Fallout Equestria: Finding Hope

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

“Do you know what it’s like to wake up, and not be sure if everything is a lie?”

“Midnight Note wake up! You’re going to be late for school again!”

My eyes pop open to see the familiar white cloud ceiling. I give a quick glance over at my alarm. Today’s estimated total time of me being late today is… I’m not sure. A blinking twelve o’clock stares back at me. I grab it in my hooves and follow the cord to the wall. It’s still plugged in. Must have been another power outage. Great, another beautiful day of waking up late. I toss it back down on my end table. I should probably ask Dad to get one that takes spark batteries.

Nearly falling face first from getting tangled in my blankets, I quickly hop out of my bed. A quick run into the bathroom to check how my mane looks ensures that it’s the normal mess of pure white with a smudge of blue like the usual. I brush it out of my face with one of my hooves. Probably going to have my dad make me a hair appointment after school. I hate it when it gets this long. I quickly leave the bathroom and head down the stairs.

Dad is waiting at the bottom. He stands out so much from the rest of the house that I couldn’t even try and ignore him. His mane is a bright green and his fur dark like mine. You can really see where I get my coat from.

You would think that, as one of the most important ponies in Cloudsdale, he wouldn’t allow his daughter to be so late all the time. But at least I do get up in the mornings. “Good morning Midnight. Sorry that I couldn’t get you up earlier. Power must have gone out again. I’m not really sure why they’ve been happening so much lately. Maybe they’re doing maintenance on the surface or something.” These outages are really beginning to become a routine around here.

“Knowing how much it does go out, I wouldn’t doubt it.” I say, while rolling my eyes. I’ve never actually been down to the surface before. Only ever peeked through the clouds to see the green, almost alien, world below. Ever since I was a filly, Dad and everyone else says not to go down there. Never really been sure why though. Some sort of ancient rule of Cloudsdale. “Alright I gotta go. Don’t wanna be late to class for the eightieth time this year.”

Dad’s calm attitude disperses when he begins to speak, “Being late isn’t as important as actually passing your classes Midnight.” I swear to Luna I get this talk almost every other day. “If you don’t pass your classes you won’t be able to graduate. And you’ll be stuck here living with me for another year, or however long it takes you to pass. How would it feel to be one of the few ponies to not graduate.”

“I know. I know. I have it all taken care of Novasurge,” I say confidentially, knowing Dad hates it when I use his real name. He gently shakes his head back and forth. He doesn’t understand that I really do actually have it all under control. I just turn in all the stuff at the last second with all C’s. Boom, passing all my classes and I get to finally move out and be on my own. “And I’m pretty sure that I’m passing all but two so you should be glad I’m passing any at all. Anyways, gotta go. Love you Dad.”

“Love you too. See you after school!” Before he can even say anything else I’m already out the door. Almost falling off our porch because of the blinding sun in my eyes. That’s pretty much the reason I prefer the night.

I take off flying into the air. A deep breath fills my lungs with fresh air. I couldn’t imagine being a unicorn or earth pony like the ones on the surface. It would be pretty boring. I mean sure if you’re a Unicorn you get to have magic and all that fancy stuff like teleportation and telekinesis. But you still can’t fly. And being an Earth Pony is basically pointless. No wings, no horn, What’s the fun in that?

Flying to school only takes a couple minutes. If I were to walk on the streets then I’d get there at least a half hour later than usual. I probably should, seeing as I’m already late, an extra ten minutes couldn’t hurt.

I trot up to the main door and push on it to no avail. Just in case I grab one of the handles in my hooves and wiggle it back and forth vigorously. Once again they locked the doors. Not really sure why they would. Cloudsdale is one of the most peaceful places in Equestria. No murders. No robberies, muggings and break ins. You name it and we don't have it. Almost too perfect of a city if you ask me though. Not to mention almost all of the buildings here are made of clouds. Anypony could just walk right through the wall and grab whatever they damn well please. The only buildings that are truly solid are the official buildings like the Town Hall and of course the School.

