Fallout: Equestria - Boom

by Dustchu

Guns for Hire

Equestria… a land of slavery, raiders, bad juju and scores upon scores of death. The balefire scorched lands were a shell of their former self. Vast fields of fresh flowers, lush green trees and crystal clear rivers were long gone, replaced with dead stretches of burned land, scorched stumps and murky brown liquid that wasn’t fit for drinking or even swimming in, not that anypony in their right mind would do so considering the current circumstances involving radiation poisoning and such.

This tale of ours begins in a run down building in the middle of nowhere, where two ponies, twin sisters to be exact were currently sitting in front of a fire, books and paper all piled into a nice combustible heap of very burnable material that heated up the rather chill interior quite well.

Sitting opposite of a pegasus was a dark gray unicorn with a messy orange black mane that was significantly longer than her sister’s. Orange eyes glanced down at the rusty yet still somewhat shiny object in her hooves, she spun around something that appeared to be a plug-in with her magic. The mare’s young face had a smile on it, as the plug in tapped her cutie mark a few times, which appeared to be a pile of black powder with a lit fuse sticking out of it. “Doo do doo do~” She hummed little tune to herself, completely oblivious to the world around her as smoke billowed up from their camp fire and escaped through the hole in the ceiling leading up to a dilapidated rooftop.

In front of her, looking down at the fire with an intense look in her dull-ish yellow eyes. Her mane and tail resembled her sister’s in length, but was instead a two tone black and yellow coloration that was spiky in places as if she were being shocked by an electrical current. Her coat was a lighter gray color than her the unicorn and her cutie mark was a lit powder keg. A tired sigh escaped her nostrils, embers dancing in the reflection of her eyes from the fire as she looked over at her sister, yellow eyes glancing at the many scars covering her twin’s body.

These two had been at this for some time, exploring the many ruins of post-war Equestria for whatever they could find to aid their survival. Weapons, ammo, food or drugs, it didn’t matter. If it had any sort of value to the shopkeeps around the wasteland, they took it, and so far… they had found only junk. For now however they were resting in this building after three whole days of scavenging, only to come up empty hooved.

On the pegasus’ end anyway.

“‘ey Powder?” The pegasus asked, breaking her sister out of her hazy eyed song. “Did you find anytin’ after we split?” She asked, it had been an hour since they met back up, and the pegasus decided on a break before beginning on searching the rest of the building… if it was worth looking of course.

Powder shook her head, messy bangs flopping to and fro. “Just dis Fusey!” She drew out the U in Fuse before pulling out a grenade. It was a rusty looking oval shaped device with a bent pin, covered in flakes of rust “I found it in da toilet upstairs when I was tryin’ to drop one!” She smiled a bright and toothy smile towards her twin.

Fusey looked at the grenade with a wary gaze in her yellow eyes. The grenade was a standard issue Equestrian grenade made for soldiers to use against the stripes. But over time it had rusted and while she was very good with using bombs of many types and calibers, there was no telling if it was volatile or not in its rusted state. “Uh… Pow-pow… I don’t tink carryin’ around a rusty old grenade is going ta help us any.” Fuse told her sister. She loved explosives almost as much as her sister, but she wasn’t exactly willing to carry around a rusted piece of explosive metal that might go off at any moment while they were walking.

“What? Why not? I’s in perfect condition!” Powder drew out the tion with a grin, holding it up in her magic as a few bits of rusty flecks fell off and into the floor with a faint pit sound. “Look at dat shine! Dat’s da sign of quality Equestria’ craftsmanship!”

“Powder, no no no no, we’ve done dis before! I am not sleepin’ next ta you while you have a two century old grenade next ta ya!” Fuse narrowed her gaze at Powder, who just smiled goofily in reply. “You did dis before, I am not doing it again!”

“But Fusey~”

“I said no Powder!”

“Bu-”

“No!”

As those two argued, a shambling figure was making its way out of a nearby bathroom near the sisters’. Mottled maggot ridden skin covered its creaky boned body. Two milky white orbs barely staying inside the sockets stared out at the two sisters before shambling towards them, rotted mouth open wide with jagged teeth as the old muscles in its face snapped and fell off in tatters.

Powder and Fuse just argued, oblivious to what was coming towards them both.

“BP, seriously.” Fuse hissed. “De last time you slept wit’ a rusty explosive, you almost blew us up!”

“Pfft,” BP waved a hoof around in the air, as if to say no big deal. “Only a lil bit!”

Fuse had a look of pure disbelief on her face, followed by another hoof resting on her forehead in exasperation. “A lil? You took down de entire skyscraper we was scavengin’ in!” She hissed to the unicorn, wings fluttering in agitation as her mind recalled that night fateful night of fire and explosions. “80 stories tall, BP, 80 stories fallin' to da ground because of one rusty land mine… how you did dat I don’t even know.”

“We got out dough!” BP smiled wider. “Dat fridge we hid in was cozy, and had some snacks in it for de trip!” The unicorn hugged her grenade to her face, nuzzling and whispering sweet nothings to it as if it were a lover. Suddenly she felt something behind her, and her eyes flew open before she jumped up, whirling around and swinging her toaster around with vicious speed into whatever was there. “My toaster!” She yelled as the toaster smashed head on into the ghoul that was stalking her and Fuse, causing it to stumble back with a snarl before falling to the floor.

Fuse had shot up, aiming her zebra rifle but was unable to get a shot before the unicorn mare used her… toaster to dispatch the monster. Fuse watched as Powder smashed the toaster into the ghoul several times, blood and bone flying around her before she stopped, huffing and turning to look at the corpse.

BP grinned wide. “You’ve just been toastered chér.”

Toasters... it seems, are very dangerous weapons when in the hooves of a mentally unstable pony.

