Wind whistled through Axle's mane as he shot through the air. He let out a whoop of delight. It felt so good to feel the sensation of flight again. He dove until he was inches from the ground and sped up.
'I'm so glad that Trip chose me to have those micro jets when we took on Fuse.' He thought, 'I ought to challenge Rainbow Dash to another race sometime.' He had challenged her once before, but it hadn't ended well.
"Just try to keep up with me," she boasted.
The two had taken off, and Axle kept up with her easily until they hit the upper atmosphere.
Axle may be a Pegasus, but he couldn't navigate the clouds like Rainbow could. As a result, she won by a landslide.
'Another reminder that my racing talent has nothing to do with flight.' He thought.
His thoughts, however, were cut off when he suddenly heard a voice in his head. Tripwire's voice.
It was an urgent need to meet up at the lab beneath the restaurant once again.
'Just like old times,' Axle thought as he took to the air once more.
Hazard slowed as he stepped into the restaurant. His life was changed here. For better and for worse. Whatever was behind the CREATion was a force to be reckoned with, but Hazard wasn't going to back down. Not now.
"Hey!" A familiar voice called out. Hazard turned around to see Axle land next to him.
"So, what disasters have you caused since we last saw each other?" Axle asked smugly.
"Nice try, Axle," Hazard replied.
"Dang it!" Axle said, "It was so much fun back then! When you were still falling--"
"-- For immature jokes?" Hazard asked, "That was then; this is now."
"Fine," Axle said, rolling his eyes, "So how do you think the girls are?"
"We've all been tight ever since we cleared out CREATion, including you. Why do you ask? Amplitude practically idolizes Vinyl Scratch and Mirage and Tesla have been as inseparable as Celestia and Luna."
"I mean in terms of the fact that we're back together like old times."
Hazard thought, silent.
"I see," Axle said, "They're on your mind... I can see it now..."
"Shut up!" Hazard yelled.
"I knew you still had a bit left in you," Axle said with an air of triumph.
"Let's just go to the lab," Hazard said, rolling his eyes.
It was high noon. As they entered, they were greeted by unpleasant sights. The place was decorated for the now-exaggerated version of the tale of the pizzeria. There were eerie decorations everywhere, including the heads of the original animatronics, each with a light in one eye.
Spring Trap was on stage, eyeing them inconspicuously. At the same time, through the bustle, two ponies seemed to be having a suspicious conversation. They both wore sunglasses. Hazard stopped suddenly.
"What's up, slowpoke?" Axle said.
Hazard put a hoof to his mouth with a quiet hush. Hazard could usually tell when queer things were going to happen. Just out of instinct, not mechanics.
He didn't rely on his tech often, but he tuned in to hear the conversation. Something about "one like them" and "maybe more powerful."
The ones talking then noticed the two stallions and took off, each giving a nasty look. One of them muttered something under his breath before taking off.
"What's their problem?" Axle said.
"I'm not sure," said Hazard, "But I don't like it. Let's keep an eye out for others like them and let Trip know about them. I think that Spring Trap may be Freddy 2.0."
The duo made their way to the office, when stuff immediately caught Hazard's eye.
"Why is there an earless Freddy suit in the doorway?"
"More importantly, why is there a box of animatronic parts covered with blood?"
"I don't know if it's more important, but it's definitely something else worth mentioning to Trip."
The duo made their way into the lab, where they saw Tripwire and Jasper examining footage that must have come from Trip's mechanical eye.
Mirage, Amplitude, Tesla, and even Mild Soul, the stallion originally accused of the murders of Hazard and the others, were clustered around some computer screens.
"'Sup?" Axle said.
"The ceiling. Look, we're analyzing the footage Trip got last night." Mirage said.
When Hazard squeezed in, he saw two screens, each going frame-by-frame on the night. The left screen currently showed the invert-colored Balloon Boy that Tripwire's living eye saw via hallucinating. The right screen displayed what must have been Tripwire's mechanical eye, for there was no hallucination.
"Wow! This is... really boring," said Axle.
"Then how about kicking up the speed?" Said Amplitude.
With that, Tesla pressed a few buttons the frame-by-frame turned into a slow video. BB could be seen lunging at the left screen, while both screens showed Trip (from his perspective) moving back in surprise. A white flash was seen from the left screen while the right screen indicated a closing eyelid.
The left screen then went black while the right screen indicated flashing red lights. After a few seconds, Spring Trap walked into view, and set everyone screaming like fillies, except, ironically, for Mild and Tesla.
"Sweet Celestia!" Yelled Mirage, "Why the hay did that freak me out so bad!?"
"I think that it has to do with your computers," Trip said, walking in, with Jasper close behind.
"Trip and I already reviewed the frames, and I wasn't freaked out by it, either."
"My living brain wasn't startled by anything in the video, but in my mechanical brain, I felt something. Something deeply disturbing. Almost like a threat."
"No kidding!" Axle exclaimed, "That hiss!"
"I thought I heard something in that hiss," Amp added, "I don't know what, but if we slow down the sound, maybe we'll find something."
"Actually," Hazard said.
"Hold that thought, Hazard," Trip said. Hazard gave a look of frustration, but said nothing.
Five minutes later, Amplitude finished editing the sound (she insisted). When she pressed play for the new version of the sound, it left everyone in a state of shock, especially the robots.
"Now I understand," said Trip, "There's a sound meant to manipulate the mechanical mind, rather than the living one. When sped up greatly, it brings the rush all at once. Whoever is behind it knows our weak spots."
"I might have an idea as to who it may be, or at least what they're trying to do. When Axle and I were heading to the lab, we overheard a conversation about something powerful and better than 'them,' which I'm assuming is the original animatronics."
"Maybe," said Tesla, who had been silent all this time, "but I felt the electrical signals in that thing when I was in the attraction. I felt two different sets of signals, one of which was essentially dormant."
"Really?" Mirage asked. "You mean, there could be another one of those things?"
"It may not be 'one of those things,'" Tripwire said, "If you remember way back when, when I was being held hostage by Fuse, she kept me in that room of lasers. I don't know if I ever told you, but she was scanning my mind. She got the information on robotic ponies, and she could have just as easily transmitted the information to others."
"In other words," Mild said, "We could be dealing with another robotic pony."