I back up down the stairs and look at the wall of the building. Not really sure what class I have right now but I’m going to guess History. I fly up to a small window on the northwest side and slide open it. Locking the doors and not the windows, ponies these days. As I jump through and I feel my wing catch on something and pull me straight to the hard ground, right below my history teacher. He looks down at me and shakes his head. “Late again I see Ms. Note,” he says in a normal boring monotone voice.

“Beautiful morning to you Mr.M.” M is short for Marmalade. But he always insists on being called M. He is a tall, lanky stallion with glasses thicker than the bottom of a Sky Cola bottle. “What’s on the agenda for today?” I stand up and walk over to my assigned desk, everypony has stopped what they were doing to stare at me. I reach back to take off my saddlebags and realize that they aren’t there. “I really hope it’s nothing because guess who doesn’t have her stuff again.” I mumble to myself. It’s probably for reasons like this that I struggle to get anything done. Always forgetting everything.

He just shakes his head and points a hoof to the chalkboard. “We are doing page three hundred and eight. Numbers two through thirty six, odd,” He says in his monotone voice. Well I guess I really am doing absolutely nothing today. It’s always the same exact stuff anyways. This recent section has been about Celestia. And no, not the awesome power of our giant white, beautiful goddess, but the multitude of different members of her council and what they do. I couldn’t even tell you a quarter of them.

“Alright I guess I’ll do it when I get home. Don’t really have a book to use right now.” From behind me something touches my back. I turn around to see Flying Pan giving me his stupid smile. Listen, I try to be a nice pony when I can, but some ponies drive me so insane that it’s almost hard not to scream when you see them. I cover up the screaming pony in me and throw on the fakest smile I can,“Yes Flying Pan? What do you want.”

He holds up his history book. “You can have my book Midnight! I already got my homework done!” I look down to see his paper is just a mess of incomprehensible scribbles. I can’t even make out his name at the top.

“Uhhh no thanks Pan. Looks like you did evens instead of odds anyways.” I say as I point a hoof at his paper. Hopefully he’ll think he did. I’m not even sure he can read his own writing anyways.

He looks down at his paper for a second then back up at me. “Guess I did do evens instead of odds. Thanks Midnight!” He reopens his book again and begins to work. I notice that it isn’t even on the right page either. Sweet Celestia, how do you not realize what you’re doing? I turn back around and face the front board. Above it rests the clock. Twelve thirty four. Damn I really did sleep in late didn’t I? I sigh and lean back in my chair. Another day of doing nothing. My favorite.

In the corner of my eye I notice a grey smudge shoot past the hallway door. I look around to see if anypony else saw that. Nopony has even moved. Okay that’s pretty weird. I look back up at the clock to see the it’s still on twelve thirty four. Not even the second hoof has moved. I turn around to say something to Mr.M and he is just standing there, blankly staring at the wall. “Umm. Mr.M. What are you doing?”My voice gets a little panicky as I ask. I stand up and walk over to him. I wave a hoof in his face and get nothing in response. Not even a blink. What the hell is going on? I look back over at the door. It has to be something to do with that thing. I quickly start to run out of the classroom. Making sure to check the clock again before I do. It’s still stuck at twelve thirty four. I look both ways in the hallway to try to find the ball. I notice it quickly turn the corner.

“Hey! Get back here and unfreeze everything, you weird ball, uh thing!” I yell as loudly as I can down the hall at whatever the fuck it is. I quickly take off after it as fast as I can. Stopping to see somepony frozen who had dropped a large stack of papers. I touch one of the floating papers and It doesn’t move. “What the hell is going on here?” I continue racing down the hallway.

Turning the corner I see the ball go into the stallion's restroom. I hesitate for a moment and head in, taking a deep breath as I walk into the main room of the bathroom. Each stall is closed. I take a glance under each of them to make sure nopony is in here. If I were to get caught in here I would definitely be the next prime candidate for the jocks and bullies. I slowly open each stall. And damn these things are filthy. Is that what I think it is? Yep. Don’t try and touch it, me. Why would you even think about touching it?