"Damn straight." Powder grinned as she whirled her toaster around, flinging blood everywhere.

Fuse just rose an eyebrow. “Who are you talkin’ to?”

Blast Powder wiped her toaster clean of the blood on a rag she had, sitting back by the campfire alongside her sister, Fuse. Both sisters sat in front of the fire, saddlebags laying nearby as they both watched the flames dance across what little they had to burn, which was mostly sticks and books. The ghoul itself was sitting up against the wall, holding an empty cup in its hoof after BP duct taped it into place, for the sole purpose of joining them. Fuse didn’t like it, but didn’t stop BP from doing so, because the last time she did stop her sister, BP cried very loudly.

Powder looked over the campfire with her bright orange eyes, watching the fires dance and crackle before her as one of the twigs snapped. "Hey Fuse~"

Said pony looked up from her zebra assault rifle from where she was cleaning it, yellow eyes locking with orange ones. "Yea’ sis?"

"I really wanna blow sometin’ up righ’ now." She told the pegasus, thoughts turning to the bandoleer wrapped around her chest. What once held grenades now held nothing, it was empty like her belly. She groaned, holding her growling stomach. "I'm ‘ungry too."

Fuse sighed to herself, remembering that their food stocks were empty… very empty. "Same here." She said, her own stomach grumbling in protest.

"I wanna blow sometin’ up... den eat it!" Powder yelled suddenly, her voice echoing throughout the room they were both sitting in.

Fuse gave her sister a little look. "So you'd blow up a spritebot an’ den eat it?"

"Fuck yeah I would," Powder groaned in response. "Dat's how ’ungry I am!"

Looking down at the fire crackling in front of her, Fuse recalled there was a town that close to their current position, perhaps they could trade for some food from the junk that BP had shown her after disposing of the ghoul. It was junk, pure junk… but maybe worth something. "Well, let's ditch dis camp an’ go find some crap ta eat, I'm starved too an’ I'm low on bullets." Fuse told her sister, standing up and walking over to her pack. She knelt down and tossed it onto her back before grabbing her rifle and slinging it over her shoulder.

Powder nodded with a happy smile and followed her, getting her own pack and putting it on with more of a childish flourish before going over to the ghoul and giving him a rub on the head. “Sorry ta leave ya hangin’ boo, I hope you have a fun time by yourself!” She cooed, before giving him a kiss on the head and trotting away. As she did, the ghoul’s head slumped down with a sickening creak noise.

Fuse looked mildly disgusted at her sister’s actions, before saying, "Right, I tink Appaloosa is just nearby over the hill, let's go try to get some grub." She said, dragging her sister along the road towards New Appaloosa.

The two walked in silence down the road for the longest time, the sounds of the dusty wasteland winds was all they could hear for miles around. Sometimes they would hear the sporadic pop of a gun somewhere off in the distance, but didn’t feel the need to go after it. Fuse, growing tired of the silence after a few minutes, lifted up her pipbuck - a dirty old pipbuck mind you - and turned the radio on. Some static crackled through before finally clearing up thanks to Fuse turning the dial, and a stallion's voice came in through the airwaves.

"Heeeeeelloooooo wasteland, how is everypony doing? Good? I would hope so, what with everything going on nowadays." The stallion, known as DJ-PON3 spoke. Fuse enjoyed the mysterious stallion’s broadcast, evidenced by the fact she listens whenever she gets the chance. A part of her wanted to meet said DJ, but the odds of doing so were quite slim considering where the DJ lived and how poor the twins were. "The weather is a nice eighty degrees, and it is cloudy! Isn't that just nice? Onto other news,"

"Oooh! Here it comes!" BP suddenly giggled madly, listening closely as she jumped onto Fuse’s back.

"Word on the street is a pair of mares, specifically The Blast Sisters just cleaned out the Riverside Hotel up in Manehattan, which is pretty close to Tenpony tower, only a few blocks away actually. Well, to those two mares, I say thank you, cause you just made Tenpony, and Manehattan a whole lot safer. Now for some music."

BP giggled madly. "I can't believe it!" She giggled as Fuse sighed. "'ow in de heck did we miss em? We was right in dat place! And they's is called da Blast Sisters! Kinda like us!"

Fuse rolled her eyes slightly, not really paying much attention but knowing BP got a kick out of listening to the radio and hearing DJ-PON3 talk about the Blast Sisters.. So Fuse focused on the road ahead of them both, her yellow eyes narrowed and ears perked up high, listening to the sounds of the wasteland around them both as she kept an eye out. Her saddlebags rode down her flanks and she had to hitch them up every now and then, the straps were loose again and she made a mental note to get them fixed at some point.

BP herself was bobbing her head, listening to a jazzy tune playing from Fuse's Pipbuck. BP found herself whistling along happily to the music playing. Fuse looked slightly tired of it, but then BP asked, “Come on Fusey, sing along wit’ me!”

Another eye roll from the mare, but Fuse found herself joining in with her own little twist that seemed to make BP happy. She had begun to click her tongue, making beats with her mouth and throwing them in sync with BP's whistling, the two making their own little tune that went along with the song making it a bit more lively than it usually was. BP smiled happily like a little foal enjoying a grand tune on the radio before she grabbed a bullet casing off the ground, tapping it against her toaster and adding yet another beat to it, the two continued their own little song as they walked along the road, filling the desolate wasteland with a jaunty tune and making it… less dark.

Oddly enough a radroach was swaying to the beat, as a bloatfly buzzed along, its body bounced to the beat as well as the two mares continued on. Unaware that behind them, a bunch of mutated wildlife was swaying in tune to their song, the two unaware and just content to just walk on until they got to the town.

