Following my blog post about The Littlehorn Valley Recordings, I offer another bit of my Fallout: Equestria headcanon, as discovered by the characters in the Beyond Equestria campaign that I am running (playtesting the Fallout: Equestria tabletop roleplaying system).

As always, please keep in mind that this is strictly headcanon, and not to be taken as actual canon. It should not interfere with anyone's stories or replace a headcanon that any reader prefers.

The following memory orb was found in the ruins of the Luna Academy for Young Unicorns. For those following my blog, you may notice the return of characters from Equestria's past first seen in the second half of Crystal Empire Blues and The Gaia Valley Recordings.

Sadly, I could find no art of Luna's Academy, so have a wonderful depiction of Canterlot by TheOmegaRidley .

<-=======ooO The Cheerilee Orb Ooo=======->

Gloomy ruins transform around you, regaining the humble splendor of halcyon days, as memory replaces reality. Shattered windows become whole, gentle moonlight streaming in and mingling with the lights of the candles. The stains and tatters of the curtains wash away. Marred and cracked blackboards reveal their pristine former selves, one of them boasting: “Friendship Day”. Smart wooden desks replace ruined ones in perfect crescent-moon rows that face the instruction floor. The twisted, skeletal reminders of young lives lost vanish and are replaced by colorful foals – squirming, whispering, sitting at attention – each dressed in a school cloak of midnight blue with silver trim and the school’s crest.

“…someplace else.”

Your host is one of these, a young colt who turns around in his seat at the sound of slightly raised voices. In the back of the room, between shelves of colorfully-bound books, is an arched doorway into the hall. Through it, he can see the fuscha flank of a matronly mare, the three smiling flowers of her cutie mark seeming to look back at him. He cannot see the rest of her, nor the mare she is arguing with, but he catches bits of their argument.

“I’m here to teach these children, not fill their heads with your nonsense. They get enough of that everywhere else.”

“I’m not asking you to change your curriculum, Miss Cheerilee,” the other mare offers, “I just want to sit in and observe your… next presentation. I don’t want to interfere. I’m just… concerned about the children’s safety.”

Your host twists in his seat a little more, bumping his desk and accidentally knocking his scrolls onto the floor. “Oops,” he mutters as a couple of fillies seated nearby giggle. He turns his attention to the floor, picking them up two at a time (one by magic and one in his teeth).

“That’s awful. And I know what you’re asking,” the colt hers his teacher nicker in a chastising tone, “But so long as Luna gives me authority over my own class, I intend to help these children grow up to be better ponies than you would like them to be.”

You feel the colt smile. Nearby, a young filly with a slight lisp whispers, “Somepony’s getting a lesson.”

“Well I never!” There is a stomp. “Listen. If you refuse, I will have to report this.”

“Report away.”

There is a silence from the mare that can best be described as miffed.

The teacher turns and re-enters the classroom. Cheerilee is not a young mare, there are age lines under her celadon eyes and her mane and tail are mostly grey. She glances towards your host as she walks in.

“Sowwy, Miss Cheewilee,” he apologizes, the last of his scrolls still between his teeth.

Cheerilee puts on a smile. “That’s okay, Joy. Why don’t you go tell our very special guest that we are ready for him?”

The colt spits his scroll onto the pile on his desk. “Wight away!” He scrambles out of his chair and scurries towards a side door, pushing it open. An exotic male voice is speaking something indecipherable beyond, but the voice stops at the movement of the door.

Beyond the door is a small room, the furnishings suggesting it serves both as a teacher’s retreat and as excess supply storage. In the center of the room is a zebra; you can feel the colt’s eyes go wide. The zebra turns away from a cart. There is something on the cart, but it is covered in cloth. The colt looks around the room as the zebra smiles. “Greetings, little one.”

“Who you talking to?” Joy blurts out.

“A spirit friend of Uguani,” the zebra answers in rhyme, “Whom only zebra eyes can see.” The colt oooohs, looking about as if trying to see the invisible spirit. “We are here at the behest of Cheerilee. Are her children ready for me?”

Joy nods, looking back at the cart. “What that? What awe you gonna do?”

In the classroom, Joy can hear Cheerilee telling the class, “We have a very, very special guest today: his name is Doctor Uguani, and he is a zebra medical shaman from Angel of Mercy Hospital in Stalliongrad. He’s here to teach us about the zebra…”

“We already know about zebra!” one of the children calls out. “They’re evil and bad!”