Okay. Final stall. “If anypo… thing is in there you need to come out right now.” I pause a second to wait for a response but get nothing. With a quick push I open the door. And miraculously there is nothing. I turn around and look at myself in the mirror. “I’m not going crazy am I? There was actually something here.”I say to myself. I sigh and turn on the water and splash some on my face. I need to cool down a little bit.

Wait a second...running water. Time isn’t frozen anymore. I quickly turn off the water. Whatever is going on it’s over now. Just forget about it and never tell anypony. Ever. You got that Midnight. “N. E. V. E. R. Never,” I look myself in the eyes and say.

A familiar voice echoes just outside of the bathroom, “The principle can shove it if he thinks I’m going to sit in there and play with dolls all day. I mean who does he think I am. A mare. Horse shit is what that is I tell ya.” Oh shit, somepony’s coming. And if I recognise that voice then I need to either get out of here as quick as I can or flush myself down one of these toilets. Both of them seem kinda impossible at the moment. There’s only one thing to do. I quickly open a stall and jump inside, latching the door with a wing. I put my back hooves on the rim of the toilet and balance myself with my hooves atop the stall.

A different voice says, “What do you think he’ll do if you're caught in here Buckshot? He’ll probably suspend you for the amount of times you’ve skipped classes as is.” Buckshot was the most notorious bully and professional asshole of basically all of Cloudsdale. But if he were to actually get suspended that would be nice. Even a week without Buckshot patrolling the school looking for prey would be a blessing from Luna herself. I go to take a deep breath and a nasty stench burns my nostrils. Buckshot and his assholes must need his daily smoke break.

“Alright. I gotta take a whiz.” Buckshot says. Hoofsteps begin to approach to the stall door. Fucking hell. I look around to try to find someplace to escape. The door begins to move back and forth quickly. “Haha someponies in here! If you open up the stall now, maybe I won’t break your wings later!” Yea real classy Buckshot, random threats to somepony trying to hide from you.

This is going to suck but it’s the only chance I get if I wanna keep my wings intact. I put on my meanest sounding voice,“Alright Buckshot, I’ll tell you what. If you leave right now I won’t be forced to beat the snot out of you and your friends.” This is going to end terribly for me, or by some miracle, them.

“Is that a mare? In the stallion’s restroom? Looks like we are going to have to teach her a couple of lessons. Show her what the Sky Pythons do to ponies like her,” one of his lackeys says. Oh yea. Their stupid “gang” is called the Sky Pythons. Buckshot started it up a couple years ago when we learned about the early gangs in Manehattan. Apparently he went to Mrs.Canvy and was trying to convince her to make twenty leather jackets that say Sky Python with a tiny snake embroidered into them.

“Wait a second boys. I recognise that voice.” Oh Luna please don’t say that he knows me. “Is that Midnight Note? That mare who always gets away right? Looks like we’re going to have to give her the special treatment.” Oh yea. Last time I actually talked with Buckshot he got pissed at me for beating him as the fastest flier.

“You’re going to have to catch me first, Buckshot!” I’m not even going to ask what the hell the special treatment is. I gotta stall him until somepony comes in here. Some kind of distraction. Wait a second, I can ‘stall’ him! Midnight Note you are a genius. “Alright Buckshot. I’ll come out. Just let me unlock the door.”

I hear his hoofsteps slowly approach the door. “See boys. If only all the others would be so genero..” *WHAM* I buck the stall door into his face as hard as I can.

“Ha! Right in your stupid fucking face Buckshot!” I yell as I quickly jump over him and sprint out of the bathroom. Behind me I hear him yell something about breaking his nose. Maybe that will teach him a lesson not to mess with me. I look behind me to see a couple of his friends watching me run, not even putting any effort in the chase.

I ran and hid in one of the janitor's closets until the next bell rang. The janitor awkwardly came in to me checking out his stack of magazines. I mean how could I resist looking at the newest release of Wingboner Magazine. I may or may not have snuck one under my wing as I walked out.

