Fallout Equestria: Silverside

Chapter Nine: Dreaming

“Waking nightmares are rare, but important. They can tell you a lot about your inner-most thoughts and feelings. Some ancient cultures believed that they were messages from those who had souls that hadn’t fully passed on. What if we could capture these messages? Many have tried, none have succeeded.”
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She fell. Out of the air, into the ground, through it.
Tumbling and flailing she kept falling, only stopping when she landed in a pool of blood.
She could make out the mangled face of a pony lying next to her. Something came to mind, a name. Busko.

The ground opened up again, and this time she was tumbling off a rope into a cart pulled by monsters. Her hooves were frozen to the ground, and all she could do was watch as the pleading faces of two white stallions went blank as she fired a single shot into both of them.
Then she stared down the barrel herself, and she could make out a shape.
It was a mare, a pegasus.
The pegasus was soaked in blood and gore, a fork of lightning illuminated her scarred features. She looked like a raider, and she was decorated in bones, like Bluebear had been.
At her feet were the bodies of a Unicorn and a Griffon.
The pegasus turned to look at her down the other end of the barrel, and their eyes locked.
She grinned evilly, and it took her a moment to realise why she was frightened.
She was afraid of herself.
A void chewed its way out of the gun, and wrapped itself around her. Smothering her. She fell again, weightless.
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“Hmm, I don’t know about this one. I suppose she’s the best i’m gonna get though.”
There was no space, no time. Just blackness.

“Yes. She’ll have to do.”

“I’m going to have to teach you an awful lot in a very short amount of time.”

“Know that i’m doing this because it must be done and we don't have a lot of time. And i’m very sorry, but your mind was full of enough self-doubt for me to form this connection. I don’t expect you to understand this, but you will, in time.”

The voice echoed around, its source impossible to find.

“You won’t remember most of what I teach you. But you’ll find yourself doing it. So do not be alarmed. You might not believe you can, but I know you can do this.”

“Now, this might hurt. Try not to wake up before i’m done.”

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Sterling winced, sensations flooding back to her. She was too tired to open her eyes, but she didn’t want to go back to her nightmares.
That’s when the pain in her head hit her.
It was excruciating. Sterling cried out all of a sudden, and tried to roll over, only to find that she couldn’t move.
Her eyes flew open. Light blinded her and she immediately squinted them. The ringing in her ears started its chorus again.

“Ah, you’re awake! Please, calm yourself…Sterling? Was it?”
She could barely make out the words. Her mouth felt dry.
“H-hurts…” she stuttered, working her mouth.
“Yes, i’m sure it does. I’m Doctor Healhorn, and I've been looking after you for the past few days.”
The image of a Unicorn stallion swam into view. He was spinning-as was the rest of the room. The darkness grew at the edges of her vision again. He was still talking, something about an operation they had performed on her. She figured it probably wasn’t important, and promptly fell asleep again.

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Sterling blinked awake. This time, the throbbing pain in her head had subsided. She could think clearly again-well, clearer than she had the last few times she’d woken up.
The black and white stallion hovered over her, tending to something on one of her legs she could feel, but couldn’t see in her current position. She tried to sit up, but found that she’d been strapped down.

“Mister, uhh, Doctor…” she started, realising that she couldn’t remember his name.
“Healhorn. And welcome back.”
“Why am I strapped down?”
“Oh, of course!” He chuckled to himself, and began undoing the straps. “You were kicking around in your sleep a lot. You said some…interesting things. Tell me, do you or your family have a history with nightmares?”
She shook her head, and regretted it immediately, the dull throb returning with a vengeance.
“No.” Winced the pegasus.

