Tales From the Trash Bin 14. Cloud Watching. · 11:39pm Feb 5th, 2021

The last LAST (Maybe last?) Tales From the Trash Bin. I planned on using MLP Gen 1 songs to stitch the story together, but I lost interest. The story is like 80% done, so if anyone wants to fill in those gaps then it’s yours.

Local Human is trapped in Equestria, and is annoyed that the only close cure to her boredom is reading books. After lamenting to Rainbow Dash, the coolest pony she knows, Rainbow Dash invites her to do something “really cool”. She would have said no if she knew it was cloud watching.

There is a disease that plagues thousands of people every day, a sickness that strikes without warning and can strike the minds of any person. It was an illness that knew no limitations, a horror that ate away at a person’s very soul; Addenda.

Or, as most creatures knew it, a case of too much time with nothing to do, the antithesis of mind numbing boredom.

Megan was so bored that she learned the Latin word for bored. It was all she could really do since she was stuck in Equestria, it was a beautiful world, much prettier than her own world, but it had once major flaw. There wasn’t a single tv in all of Equesrtria. It was fine for a while since she was able to beat off her boredom by going on her own little adventures with the merry band of trouble makers known as the CMC, and she was able to help out with a friendship problem every now and again, but the life of adventure was actually a pretty short lived one.

The CMC got their cutie marks and weren’t as chaotically unpredictable as they used to be, all of the villains had been defeated after the big three were locked away, and anypony she knew who could drag her along on an adventure was either a princess or a school teacher. Meanwhile, she was an unemployed 22-year-old woman with no real equestrian job experience.

She was thankful to be an intern with Daring Do, but she was soon let go after her boss and their old arch nemesis quit the adventuring game and more restrictive laws were added onto finding artifacts, thanks Princess of Micromanaging. It was fine, Ponyville had a slew of adventures to explore, until it suddenly didn’t. Every bad guy was beaten, every secret was uncovered, and Megan had missed about 90% of it. Now, she was doomed to live a life of boredom as she looked for a boring career.

She bitched about it to a close friend of hers, and was delighted to find out that the rainbow maned mare actually had a remedy for Megan’s boredom.

Megan would have slapped Rainbow Dash if she knew that it was Cloud Watching.

“You can’t be serious,” Megan stated as Rainbow Dash laid down a picnic blanket and two folding chairs on a wide-open field.

“Of course, I am. Cloud Watching is awesome! How have you never done it before?”

“I did, and I loved it... When I was four!” Megan stated, as she looked up at the cloudless sky. “What are we even doing here, anyway. It’s not even cloudy!”

“Yeah, we got here early. We need the best seats, after all,” Rainbow said as she and Megan looked out at the big and empty open field.

“… Dash, we’re the only ones here.”

“Yeah, because we’re early. If we came later, then we’d have to sit under a tree or something, and I’m not going to sit on a branch and try to watch it from there. I learned my lesson last time,” Rainbow Dash replied as she got comfortable in her reclining folding chair. “Just sit back and wait, we’ve got about… Ten minutes at best until the others arrive.”

“Wait, so you invited the girls along too?” Megan asked as she took her seat and looked up at the bright blue, and still cloudless, sky.

“Most of them are too busy. I would’ve asked Fluttershy, but she gets scared whenever we go Cloud Watching.”

“… Bullshit,” Megan argued. “I know Fluttershy lives up to her name a lot, but really? She gets scared of Cloud Watching?”

“I know, right? But she gets scared anyway, so it’s just you, me, and everyone else.”

“Who’s everyone else?”

“Them,” Rainbow said as she pointed her hoof behind herself. Megan followed the appendage and saw a large number of ponies, yaks, changeling, and even several dragons trot and fly around, searching for spots as they laid down their blankets and chairs.

“… Are they really here to watch clouds?”

“Duh, why else would they be here, for a picnic?”

“…” Megan chose not to reply as she actually decided to look for any hints of an actual picnic basket or umbrella. To her shock, there wasn’t a single dandelion sandwich or wicker basket in sight.