My next class is gym. I look up and let out an audible groan. Buckshot is in that class. Hopefully it’s just a wing stretching or else I’m in big trouble. I walk down the hallway and into the locker room. I don’t really see the point in changing because we’re normally naked anyways. From the entrance I hear somepony say my name. I look over to see the closest thing I have to a friend. Aera.

“I heard what you did to Buckshot. You better watch your back for the rest of the day. You know what? Make that the rest of your life.” Aera has been my best and only friend I’ve had my whole life. We met when she moved here from Manehattan when we were younger. To be honest I’ve always thought she was pretty cute. Her short blue green mane and her tiny freckles. Her very light purple coat all leading to her nice smooth fla- “Midnight Note! Are you even paying attention to me?”

I feel my cheeks set on fire. “Uhh… Sorry, I was distracted with something.” Luna please help me not have this conversation again. We do this almost once a week. “Is it getting hot in here? Whew. I guess we should get to class.” I attempt walk away when I feel something hit my rump. I turn around to see Aera’s wing outstretched. And I thought that there was no way my cheeks could feel hotter.

“C’mon Midnight you know I’m not into mares. We’ve had this talk before.” Several times this month actually. “Now I know I can’t make you not like mares, but just please try not to look at me like that anymore.” I just nod. I mean what can I say to that. “Good, now let's get to class. I hear we’re playing dodgeball today.”

“Dodgeball with Buckshot. Just what I’ve always wanted at a time like this.” I sigh and start walking towards the gymnasium. Aera tells me that what I did to Buckshot is going around the school fast. Seeing as Buckshot “rules” the school I could understand why. Ugh, another thing I’m going to have to avoid in this place.

We get into the gymnasium to see everypony running laps. Our gym teacher, Bulk Biceps, runs over to us. “Get ready to plug your ears.” I whisper over to Aera. She plugs them with her wings. I do the same.

“YOU TWO ARE LATE AGAIN! THAT IS VERY UNAWESOME OF YOU!” He flexes the whole time he is screaming. “NOW GIVE ME TWENTY WING UPS NOW! OR DO YOU WANT TO MAKE THE CLASS DO TEN MORE LAPS!” I sigh and drop to the ground. So does Aera. He starts counting as we both do them. Once I get around the fifteenth one I start slowing down but still manage. Aera gets hers done perfectly fine. “ALRIGHT EVERYPONY, IT’S TIME TO START PLAYING SOME DODGEBALL! OH YEAH!” Bulk begins flexing as he yells. Everypony gathers up in the center of the gym. Buckshot watching me the whole time. I notice the bandage on his nose. I stick my tongue out at him and blow a raspberry. He mouths something but I wave a hoof at him and ignore it. Probably along the lines of “I’m going to make your life a living hell” or the classic “you’re dead meat” saying. Either way, I don’t care.

“OKAY EVERYPONY YOU KNOW THE DRILL! WE PICK TWO TEAM CAPTAINS AND THEY GET TO CHOOSE THE TEAMS!” That means another day of being picked last. Not that I really care or anything. I don’t really know anyone’s name in this class anyways. “NOW WHO AM I GOING TO PICK FOR THE TEAM CAPTAINS!?” Buckshot of course raises his hoof instantly. “BUCKSHOT YOU CAN BE RED TEAM CAPTAIN!” He puts his hoof to his chin and scans the class. “MIDNIGHT NOTE YOUR TEAM CAPTAIN BLUE! YOU’VE NEVER BEEN CAPTAIN BEFORE SO THAT MEANS IT’S YOUR TURN AND IT’S GOING TO BE TOTALLY FREAKIN AWESOME!” He starts flexing again. I notice muscles moving in places I didn’t even know could move.

I whisper over to Aera,“You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t even want to play this stupid game.”

Aera stifles a laugh and says,” You’ll be fine. We’ll just do what we normally do.”

“OKAY MIDNIGHT YOU GET TO PICK FIRST SINCE YOU’VE NEVER BEEN CAPTAIN BEFORE!” Oh what an honor! Getting to pick first! I walk over and stand in front of the small crowd.

