Fallout: Equestria - Pushing Daisies

Fallout: Equestria - Pushing Daisies

Chapter 6: The Merciful Thing

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The Goddess was gone. For the first time in two centuries, our minds were truly our own. We were free. We were free, and we were terrified. If we died now, that would be it. Our existence would be over. Simply leaving this Stable was too scary a thought for a lot of us. If anyone knew how unforgivably dangerous the wasteland was, it was Daisy Pusher.

Although, for the griffon among us, not even this Stable was safe. Masque and I stayed in the security office adjacent to the entryway while Soldier Daisy went to find the Caretaker and explain the situation. Meanwhile, I explained to my friend why he had to stay hidden away.

“Craisies?” The not-clever-at-all name didn’t inspire much fear in him.

“Yeah, that’s what we started calling them.” I stretched and adjusted my sitting position on the hard steel floor. “They still call themselves Daisy. In fact, that’s the only word they say. Incessantly. They never try to hurt us, but a resourceful unicorn managed to get in once, and… There wasn’t much left of him to bury. They even attacked an alicorn that was sent to check on them, and she barely got away with her life.”

Masque pressed himself a little tighter against the wall. “Oh… Well, what about the Caretaker?”

I chuckled a little. “Oh, she’s probably the most patient and selfless of any of us. She’s lived down here for over a century to watch over them. Mentally, they’re like newborn fillies, so they need a lot of care to keep alive.”

“Over a century?” He blinked. “Do you not age?”

With a shake of my head, I explained. “No, we do. Caretaker’s had to respawn a couple of times on purpose. Though, I… guess she can’t now. She hasn’t for a while, so she’s an old mare at this point.”

Masque took that line of thought to its logical conclusion. “Who will take care of the Craisies when she passes?”

“Honestly,” I sighed, “I think they should finally be put down. It was never an option before. Now it is. But… that’ll be up to her, or whoever decides to replace her.”

“That’s dark…” Masque fiddled with an old pencil. “So, you’re all clones? Of a mare who died before the bombs?”

I nodded.

“...Do you have souls?” Spirituality wasn’t something I generally expected from a griffon.

The question struck me. Thinking about it before, it never really mattered. Now… “That’s actually a matter of debate among us. Some believe we all have our own souls, others don’t. I belong to that other camp. I think the only one who really had a soul was the original, and it passed on when she was murdered. We’re just hollow copies.”

Masque’s claw reached out and held my cheek. “I don’t believe that for an instant. You’re too compassionate to not have a soul. Husks don’t help random starving strangers.”

I pressed my face into his affection. “I appreciate the thought, but I don’t know…”

“Well, I do.” He stated resolutely. “You have a soul. A good soul. And you’re going to get through this.”

*****

Our moment was interrupted by a rap on the door. Checking the small window, I saw it was the Caretaker and let the elderly mare in. Chronologically, she wasn’t much older than me, but her physical age still made me see her as a grandmother figure. Naturally, I gave her an appropriate hug.

She gave me a warm chuckle and looked over at Masque. “So, this is our stowaway? Handsome lad.”

My buckfriend blushed. I couldn’t imagine what he was thinking as he got a glimpse into our potential future together. The Caretaker has had this body for roughly sixty years, and she’s taken good care of it. It was nice to know I’d age like wine.

Hold up, Daisy, it’s a little early to start thinking like that. You’re still young.

“So, are the Crai-” I caught myself. She didn’t like us calling them that. “Are the other Daisies somewhere safe?”

Caretaker nodded. “I’ve got them corralled in sublevel three. That way all my new guests can use the residential section of sublevel two, at least for as long as it takes for the mess outside to blow over.”

Really, any of us could leave right now. Rads didn’t bother us. For the sake of my friend, however, the door needed to stay shut for a few days. Based on readings from radiation monitoring equipment, the Goddess’s efforts actually did a lot in reducing residual rads from the balefire bomb. Masque would have been stuck down here for years otherwise.

“Now that’s settled,” she stretched and headed out, “the hydroponics section won’t monitor itself. Don’t want any of you to starve on my watch.”

“Need any help?” Masque offered. “I don’t like to mooch.”

The elder smiled. “Well, aren’t you a gentlebuck? Sure, the work’s more suited to someone your age than it is to mine.” She huffed. “If I knew Phoenix was about to blow up…”

*****

108 was standard fare for a control Stable. It was meant for Maripony personnel, but they didn’t get enough warning to use it. Just as well. It wouldn’t have been right for ponies who made a career of experimenting on other ponies to coast through the apocalypse in an experiment-free Stable-Tec shelter.

I never understood the point of those wacky Stables. Scootaloo had some kind of obsession with not repeating past mistakes, but I think the problem was obvious. Our society wielded unfathomably destructive power before we were ready for it. It was that simple.

