Fallout Equestria: Silverside

Chapter Six: Welcome to Freesaddle

The downpour had, for the most part, stopped. Sterling had decided that they couldn’t let Nightlight and the foals get too far away, so they had to press on, even if it was still raining.
Sterling, not sure of what to say any more, had broken up the awkward silence between them with her pip-buck’s radio. Gordo’s eyebrow raised at her as the song played, but he said nothing.
“How did this happen? What have I done?”
The heartbreaking tones of the young mare echoed the thoughts in Sterling’s mind, something she didn’t much appreciate.
“I was only trying to help, but I caused so much pain.
I wish I could hide, I wish I could run.
I wish I could find a way to do it all over a-”
Sterling switched it off. She didn’t want to hear this.

The soft pattering of the rain on her face was more enjoyable than she’d thought it would be. It wasn’t as much of a downpour as it had been before, but it was still quite refreshing. The soot and blood washed off of her, she felt…re-energised, ready to take on the wasteland with Gordo at her side.
If either of them could fly, they could probably catch up to Nightlight relatively quickly. Unfortunately, the griffon and the pegasus didn’t have this option. Unable to use his uncanny sense of smell (Sterling was unsure if this was a griffon thing or a Gordo thing), they had taken to following muddy hoofprints, until they had been washed away from the roads by the rain. Now, they could only guess where they’d gone. Sterling chose a direction (her pip-buck told her the closest landmark was to the west, again, away from the big city she’d originally started her journey towards), and had followed the road that way.
“Those little-ones would have to stop” Gordo drawled as they trotted along, the light catching his white feathers in peculiar ways. “And Nightlight would probably listen to them. If we see any houses along the way, we should check them out.”
Sterling nodded, but didn’t say anything. The griffon gazed at her, a look of slight concern on his face, but he stayed quiet.

The following morning, the two of them crested a hill. Before them lay a town that an update ‘blip’ from her pip-buck told Sterling was the town of ‘Freesaddle’.
A huge, stone wall surrounded the town, a large steel gate lay open. Ponies and other creatures milled in and out of the main entrance. A few guards stood atop of the wall. Their wicked-looking guns caused a sense of unease in the Stable-mare. They did not stop them as they entered.
Sterling looked around in wonder. Behind the gates, in the safety of the walls was a set of ramshackle shops, some built on top of pre-existing ones from before the war. The place was…vibrant! A stark contrast to the rest of the world she’d seen. In fact, it was probably the most colourful place she’d ever been in. The main street was a bustling market, as she trotted past, Sterling saw stalls of guns and armour, technologies she recognised and technologies she didn’t. There was even a clothing store. When she saw some of the gowns-dresses she’d always dreamed of owning herself, she tossed up the idea of getting out of her damp, stained stable-barding.

Then she smelled something. Food!
Her stomach growled. Sterling hadn’t eaten anything in at least two days! She looked at the griffon next to her, a pleading look in her eyes. He sighed and nodded, eliciting a smile. She galloped over to the dining section of the market, Gordo hot on her heels, and looked for something to eat.
Not a single item of food here was something she was used to. No apples, no dehydrated peaches or strawberries. Here, it was all meat.
She’d never eaten meat before, in the stable, she’d been told ponies weren’t supposed to eat meat, and her sensibilities told her she really shouldn’t be considering it.
But her stomach was louder. She rooted through the other saddlebag, remembering the ‘caps’ Stitches had mentioned two days before, and slammed a hoof-full of them onto the counter of one of the vendors’ stalls.

The old stallion grunted, and lifted up a roasted rabbit on a stick, passing it over to her. She gazed at it apprehensively. Maybe she didn’t want to do this.
Her stomach growled again. I can’t take it any more! She shoved it in her mouth, as much as she could fit.
An explosion of exotic tastes hit her, and she almost had to take a seat to steady herself. She’d been missing out on meals like this her whole life?!
The stable-food had always been bland to her, even the fruit and vegetables they’d managed to grow inside had been so horribly genetically modified that they were virtually tasteless, but this? She almost wept, and Gordo chuckled. “You really haven’t eaten meat before? Us griffons have to eat meat. I can’t imagine a life lived without it.” He turned back to the stallion behind the stall, and slapped a few caps of his own to the wooden table. “Gimme some rats.”
Of course, he’s a bird of prey. Eating rats and other critters like that makes sense.