“Alright I pick Aera.” Of course I have to pick her. Buckshot goes instantly to his stupid friends. We go back and forth picking different ponies till we have full teams.

“ALRIGHT EVERYPONY YOU KNOW THE RULES! HOOVES ON THE GROUND AT ALL TIMES! HEADSHOTS DON'T COUNT AND YOU CAN USE THE BALLS TO REFLECT OTHER BALLS!” He walks down the center line of the gym, putting the balls evenly spaced from another. “NOW ON THE COUNT OF THREE THE GAME WILL START! ONE…..TWO…..THREE!” The sound of his whistle fills the entire gymnasium.

Everypony begins to charge at the set of dodgeballs in the center of the gym screaming. I’m pretty sure Bulk Biceps is most of it though. Aera and I stay back at the wall. Our strategy is to just wait till everyone gets each other out and then we charge in to finish the rest of them. “So why do you think Buckshot isn’t trying to get you out yet?” Aera says and she looks over at the other team.

I duck underneath a ball, then buck it over to another teammate. “Well I noticed that he’s been staring at me this whole time. Pretty sure that he’s been planning something. Watch out!” I quickly push Aera to the side. A ball whizzes right by her head. She picks up the ball and tosses it to somepony. “Anyways, what are the chances that we both end up team captains? Knowing Buckshot he probably talked Biceps into making us on opposite teams.”

“Duck!” Aera quickly dives over me catching a ball. “And you’re out motherbucker!” She yells and points a hoof at the other team. She tosses the ball to the side towards a group of our team.

“You know when you do stuff like that it makes it hard not to think you’re attractive.” She just rolls her eyes at me. That was the reaction I was expecting.

We continue dodging balls down to the final six. Aera and I on our team. Buckshot and his goonsquad on the other. “Alright Midnight Note! I’m taking out your little marefriend there, then I’m coming for your ass.” Buckshot gestures to Aera and his goons throw everything they have at once. Aera just moves a couple steps to the side effortlessly. Dodging them all perfectly.

She looks over at me and says, “Can you believe these guys Midnight! Think they can get me out so easi-” Time seemed to slow down at that second. Watching a ball connect perfectly with the side of her face. As she begins to fall, I stretch my wing out and catch her at the last second.

“AND AERA IS OUT OF THE MATCH! THAT LEAVES MIDNIGHT NOTE VERSUS BUCKSHOT’S TEAM,” Bulk yells at the top of his lungs.

I look over at him with a shooty look. “Uh, Biceps that was a fucking headshot! Aera is still in the game!”

Steam seems to shoot out of his nostrils, “WELL I SAY THAT SHE IS OUT, THAT’S THE RULES AND THEY AREN’T CHANGING ANYTIME SOON. ALSO DON’T DROP THE F BOMB IN MY FREAKIN CLASS!” Oh how I just wanted to smack him with my hoof right then and there. Too bad he could crush my entire body with ease.

Aera gets up and rubs her head. She looks over at Buckshot and then back at me. “Kick his ass Midnight!” She smiles and walks off the court, rubbing her face with her wing.

I look over at Buckshot and his stupid friends. “Alright, you fuckers want to go? Well? Give me all you got!” I could see a fire start in Buckshot’s eyes. All at once balls start to fly at me. I curse to myself and flinch as several dodgeballs fly towards my face. I think of how much this is going to hurt.

Nothing. Not even a sound. I look up to see at least half a dozen red dodgeballs floating inches from my face. “No. No no no. No no no no no not this again.” I say quietly. I back up and stand to my hooves. What the hell is going on!? I begin to walk around and something hard collides with my head. I fall back on my haunches and rub my head.

Out of nowhere a metallic voice rings above me,”Sorry about that. Didn’t think you would turn around so fast!” I let out a scream and crawl backwards. “Wait no, don’t run. I’m here to help you!” I look blankly at the floating grey metallic ball. Various metal antennas stick out from the top of it.

“What and who the hell are you! And what did you do to everything!” I stand up and end up backing into the wall of floating dodgeballs.