As her boredom gave way to idle curiosity, Megan decided to sink into her seat and wait. Her boredom returned with a vengeance as the minutes turned into half an hour of waiting for clouds. The conversations around them were mildly interesting at best, but nothing that really stood out. Just as her patience began to wear too thin, a sea of clouds came over the horizon and filled the sky. Pegasi, griffins, dragons, and even a few changelings, flew through the sky and set up random patches of clouds.

The conversations in the crowd died down as they all looked up in anticipation, watching the flight capable creatures push clouds into seemingly random places. Megan tapped her finger impatiently as she wondered why they were placing clouds in certain areas. She expected them to wait a picture of a bunny or something with them, but most of the clouds were scattered and messy. Try as she might, she couldn’t see a single image in the random mess of clouds that littered the sky. A few ponies and griffins covered the ground in clouds too, creating a huge mattress of clouds that were dyed grey with green rainbows.

When they finished setting up the chaotic and random scene in the sky, they all flew into the clouds to hide themselves from the audience. A lone pegasus stallion in a bright red sweater vest flew up to the center of the sky and spoke to the crowd with a calm and cheerful voice.

“Greeting mares, stallions, and honorable members of the Cloud Watching Community, or CWC, for attending today’s program. We hope that you can relax, and enjoy yourselves as the proud ponies, griffins, changelings, and dragons of the Flight of Fantasy preform a show for you all today.” The pegasus introduced before he flew off into a nearby cloud.

“Wait, I thought you said this was cloud watching?” Megan asked.

“It is, now shh! It’s starting,” Rainbow chastised. Before Megan could ask any further questions, the sound of booming drums rang out in the air as the mass of clouds slowly grew darker.

The clouds swirled upwards and grew in size, building a wall of darkness that suddenly sprouted a large pair of arms. The massive cloud rumbled as part of it began to form into the face of a bulldog with two piercing yellow eyes and a bright red kite for a nose. Megan’s jaw dropped as the monster stared down at her and the other assembled creatures, judging them all with a harsh sneer.

“I am Erebus, ruler of all clouds!” The behemoth roared as his lips slowly drifted to match the words. “And now, I am your king! No creature in all of Equestria can stand against my power!” He yelled as the clouds around him began to descend over the crowd. The booming drums that droned on were soon accompanied by the sound of trumpets and other instruments as the monster’s sneer grew into a sadistic smile.

“Here’s to power! Isn’t it grand!” The large cloud boasted, as a group of pegasi flew away from the encroaching hand that suddenly grabbed them. “Holding the world, in my hand!

“Here’s to power, what a delight! Spewing out bolts, of thunder and light!” He sang, as a barrage of thunder and lightning flew out of his throat. “How I revel to be the master! Barking out orders! Harder! Faster!” He commanded.

Suddenly, a group of disheveled dragons flew up to offer what, from a distance, looked like piles of gold, but were actually a collection of yellow autumn leaves and shards of yellow rainbows that were left on the ground nearby the production.

“The monster can bark, but he also can bite!” One of the griffins warned as he swooped over the crowd, dropping a flurry of colorful leaves over them as he did so.

“He’s living proof, that might makes right!” A dragon lamented as he, unconvincingly, shied away from the slowly swinging hands of the giant cloud monster.

“Here’s to power, truly divine! And the best thing about it~!” The giant cloud sung.

“The best thing about it,” the pegasi, griffins, changelings, and dragons all sang.

“The best thing about it! The power, is all mine! A-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!” He gloated, as thunder and lightning swirled around him. The few brave creatures that stood up to him were struck by lighting, causing Megan to wince as their limp bodies dropped to the cloud on the ground. The giant cloud laughed in wicked glee as he swatted away a rebellious group of pegasi who tried to attack him from behind.