After some time, the two arrived near the town where Fuse breathed a sigh of relief. They had been walking for hours now in their search for the town, with BP continuously humming and whistling like she was taking a stroll through the gardens of Canterlot, and Fuse wasn’t sure where she got the energy to do it all. But she refrained from asking, knowing she wouldn’t like the answer if there was one.

The town of New Appaloosa was pretty empty this time of day, and no one was out save for the guards by the gate who were keeping a vigilant watch. Two earth ponies were playing a game of cards when they heard the strangest noise coming from nearby. It didn't sound like battle drums, nor gunfire, or even someone's cry for help. It sounded like someone was...

Looking off towards the road, they both saw a pair of mares trotting towards the town, one happily strutting and the other at a more regular pace. A dull tune was coming from the pipbuck the one wore as they both made a rather catchy if ghetto sounding tune. The two mares approached the gate, donning old and torn stable barding and empty saddlebags. "Yo yo yo!" The unicorn cried out, smiling a dopey smile. "Mind lettin' us in sah?"

A few moments, "Who's askin'!" The tan earth pony guard questioned them both, reaching for a hunting rifle by his side.

"Just two southern belles lookin’ ta trade is all, boo~" BP cooed, as Fuse gave a cautious stare at the movement above. ”We got... uh... junk!" BP smiled wider, seemingly disturbing the guard a bit seeing how one of her teeth appeared to be a shade of brass... and it wasn't from rot either, but rather a bullet casing.

The two guards just grimaced, one opening up the gate while the other yelled out, "Come on in, but don't try anything funny or we'll fill you full'o holes!"

"Okay!" BP chirped, quickly pronking inside with a smile that made both guards raise their eyebrows. Fuse followed after her, watching the two guards carefully before cantering off after her sister, wondering if BP being here would cause trouble for them both.

The guards were largely ignored by BP as she pronked into the dreary town, a bright childish smile on her face like a filly in a candy store getting ready to pick out what she wanted. Fuse just walked by her side and wished she wasn’t making such a show, judging from the few stares they were getting it made her nervous.

The town seemed pretty dead from what Fuse could tell, with only a few ponies standing around minding their own business or walking about. Most of them had guns, small caliber weapons like hunting rifles and small shotguns, others had hoofball bats or rusty knives, and more than a few of the ponies eyeballed the two sisters, one of which who looked like they were enjoying themselves a bit too much for such a sad looking place. Up ahead was the general store, Ditzy Doo's Absolutely Everything! It was a quaint looking shop and the sisters had no doubt they'd find something inside to snack upon, as well as some ammunition for their weaponry, or something else that may be of some use to the two.

Fuse just kept her eyes out as they approached the shop, every pony here was eyeing her sister and in turn, herself. She wished she was a unicorn instead of a pegasus, not being able to use her gun fast enough was not something she liked. It was difficult, not impossible… but difficult.

Thankfully the shop was close enough for her to duck into with her sister, away from the prying eyes of strange ponies. The two ventured into the shop, and were immediately hit with the smell of food scents wafting through the air, old stale food. From the looks of the place, it appeared to be three train cars fused together by means of some shoddy welding, and had plenty of things inside of it for sale to anyone with the caps. There was also a single guard inside, a mercenary judging from the barding and weaponry they carried, but the sisters did not care that much for him. At the counter was something the two had seen plenty of times throughout the wasteland.

"Hello~" BP chimed to the owner of the shop, who was standing behind the counter... glowing quite a bit.

The pegasus ghoul smiled at the two as they approached, and then Fuse asked, "Would you happen to have any food on hoof?"

"We'll pay!" BP added quickly. "I’m super ‘ungry!” BP told the pegasus while rubbing her belly. “I'm dis close ta eating my own hoof!"

The ghoul tapped the metal counter a few times a bit roughly with her hoof and making a loud tapping noise. "I got some food around here," She spoke in a hoarse and yet sweet voice. "Anything in particular you'd like?" Ditzy asked them both, clearing her throat as the guard eyed the two with a wary gaze when BP crawled onto her sister’s back for whatever reason.

"Ooooweeee cher, you got any of dem Fancy Buck Snack Cakes?" BP asked her, on sister's back as the pegasus looked tired from having to deal with her sister’s antics for… however long she’s been like that.

"I think so." Ditzy murmured softly as she knelt below the counter, shuffling some things around before grabbing a few boxes of the snack cakes in question and putting them onto the counter. The boxes looked a bit old, but still hopefully the contents were still edible. "Got anything to trade for em?"

The second she asked that, BP had thrown a broken toaster, a half bent tin can covered in rust, something that resembled a warped music record and a few old pre-war equestrian bits onto the counter with a wide and bright smile. "Boom! Trade! Like a boss!" BP cheered as Fuse looked aghast at what BP had thrown onto the counter for trading.

She can’t be serious! No way would this ghoul trad-

Ditzy just stared at the items that were thrown onto the counter, one eye was narrowed and the other wide open, as if she were wondering if these two were serious. The record didn't look like it was any good, the tin can was just common trash, the toaster might have a few parts, but looked useless, and the bits were actually worth a little bit, despite them being copper. "I... suppose, I can give you a couple of these boxes for some of this junk..."

"Yay!" BP cheered happily, and making Ditzy smile a little.

Both sisters now sat outside, an empty box each of the snack cakes they had acquired. However, even after chowing down it wasn't enough to sate their hunger, and now BP was sad... again, and still hungry. Fuse held her gut with a grumble as BP was staring at a distant bulletin board that had various papers stuck on it, some old and some… old-ish. Fuse wasn't paying attention however, she was too busy focusing on where they were gonna get more food. The pegasus was thinking about what they were going to do now, without any caps or stuff to sell, they were quite screwed.

... Maybe.

Probably not.

"Hey Fusey..." BP poked her sister with a slightly chipped, still staring across the way.