He chatted to her for a bit, telling her about her injuries, the state of the Mayor when she’d asked him, and how long she’d need to rest in order to recover. She tried her best to pay attention to most of it.
“Now, I've got to tell you, your friend was in quite the state when you were brought here. We practically had to drag her away from you to keep her out of the operating room! And that griffon…” The doctor sighed, and Sterling wondered what kind of trouble Gordo had given them. “Every time we threw him out, he’d find some way back in. Anyway, the Unicorn offered to pay any and all expenses for your stay here” Sterling’s eyes widened in alarm, but the Doctor held up a hoof to calm her. “Don’t worry it’s already taken care of. The mayor paid for it, as part of the payment for saving his life.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. Nightlight was far too kind for her own good. She barely knew the mare, and she’d already been ready to fork out what probably would have been a small fortune for somepony living in the wasteland just to keep her comfortable in hospital. She’d have to make it up to her somehow.

“As a medical professional, I have to tell you that you should rest for a few more days or at the very least, don’t do any strenuous activities for a week, you don’t want to pull the stitches out of your leg.”
Sterling sat up, wondering who had left several bouquets of flowers and a series of cards on her bed-side table, maybe somepony got the wrong bed.
She had already slept for three days, although she still felt extremely tired. She shook her head. “No, sorry. I’ve got somepony I need to see.”
“I understand, but if you feel bad enough, do come right back here!”

Sterling limped out of the hospital entrance, slowly. No strenuous activity. At least she didn’t have too much to do for the moment. But she had to see the Mayor-the real one. She had a few choice words she’d need to impart on that little twerp for lying to her about the bomb, after all.
The market was long over, and the streets were oddly empty. Sterling felt a bit of a shiver pass through her at seeing the town so quiet.
In fact, there were more guards on the street than before. Some of them were quite beaten up as well. Had something happened when she’d been asleep?
This troubled her, and she picked up the pace, only to cry out as her back leg failed her. She almost fell, but was able to lean herself against a warm, feathered body.
“Glad to see you’re awake, troublemaker.”
It was Gordo. She was glad he didn’t squeeze her into a hug.
“Troublemaker?”
“Yeah, you’ve gotten this town all riled up now. It’s crazy. Somepony tried to mug me yesterday.” Sterling noticed his black eye and put a hoof to her mouth. The griffon laughed. “Don’t worry, you should have seen the other stallion.”
The pegasus rolled her eyes. “How’s Nightlight?”
“Oh she’s fine-been worried sick about you though. I doubt she’ll want to see you out of bed so soon, so i’d stay hidden if I were you.” He snickered. “Where are you off to, by the way?”
“The Mayor’s office, I’ve gotta speak to him.” She glowered, and Gordo raised an eyebrow.
“Yikes, wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of your irritation, you’ve made a bit of a reputation for yourself now, do-gooder!”

Sterling frowned. “Do-gooder?”
Gordo shrugged. “Nightlight told some other ponies about the whole Punkfac thing, and now with the way you saved the Mayor’s life, ponies are starting to believe you’re some unwavering force for good! It wasn’t me that left all those flowers and get-well-soon cards around your bed, after all.”
Sterling groaned, and a flash of concern passed Gordo’s features, but she waved him off. “It’s not the pain, it’s the fact that these ponies think i’m a hero now. I don’t want anypony to believe a pegasus like me could be somepony great. They should look up to you, or Nightlight!”
Gordo grinned. “Maybe they should, but where’s the fun in that?”

Sterling passed by a guard at the door to the Mayor’s offices. This time, they even let Gordo in, telling them both that the Mayor had been expecting them in his office for some time now.
She trotted up the stairs purposefully, not stopping for the griffon to admire the scenery, and moved to the carpeted hallway.
She pushed against the big door at its end, and stepped into the Mayor’s office.
The office was empty. The fireplace long burned away. Sterling cursed and Gordo looked at her quizzically.
“That little…oogh, when I get my hooves on him I’ll…” She started, and trotted around. Well, maybe a little poke-around wouldn’t hurt.
The filing cabinets were filled with…papers. Obviously. Tax collection notices, funding for different projects, all of these documents were carefully filed in alphabetical order, and Sterling had to wonder if the Mayor had done it, his son, or if they had some kind of assistant.