Lightning leapt from his outstretched fingers as the fighting continued, knocking down waves of dragons, griffins, and pegasi until he was the only one left. His boisterous laugh filled the air, drowning out the wails and pain filled moans of his many victims until Erebus melted into a large white cloud with a few quickly constructed cloud houses popping out of it. The music faded into a calmer melody as a pair of young pegasi fillies trotted out of one of the hastily built houses.

“C’mon Lemon Sour, todays going to be great!” The pink filly shouted as she leapt in the air.

“What makes you so sure about that, Dilly Dally?” Lemon Sour asked as she slowly trotted on the clouds.

“Because we’re going to make it a great day! Life’s full of adventure, and we’re adventurers!”

“What adventure? Nothing ever happens here.”

“Don’t be like that, Lemon. I can feel it, today is going to be full of surprises!” She said enthusiastically as the faint sound of violins began to play.

“There’s always another rainbow~! Search until you find it. Don’t look at the cloud, look behind it! There’s a rainbow there, somewhere~,” the young pegasus sung. “There’s always a ray of sunshine. Although it all seems tragic, you may turn around and, like magic, there’s an answer to your prayer! Now you feel forlorn, but hope can be reborn! Try, and lose that frown, look up! Not down~. And you’ll find another rainbow, I can guarantee it! Even though you think you’ve reached the rainbows end, there’s always another rainbow ~! Always another rainbow, round the bend~!”

As her song wrapped up, a rainbow flew across the horizon of the cloud stage, filling the scene with bright colors that danced against the blue backdrop of the sky. Sadly, the beautiful scene was soon swallowed (literally) by a wall of darkness that descended upon the recent rainbow, absorbing it in a giant thunderous cloud as the demonic spirit regained its form.

“Mmmm. Delicious!” Erebus gloated as he licked his fingers with a pink blanket acting as his tongue. His gaze soon fell on the pair of screaming fillies as the huddled together in fear. His smile grew wider, revealing a row of painted squares of cardboard. “Oh-ho, what do we have here~. Two little ponies, small enough for me to swallow!” He roared, causing the two fillies to run back inside their house as the giant cloud laughed.

His laughter slowly faded as he looked at the empty scene in front of him. The wicked smile he wore waned slightly as his head turned. “Ha… Ha… ha…” His yellow balloon eyes wandered over to the crowd, as if searching for something, before he shook his head and sighed. Thunder suddenly rumbled from his stomach and caused the giant to wince in pain. “Well, there’s nothing here. I must go and find more power! I need to get stronger, and I need to eat more rainbows! Soon, there will never be another rainbow in the entire world!” He gloated, before the mass of clouds melted again and changed scenes.

Th clouds broke apart, showing glimpses of the ponies and griffins that were manipulating the scene. Soon, the clumps of clouds were shaped into a small imitation of the rainbow factory with fabric rainbows hanging from the bottom of it. Two pegasi and a griffin, each wearing a uniform for the rainbow factory, flew around the small replica.

“Hey, Fiddle Faddle, how are the orders for rainbows looking?” The red pegasus asked the blue coated pegasus, who glanced down at his clipboard.

“It looks alright. Cloudsas called for a quick repair job on their rainbow road, and Cloudtucky needs an extra rainbow highway, so we’ve got a pretty busy day on our hooves. Hey, Glider, any word from the colts on the floor?”

“Nothing out of the norm. They’re squawking about the red rainbows getting stuck in their manes, but it’s all alright. As far as I can tell, we’ll be ahead of schedule if we keep pushing thought,” the griffin guessed.

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” A thunderous voice yelled as the clouds gathered once again to create Erebus. The three workers quickly flew away as the massive monster appeared, spreading darkness across the sky as he blocked out the sun.

“There’ll never be another rainbow~! Search all you want, you won’t find it. Don’t even try to look, just forget it! There isn’t a rainbow anywhere~,” Her promised as he grabbed the small rainbow factory in his hands.