With a dejected frown, Fuse looked up at her older sister. "Yea’ sis?"

"Remember when we used ta go spelunkin’?" BP asked, grinning toothily at her twin.

Fuse thought for a moment about what Powder was talking about, recalling the treacherous mines filled with not only radiation but ghouls. The only reason they had gone down in there was to see if the legends of Gold Tooth were true. "... Down in da old mines out wes’?"

"Yep!" BP nodded with a smile.

Fuse rose an eyebrow. "Why you askin’?"

BP just pointed at the bulletin board across the way with a grin, and then dragged her sister over to it with a yelp of protest. They passed by a couple of guards and townsponies who gave them both a look as they stopped in front of it. BP slammed her metal prosthetic hoof against a piece of paper, and when Fuse looked her frown slowly turned into a slightly curious look.

Powder turned to each Fuse, a face splitting grin on her face before she quickly turned tail and galloped towards the bar in search of whoever this Mister Crow was. Fuse cursed to herself and gave chase after her twin, calling after her in a futile attempt to get her to slow up. The bar was just nearby actually, the building being comprised of two shipping containers welded together with a sign hanging out front using mismatched neon letters scavenged from somewhere in the wasteland, probably a couple of bars or something.

The unicorn instantly collided with the front door, sliding into the building and drawing the most attention, as Fuse skidded to a stop behind her then she yelled out, "We're looking for Mister Crow! We want in!" Powder yelled out loud to the entire bar, a bright smile on her face as the patrons and bartender gave the two strange looks. Fuse grew nervous all of a sudden as many ponies and griffons in the bar stopped drinking, turning instead to look at the strange sisters who busted into the place, one with a toaster dangling by her side and the other wielding a zebra rifle.

Nobody said anything for a while, just staring at the two or going back to their drinks to ignore them both. However, one pony dressed in black barding approached the two and he seemed to be eyeing them up before nodding his head. "You two might be of some use ta Mista Crow." He said, as BP smiled.

"Really? We wan’ caps!" BP chirped, as Fuse groaned. "And we'll blow up whatever! Not blow whatever, but blow up whatever~" Fuse dragged her hoof down her face as her twin continued. “We could blow, but you gotta pay us triple, cutie~"

The stallion just blinked his narrowed eyes at the two, sighing before muttering, "Damn mercenaries, follow me!" He barked at them, and proceeded towards an area of the bar near the back that had been walled off save for a door. A back room of sorts, it looked like, that was wide open, and shelves stocked with a few bottles of alcohol.

BP smiled brightly before following the stallion, or rather… she would have, had Fuse not grabbed her at the last minute and pulled her off to somewhere.

“Are you insane, chér?” Fuse growled under her breath, looking to the stallion who stopped, looking at them both with a raised eyebrow. “We can’ jus’ go ‘round takin’ random jobs like dat!”

“But Fusey!” BP whined quietly. “We could make a lotta caps!” The unicorn smiled brightly towards her twin, a sparkling glint in her eyes.

“No, we are [not] doin’ dis, we’re gonna stick ta scavengin’!” Fuse sounded the slightest bit nervous as her eyes flicked to the mysterious pony. “Who knows what dat Crow wants, probably lookin’ for someone ta kill for fun!” She hissed, but BP just smiled innocently. “We can ge’ by jus’ fine on our own.”

“I be’ you’re wrong~” Powder cooed, booping her twin on the nose before getting out of her sister’s grasp and following the stallion.

Fuse growled under her breath, muttering obscenities to herself before following as well.

The stallion in black led them into the backroom of the bar, and upon entering they were pushed inside and the door behind them was shut and locked up tight making Fuse suddenly grow anxious, but she saw they were not alone in this room. She spotted a couple of other ponies, a zebra, and even a griffon was in the room as well, wearing their own respective barding, armor and so on, and carrying their own weapons. They looked like hardened mercenaries or soldiers, people you don't trifle with in such harsh times...

And she and her sister just looked out of place, a pair of dirty looking mares wearing pipbucks and dirty stable barding.

Situated in the middle of the room was a rather rotted looking oak wood table. There were few objects on the table, an ashtray, a few manilla folders, and a large looking revolver. Sitting behind the table in an easy chair was a griffon, a ghoul from the looks and smell of him. Moldy feathers and charred flesh covered his frame under a grimy looking business suit. A pair of milky grey eyes peered out from behind sunglasses at the group before him, as his chipped beak clenched a cigar as he inhaled the smoke. After the door was locked, he started. "Alright you bunch of cock eatin' shits." His voice was deep, a low tone that those who worked in business used, smooth and purposeful. "My name’s Crow… and I think you lot are enough for this... job I got for you."

Fuse sat on her rump slowly as Powder smiled brightly next to her. The pegasus held her rifle close, the old dusty Zebra Assault Rifle was like a close friend of hers, one she was fond of using in battle alongside her explosives. And she was fully prepared to use it against every soul in this room if need be.

But her mind focused on this… job Crow had for them.

"What's the pay, ghoul?" One pony nearby Fuse and Powder questioned, sitting down with a deep frown on his face.

Mister Crow bit down slightly on his cigar, before saying darkly, "You lot of mercs, I need you to find six keys for me. I'll pay all of you fucks 4,000 caps for each one you bring me." Crow explained to them slowly as leaned back in his chair slightly. His few heavily armed guards watched the mercs closely, some of them looking extremely happy about finding something so simple for 4K caps easy.

Fuse herself just felt suspicious. She eyed the guards around them all carefully, subtly in case they tried anything. She was still iffy about doing some random job for someone she didn’t even know… she didn’t want to do any job, she was just fine with scavenging, they had a system! They had a way of doing things, they didn’t need anyone else…

But she would be lying if she said the prospect of earning 20,000 caps wasn’t enough to make her lick her lips. But that many caps? Why would anyone shell out that much for six measly keys?

