None of the students at the School of Friendship would deny that their school was a fun place to learn. Sure, it wasn’t the coolest thing at first, but they could forgive the lame tests, boring lectures, and horrible food after the major changes to it. Still, it was a school, and they had the occasional standard homework assignment that any average teenager would find hard to do. While every teacher gave projects, the one Professor Twilight had given Sandbar and his friends was the toughest one yet. They had to find a civilization that no longer existed, research it, and explain how friendship could have either saved or improved the lost kingdom before its demise.
It was a group project, so you could team up with as many students as you want. For Sandbar and his friends, it was no brainer that they wanted to work together so they booked a study room to use for their Friday afternoon after classes ended. Sandbar thought it would be easy at first since all three of the pony races had their own kingdoms before the Great Winter. It would have been easy to just use what every foal knew from Hearth's Warming Eve to pass for an easy A. Of course, all his non-pony friends had their own ideas for what pre-modern civilization they wanted to do.
“Yona wants to do ancient Yak three kingdom era of Yei, Yu, and Y’hu! It most famous and glorious era of Yaks! Besides Yakyakistan of course!”
“Yeah, you’ve told us a hundred times. Seriously, I’m starting to hear Yakyakistan’s greatness in my sleep,” Gallus replied, rolling his eyes as he floated in the air. “I still think we should do Griffinstone after King Grover united us all. Grandpa Gruff can mail us a few books to let us fly by this homework easy.”
“Please, if we’re gonna pass we need to do something new and exciting. Not something everyone already knows about. We dragons once had a great empire that spanned the entire world before your races even started to write,” Smolder proclaimed, crossing her arms with a prideful smirk. “You can see how great we were before the War of the Flames, and learn something new about us dragons.”
“Ooh, that sounds exciting!” Silverstream shouted, shivering with excitement before turning to Gallus and Yona. “Oh, but your ideas sound exciting too!” She then gasped. “But it would be even more exciting if I told you of the time before we went into the sea for a long long long long time until Princess Twilight visited us! What do you think?!”
Sandbar sighed as his friends continue to blather on as he looked at Ocellus who was looking through some history books she borrowed from the library. “You wanna suggest something?”
“Oh, well,” her wings folded in disappointment. “We changelings don’t remember our past very well. Chrysalis burned all our history when she rose into power and killed all who tried to resist. Before King Thorax, everything was about her and her alone. I don’t really wanna focus on that.”
Nodding in understanding, Sandbar walked to the middle of his friends just as Gallus and Yona were about to have an arm wrestling match to decide. “Okay, how about this? Since neither of us can agree on what to do, why don’t we find a civilization outside of our races? That way we can do this without any bias? Sound good?”
“I guess,” Smolder muttered, rolling her eyes. “But what other races are there?”
“Oh, well there are the Diamond Dogs, the Deer, the Minotaurs, the Parrots, the Breezies, the Centaurs-“
“I think we get it Ocellus,” Gallus interrupted, lifting himself back into the air. “So, let’s head to the library and just pick something already. I wanna get this over and done with.”
“Oh, I get to learn about a new civilization! Amazing! Let’s go!” Silverstream shouted as she flew on ahead with her usual vigor. The others just smirked at their friend’s excitement before following out of their study room.
***
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” Smolder yelled. “All the history and civilization books have been checked out?!”
“W-w-w-well, the students just came out of nowhere and got them all. Something about a big project that Twilight gave them?” Spike replied, nervously staring up at the glaring dragon. Sure, she wasn’t as big as Ember, but she still had the same fire in her eyes. “Uh, I can put you on the waitlist? How does next weekend sound?”
“The assignment is due before then! We’ll never get them in time!” Gallus shouted, growling in frustration.
“Chill, guys,” Sandbar said, putting his hooves on both his pissed off friends. “I’m sure there are a few books they missed. Let’s look around and see what we find?”
They all nodded as Spike sighed in relief. Splitting up, the six of them spent the next hour looking through every corner of the library for what they were looking for, but reunited with empty hooves, claws, and talons.
“Yona not find books on other races. Can we agree to do Yona’s suggestion now?” Yona asked with excitement.
“I guess we’ll have to choose one of ours,” Gallus replied.
“Guys! Guys! I found it! I found it!” Silverstream shouted, flying towards them with glee on her face.
