Fallout Equestria : The Stablefilly and The Beast

~~Daisy~~

As they exited the building, they heard a blood curdling scream coming from the route the colt came through. Daisy had been looking at Quilliam with a mixture of disgust and confusion as they left, but now she was staring at the front door with eyes like saucers.

"That sounded like a feral. I knew I should have gone through there."

He turned around and walked back towards the entrance, but Daisy stood where she was.

"Quilliam, you're sick."

Quilliam turned around to her.

"Now that you mention it," he responded, "I am feeling rather sick. Pass me some Pepto, will ya?"

Daisy glared at him menacingly.

"You know what I meant," she responded through gritted teeth.

Quilliam nodded casually, as if what had happened inside was just the daily grind for him.

"I do. However, I'm disregarding it. Are you coming or not?"

Daisy glared at him. "I'm staying here. I need some time to let my stomach settle."

Quilliam shrugged. "Okay," he replied, "suit yourself."

Daisy snorted at him as he reentered the building.

~~Quilliam~~

Quilliam passed the corpse of the small colt he had killed, and took notice of how much blood had leaked from his corpse. It was really quite gruesome, and he had slept in foal pelts before.

"That's still no reason to hate me," he thought aloud.

The purple ghoul walked through the open doorway and into the hallway beyond. It was made primarily of simple walls and floorboards. It was mostly empty. He checked multiple rooms for any loot, but found nothing. He checked room after room and found absolutely nothing, until he came to where he assumed the stairwell would be.

There were multiple pods containing what looked like ponies, but all were frosted to the point where you couldn't make out any details. Quilliam rubbed his claw against one of them and saw a brown mare with bacon red hair.

"Babs? Sweet fucking baby Luna! Pre-war cryopods!"

Quilliam had served with Babs Seed in the Equestrian war effort. They had both been imprisoned in Celestia's own dungeons, and in an agreement with the royal sisters, a group of seven criminals including Quilliam and Babs would go to war, and when they returned they would be free of all charges. As soon as Babs got her chance, she shot one of her comrades and galloped away, abandoning her unit.

He stared at the pods in disbelief, then noticed one had been opened.  He realized suddenly that the boy he had killed had been an innocent pre-war foal.

"Now where did that noise come from?" he wondered.

At that moment, he noticed a staircase leading up to a higher level.

Probably from up there...

Quilliam opened the splintered door and entered the stairwell. Quilliam sighed.

"I'm getting quite a workout."

He began the climb up the steps, but halfway up he was tackled by a previously unseen creature a level above. He slid and his head dangled over the side, but he barely stayed on the stairs. He had been tackled by a feral ghoul of a griffon. It was in terrible shape. You could see the yellowed flesh where the feathers had fallen off long ago. Quilliam quickly rolled and knocked it off the ledge, sending it falling to its death with a loud crunch.

"Woah...that was...ugly!"

Quilliam cautiously slid himself back under the hoofrail and continued up the stairs, making sure there were no more surprise attacks from above.

~~Daisy~~

As Daisy waited outside, contemplating leaving Quilliam inside, she heard a gun cock from behind her.

"Considering you were the top mare in your class, it was really stupid of you to not leave your Pip-Buck behind, Salve."

Daisy froze with terror, not sure what to do.

"W-Who's there?"

She heard the pony behind her laugh. It sounded like a young colt, around 17.

"Did you really think we wouldn't want to get you back for what you did to my mother!?"

Realization hit Daisy like a punch to the stomach. The Overmare's son had come to get revenge on her for the failed surgery.

"Oh dear Celestia...Diamond, it was an-"

"Do not call me that!"

"Right...It was an accident! I didn't mean to kill her!"

"Yeah, sure. You disagreed with every choice she ever made, and got into a heated argument with her the day right be-fucking-fore the surgery! You really expect me to believe you!?"

Daisy began to regret her choice for leaving Quilliam inside.

~~Quilliam~~

When Quilliam finally managed to make it to the top of the staircase, there was just a single door.

"Seriously!? The architects must have been exceptional trolls...There had better be a load of good loot in here."

Quilliam opened the door and was greeted with multiple generic looking boxes.

"...Storage? Well...it's a military facility. There's still a chance for some good loot."

