault. That stupid unicorn was playing with things he didn't understand and now Trevor could barely stand to look at himself.

He decided it would be best to search the house for something else, something that would tell him where Spring Lock had gone. As luck would have it, he found a schedule book on a counter top. He picked it up and skimmed it. There was a label on today's date that read:

Drop off animatronics at Ponyville. Next to this there was a small check-mark that showed that he had already done that.

Find a suitable residence to remain until moving on to the next town. There was no mark next to this, likely because he was doing that right now and wasn't planning on coming back for a while. He wondered though, had the animatronics he built continued to function? Were they operating without issues? More importantly, if he found one of them, would they know where Spring Lock is?

"Don't worry, my old friend. " He said to himself, "I will find you. That's a promise." He threw the schedule book to the floor and exited out of the window he had come through. He knew where Ponyville was, you could see it clear as day from Canterlot. All that was left was to get there and find either Spring Lock himself or an animatronic that would show him where he was.

Mister and misses Cake were working on their newest order, a larger batch of sapphire cupcakes and with the help of Chica they were getting it done rather quickly. Chica removed a batch from the oven. "Mrs. Cake, these ones have come out really well; So shiny and delicious."

"Thank you, Chica. Could you place them on the counter with the others and decorate them?" Mrs. Cake asked.

"Of course!" She replied, taking the cupcakes over with the rest and putting the frosting on them. Once done she collected them and put them in the back of the freezer. However, the door behind her closed which caused her to turn and face it. She found a strange silhouette standing in front of the now closed door. It looked like Bonnie, but it was taller and a lot more built, it also looked like it was very old and falling apart. "Hello, friend. Can I help you?"

"Yes you can." It replied walking over to her.

Her programming recognized it's decayed face as Spring Bonnie, however the vocal patterns were very similar to her creator. "Mister Trevor, is that you?" She asked, her programming slightly making her confused.

"Yes Chica. I'm inside of the Spring Bonnie suit." He explained, figuring if she knew who he was then she would be more cooperative.

"Wow, it's been thirty years since any of us have seen you. How have you been?" She asked her creator, a bit happy that she finally got to see him for the first time in so long.

"That's not important, I need to know where Spring Lock is." There was no time for conversation, he just wanted to cut to the chase and get this over with. He needed to find Spring Lock.

"Mr. Spring Lock? I know where he is!" She said excitedly.

"Tell me where he is!" He demanded, his voice filled with rage.

Her programming instantly recognized his tone as being less than friendly. "I'm sorry Mister Trevor, but you seem to be in a very hostile mood. I am not allowed to speak to you in your current state."

His anger only grew from this; Letting it get the better of him, he walked over and wrapped his hand around her neck, lifting her into the air and holding her against the wall. "I will ask you one more time; Where is Spring Lock?" His voice had become much deeper and sounded more animatronic than human.

"I'm sorry Mister Trevor, but your behavior has become extremely violent. I'm going to have to request help from the authorities."

His grip on her tightened, denting the metals in her neck. "Then you've given me no choice. If you don't want to help me then I'll find someone who will. However, I believe you have been functioning long pass your expiration date."

Mrs. Cake started to wonder what was taking Chica so long to put their orders in the freezer and figured she may as well go check on her. She trotted to the large metal door and opened it before letting out a very audible shriek. Chunks of yellow metal and wires of all kinds were decorating the room and she found Chica's head being used as a topping piece on one of the cakes within. She stared down the head on the cake as it's eyes flicked before the light in them completely died out, leaving the room to be consumed by the darkness it held.

Within minutes the Princesses were present and going over the scene, Twilight using her investigation skills to the best of her abilities to discover whatever she could. Once she had analyzed ever inch of the freezer she walked over to regroup with the royal sisters. Luna was the first to address her on her findings. "Have you found anything, Twilight?"

She nodded. "From the looks of it she didn't put up much of a struggle, she must not have had a whole lot of defense programming. I can understand that, seeing how they're all programmed to play with children. However, I can't find anything that would indicate a pony doing this. Not only that, but there are only two creatures here who would know how to pull them apart like this. One of them is an old stallion, he wouldn't even have close to enough strength to do something like this."

"He wouldn't have done it regardless." Celestia added, "These animatronics help him to preserve the memory of his fallen friend."

"His previously fallen friend." Luna corrected, "I believe it is safe to assume that Trevor is the one behind this."

Celestia didn't want to believe it, she refused to believe it. "No! Trevor wouldn't do something like this. He's too kind-hearted to hurt anypony."

Twilight put a hoof on Celestia's shoulder to comfort her. "I know you don't want him to be held responsible, but everything points to him. He walked to the back room and carved Spring Lock's name on the wall, nothing living within Canterlot would have been strong enough to do that. Just as nothing in Ponyville would have been strong enough to do this much damage to Chica. They were all built using very strong metals, the only thing that would be able to do something like that in this area would be a Minotaur and they're not exactly hard to miss."