“You found a history book?” Ocellus asked with excitement.
“No! I found a copy of the next book in the Prancy Jackson series! I’ve been waiting weeks for this to return!” Silverstream answered, showing them a cover of what looked to be a teenage pony holding a sword and shield while thunder was crashing around him. The glares she received made her giggle nervously as she hid the book behind her back. “Um, right. No luck on the history book. Sorry.”
“Great, so back to square one, huh?” Smolder asked.
“Guess so. Come on, let’s get out of here,” Sandbar replied as he led the others towards the exit.
Spike noticed them leaving and, upon seeing the upset looks on their faces, walked over to check on them. “Didn’t find what you were looking for?”
“No, all the other students took the books. So, we’re going to have to figure something else out,” Sandbar answered.
“Hmm,” Spike rubbed his chin before snapping his claw, “Well, I don’t know about books, but I know something else that can help you.”
The six of them raised an eyebrow.
***
“Woah! This is amazing!” Silversteam shouted, and for once the others agreed with her.
Spike led them to a special room in the library that contained hundreds of glowing spheres in various colors, swirling with magic inside of them. Smiling, Spike led them inside as he began to explain what the room was. “This is the Sphere Watcher Room. Before his imprisonment, Starswirl the Bearded traveled all over the world learning magic and history. He used a special spell to record his findings with these spheres that created life-sized hologram views of what it was recording. When he learned Twilight was opening her own school, he gave her a few of these for the students. It’s not open yet, but I’m sure Twilight won’t mind you taking one... if you return it before she notices.”
“This amazing! Any glowing orbs of Yakyakistan in here?” Yona asked as she rushed forward before tripping on her braids. “Woah!”
The others gasped as she bumped into one of the sphere shelves, knocking them over. With quick reflexes, the others rushed or flew forward and caught as many as they could before they could shatter. Spike even catching one in his mouth before spitting them out. They all glared at Yona who nervously apologized before putting them back one by one.
Before Gallus could put in the last one, they heard somepony coming and paused in his efforts as he heard voices. Spike panicked and said, “It’s Twilight and Starlight! Quick, through the other door!”
The seven of them rushed out just in time as Twilight and Starlight entered the room. “So, you sure it’s around here?”
“Positive? I made sure to keep all the spheres in proper order. Although I don’t know why you and Sunburst want a sphere version of the... Ponysutra is what you called it?” Twilight asked, raising her eyebrow in curiosity. “I never heard of such a thing. What’s it for?”
Blushing, Starlight muttered, “Oh, you know. Research.”
“What kind of research?”
“The private kind?”
Twilight stopped in front of a shelf before her eyes widened. “Hey! These spheres are out of order! I thought I gave Spike the list on what goes where. Ugh, now I’ll have to spend the rest of the evening making sure nothing else is out of order.”
“Well, my sphere is here, so do you mind if I take it and go?” Starlight asked, taking a glowing pink and blue sphere and putting it in her saddlebags.
“Hmm? Oh sure, go ahead. Let me know how your research goes. If it's interesting I might want to try it myself,” Twilight replied, using her magic to rearrange the orbs.
Looking at her mentor with a deadpan expression, Starlight asked, “You lead a sheltered life, didn’t you?”
***
With Twilight now in the control of the room for the next few hours, the group of six retreated to Sandbar and Gallus’s dorm room while Spike went back to help Twilight. Lying around, the group sighed in defeat except for a smirking Gallus who lay on his bed. “Well, that was close. Guess we’ll have to decide one of our race’s civilizations after all,” Ocellus said.
“Or we could check out this one?” Gallus lifted a swirling sphere with one claw. “I didn’t let go of it when we fled.”
“Wait, you stole it?” Silverstream asked, frowning at the sphere.
“I didn’t steal it… just… forgot to give it back,” Gallus answered with a shrug as he jumped off his bed and tossed the sphere in the air before catching it. “Besides, we needed a civilization. This one sounded cool.”
“Which is it?” Sandbar questioned.
“From what I read on where it was supposed to go, it’s called The World of The WastelandBy The Storyteller,” Gallus read.“Whoever that is.”
“I never heard of any wasteland in Equestria,” Smolder said, confused.
“Or on Equus for that matter,” replied Sandbar.