“There won’t be a ray of sunshine, and while you may think it’s tragic, I'll feel ecstatic! Now you feel forlorn, and hope can’t be reborn! You’ll never lose your frown as I swallow your whole town! You’ll never find another rainbow, I can guarantee it!” He shouted as his body absorbed the miniature rainbow factory. His arms reached out and began to swipe at any of the pegasi and griffins that were flying around in a panic while the three workers from earlier hid behind a nearby cloud.

“This is terrible! He’ll eat every rainbow in all of Equestria!” The red pegasus screamed. “What are we going to do?!”

“We need to call the guard!” The griffin yelled. “Surly, they’ll be able to take down that nasty monster!”

“Alright. Flush, go get the guards, Glider, go warn anypony you see about that thing. I need to get back home and check on the fillies!” Their boss ordered as the other two nodded and few off into different directions, each hiding themselves inside of a cloud for a red pegasus cult and a young griffin who flew off into clouds that were even farther away to give off the illusion of a greater distance.

The blue coated pegasus flew forward, hanging above the crowd of onlookers as his wings kept him aloft. What nopony except the audience noticed was a piece of rainbow fabric that was stuck to the stallion’s hindleg as he hovered above the crowd with his forelegs outstretched. While he flew in place, Erebus and the clouds shrunk in size, giving off the illusion that he was fleeing from the giant at a brisk pace. Without much warning, the pegasus turned around and flew back to the cloud stage as it reformed into the inside of a cloud house.

He entered the front door with a worried expression and only noticed the fabric rainbow stuck to his leg when he threw off his coat.

“Lemon! Dilly!” He called out as he tossed the prop aside and looked through the house.

After hearing the answer of, what Megan and the others assumed was the fillies’ father, the two young pegasi raced down the stairs to hug him and they cried and babbled into his barrel. “Whoa, whoa, girls, is everything alright, what’s wrong?” He asked.

“T-there’s a big evil monster outside!”

“He said he was going to eat us!”

“And then we ran inside—“ 

“And we thought h-he was going to eat the house—“

“And then we cried—“

“And then—“

“And then—“ The two cried as their lines descended into verbal soup.

“A monster…” The father repeated as his eyes grew wide. “Was it a big cloud monster?” He asked worryingly. When the girls both nodded, he held them tighter and wrapped them in his wings to have them closer to him. “Sweet Sunshine and Raindrops… Girls, daddy is going for a little bit to make sure gram-gram and pop-pop are alright. You two stay here, understood?” He asked.

The two whined and begged for him to stay, only for him to shake his head in shame as his duties forced him to check on the well-seeing of the rest of their family. “I’m sorry girls, but I need to make sure they’re alright too. I’ll bring them both over here and we can all be safe from the monster. Just stay here and be safe, I love you both,” he said as he gave them a final squeeze before he quickly flew out the door.

The two young fillies looked at the door with forlorn eyes, practically begging the door to reach out and drag their father back inside. Lemon Sour sniffled as a new bout of tears fell from her eyes, causing her sister to drape a reassuring wing over her sister’s back to console her. As they silently waited for their father to return, Dilly Dally’s eyes landed on the scrap of rainbow that had been dragged back to the house by their father.

As she grabbed the piece of fabric to study it, the false house began to rumble and stir as an all too familiar mass of clouds formed just behind the set. The two fillies raced out of the house and hid in a cloud bush when the building was ripped free from its foundation and held above the towering form of Erebus.

The demonic cloud made a show of exaggerating his attempts to find something inside the remains of the demolished set, flicking paper utensils off of painted styrofoam tables and other light props that rested on the clouds.

“Where is it? Where’s the rainbow?!” Erebus demanded as he looked at the remains of the set, before he finally tossed the cloud house away. “I can smell the happiness in that rainbow! WHERE IS IT?!” He roared as he tossed away a fake couch made of cardboard and cotton.

Once he found the fabric prop laying in the middle of the broken set, the large cloud breathed in heavily to suck it up inside his mouth. He made an exaggerated show of rubbing his large stomach after eating the small rainbow cloth and began to sniff the air and flew over the crowd. “I can smell more rainbows! Soon, every rainbow will be mine!” He promised as his massive form flew away from the crowd and, once again, melted into the scenery and disappeared.