"4,000 caps for six keys each?" The griffon merc leaned up against the wall with his sawn off shotguns rose an eyebrow at that, looking very interested before an evil smile grew on his face. "I think I'm liking this job already."

Suddenly, Powder yelled out, "Dibs! Where are dey? Where are dey?" The twin asked as Fuse growled under her breath, the prospect of getting 20,000 caps for six measly keys sounded amazing to her. "We got dis, sah!"

“Powpow!” Fuse hissed under her breath, elbowing the unicorn and making her give Fuse a look of curiosity.

The pegasus pony Fuse noticed had a deep frown on his face before he spoke, "24,000 caps for six keys?" He question, narrowing his eyes at the griffon ghoul. "That's a lot of caps for a bunch of keys... what's so important about them that you're willing to shell out a fortune for em?" Fuse wondered that herself, why so many caps for six probably useless keys?

Crow looked at the pegasus stallion and narrowed his own milky eyes at him, his beak in a deep frown as he growled out. "I'm paying you to get the keys... not ask questions." The griffon growled at him, "You can either can it with your questions and take the caps... or leave, I can always find another to replace your sorry flank with." He told the pegasus who only snorted harshly in reply, rolling his eyes and shutting his mouth. "Any more questions?" The ghoul asked the small group of seven mercenaries, eyes narrowed as Powder pronked in place and her sister tried to calm her down when some looks were thrown their way.

"I got one! I got one!" Blast Powder happily spouted out making the biggest stallion growl in annoyance. Fuse just shot him a dangerous look, and in an instant it shut him up.

"What?" Crow questioned, not even bothering to hide the glare in his eyes from either of them.

"Can we ge’ paid in caps an’ snack cakes?" The jittery Unicorn questioned, tilting her head at with a hopeful grin plastered on her scarred face.

Crow just stared at the two as what she said bounced around his head.The other mercenaries did the same, with varying expressions on their face from shock to annoyance. With another aggravated growl from the ghoul, Crow turned to the other mercenaries. "4,000 caps for each key you bring, that's the pay."

"Where are da keys?" The big stallion’s beady red eyes opened wide as he looked at Crow for the answer.

Crow returned his look with a scornful one of his own and said, "That's why I'm hiring you fucks to go get them, they're in the east somewhere..."

"Where in the east, exactly?" The griffon merc wondered aloud, pressing for more information as Fuse listened in closely. "We can't search the entire eastern wasteland for these keys, we don't even know what they look like."

"Trust me, you will know what they look like when you see them. Six different ponies are carrying them." Crow said, making the mercs look curious and Fuse look nervous. "Six ponies, the names of which I'll give you shortly have these keys in their possession, and are in the far east... somewhere in the Coastline." He told them, making the lot save for the sisters, looked shocked and even more curious.

"The Coastline? That's 500 miles from where we are now!" One pony, a scrawny looking unicorn in a medical jumpsuit squeaked out in a slightly nasally voice. "A-and its fulla w-weird folk, a-and the like..."

"Who cares!" Powder cried, jumping onto her sister’s back and causing them both to fall to the floor and making Fuse yelp in surprise. "24,000 caps! Dat's enough caps to buy a whole boat load of snack cakes! We'd be set for life sah!" The unicorn seemed extremely happy about the prospect, an innocent want of buying snack cakes and explosives.

Everyone else just wanted a luxurious place to live, ammo, guns, armor, a ticket to somewhere safe.

Fuse just wanted her spine to be intact.

“P-Powder, ge’ offa meh!”

"Then it’s settled... the seven of you will head eastward to The Coastline... find those keys, kill the ponies, and bring them back to me. I don't care how you do it, I don't care who you have to kill, I don't fucking care if you have to level the entire Celestia damned coast with balefire bombs... get me those keys." He ordered them, and he got a round of nods from the group as they checked their weapons and started to move out of the room. As they did, he leaned further back, taking in a deep breath, inhaling a puff of smoke before blowing it out in a ring of smoke, that floated up towards the ceiling. Perfect... I will finally get what I've been searching for... after all this time.

Fuse walked away from Ditzy’s store as her twin bounced beside her like a foal that had just gotten a hooffull of candy. The pegasus was rubbing her temple and trying to stifle the growing headache that was slowly coming in like a rampaging northern dragon. She didn’t plan on taking any jobs for strangers, let alone undertaking a journey 500 miles southeast to some place that made everyone’s hairs stand on end.

Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. What the heck is the Coastline? I’ve heard of the Hoof and the Big 51, but not the Coastline... She had heard nary a thing about such a location, she and her sister had only been around the entirety of Hayseed Swamp, Old Ponyville and some other areas in the main areas of Equestria, including Manehattan and so on and so forth.

But the Coastline was a new one to her… she had recalled seeing an old map of Equestria once, showing all of the cities and towns near and far. But the Coastline sounded exactly what it sounded like… a location along the coast in the far east, but where? And what was there? She hadn’t the faintest idea as to what may be there. She was slightly interested however, a new location meant lots of potential loot that was unsalvaged from the cities along the coast. Guns, ammo, barding and clothing, food and drugs, there was the possibility of some good money to be made further east. That and the job her sister dragged them both into would net them a very generous sum of caps, enough to survive for a few months if they rationed it carefully.

Maybe this isn’t such a bad idea after all… maybe if it was just us, but we have to go with five others, and I know jackshit about them. She knew next to nothing about the group they were to be traveling with, other than they were mercenaries… which she supposed made her and Powder mercs as well. We’re just a pair of lowly scavengers, now we’re masquerading as mercenaries… well as long as the job’s easy. Maybe we’ll make it out of this alive and with some good loot to boot.