“Uhh, Ster? You looking for somethin’?” Asked the griffon, he was watching the door, expecting a guard to come in at any moment. Sterling shook her head. “No, i’m just gonna have a liiiiittle look…”
She went over to the desk. Pencils, quills, the terminal, a pack of mint-alls-
The terminal.
On the terminal was a flashing message. It was meant for her.

‘Sterling.
If you are reading this, it means that you have made it out of hospital. Congratulations. I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to you and your friends for rescuing the Mayor.’
Sterling really did not like all these mental gymnastics she was having to play due to the nature of the true Mayor’s identity, but she read on.
‘Inside this desk is a small box containing three hundred caps. This is for your troubles. I have also included two smaller boxes of one hundred and fifty caps, one for each of your friends for aiding you in your escape.
As for why I or the Mayor cannot deliver these to you in the flesh, I believe that you may need some time to relax, and think over what you may do once you meet me again, as I have come to understand that you have discovered the true nature of the bomb in the Mayor’s neck. I will be out of town for a few days with the Mayor. We will be staying at a neighbouring village-forgive me for not informing you of which one. But once the situation has calmed, we will return.
We have also decided that it is unsafe for us to remain in Freesaddle at this time, due to the rampant gang violence that has erupted since your rescuing of the Mayor.
If we do not meet again, I wish you the very best on your ventures in the future, but because of the chaos you have caused, I will be forced to cut all ties with you here.

Best of luck,
-Goldwood Jr.’

She sat down on her haunches, and took a moment to stew on her thoughts. Gordo was wisely keeping his distance.
That cowardly, no-good, arrogant…aaaargh!
Sterling grabbed the desk lamp and was about to throw it across the room, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She sighed, putting it back down.
Gordo reached over and plucked the mint-alls up, putting them into his own saddlebags. When Sterling looked at him oddly, he shrugged. “You clearly don’t like him, and I want these. That’s a good enough reason to take them for me.”

She stood up again, and opened one of the drawers. Inside were three boxes. She took them out, and Gordo took one of the smaller ones. Sterling was about to offer him the larger one, but he held up a claw. “Oh no, you risked your life way more than I did, you get to keep those.”
“But you might actually need these, I don’t want-”
“I might be a bit of a bird-brain, but I can read Sterling.” He snickered at his own pun, and Sterling barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes again. “The Mayor clearly wanted you to have the 300, so you’re gonna get the 300. And don’t you even think about giving it to Nightlight, alright?”
“Okay, okay. Thank you Gordo. Speaking of, we should probably find Nightlight so I can give her these caps.”

In the quiet outdoors, Sterling and Gordo walked back towards the town square. They heard a commotion up ahead, and saw a pony burst out through the hospital doors. “Sterling! Sterling where-” The pony turned her head and saw her, it was Nightlight. Of course it was.
She galloped towards her, and Gordo stepped back. He’d clearly learned from last time.
Nightlight pulled Sterling into a crushing hug, and she yipped a little as her already sore bones got pulled tight against the Unicorn. She had absolutely no idea why Nightlight was always so happy to see her.
“You’re okay…mostly. Should you be out of bed yet?” Murmured the Unicorn, casting a worried eye over the many cuts and bruises the pegasus’ coat now bore.
“I’m fine, please, can you let me go?” Sterling wheezed, and breathed deeply when she was finally released from the bear hug.
There was an awkward pause, and the Sterling remembered. “Oh right, here. The mayor wanted me to give you this.”
Sterling passed the small cap box over to Nightlight, and she wrapped it in her horn’s aura.
“Thank you, Sterling. You know, the ponies of this town really like you.”
Sterling shook her head. “Yeah, of course they do, you’ve told them all I'm some big hero.”

Gordo stifled a laugh and Nightlight shot him a look. “You are one, Sterling. Anyway, where are we gonna go next?”
“We?”
Nightlight put a hoof over her shoulder. “Yes, we. We’re friends now. We’re gonna travel together. Where do you want to go?”
Sterling shrugged. “I have no-”
Wait. I do know. How do I know?
“West. We’re going to go West.”