She looked around. The ponies sitting and eating around here looked happy. They looked content. Ponies were allowed to walk around with obvious guns on their hips, and yet there was no violence, no killing, this place was…perfect.
“Sterling!”
The pegasus’ head whipped around, galloping towards her, the foals at her heels, was Nightlight. Her deep purple mane, glossy in the sunlight. Sterling recognised that she looked good, unharmed. The colts and fillies did too.
She stood up, a muzzle full of rabbit, and Gordo ate his rat all in one go. “Well, i’ll be damned.” He grinned. “Yeah, I survived too.”
Nightlight faltered for a moment. “O-oh yeah, right, sorry!”
She wrapped the two of them into a tight hug, Sterling, squished inside was struggling for both her breath, and struggling to swallow the rabbit, whilst Gordo looked away, embarrassed.
“Where’s Rattlehoof?”

“I can’t believe he’d…throw himself into the fire like that.”
The three of them sat, the younger ponies playing around them in the market street.
Sterling laid her hoof on Nightlight’s shoulder, a reassuring touch.
“Trust me, neither could we. But he did it to save us from that monster. He was a real hero.”
When she looked back, Gordo was further down the street, keeping an eye on the foals.
Sterling of course, was not reassured herself, but she could at least make Nightlight happier. And making other ponies’ lives easier was a pegasus’ job, after all.
“You’re a hero, Sterling.”
The pegasus stopped, and her hoof fell away. “Wh-what?”
“I said, you’re a hero.” Now it was Nightlight’s time to be the reassuring one.
“N-no i’m-”
“You are.” She said again, more firmly. “You’re the one that got us out of there.”
“All you needed was a pip-buck-”
“You’re more than just a pip-buck. You’re the one that came up with the plan.”
“A plan that anypony could have come up with, you’re the one who got those fillies out-”
“And i’ve regretted staying with them ever since.”
Sterling was taken aback. “What? But you-”
“I know it was my job to get them out, I know that’s what you told me to do. But I could have helped. I mean, I'm a Unicorn. Sure, I’m not a fan of violence but I do know some spells. I could have been more useful. Maybe you should have sent Rattlehooves instead. Maybe he’d still be…” She trailed off.
“Nightlight. You had to be the one to take those foals. You care for them, they look up to you. And you saw them here safe! Rattlehoof-i’m not sure he would have even been able to get out that back window, but he could take a bullet like a champ, and Gordo…”
Sterling gestured down the street, to where the griffon was playing tag with the kids.
“He’s strong, and he’s deadly. No. It had to be you.”

“But what about you Sterling?” Nightlight intoned.
“Well, who cares about me?” replied the pegasus. “I literally met you yesterday. I was…inconsequential.”
“I care about you.” Scoffed the Unicorn. “And you were vital.”
On the verge of an emotion Sterling did not recognise, the pegasus turned away. Nightlight pressed on.
“You said some…Interesting things before. I get the feeling you might have problems with your own self-esteem.”
Well, isn’t that the understatement of the century?
“I am a pegasus, what else can you expect?”
“There, right there.” Snapped the Unicorn. “That’s it, you put yourself down, and you put all Pegasi down with you, who-by the way, are usually quite happy ponies. You need to stop doing that, Sterling, you’re worth more than you think.”
“Yeah, alright, thanks, didn’t know you were a therapist or whatever.” Sterling sarcastically replied. “Anything else doc?”
Nightlight muttered something about having a word with the Overmare of Sterling’s vault if she were given the chance, and that’s when the pegasus noticed it.