She walked towards the train station nearby, wings tightly clamped by her sides as Powder nommed on a box of Snack Cakes… as in she had the box in her teeth and was drooling a bit as she bounced alongside her twin sister. Fuse kept thinking to herself about what the Coastline might be, what lay there and just what these six keys went to. Her curiosity continued to grow before she buried it in the back of her mind and thought about the present.

After leaving the bar, they were all given a small sum of money to prepare themselves for the trip south. Mostly to purchase ammunition, medical supplies, weapons, whatever they needed for the trip south. Fuse had never seen so many caps, it wasn’t much but it was enough to get some much needed ammunition for her zebra rifle and ammo for Powder’s launcher, which she still wasn’t so sure about letting her use due to her… special case. She also bought some grenades to fill the empty bandoleer of her sisters, and after much begging, all of the snack cakes which almost brought them down to little more than 100 caps.

It was worth it though to shut her up, if you asked Fuse.

Now they were headed towards the train station nearby where Mister Crow had appropriated a train car for them to utilize for the trip, that would take them as far south as it dared to go and save as much time as possible. The town further south was a small mining town that went by the name of Copperhoof Junction. And so far, everything was looking promising for the twins… somewhat, Fuse was still a bit iffy about this.

But earning 24,000 caps was too tempting an offer to refuse, even more so considering all they had to do was kill six souls and take some special keys.

"Hehehe, won't be long until we get a train load of caps!" Powder giggled, as her grenade launcher bobbed by her side in the holster. The rusty weapon was old, very old, but it was still her favored weapon of choice.

Looking towards her twin, Fuse questioned her, "Which we'll use to… do what exactly?" She knew what they were gonna do with them, buy food, medical supplies and go hide somewhere and hopefully live out their lives without having to get roped into something.

"Duh! Buy snack cakes! And bombs! And snack cake bombs!" Blast Powder pronked along, a bright smile on her scarred lips. "And some other crap, obviously! Like.. like..." She stuck her tongue out in thought, eyes narrowed before she gasped sharply. "We can buy that thing I've always wanted!"

An eyebrow shot up above Fuse’s eye. “And what exactly would that be?” Her mind ran through all the things her sister ever wanted, which ranged from various things from food to bombs…

And then there was that one thing...

Powder squeed like a filly, and cheered out, "Balefire Egg Launcher!" She exclaimed, rearing up with an insane cackle before falling back down onto her hooves and galloping towards the station, leaving her sister in the dust. The thoughts of acquiring such a weapon spurring her want... no, her need to complete this job they were given by the ghoul back at the bar. A Balefire Egg Launcher was something she’s wanted for as long as she could remember, and now... now she and her sis were given a job that could give her what she desired.

Fuse grumbled and darted after the mare, cursing loudly as her wings flapped to give her a bit of extra speed. Now she remembered, her sister’s insane desire to own one of those legendary and deadly weapons was something that made her hope and pray every day that they didn’t run up on such a weapon. She had to spend the last of their caps years ago to buy that grenade launcher of hers just to keep her from crying and begging someone else for money to buy it.

The thought of her sister using a Balefire Egg Launcher terrified her to no end.

Upon arriving at the train station nearby, the other five members of their group were already there loaded up with supplies and ammunition they had no doubt purchased from Ditzy’s place. Saddlebags and bags filled up with useful supplies, weapons cocked and loaded, armor repaired and medical supplies obtained, they were ready for the trip to the Coastline. When the twins arrived, the griffon turned to face the two galloping mares and he scowled at them both. "About time, what were you two doing?"

"Gettin’ ammo~" Powder cooed before Fuse could interject her own answer, hopping onto the platform with a wide toothy grin. "An’ snack cakes!" BP added, pulling out a box before opening it up and pulling out the tasty treat inside splitting it in two, tossing the other piece to Fuse who got smacked in the face with it. "Lots o’ snack cakes, boo!"

The others just sighed at the unicorn’s antics, knowing full well they were gonna have to deal with it on the entirety of the trip south. "Whatever, just don't get in our way." The griffon told them both as Fuse wiped her face of the snack cake giblets. The griffon turned to the others gathered around and spoke clearly. "Alright you sorry maggots, I'm leading this mission from here on out and if you got a problem with it, get the fuck out of my sight." He ordered, no one moved an inch and he nodded. "Good, now do one last check of your shit and let's get moving." The griffon told them before turning towards the train engine itself and talking to the one who operated it.

BP and Fuse did as told checking their weapons as the others followed suit. Fuse unloaded and reloaded her rifle, frowning as she did so.Her sister checked her grenade launcher and her still bloodied toaster, earning her a look from the zebra of the group. Who decided he was going to ask a question, "Why do you carry a toaster in your arsenal?" He gave Powder a look, one that suggested she was insane.

"Da better question is, why not?" BP asked, giving the zebra a suggestive look as she levitated the battered piece of metal up and dangled it in front of her face, swinging it back and forth before making an OOoooOOOoo noise. The Zebra just rolled his eyes as the scrawny unicorn to his right looked between them both.

Oh how right he was about the insanity.

The scrawniest of the ponies spoke up next, looking at the twins and zebra. "S-seeing how we're all gonna be working together, I guess we should introduce ourselves…?" He started, clearing his throat and saying, "My name's Shortstack, I'm a medic of sorts..." He told them both, as the pegasus and zebra checked their weapons.

"Corkscrew," The other pegasus of the group introduced himself, checking his beam rifle. "Sniper." Was all he said to them, leaving a mysterious air about him as he quietly shuffled away onto the train.

The zebra watched him go, narrowing his eyes before saying his own name, "My name is Shulta, I am what you would refer to as an assassin."