He tore open the first crate, and it was filled with syringes filled with a purple liquid. He opened another, and there was just more of the same stuff. He wasn't sure if it was a sedative or an illegal drug, and he wasn't willing to test it. He could, however, sell them as drugs. He didn't care what happened to those who bought it. It could be some terrible disease for all he cared. He stuffed the needles into his pack and opened more crates. Some had energy cells, some had batteries, and others had old and broken items that were once for repairs that wouldn't sell for five caps. He took what was worth taking and was about to head out, when he noticed a box of Sparkle Cola. He uncapped one, drained it completely, then pocketed the cap and tossed the bottle away. He put the rest of them in his right saddlebag, where he kept foodstuffs and chems.

Quilliam exited the room, and once again set on the trip down.

~~Daisy~~

Daisy was beginning to fear for her life, and her assailant seemed to have no interest in sparing her.

"Please...I didn't mean to kill your mother!"

"I really don't believe you, and I don't give a flying fuck either! An eye for an eye...a mare for a mare."

She heard him pull the hammer back on his revolver, and she knew she had to do something. The frightened mare decided she had nothing to lose, so she slammed herself backwards into the colt behind her, causing his magic around the pistol to falter. She latched onto it with her own, and slammed it into his skull, knocking him out.

She sighed, and placed the pistol to his head. After a brief pause, she fired.

~~Quilliam~~

Quilliam's ear shot upward when he heard the gunshot, and terror came over him. He was beginning to get attached to the filly, and he wasn't going to have her die now.

The draconequus galloped down the stairs seven at a time, and vaulted over the railing near the bottom. He rammed through the door and passed the cryopods, not noticing another was thawing out. When he arrived in the main room he once again leaped over the railing and charged through the door, drawing his gun.

What he saw shocked him. Daisy was sitting near a corpse of a colt he didn't recognize, and seemed only slightly startled rather than terrified and paralyzed.

"...What did I miss?"

Daisy only just then noticed him, and looked up at him with a look of sadness.

"A boy from the Stable came after me. He thought I killed his mother on purpose."

"Well know it seems we both have questions for each other!"

Daisy sighed, and holstered the gun she had taken from her fellow Stable dweller.

"Alright. What do you want to know?"

"It's getting dark, Daisy. We can talk on the road," Quilliam responded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were not far from Barkley when they set out. The sun was going down, but they would be able to get there before full night descended upon them. Quilliam was the first to speak.

"So, what happened back there?" he paused for a moment before continuing, "and what was that about killing somepony in your Stable?"

Daisy sighed and locked her eyes on the cracked pavement.

"I didn't really kill her. The Overmare at our Stable was shot by a rebellious fourteen year old, and I was tasked with getting the bullet out and saving her. I failed...She died during the surgery, and I fled due to increasing hostility towards me."

"...That's hardly killing somepony, but it explains why you felt the need to leave and check into Hell."

"Now I have question for you! What was that in there about us being related, and why is your cutie mark a quill and inkwell? I'd think it would be something more like a firearm!"

"What does it matter?" Quilliam responded. "I was an author before the world, and that's still my special talent. My line of work before the war doesn't matter. The bombs have dropped. All past relationships and morals are now null."

Daisy looked at him quizzically, now curious.

"Can you give me an example of your works? Were you a fiction writer? Fantasy? Or were you nonfiction?"

"I wrote the Daring Do novels. Primarily those. All of my other works went under the radar and through most pony's memories within a month at most."

Daisy looked at him with widened eyes.

"Seriously!? You wrote the Daring Do novels!?"

"Yes. The most intact copy in the wasteland is probably being used as a paperweight, though."

"Yeah, probably. The ponies here seem almost illiterate. Especially the late fake merchant."

"The one that made you act like you'd seen a cockatrice?"

Daisy was silent for a few moments.

"Yeah, that one. I think I've gotten used to Wasteland affairs now, though."

Quilliam looked at her, not fully convinced.

"So you won't think about shooting me if I rob a caravan?"

"No. We need money and supplies. I can understand."

Quilliam stopped and pulled two bottles of Sparkle Cola out of his bag and tossed one to Daisy.

"A toast," Quilliam declared, "to heartlessness!"