"Neither is a six foot rotting animatronic suit with the body of my Trevor locked away inside of it!" Celestia retorted. She knew it was him, but part of her just wanted to believe something/anything else.

"Celestia," Twilight started, "I'm sorry, but it was him. I've seen just how fast these things are. They can be from one side of the room to the next in an instant. It's not hard to believe that he managed to evade being seen with that kind of ability."

Before Celestia could say anything and old unicorn barged into the bakery. The princesses stared at him as he shoved pass them to the remains of the animatronic once known as Chica. Celestia recognized him instantly, as did Twilight. He fell to his rump, a tear gracing his wrinkled features as he picked up the severed Chica head. Rumor had spread about her destruction rather quickly and he was looking to a bit of investigating himself, despite the grief it caused him to see one of his best friends creations completely dissembled in such a gruesome manner.

Luna was about to apprehend him, but was blocked off by Celestia who walked over to his side instead. "Spring Lock, are you okay?"

He sniffled slightly. "Yes Princess. I am fine, it's just my heart breaking is all."

The Princesses lowered their head, knowing that if this would hurt anypony it would be him. He did help create them after all and the relationship he had with the human who made the animatronics a possibility just made this worse. They had worked so hard to make them and these were all he had left to remember him. However, his sadness was instantly placed with confusion as he started looking around for something. "It's not here. Who in the wide wide world of Equestria would take it?"

Twilight, feeling as though she had missed something, especially since she had investigated the scene earlier, decided to question what it was that was missing. "What are you talking about? What's missing?"

Spring Lock sifted through the pieces of Chica as he spoke. "There was a device we put inside of them, all of them, something that helped them work. Their battery, the thing that holds all of the magic inside of them and allows them to work. Why would somepony take it?"

Twilight's eyes lit up, she had completely forgotten about that. "Of course. Trevor didn't wake up until we powered him on!" She said with a smile, feeling as though some of the pieces to this puzzle were starting to come together. "He had a limit to how long he can be turned on without being charged. He must have taken the battery so he could stay powered on."

The two other princesses seemed a bit excited at this new information as well, until the voice of Spring Lock intervened. "I beg your pardon?" They all twitched slightly, remembering the old stallion. "What do you mean by that?" He asked with venom in his voice.

Trevor watched the bakery scene unfold from hid hiding place, holding Chica's battery in his hand and stuffing it inside of his suit. He would need it if he started to run low on power. He saw Spring Lock burst out of the bakery with tears in his eyes. He was hurt that the animatronic was destroyed and seeing him in pain was quite satisfying. Trevor figured that before he went after Spring Lock, he would first destroy his life's work. He would get to watch his old friend suffer as well as collect these batteries to allow him to function longer, so it was a win win. He would wait until his friend had nothing left to live for and then he would finish what he started. Strangely the princesses followed him out of the bakery and into a motel on the outskirts of Ponyville. Trevor quickly scanned the building with his eyes and memorized the room number.

Spring Lock kicked his door open and entered his temporary home, the princesses following close behind. "That's a load of crap! There's no way Trevor could be back! He died in that room, in that suit, he can't just come back!" He yelled angrily at them.

"You have to believe us, it's urgent!" Twilight pleaded.

"Yes," Luna followed up, "We fear he may be after you."

"Enough!" Spring Lock shouted, "I refuse to believe any of this. My best friend is dead and that's that!"

They all fell silent as a swarm of scream was heard coming from outside, before they could run out though the severed head of Foxy fell from the roof and in front of their door. It was beaten in the same manner Chica had been, but it had a thin black piece of plastic clenched in its teeth. They looked up at a group of ponies who were still looking up towards the roof, trying to find what ever it was they saw.

"What is it?" Celestia called out to the ponies, "What happened?"

One of them pointed up at the top of the structure. "Something was up there!" She shouted, "Holding Foxy's head!"

They looked back down at the Foxy head, "What's in his mouth?" Twilight asked.

"It's Trevor's phone." Celestia replied.

Before she could ask about it Spring Lock started to explain, letting the memories of it flow back into his mind after forgetting about it for so many years. "It was a device from his world. He said it was useless here, for the most part, but he could play music from it. We would listen to it for hours while we worked." Spring Lock reaching down to pick it up. Before he could touch it Foxy's mouth opened and let out a familiar 'ARRG". The lights in it's eyes suddenly dies and the mouth slammed shut on the hunk of plastic, causing it to play a distorted song.

Burning the ground
I break from the crowd
I'm on the hunt I'm after you
Scent and a sound
I'm lost and I'm found
And I'm hungry like the wolf!
Strut on a line
It's discord and rhyme
I howl and I whine
"I'm after you"
Mouth is alive
All running inside
And I'm hungry like the wolf!