“I’m a sprite-bot. Well, I’m not a sprite-bot, but it’s just what I’m using to contact you. Sorta.” I don’t break my stare with it. Is he talking about a parasprite? We’ve read about them in science before. But none of them are grey, metal and can speak.

“What the hell is a sprite-bot! And that doesn’t answer who you are either.” Whatever it is, I'm not trusting it until I get answers!

I hear it clear its throat somehow. “Okay, fine. You can call me Watcher. And what you’re seeing is the most common robot in the wasteland. They were created by the Ministry of Morale before the war based on old world parasprites. But most of them still somehow float around today.” Okay that didn’t answer anything. That only gave more questions.

“War? Wasteland? What are you talking about? There is neither a war or a wasteland anywhere here, or anywhere near here. Equestria is as peaceful as it’s been in the last couple of millenia! Now you tell me what is going on or I’m going to figure it out myself!” I point a hoof at it and say.

“Calm down Midnight Note. I don’t have much time until the system kicks me out again. You’re in a simulation and I’m trying to get you out. There is some kind of failsafe somewhere here in Cloudsdale and you’re going to have to be the one to activate it so we can get you out of here. I’m going to figure out its location and then I’ll contact you when I can. For now be careful and don’t mention anything about this to anypony else. Just let tomorrow be another day, okay?” The sprite-bot floats there for a second longer, “I promise everything will make sense soon.”

I couldn’t say anything. I did the only thing I could think of doing in a time like this. Run. Run as fast and far as I can. By the time I got out of the school building time was back to normal. Somepony yelled out at me as I left, but I couldn’t care less. I wasn’t going to stay there. Not with whatever the hell that was. I flew all the way home. Ignoring ponies when they said anything about me not being in school. Luckily dad works late so I was alone. I went into my room and laid down on my bed.

So if what that Watcher thing said was true then none of this is real. Not Dad, Aera, Buckshot, Mr.M, Bulk Biceps or anypony else. They just don’t exist. But the only thing that makes it sound fake is the fact that I’m seventeen years old. I remember my first birthday. I remember the day that Dad came home with a big box of cupcakes. Me and him sat downstairs to see who could eat the most. Or all the times Aera and I walked around town at night. The long walks and the deep talks we had. There is no way that it’s all fake…

“Aagh why does my life have to be so complicated?” I pick up my pillow and throw it at the wall. It goes right through it. “Oh yea. Cloud walls.” I leave it and stay laying down. I mean, what else can I do? My whole world is rapidly getting more and more confusing by the minute. I close my eyes. My only friend, my only family member left, and now that it’s all apparently been a lie.

I let out a long breath. “Just going to take a little nap. When I wake up maybe I can make some sense of all this.”

…

The familiar sound of my alarm clock wakes me up. I look up to see that it’s eight. I sit up in my bed and stretch. Wait… I pause mid-stretch and look over at the alarm clock. How in the hell did I sleep for almost twenty hours? Great. Now there’s further evidence that everything isn’t real. I stand up out of my bed and walk out of the door and begin my daily routine. Checking my mane to make sure it isn’t too crazy and then heading downstairs to grab a bite to eat. Actually being awake on time has its perks.

On our kitchen table is a box with a couple doughnuts in it and a small blue note sticking out from the top. I read the note aloud to myself, “Heard you had a bad day at school yesterday Midnight so I got half a dozen from Pony Joe’s. Hopefully today is gonna be better for you. Love, Dad” Thanks fake dad that means so much to me that you would even consider such a kind gesture like that. I grab a pink donut with rainbow sprinkles and take a big bite out of it. This whole place could be fake but I’m at least glad the food is decent. I finish that one and grab another before leaving the kitchen.

Out of nowhere dad seems to appear next to me. “Ready for school today Midnight? I packed your lunch for me. I even used your favorite bread!” He says in a glee voice that I’ve never heard him use before. I give him a confused look. Did he just say what I think he said?