There, just in the corner of her eye, outside a large building, were a pair of ponies. One of them an armed guard, the other in a hood, clutching a bag in her teeth. She was desperately trying to get in and the guard was not having it. As Sterling crept away from Nightlight’s lecture, and towards the confrontation, it seemed like her knack for listening in on stable-gossip hadn’t left her.
“-told you that you can’t come in. I need to check your bag first!”
The mare whipped her head around, the bag falling around her neck and being slung over her back.
“Come on Stamptrot, you know me. Besides, I already told you, this is for the mayor’s eyes only!”
The mayor?
Sterling snuck closer, her eyes suddenly drawn to the bag. Now, she was curious. She seemed to recall the distant memory of her father telling her that one day, poking her nose into the business of other ponies would be the end of her.
Stamptrot snorted. The hell kind of a name is Stamptrot anyway? Look, I know that you know I know you-”
“What?”
“What? Look, just, no, I really can’t. The last time I let somepony in to see the mayor without an appointment, he almost fired me!”
Sterling quietly edged even closer, close enough to put her light wings to good use, and gently lifted up the flap of the bag. A glimmer of recognition lit in Stamptrot’s eyes, but he pretended she wasn’t there. It would seem he wanted to know what was in the bag as much as she did.

“Stamptrot, I hear you, but please. I need this. More than my job is on the line here. This could be life, or death.”
Her time spent sneaking around the stable and pinching other ponies’ belongings suddenly came in handy as she pulled something large from the bag. Immediately, she recognised a bundle of wires, some red sticks, and-
“Sweet Celestia! It’s a bomb!” Shouted the guard.
Her eyes widened, and ponies looked around for the source of the noise. Immediately the mare whipped around. “What are you-hey!”
She lunged for the bomb, held by Sterling’s wing, but the mare sidestepped, pushing her over as she sailed past. The hooded mare crashed to the ground, Stamptrot dove on top of her, and she was pinned.
Perfect, now I just have to get rid of this bomb.

She galloped away from the mayor’s office, away from Gordo and the young ponies, who were about to chase after her, but were stopped by the griffon.
In the corner of her eye, Sterling could see Nightlight galloping behind her, following. She called back at her to stay away, but didn’t stop.
Food stall there, no. Elderly ponies meeting there, no.
This was it. Her life would end here, running away with a bomb wrapped under her wing. She knew that the longer this went on, the more likely this thing was to-
Ah! That would do.
Sterling raced over to a stallion-hole cover and began to lift it with all her strength, flapping her free wing to generate more force, until finally, it shifted very slightly. She shut her eyes, straining with the effort. Come on, I have to save them! Suddenly, it popped off from the hole easily. Opening her eyes, she looked around and saw that Nightlight was helping, wrapping the thick, steel cover in her telekinesis. Quickly, she threw the bomb into the open sewer hole, and pushed the lid back on as she heard it clatter to the bottom, panting and sweating with effort.
A moment passed, then another. Sterling expected the explosion to happen at any second, and she slowly backed away from the hole.
“Sterling…”
She glanced up at the Unicorn. Her heart was racing.
“I don’t think it was armed.”
Sterling breathed a sigh of relief, and collapsed back on the cobbled street, out of breath, the adrenaline leaving her.
Of course it wasn’t armed. That mare wasn’t going to walk around with an armed bomb in her bag!
As she stared up at the sky, Nightlight’s soft features came into focus.
“Still think you’re not a hero?” She smirked.
Sterling glared at her. “It wasn’t even ar-” but was cut off as she was hauled to her hooves by a pair of guards.
“What are you-”
“The mayor wants to speak to you.” One of them, a male horse, boomed.
They escorted her towards the door to the mayor’s office without giving her a moment to catch her breath.
Nightlight and Gordo protested as she went, but were barred from entering. They heard a last, desperate cry before the door shut again.
“But It wasn’t me!”

Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: PickPocketPony – Through legitimate (or illegitimate) practice, you’ve gotten quite deft at…relieving ponies of their belongings whilst those items are still on them. +10% success rate when it comes to pickpocketing ponies!