Joy sees the zebra flinch slightly as he moves around behind the cart. He steps towards the doctor. “Don’t listen to them. They’we just jewks!” Joy smiles. “You a doctow. That means you awe a good pony… um… zebwa!” He nods vigorously. In the background, Cheerilee can be heard gently scolding the child.

“Thank you, little one,” the zebra smiles. “My your days forever be in the sun.”

The colt cocks his head, then shakes it. “Nuh-uh. We sleep when its sunny. I don’t wanna be always asleep!”

The zebra chuckles, “I forgot…” His rhyme is cut off by the voice of Cheerilee.

“…and Doctor Uguani is going to give us a little demonstration about shamanism.” She pauses at the grumbles of some of the children, many of whom are quickly shushed by others. “Now I know a lot of you have been told horrible things about zebra, but a lot of that is not true. Most zebras are perfectly nice, just like ponies.”

Joy watches as Doctor Uguani takes a deep breath. He looks towards the door, then down at Joy.

“Can you make your eyes glow?” the colt asks as he watches the zebra stare at him, oblivious to the expression on the zebra’s face. After a moment of awkward silence, the colt looks back behind him at the open door. “Oops! I’m in the way! Sowwy!”

Joy scurries out as Cheerilee asks the classroom of children, “Please give hooves of welcome to Doctor Uguani!”

The zebra follows, pushing the cart before him, one of the rear wheels squeaking badly. It almost entirely drowns out the feeble stomps of a half-dozen foal hooves. Your host starts towards his seat, but stops, staring at the expressions of the children. Many are wide-eyed. Some with awe, some with fear. One of the fillies had ducked down and is hiding behind her desk. A few of the expressions on his classmates faces are angry.

Cheerilee, meanwhile, has trotted towards Doctor Uguani. Your host cannot see her, but catches her whispered “um… that doesn’t look like what we talked about…”

“This is all they could spare, unfortunately,” Doctor Uguani’s voice sounds regretful, “I’d have wished for something less military.”

Neither Cheerilee nor Doctor Uguani see where the thrown eraser comes from. But Joy does -- the filly third from the center in the second row. One of the gigglers. From the thump behind your host, you can tell the eraser hit its target.

Cheerilee steps into view, scolding, “Children!”

A colt in the first row jumps out of his seat. “A zebra killed my daddy!” More objects start to fly. Books, quills. Several more children hide under their desks, especially after a thrown book from the back row hits a girl in the front row, knocking her face into the desk. She comes back up with a bloodied nose and starts to cry.

“No! Stop!” Joy cries out, waving his hooves. “He’s a nice zebwa!” Beside him, Cheerilee issues similar commands. But anger and threatening behavior does not seem to come easily to the mare, especially towards misbehaving children. She is trying, but the children are out of her control now.

Things become dangerous when the fatherless colt’s horn glows and several lit candelabras lift up like tridents, aiming towards the zebra. The first one flies over Joy’s head, and the zebra lets out a yelp. Another careens off course, smashing burning candles into the curtains of a window.

Fire starts.

Joy jumps up on the cart, his hooves stumbling to find purchase on what is under the sheet. The colt may not know, but you are familiar with the shape and feel of armor.

“Calm down!!” Joy shouts, and you can feel the flair of magic wash out from him. There is a ripple in the air, expanding from the colt, rolling over everyone.

The room seems to change. The demeanor of the children shifts so dramatically it is like water dumped on a fire. The room goes quiet, save for the soft sobbing of the filly in the front row with the bloodied nose, and the crackling of the fire as it climbs up the curtain.

Your host’s body loses all its energy, nerves tingling with exhaustion. Joy collapses on the armor hidden beneath a blanket.

“W-what…?” Cheerilee starts, “Joy? Are you okay?” She looks down at the colt. “What did you do?”

“Is Mistew Uggy okay?” Joy asks softly, watching several very meek-looking children begin to pick books and things off the floor. Two adult unicorns come rushing into the room, one levitating a barrel of rainwater behind her. The other casts a spell, tearing the burning curtain from the wall.

“Yes, brave little one, I am okay,” the doctor zebra rhymes, “Such minor burns will soon go away.” He pauses, then adds, “Your kindness has given you more than just a friend today.”

The zebra’s hoof touches the colt’s flank.

Joy turns to see the little monarch butterfly that is there – they hypnotic kind with little waves radiating from it. Joy has just enough energy left to gasp in joy.