“Did you mean that you packed lunch for me, not you?” He nods and holds it in front of him. “You normally don’t pack lunch for me. Why did you decide to do it today?” I say slowly. His head twitches to the right slightly. The center of his chest seems to disappear for a moment. Okay I need to get out of here. Now.

He pushes the lunch to my chest and insists that I take it. All of a sudden Aera’s voice is behind me. I turn around to see her there. “How the hell did you get here, Aera?” Out of nowhere she gets really close to me. “Aera why aren’t you talking to me? What are you doing?” She leans in and kisses me on the lips. For a couple seconds all my fears went away. A moment of bliss in whatever fucked up shit is happening to me. But that moment was shortly gone when I realized this wasn’t her. Not the mare I would say I’m in love with.

I push away from her. “Oh come on Midnight, Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted? Me. You. Our bodies tangled together in a hot mess!” I slowly start backing down the stairs.

“This isn’t you, Aera. And you aren’t my Dad. None of you are even real!” I quickly turn around and start running for the front door.

“C’mon Midnight! You know me. I’m your best friend, your lover! We’ve known each other since we were fillies.” She bites her lower lip and says to me, “We can be together forever and ever.”

“Midnight don’t leave. You know that it’s just me and you. Your mother is gone and all we have is each other.” I look over to see my Dad still has my lunch in his hooves. He slowly starts walking towards me.

“No. None of you are real. None of this is really happening! Not you two! Not this house! Not this whole entire fucking city in the clouds! All of it is a fake and I’m getting the hell out of here!” I quickly turn around and run out of the door.

“I gotta leave. I have to get out of Cloudsdale. I have to be anywhere but here.” I start flying east toward the edge of the city. “As far as I can go. That’s all I have to do. Get somewhere where I can meet Watcher and he can help me” I keep flying without looking back until I reach the city limits. I look down to see the sea of green rolling hills below. Grass, trees, lakes, waterfalls. All things I've only seen in picture books when I was a foal. I’ve always been told to never leave Cloudsdale. So I did. I tuck my wings in and start falling down as fast as I can, the wind begins tunneling around me. Hopefully Watcher can meet me down here.

Seemingly out of nowhere, I hit something completely solid. A blue wave ripples from where I hit it. “What the hell is this?” I yell. I lean against it and hit it with my hoof. The blue wave moves along the strange barrier again. “Nononono. This isn’t real. This isn’t happening now.” I turn around and start flying up. “Watcher! I don’t know where you are! I don’t know who you are! But please get me out of here!”

Out of nowhere a voice appears around me,”Midnight, I saw what happened. I’ve managed to find the failsafe switch. It’s in your father’s room at his terminal. It's disguised- normal file. Just activate- you c- leave. My connection is-” His voice is cut off mid sentence.

Alright. Get to Dad’s terminal and find the failsafe. Then I can get out of here. Then Watcher is going to tell me everything.

I fly back up to Cloudsdale. I look across the city and just sigh. My whole life has been here. And who knows what kind of person am I outside of this place? I look down at my hooves. Am I actually me? Or is this just some fake body that I was placed into. Oh my… What if I’m a stallion? I gag a little bit at the thought then shake my head. Just gotta get to my house and turn on the failsafe. That’s it.

I slowly open my door and stick my head in. Nopony appears to be here. Or whatever those things are. I quickly run down the hallway into Dad’s office. I’m normally not supposed to be in here. But I don’t think that really matters right now. I quickly sit down in front of his terminal. I take a deep breath and start pushing the keys.

“Midnight Note, you know you’re not supposed to be in here.” Dad’s voice echoes around me, but I just ignore it.

The terminal doesn’t seem to have anything on it. Every tab I go through seems to be corrupted or just nonsense. Out of nowhere the terminal is ripped from the desk and thrown through the cloud wall. “There is no escape from this place,” Several voices around me scream, “Stay and live. You are safe. You are HOME!” The voice sounds like a mix of everypony I know. From the hallway walks in a flickering mass shaped like a pony. It’s glowing bright green and looks like a computer glitch.

“What the fuck…” I mumble to myself. I get up quickly and back up as the glitch continues to walk towards me. As it gets closer I begin to feel the heat radiating from it.

