//------------------------------// // Hopeless // Story: Five Nights in Equestria // by RandomHamster33 //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash could hear the quiet whirring of the animatronic’s circuits as he—presumably—snuck up on her. She felt her heart start to beat a little faster, but she could get out of this. She pretended to continue her search; waited for the shadows in front of her to shift, signifying his approach. “RAINBOW DASH!” The shadows moved suddenly. Rainbow Dash sprang into action, twisting so the knife just barely missed her back. The empty, angry white eyes of the animatronic flashed at the edge of her vision as she leaped to the wall. She pushed off again, bouncing between the buildings at inhuman speeds. Her wings spread out and a small tornado began to form as she circled the growling animatronic. He began to get pushed around by the winds howling on all sides. His eyes glinted with anger and he barked several insults through the wind, but she couldn't hear any of them. Rainbow smirked as she continued to sprint around him. Twilight watched as the tides quickly turned, ending up with Rainbow Dash trapping Springtrap in a quickly made tornado. She sighed in relief, glad that her friend was safe for now. She let her spells die down, the magic around her hands fading away. Behind her, she heard a few cheers from Pinkie Pie and Applejack. “Woo! You show him, Dashie!” Pinkie yelled happily, pumping one of her fists in the air. Applejack laughed beside her. “No time for celebrating yet, girls,” Twilight warned. Golden Freddy was still in his energy form as he whisked across the streets, aiming right for Springtrap. It was a little surprising that the pegasus had actually not gotten stabbed, but then again, he remembered she was very fast. And that was fairly evident by the fact she was now circling Springtrap at such high speeds a tornado had formed. That was certainly unexpected. Goldie prepared himself to rematerialize as he got close to the whirlwind. He figured he would go right through it, considering he wasn’t physical right now. Well . . . he was wrong. Rainbow’s tornado sucked him in as he got close, sending him whirling along with it, making the already multicolored vortex look brighter with his own golden color mixed in. Aaaah, shhhh— Golden Freddy tried rematerializing to get himself out of this mess. He dropped suddenly, but didn’t fall out. He continued being carried around by the fast winds. Vainly, he lashed out with his hands, trying to grab onto something. “Hey!” he heard the cracking voice of Rainbow Dash cry, and her blurred figure below him tripped. That sent her tornado spinning wildly out of control as it began to move sideways. Golden Freddy only got a moment of reprieve before she smashed into him from where she’d gotten picked up as well. “This . . . is . . . all . . . your . . . fault!” Dash snapped at him, looking up from where she was trapped close to his body. He growled in response. Her head was pressed against his chest, directly below his head. Her words were being thrown around, making them seem farther apart. She attempted to push herself away from him. He helped her, using his strength to shove her away. With a small yelp, she was thrown out of the whirling vortex as it began to dissipate. A few moments later, he toppled onto the ground as well. “Heheh . . . well, well, well,” came the robotic voice of Springtrap as the two picked themselves up from the dirty alley cement. Rainbow, who was laying a bit off to the side, sat up and shook her head to clear it. She was a bit scraped, but otherwise unharmed. Golden Freddy was already standing, eyes glaring at the other animatronic. A little ways behind, the three other girls finished their hurried running, catching their breaths as they stood by Dash. “Hello, dear,” Golden Freddy said, grinning. Springtrap’s own smile turned even more demented at those words, the final, frozen cry of the purple man visible as his jaws opened wider. “Honey, I’m home!” Fluttershy couldn’t help her nervous tic as she stood by the doors, watching the outside world. Foxy had taken up a spot under a nearby party table, laying curled up like a dog ready to guard his owners. Every once in a while, he’d lift his head up and carefully study the pegasus at the door before setting it back down. Rarity was sitting at a different table with her legs crossed over one another. She was filing her nails idly; perhaps out of nervousness. “Fluttershy, darling, you’ve simply got to sit down and relax. I have no doubt they’ll be fine. They’ve only got to beat one animatronic—that Springtrap fellow. Twilight could probably destroy him with her magic on a whim,” Rarity said after a half hour of them all doing the same repetitive things. She set the nail filer down and cocked an eyebrow at her friend. “Oh, I know I shouldn’t be worried,” Fluttershy replied, turning around, “but I just can’t help it. Of course they’ll win. Goldie will set things straight. Everything will work out. It’s just . . . I don’t know. You know me . . .” She trailed off, rubbing an arm. Rarity frowned. “Of course I know you, darling. And I also know the others. They'll win for sure.” She stood up and placed a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Now, come along. Let's try and not worry.” “Oh, how good it is to hear your voice, my dear friend,” Springtrap crooned in a mocking tone of voice. “I never thought I would, after all that.” Golden Freddy returned his sinister grin and watched him with half lidded eyes. “It was rather obvious our paths would cross again, though, wasn’t it?” Springtrap took a step to the left and Goldie mirrored him. The two began to circle one another. Behind them, Twilight and her three friends watched uncertainly. “Hmm, I suppose now that I think about it . . .” Springtrap mused, briefly looking away. “I suppose it was very likely we’d end up together again.” He focused his attention back on his old friend. “I'm glad you see it from my perspective.” Goldie gave him a dangerous smile. “Enough chit chat. Power down. I don't have the patience for you.” “Ha! Don't make me laugh! I'm not going to power down. I haven't had my fun yet.” Springtrap pretended to pout briefly. “Besides, I'm sure we