Since the road to Tarturus was paved with good intentions, nearly all of the experimental Stables fatally failed. All those ponies died for no good reason. I’m sure Scootaloo meant well, but…

“Daisy?” The muffled voice startled me. Turning towards the source, I saw that I had just passed the stairwell door to sublevel three. A pair of twitchy eyes watched me through the porthole.

“Daaaaiiiiisy.” The broken copy gave me a toothy grin.

I trotted up to the locked door, and placed a hoof on the window. My insane counterpart matched the gesture. Poor thing was blissfully ignorant of how horrible her situation was. This was something I’d never forgive the Goddess for. Bending the minds of her slaves until they snapped, then discarding them.

“Daisy!” she shouted cheerily, before stepping away and trotting down the stairs.

Turning around, I started on my way to the cafeteria to get something to eat before bed. I only made it a few steps before I heard a loud thud behind me.

“Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!” The Craisy was slamming herself against the door repeatedly. Blood started to stain the glass.

“No, no!” I rushed the controls, bypassing the lock as quickly as I could. As the steel slid open, I wrapped myself around the thrashing, injured clone. “Stop! Stop it! You’re hurting yourself!” No one was around to hear the commotion. “Caretaker! Anypony! Help!”

The concussion she’d given herself started to take effect. “Dai…sy…”

After dragging her into the hall, I resealed the door. Once it was locked, I hoisted her onto my back and rushed her to medical. I told any Daisy I passed to find Caretaker and meet me there.

*****

A few of us who had medical knowledge joined us. It didn't take long to figure out that the Craisy had fractured her skull, rather badly. Normal healing potions would cause the bone fragments to set wrong and likely kill her. A super restoration potion would work, but we raided all of those decades ago.

To our shock, Caretaker was the first to suggest euthanasia. “It’s the merciful thing to do.”

Before any of us could object, she began fetching the necessary chemicals and a syringe. We kept our opinions to ourselves as she did the deed. I held the poor pony’s hoof as her life faded away. Another of us is gone, forever.

Soldier Daisy was among us, only recognizable due to her scars since she was out of her armor. It made sense she’d have at least basic medical knowledge. “We should do the same for the rest.”

I snapped at her. “Woah, hold on! Putting down somepony too injured to save is one thing. Slaughtering dozens just because… That’s something else.”

“Caretaker won’t be around forever.” She countered. “It’s the merciful thing to do.”

I spat. “No, it’s the convenient thing to do.”

She huffed. “They’re basically vegetables! What kind of life is that? The only reason it hasn’t been done yet is because it wasn’t an option.” She turned to the elder. “Isn’t that right?”

Caretaker sighed. “...It is. If it had been possible, I would have done it a long time ago.” She winced at our gasps. “I’d been thinking about it the last couple of days. My first idea was to overload the reactor once you all left, but that would be a waste of a perfectly good Stable. Some of you might want to keep living here, after all. So my other idea was to make a stop at the armory and do it the hard way…”

“I’ll do it.” Soldier Daisy volunteered, to the surprise of no one. “Let’s face it, you’re too frail and shaky at your age to make it clean.”

“We haven’t agreed-” I started, but she cut me off.

“It's the Caretaker's decision, and she’s decided.” She pondered a moment, and her tone became more pleading. “It would be easier with help.”

*****

There were twenty-six Craisies downstairs, and while they weren’t normally hostile to us, we didn’t know how they’d react to being attacked. Soldier Daisy had her own armor and weapons, but Caretaker and I got some Stable security armor out of the armory, and I equipped a riot shotgun battle saddle loaded with slugs. Slugs… We all knew how efficient they were for executions. This felt so wrong…

The first one was the hardest. “Daisy?” She looked up at us with such an innocent smile. Even the soldier hesitated a moment before putting a suppressed burst into her brainpan.

For the next few, I had to close my eyes as I bit down on the trigger. Just as we worried, those who witnessed the violence tried to defend themselves. “Daisy! Daaaiiiisy!” I hesitated less now that my life was potentially in danger, but killing them was still painful.

Once most were dead, the Caretaker led us to usual hiding places they liked to curl up in. I had to kill two who were sleeping, snuggled together.

I broke into ugly sobs when they stopped twitching.

*****

Soldier Daisy underestimated how stressful that task would be. Not taking any chances, she and Caretaker removed my weapons before taking me back upstairs. Masque wrapped himself around me when he saw the state I was in. Other Daisies had informed him of what we were doing.

“I… I can’t imagine…” He hugged me tighter. I cried into his chest.

Caretaker rubbed my shoulder. “It’s done now. They’re at rest.”

“No…” I refuted. “No they’re not. Not yet.”

She knew what I meant. We all knew what I meant.

When it was safe to open the Stable, we all went out with shovels and started digging.

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