Megan felt her eyes unconsciously drift to Rainbow Dash, as if to make sure that the large cloud monster hadn’t swallowed her mane and tail whole.

Meanwhile, the two small fillies popped up out of the cloud bush and looked around, searching for any signs of Erebus’ return. When they were finally sure that the beast was gone, they trotted out of their bush to look at the crumbling remains of their house as most of it drifted away on the wind.

The two sisters picked through thee styrofoam props that littered the cloud, pretending to struggle as they pushed a large fake cabinet over and explored what remained of their house.

“It’s… It’s all gone,” Lemon Sour said as her eyes trailed across the drifting clouds.

“… It’ll be okay, Lemon,” her sister tried to promise, when the other filly suddenly snapped at her.

“How?! Everything’s terrible! Our house is gone, and… And there’s nothing we can do!”

“He’s going to eat every rainbow in the world, Lemon! We have to do something!”

“Like what? It’s not like we know where… Where…”

“The Rainbow Wizard!” They yelled simultaneously.

“He probably has some rainbows! If we can get to his house, then maybe we can set a trap for Erebus,” Dilly Dally suggested. “C’mon Lemon, we’ll go see the Rainbow Wizard, get his rainbows, and lure Erebus into a trap!”

As the two prepared to set off, the clouds behind them panned by with scenes of other cloud houses that were made up of flat sheets of cardboard, giving off the illusion that the two sisters were traveling a great distance to meet the “Rainbow Wizard.” Megan had to admit, the visuals were nice but the story was pretty rough around the edges. At least the songs were catchy, though it kind of felt like they weren’t made for the story but the other way around.

The two fillies trotted quickly as the instruments rose in tempo, calling the audience’s attention as they prepared to sing another song.

…
knocked on the door as she cried out.

"MR. RAINBOW WIZARD!"

…
a unicorn with a green coat of fur and a large white beard. He wore an outfit similar to Starswirl's wizard hat and cape, with the only visible difference being that the Rainbow Wizard's clothes were bright yellow.

Megan wondered how a unicorn was walking on clouds, but her question was tossed aside for the fairly obvious answer of, "Because magic." It was usually the answer for any question she had, and she didn't doubt that it was likely the answer to her silent inquiry about the magical unicorn that was walking on the clouds.

….
“Somewhere there’s a little piece of rainbow!” The wizard exclaimed as he hopped around his house. “I’ve saved it for a rainy day! It’s either underneath the rug, or in the cupboard- ugh, a bug!” He yelled as he backpedaled away from the cupboard.

“But have no fear, I’ll find it right awaaaaay!” He promised as he levitated several books to create a staircase to a higher part of the set. “Wait until you see this piece of rainbow, it’s brighter than a peacocks plomb!

“It’s ocean blue, it’s sunrise pink, I think I left it by the sink, I think? Or was it in the closet with the brooooom? Hmmmm. Perhaps we ought to try the other room,” he suggested, leading the two fillies to another part of the set that began to form.

“That piece of rainbow must be hiding someplace! Search every nook and cranny, high and low.”

“You’d think that with a rainbow there’d be some trace,” Dilly Dally thought aloud.

“But not a gleam, nor a glimmer,” Lemon Sour added.

“Or a glow,” Dilly Dally finished as the wizard searched the rafters.

“Oh! Where’d I put that little piece of rainbow? I ran across it just last week. It might be in the flowerpot, my goodness gracious, I guess it’s not. That piece of rainbow’s playing hide and seek!

“I’m sorry but it seems… I’m sorry but it seems… I’m sorry we’re up the creek!”

“You’re not giving up, are you?” Dilly Dally asked.

“Oh, I might as well. I’ve looked everywhere, absolutely everywhere, no place else it could~ Wait a minute!” He yelled, causing the music to fall silent as he rubbed his chin.

