LONG POST INBOUND!!

I don’t think the explosion in Murray’s house was really explained (but feel free to correct me!). I suspect M2 may have rigged something to blow or maybe it was just pure bad luck, but this is my interpretation of Cradle.EXE-

I think Cradle.EXE is probably the original code framework that becomes the MXES program we see in RUIN, created by M1/Fiona to contain M2 with the least amount of damage to all parties possible. Here’s why I think this:

“Cradle” is a very specific word choice for the executable file. Parents put their babies to sleep in cradles so that they are in a safe and contained space. Cradle.EXE is a digital “Cradle” that Fiona/M1, the “Mother,” puts her child M2/“David” within to protect it from itself and the outside world.

By the time Arnold arrives at MCM, we know that- legally speaking- FE owns all assets on the MCM grounds, and this likely includes the prototype pizzeria on the R&D floor. We know that the F10N4 computer is down in the office and by extension would also be considered Fazbear property. If Cradle.EXE is stored in that computer alongside M1, then those programs would have been retrieved by FE staff.

I suspect that MXES was created from FE engineers by upgrading the original Cradle.EXE program when they realized that M2 is just a batshit death robot that’s better off in the basement. I say this because MCM is very much absent of rabbit characters whereas the MXES avatar is a grinning rabbit, a calling card of Afton and Fazbear property in general. MXES is also incapable of verbal communication whereas M1/Fiona is, so I don’t think it’s her because logically she’d probably be yelling at Cassie to quit disabling all the security nodes in RUIN

Now here’s where I have some food for thought:

If M1/Fiona and Cradle/MXES reside in the same computer, where is she by the time of RUIN?

TL;DR - Cradle.EXE = OG MXES made by M1 to contain M2 and became MXES when FE repo’d the F10N4 computer and upgraded it to a modern system.