can work this out, can't we? Neither of us has to kill the other, surely?” Golden Freddy began to laugh. Springtrap stared in confusion at first, a somewhat offended look on his face. “Are you kidding me? If I don't kill you, then one of these other little ponies will,” Goldie said, jerking his thumb back at the group of girls. “Besides, I've wanted to do this for a long time.” His grin turned sinister. Springtrap’s face twisted into a snarl, and his eyes flickered dangerously for a split second. “So be it.” The two animatronics threw themselves at each other, clashing with a flurry of sparks and metallic grinding. Springtrap, unfortunately, was taller than Golden Freddy by a few inches, giving him the advantage. The broken animatronic shoved Goldie backwards, nearly causing him to fall. Springtrap then pounced, grabbing onto his ex-friend’s collar and head-butting him fiercely. The bear tumbled backwards, head over heels. He landed in front of the girls, who gasped and recoiled slightly. Twilight then stepped forward, hands blazing with magic. “No,” Golden Freddy snarled as he got back to his feet. He held up a hand to ward off the unicorn. “He's mine.” He stabilized himself, dusted himself off, and then put his fists up. Springtrap smirked. “Must we continue like this? I really don't want to have to kill you, honey,” the bunny said, eyes glinting with malicious intent. Golden Freddy returned the sarcastic smile. “Hmm, maybe we should sit down, have a cup of tea, and talk about our feelings like some elderly couple on the verge of divorce?” His voice was sinisterly sweet. “Sweet Celestia,” Twilight mumbled under her breath from behind the animatronic. Goldie frowned, glancing backwards. “Fine; have it your way,” Springtrap replied coldly. He leaped at Goldie, but the other animatronic quickly fell, turning into a cloud of smoke. Springtrap stumbled at the sudden disappearance. Golden Freddy rematerialized, getting the broken animatronic in a headlock and yanking him backwards. He smashed Springtrap into the wall of one of the buildings and scraped his head along it, pushing him to the ground. Springtrap kicked out, catching Golden Freddy in the stomach and causing him to stumble back with a small metallic wheeze. He then leapt on top of the bear and snagged his bowtie, using it to savagely beat Goldie’s head into the ground. The tables flipped just as quickly again, this time with Springtrap being body slammed as Golden Freddy yelled something. “For Celestia’s sake,” Applejack snarled. “Twi, just finish Springtrap! We don't have time for this!” “Yeah, Equestria needs us!” Rainbow Dash agreed. “We’ve got Fluttershy. Let’s hurry and leave. You've got the gem things that Celestia gave you, right?” Twilight glanced uncertainly up at the brawling animatronics. There seemed to be no clear winner as they fought viciously. “. . . Yeah, I do have them. They're in my pocket . . .” Twilight answered slowly, reaching into her magic pockets for the bag of spell gems . . . only to find she carried nothing with her. Her eyes widened. “Twilight?” Pinkie Pie asked. “I—I don't have them! They're gone!” “Gone?!” Rainbow exclaimed, flying into Twilight’s face and grabbing her shoulders. She shook the unicorn. “What do you mean, gone?!” Twilight batted the pegasus away. “I mean gone! As in gone gone! They're not in my pocket, where I had them!” Applejack thrust her way forward, barging between Pinkie and Rainbow where they'd closed in around Twilight. “How could they be—” The earth pony was knocked over as a golden shape came flying at her. The three other girls leaped backwards, narrowly avoiding being hit. With wide eyes, they looked to their friend. Golden Freddy flashed white teeth at them, his sinister black eyes glinting. Applejack was knocked out under him, a thin trail of blood leaking from her nose. Before any of the girls could say anything, there was laughing from behind them. Their heads shot to look in that direction. Springtrap clapped, nearly howling in laughter, “Aha, you see? You think Fredbear is loyal to you girls?” The broken animatronic continued to laugh for a moment. “It really is quite silly. I was almost tricked for a while. But when you silly fools turned your back, he switched sides again.” “What?” Twilight gaped, unable to comprehend what she’d just heard. “But Foxy—” “Oh, come on!” Springtrap continued, rolling his eyes and waving a hand dismissively. “You really think Foxy, the broken down hunk of scrap metal, could undo what I’d done?” The animatronic seemed insulted for a few brief moments. “My wiring is the work of a genius—which I am. It’s going to take more than a few shocks to revert my craft.” He chuckled, moving his ears on his head. “No, I’m afraid it’s not that simple. And now it’s much too late to stop me.” “Twilight’s the Element of Magic; she could stop you with her eyes closed!” Rainbow snarled, her hands curling into claws. “Mmhmm, yes, I’d figured that out earlier, too,” Springtrap said cockily. “You see, you girls really don’t think things through, do you?” He held up a hand and snapped his fingers. An instant later, the sparkling mist that was Golden Freddy gathered around Springtrap. His upper torso materialized, a hand grabbing onto the other animatronic’s arm. Slung over his other shoulder was a still unconscious Applejack. “Tata for now, ladies~” Springtrap cooed, giving a little wave. The next moment, Goldie shot off, his yellow glow quickly vanishing. The girls were left standing in complete shellshock. “This is not good,” Twilight said, mouth open as she stared into the night sky where the animatronics had made their escape. “We’re never going to get home, are we?” Pinkie sighed, slumping in defeat. “Oh, come on, Pinkie, don’t say that,” Dash argued even though her resolve was beginning to fade as well. She glanced nervously at her two friends. “Well, don’t just stand there! Let’s go!” She forced herself to growl. Twilight shook off her stupor and quickly nodded. “Y-yeah, right.” She took a tentative few steps in the opposite direction. “We should get back to the pizzeria to tell the others what just transpired.” There was silent agreement, and the trio headed back. Twilight glanced up at the moon. Celestia, how are we ever going to get back now?