“I know!” He exclaimed, calling the music back to the scene as the set started to slowly turn. “Beg your pardon, silly me, come and see, it’s in the garden!” He revealed as the set fully turned to reveal a cloud garden made of paper plants.

“This is where I put that piece of rainbow! It’s buried here in the ground! I left it in the flower bed, it’s how I am, I plan ahead! I knew that here I’d find it safe and sound! A lesson for you all! When hope seems past recall! A piece of rainbow always can be fooooooooound!” He finished, pulling apart the clouds with his magic to pluck out…

A banjo… It was a banjo and not a rainbow.

“Uh, that’s not a rainbow,” Lemon Sour observed.

“Ooooooh… Oh, I guess I lost it… Oh well, nothing we can do,” the rainbow wizard said as he tossed the banjo aside and trotted back to the door.

“W-wait! What about beating Erebus!? What about saving the world?” Dilly Dally asked desperately.

“Sorry kid, but I’m all out of rainbows. The Rainbow factory took away my job years ago and I only had the one left. I know it’s here but I’m afraid that I'm all out of ideas for where to look for it.”

…
Erebus plucked off the wizard’s hat to reveal the missing rainbow.

“Ooooh! That’s where I left it! Ah, it’s always under your hat,” the wizard stated humorously. “I always, ALWAYS, forget to check under my hat.”

“Mr. Rainbow Wizard, do something!” Dilly Dally begged.

“Don’t worry, I know exactly what to do… RUN AWAY!” He yelled as he galloped back into his house to hide, leaving the two fillies to their fate as he abandoned them.

…
“How can you be so cold? So rigid and controlled?” The filly asked. “How can your heart be so small, don’t you have any feelings, at all?”

“How can your heart be so hard, why don’t you just drop your guard?” Lemon added on.

“You have some warmth deep inside, why should that be the feeling you hide?”

“There’s room enough for everyone in the skies where we live!”

“Can’t you find it in your heart to just give in. Why don’t you show some love, why don’t you show some tender love?”

“It’ll come back a thousand-fold,” Lemon promised. “And you’ll wonder how you could have been so cold~!”

“No!” Erebus yelled. “You dare to question me, to demand that I show you love? Well where was my love?! No creature loved me, they only feared me!” He argued as the cheerful song took a dark and sinister tone.

“I was born to be a monster; the fates gave me no choice. I’ve got a monster’s eyes, a monster’s size, and a monster’s gravelly voice~! When you’re born to be a monster, what else can you do? You’ve got to grunt and growl, stomp and prowl, like all the other monster do~!”

“No!” A tiny voice cried out. “You don’t have to be a monster, mister Erebus.”

“Then what can I be?! If I can’t be a king, a monster, or anything, then what am I?!”

“Well... What if you can be a friend?” Lemon asked hopefully.

“Friend? I… I could be a friend? HA! I don’t need friends, I just need power!” He boasted. “Once I have every rainbow in the world, then no one will be able to stand against me!”

…
“… Hey, Rainbow, do you… Nah, forget it,” Megan dismissed.

“Do I what?”

“… Do you think they’re hiring writers for Cloud Watching?” She asked with a hint of hope gleaming in her eyes. While her short lived career as an assistant adventurer may have been over, there were still hundreds of adventures on Earth that she could retell to the ponies of Equestria.

Heh, maybe Cloud Watching isn’t so bad after all.

Tales From the Trash Bin. (Dani Phantom. Pt. 1)

Tales From the Trash Bin. (Dani Phantom. Pt. 2)

Tales From the Trash Bin. (Scott Howl)

The First Tales From the trash Bin. (Pearl)

Tales From the Trash Bin 2. (Zurg)

Tales From the Trash Bin 3. (Two-Face)

~~Tales From the Trash Bin 4. (Venom)~~-ADOPTED

Tales From the Trash Bin 5. (Music Meister)

Tales From the Trash Bin 6. (Flash Sentry)

Tales From the Trash Bin 7. (My Street)

Tales From the Trash Bin 8. (Iron Golem)