The glitch begins to speak again,“This is your home Midnight. You are safe. You are free.”

I panic even more looking for a way out, still backing up and nearly against the wall. “We are the world. There is no escape. We will always find you.” My flank touches the cloud wall behind me and starts to go through it.

Oh yeah. Clouds. I quickly push through the cloud wall and begin to run completely through my house. I quickly make it outside. The glitch pony doesn’t seem to follow. “Watcher you’re plan didn’t fucking work! And things are getting worse very fast!” I scream into the air around me.

Watchers voice cuts through the silence. “Go to- Old house- school!”

Old house by the school? I fly straight up into the air to try and figure out where it is. I see the school across town. But most buildings around it are new.

“Fly closer- You’ll see it whe- get closer.”

“Where do you think you are going Midnight!?” The glitch voice screams below me as it’s rapidly approaching. Before I can move out of the way the glitched pony slams into me and sends me flying. The pure heat radiating from it burns my side. I barely stabilize myself mid air. Everything around me seems to flicker. Some of the houses flicker and wave, similar to the glitched pony. I look over to see the glitch rapidly approaching again. It has giant bright green wings that seem to tear and distort the simulation around it.

At the last second I kick off the side of the glitch. My hooves burn as they touch the skin of whatever this thing is. It spirals down into the distance, falling through the cloud cover below me. I need to get out of here. Now.

I fly as fast as I can towards the school. The town around me flickers and glitches. The simulation doesn’t seem to be able to handle me knowing what it is. I don’t know how much time I have left here.

Watchers voice cuts in again, “ Almost the- Next to scho- Code in- living room.”

From the corner of my eye I notice a house not made of clouds. It’s a faded yellow and the roof is partly caved in. I land and quickly open the front door.

“STAY OUT OF THERE MIDNIGHT” The glitched voice screams from all around me, making my ears ring horribly. I slam the door before anything can come in.

The inside of the house is surprisingly nice compared to the dilapidated outside. But there seems to be weird objects everywhere. A full bottle of Sky Cola, A garden gnome pony, a jukebox, cinder blocks, and various kitchen utensils.

“Midnight use- Jukebox- Activate th- Failsafe.” Watchers voice barely comes through anymore. I run over to the jukebox and turn it on. There's only one song loaded into it called ‘I don’t wanna set the world on fire’.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with this!? Have a dance party with the killer glitch pony?” I yell, hoping Watcher will answer back.

“Just pla- Song- Failsa- ,'' His voice is cutting out more and more.

I click load on the only song. Music begins to echo from everywhere. At the same time something slams onto the front door repeatedly. I spin around to see a gigantic terminal fade into existence.

“I don’t want to set the world on fire.”

The terminal hums as I power it on. The first and only option is “Zebra invasion”

“I just want to start”

After clicking it I’m teleported to the highest point in Cloudsdale. It takes me a second to regain my balance. I’m on top of the school. From here I can see the entire town. From my house to Aera’s. I walk to the edge and sit down, dangling my back hooves.

“A flame in your heart.~”

Music continues to echo as a siren rings out. Warmth seems to approach from behind. It’s the glitched pony. It sits next to me. I feel my whole right side burning.

“In my heart, I have but one desire~”

“I guess you win Midnight. Good luck on the outside.” The glitched pony morphs between everypony I know and stops on my Dad. “I hope you enjoyed this world I made you.” In a blink of an eye my father is gone. The sirens seem to get louder around me.

“And that one is you~”

In the very far distance. What has to be a hundred miles away. I see a blinding green flash that makes me have to cover my eyes with a hoof. A gigantic green cloud shaped like a mushroom forms on the horizon. A shock wave washes over the world. Rapidly destroying everything in Cloudsdale.

“No other will do~”

The music cuts off abruptly. I really liked that song.

-Please Stand By-

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Footnote: Level up! Sanity:99%

Perk Added: Cherches La Filly - In combat you do 10% damage against female opponents! Outside of combat you’ll sometimes have access to unique dialog options with other mares!