Powder’s lips pursed as Fuse rose an eyebrow. "Oooo~ Assassins are sexy~" BP cooed, waggling her eyebrows at the zebra, who snorted, turning his snout up at the mare.

"I am not looking for a mate pony." He told BP with a scowl, making the unicorn mare give him a pouty face and teary eyes to which he just scoffed.

BP just hissed to herself, leaning towards Fuse and whispering harshly. "He a tough nut ta crack, ouch."

"Cold as ice." Fuse remarked sarcastically with a shake of her head, rolling her eyes soon after.

"There goes da three way!" BP announced loudly, sighing shortly afterwards as a few ponies on the train gave her looks, along with Fuse and Shulta blushed before quickly trotting off into the train away from Powder and her now embarrassed twin.

The massive stallion with twin miniguns spoke up finally, saying-"I am Tiny."-n a thick accent of some sort. Shortly after he began cracking his thick muscle covered neck before lumbering onto the train, miniguns on his saddles clinking as the train itself seemed to lurch slightly from his weight.

Shortstack jerked his head towards the train, saying, "I guess we should, uh, get going." He said, shrugging with an innocent grin as he trotted off towards the train car.

BP turned towards her sister with a grin. "Rock'n roll?" She held out her hoof.

Fuse rubbed her race, feeling a headache coming on and wishing she had some medicine. But she sighed, and said, "Rock'n roll sis."

The two then shared a brief hoof bump before getting onto the train, getting into their seats next to the window. Shortly after the door of the car slid shut and locked in place, sealing them in the passenger car with the other mercs who all sat down, waiting for the train to take off down the tracks. BP shared another snack cake with her sister who actually managed to catch it as the train's engine started up. The horn then sounded off twice filling the air with black and putrid smoke before the train began to move forward, the rusty century old gears and parts squealing in protest as they were forced to operate through the rust.

It didn't take long for the train to begin moving forward down south, on its way towards a new horizon where many adventures awaited the mercenaries onboard...

...

We should end it here now...

We're not done yet you say?

Well of course not, silly me, we still have... one more scene for you.

The train ran down the tracks headed to Copperhoof Junction, wheels clacking and gears grinding as it chugged along, puffing smoke from its smokestack and filling the air behind them with black acrid fumes that was enough to choke out any bird that flew through it. The tracks ahead of them were thankfully clear of any debris to stop them from moving south, and in the wasteland around them they all saw the carnage the war had brought onto them, downed carriages, sky carts and transport trailers passed them by every couple of miles among other wreckage from the war that had been slowly rotting away into nothing more than rusty hunks of crap. Inside the train many passengers kept to themselves while others conversed about the town they were going to, exchanging news or even trading opportunities as a few merchants on board hocked items for whatever they could get.

The mercenaries were all in the back car at the ass end of the train. All but two of the mercenaries were sitting in their seats, their weapons checked and fully loaded for a potential fight. Corkscrew was looking down at a book he had brought with him to read, reading from it with an interested gate. Tiny stared ahead, seemingly at nothing at all. The griffon leader was looking out of the back window as Shortstack stood next to him, both keeping an eye on the disappearing horizon. The zebra assassin Shulta sat by his lonesome in the darkest part of the car, sharpening a knife as the twins themselves were snacking on their cakes with BP looking out of her side window every now and then.

Fuse herself was in deep thought, idly chewing on her lunch as her yellow eyes scanned the horizon. The wasteland was a treacherous place that very few could hope to appropriately survive in, unless you had the caps, guts and firepower you were most certain to die, or get swallowed up in the never ending pit of insanity that came with living in such harsh times.

But what other choice did they have? Life wasn’t like the old days...

So far, the ride had been quiet for the past three hours with the most excitement coming from the unicorn and her sudden declaration that they were going to play a game or feast on more cakes. How she ate so many of them and didn't get tired or throw up, none of them knew, not even her sister. It was a mystery that nobody cared to solve, and they were okay with that.

The griffon leader, who had given his name as, One, had spoken up after three hours of near silence. "Look alive, we got incoming from the rear."

As BP giggled and muttered something about an incoming in someone else’s rear, everyone else looked back towards the griffon and eventually got up before they made their way over to the back. BP and Fuse were the shortest of the group, being the youngest ponies there so they had to push their way to the front. When they looked out of the rear window they saw another train car approaching on the tracks that joined up with theirs. Fuse narrowed her eyes slightly, as she pushed her face up against the glass with BP, who all but smushed face against the glass. They both noticed that, yes... it was in fact... a train car, on a path right for them going awfully fast.

And it wasn’t empty, as several ponies in very dirty ramshackle barding appeared, some leaning out of the windows and others popping up in the front window from behind sandbags and metal armor.

"Oooooweeeeeee, someone don't wan’ us ta get ta where we's is goin’~" BP giggled as the train car started to close in, Fuse just gripped her rifle and cursed. "I see loooooooots o’ raiders... hehehe." BP added with a wide grin, making the mercenaries grab their guns and prepare for the fight that was about to come at them.

All of a sudden, the larger of them bellowed loudly. "I KIIIIIIL!" Tiny’s miniguns began spinning up rapidly and before anyone could tell him to stop, he had opened fired at the approaching train car… and by extension the wall that acted as their cover, shoddy as it was. The other mercenaries leaped out of the way as he blasted through the back of the train, nearly clipping One and Shortstack, and the Twins with his gunfire. It only took mere seconds for the old wood to tear away, causing chunks of it to fall onto the tracks where they were crushed under the wheels of the other train. The powerful 5MM rounds ripped through the wood like it was nothing, tearing it asunder before the entire back wall and roof fell off and slammed onto the track, exploding into splinters and glass as Tiny bellowed out once more, "YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAH!"