“Maybe... it’s another world?” Ocellus said. The others looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Professor Sparkle gave a lesson on how Starswirl the Bearded did create a mirror that could travel between worlds. She used it herself to visit an alternate world where she found alternate versions of her friends and saved them from danger. Maybe this world is from one of the worlds in the mirror?”
“Oh, yeah! Yona remember that lesson. It fun hearing evil demon singing fish being defeated by friendship!” Yuna commented with a smile.
“Okay, I don’t remember that lesson. So how did Yona?” Smolder asked.
“I think it was the day after you all tried Yona’s cooking,” Ocellus replied. “You were all physically ill for a week. I only managed to avoid getting sick cause Changelings are immune to all poisons.”
Everyone, besides Yona, slowly turned green upon remembering their friends’ home style cooking. It had been for another project where they had to taste something from home and Yona… went overboard.
Yona huffed. “Yona’s friends not know good cooking.”
“No, just know the difference between food and death,” Gallus muttered, shivering. “Well, if Ocellus said it’s true then I’m willing to believe it. What about you guys?”
They all nodded in agreement as they sat down with the sphere in the middle, waiting for it to activate. When nothing happened, Sandbar asked, “Wait, how does this thing work?”
“Maybe it needs a phrase word?” Ocellus suggested, looking at it carefully. “Something like… play? Hmm, on? Uh, activate?”
The sphere seemed to respond by glowing a bright white glow as the group covered their eyes for a moment before the light concentrated into a large holographic viewing screen sort of like what they would see in the movie theaters. The group rearranged themselves to get a better view of the screen as they saw what seemed to be a normal town. There were trees, houses, green grass, and a street. There were some things they didn’t recognize like strange metal carriages with black wheels in fancy colors. Long wooden poles with black wires connecting to one another. Street signs in a language they never saw before, but the numbers they recognized.
“Woah, what is this place. Looks kinda like Ponyville,” Sandbar noted, eyes widen.
“What is that thing?! And that thing?! Oh, and that thing?!” Silverstream squealed, pointing at the various objects on the screen.
“Their lettering is so different, but they have the same numbers as we do. Fascinating,” Ocellus reasoned as she quickly grabbed some pen and paper to write things down.
Smolder snorted. “Looks boring. Wish something would happen already.”
Her wish was soon granted as a large explosion, bigger than anything either of them had ever seen, erupted over the distance towering over the location in a mushroom cloud. Thick black clouds of ash and fire began to sweep away the area and soon that perfect setting was nothing more then rubble in its wake. The six watched in stunned silence as the destruction raged on before them.
“Way to open your mouth, Smolder,” Gallus whispered, but she didn’t respond as a voice soon took over.
It talked about the discovery of something called an ‘atomic bomb’ which gave a race called humanity a question. That question was what would happen if they destroyed themselves with this said bomb, and what would come after?
“I know what a bomb is, but what is an Atomic Bomb? Is that what gave off that explosion?” Sandbar asked.
“Looks bigger then that dive bomb that Professor Rainbow Dash did with the Sonic Rainboom one time!” Gallus proclaimed.
“Humanity, huh?” Ocellus rolled the word around her mind a bit. “Is that the name of the species we’re learning about?”
The image soon changed to that of a skeleton which made the six gulped. It was a skeleton they hadn’t seen before, lying in a ditch of sand and dirt. The narrator continued, bysaying how it wasn’t the end, but another chapter in an otherwise bloody history of mankind.
“I’m guessing that is a human? Or at least what remains of one,” Gallus noted.
“Bloody chapter, huh? I guess they’re a warlike species,” Smolder said, holding some respect. At least they weren’t learning about a race of wussies.
Her guess proved true when the next image showed a burning town with rubble scattered around and smoke clouds filling the air. A lone red flag with what looked to be a golden four legged minotaur in the center stood tall amidst the ruins.
“Hey, flag look like it have yak on it!” Yona pointed out. “Did Yaks do this?”
“I think that head looks more like a minotaur’s,” Ocellus observed, writing down notes. Did this mean they had minotaur’s in this world as well? Or other races of their world living here too?
The images then showed rockets, as big as buildings, firing into the sky faster then any pegasi they had ever seen. Fires like the flames of dragons spewed from beneath them as they saw a title come out and knew they were in for something they had never experienced before:
“FALLOUT: LORE SERIES”