Corkscrew growled. "Fucking idiot! There went our cover!" He yelled out in anger, hefting up his rifle and taking aim through the opening from behind one of the seats. "Shit, those raiders are packing some serious weapons." He noted the firearms they were carrying, before firing his beam rifle towards them. The pink colored beam surging forth with a high pitched phzzzzt and nailing a raider in the chest, causing the pony to yell out in pain before he fell off the train car and onto the ground where his body was twisted and broken before smashing into a rock with a wet smack.

Both the sisters took cover behind the seats that were spared from Tiny’s torrent of bullets moments earlier. One took flight suddenly, pulling out his sawn off shotguns and flying over to the raiders’ train car. "Kill them before they get on board!" The griffon ordered loudly as he landed on the roof, firing into it and killing a couple of raiders inside. The griffon was either very brave, or very stupid, possibly a little of both if he was getting up so close to them. Tiny had continued to fire his miniguns at the raiders, blasting into the other train car and destroying bits and pieces of it as he roared continuously like a mad beast. Shulta had retreated and aimed a large looking sniper rifle at the train car, taking shots at the windows and nailing a few raiders in the head or chest. Shortstack stayed in cover, cowering in fear as he hid at the very front of the passenger car they were in.

"Rock'n roll baby!" Blast Powder aimed her grenade launcher out from behind cover with a cry, as Fuse began firing her Zebra rifle from behind the seat she had taken cover behind. BP's grenade launcher made a loud thump from inside the car as the grenade fired from it launched forward and sending her stumbling back. The 40MM grenade itself smashed into the train car behind them and took off a decent chunk of it, exposing a few of the raiders. Fuse meanwhile was taking very neat and precise shots with her zebra rifle, the rounds from her gun easily piercing the old wood and whatever defenses the raiders had, the incendiary bullets were doing added damage as well against the wood.

The raiders were not easily dissuaded however as they yelled out their taunts and curses, firing off hunting rifles and pistols, even a laser or two at the mercenaries. Their yells were vulgar and uncouth like that of any raider with many promises to them that all of the passengers onboard the train would be raped, killed, raped again viciously and then eaten, possibly in that particular order.

However, they didn't expect to have two twins keeping them from it, one insane and the other pissed.

"That car is filled with them!" Corkscrew yelled out as Tiny continued to bellow like an enraged psychopath, how his lungs didn’t explode no one knew.

Corkscrew saw through his sights that Fuse's rifle was slowly but surely setting the front of the train car on fire. Small wisps of flame had begun to appear which slowly built up as she kept firing, when she ran out she reloaded with a quick hoof, much quicker than he would have imagined. Powder’s grenades also decimated the car with their own intense damage, jostling it ever so slightly with each impact as Tiny's own minigun rounds tore into it, the raiders inside slowly getting torn to shreds as blood and gore coated the inside, chunks of limbs and meat torn from their bodies and splattering about as their screams and yells filled the air.

"Party time sah!" BP cried suddenly before pulling off four grenades, pulling the pins on all of them with her magic, and then throwing them out below the train car. Corkscrew looked confused for a moment, but then he saw both BP and Fuse fire their weapons at the grenades just before they went under the wheels and axle. The explosion they both caused was legendary, a massive kraboom was caused that made the car's front end jump up off the tracks and begin rolling, sending sparks and parts flying through the air as it twisted along before turning onto its side and tumbling along. The unicorn tossed another grenade out for good measure, letting it hit the roof before exploding violently, causing the roof to explode open and make every raider inside tumble out and onto the tracks, getting crushed, squished and maimed as the incredibly heavy wooden and metal train car destroyed them and painted the wasteland a nice shade of crimson.

The bloody gore was deliciously glorious.

"Whoooo!" Cried Fuse who reloaded her rifle as the train car behind them had went off and hit a rock, before exploding violently, sending debris flying everywhere.

"Fuck yeah, chér!" BP joined her sister, as she also reloaded her grenade launcher.

The griffon who had barely managed to escape the carnage in time when the sisters opened up, flew back to the train. He shuffled his wings before landing in the damaged train car as the other mercenaries reloaded their guns, some looking at the twins. "Alright... just who in the fuck are you two?" He asked the sisters.

Fuse just looked up at One, as BP slung an arm around her sister.

"I'm Blast Fuse." The pegasus introduced, holding her rifle high in her hoof.

"An’ I'm Blast Powder, sah!" The unicorn added, winking as she held up her own weapon.

"And we're the Blast Sisters!" They both said, with BP yelling her end. Powder had ended up hitting the trigger on her launcher though and fired off a grenade which flew through the window nearby, smashing through it and sailing through the air before hitting something and exploding loudly, and pained screams could be heard soon after.

When Corkscrew looked at who BP shot the grenade out, he saw several raiders had set up some kind of small outpost near the tracks which had somehow caught fire. He turned to face the two sisters, one who looked extremely happy and the other chiding her sister for wasting ammo like that as they both sat down, with the unicorn now eating her snack cakes and sharing them with the others on the train. These two are an interesting pair of mares... I think I'll have to keep an eye on them… He noted before returning to his seat, and taking out his book to read once more.

The other mercs kept a close eye out now that they were attacked, with Tiny standing vigil over the hole he had made as One rubbed his face, and Shortstack checked everyone for injuries.

The train continued to chug down the tracks loudly, a day or so travel ahead of them as they traveled to Copperhoof Junction... and eventually...

The Coastline proper.

Corkscrew wasn’t sure what they were going to find there in the Coastline, be it immense wealth, never ending misery, or a glorious adventure… but he could tell just from these six he was now teamed up with. He had no doubt in his mind that they would be able to take on whatever the wasteland south had to offer them, be it raider gangs, balefire abominations, cultists or some otherworldly horror…

They had this in the bag.