“We stayed in Winterstar for another day, then said goodbye to Stack and the others and left. Gentle insisted I take my Bitalin that morning, since she was pretty sure we wouldn’t be doing any fighting that day. Only walking.

“She was right. We just walked for a few hours, kinda talking a bit and telling Millie some of the more specific parts about what happened to me so far. She didn’t tell us much about her own life or why she left the Intangibles. Just that she ‘had a realization’.

“There was only one pony in the tunnel when she got there, so she just knocked him out and stabbed him while he was unconscious. Then she turned the turrets off of us like she promised, and we waited around while she removed all the other Intangibles from the list.

“Today, we’re heading to Lackluster again. This time, underground…

The Intangible Tunnels were really nothing spectacular...but, in a way, that made them spectacular. Just a straight path from one place to another, with no raiders or mutated creatures or traps. The most dangerous thing any of them saw was the arguably weak-looking wooden supports along the walls of the tunnels, but Millie assured them they hadn’t shown even a subtle sign of weakening since the Intangibles started using the tunnels.

“That was...anticlimactic,” Gentle noted when they reached the rickety but sturdy wooden ladder leading to the surface. Behind them, a pair of turrets were attached to the ceiling, beeping quietly but not homing in on the trio.

“What were you expecting?” Millie asked, climbing up first. “Raiders around every corner shooting at us?”

“That’s actually exactly what I was expecting. But then again, that’s how pretty much every day’s gone for the past few years where I haven’t been in Sunsettlement.”

Millie just laughed and pushed open the space on the ceiling before climbing out into the early afternoon sun. Cobalt followed, with Gentle bringing up the rear. Up top, they noticed just how the tunnel was hidden; a fake rock that lifted up to reveal the ladder.

The former Intangible noticed Gentle’s sceptical look. “Yeah, I know. Not much for a secret entrance, but that doesn’t really matter with the turrets there.”

The light blue mare shuddered. “How many ponies do you think came across those tunnels completely by accident only to get killed by those turrets?”

“It’s the Wasteland. Death’s constantly staring you in the face no matter where you are, waiting for you to blink. If somepony dies purely by accident, they died purely by accident. Wake me up when I care.” With that, she turned to the city not too far away. “Got any more questions or can we get moving?”

She didn’t. So they could. The entire walk over, Millie stayed at the front, while Gentle glowered at her from behind. Cobalt hadn’t been paying much attention to their conversation, being more occupied with his PipBuck. Gentle had no idea what exactly he was doing, but she assumed he was just exploring its various features.

Suddenly, a loud crackle of static came from the PipBuck, startling the two ponies in back. Millie just looked back in confusion, unphased. Cobalt was about to shut it off, but Gentle blocked his hoof with her own. “Hang on...”

The static wasn’t the only thing coming from the radio. Underneath it, the three of them could faintly make out somepony’s voice. They exchanged a look.

“We must not be in range,” Millie said. “Not enough to hear it properly, at least. What station are you tuned into?”

Cobalt looked down and shrugged. The earth pony mare sighed and trotted around to look over his shoulder.

“‘Unknown Signal’...” She scratched her chin. “Definitely not a radio station. Might be a distress signal.”

“Should we get into range, then?” Cobalt asked. Gentle almost felt shocked to hear his voice. He’d been pretty quiet ever since they left Winterstar - and even before then - but she didn’t know exactly why.

Millie nodded. “Gentle, you go to Lackluster and start looking for whatever you two are looking for from this place. I’ll parade around with Coby until we get a better signal, or until the sun sets. Whichever comes first.”

Gentle shook her head. “I’ll stay with him.”

“Why, don’t trust me with him?” She didn’t even seem surprised when Gentle gave an immediate, albeit sheepish, nod. “I get it, I get it. I’m new, I’m scary, I used to be evil. But I’m also the only one of us three who has armour and a weapon they know how to use, and-”

“We know how to use our weapons, thank you very much,” the other mare snapped.

“Fine. An effective weapon they know how to use. Look, I’ve seen your arsenal. A pistol, sniper rifle, and shotgun aren’t gonna cut it. There’s dragon ants in this part of the Wasteland.”

Gentle froze. “...dragon ants?”

“Yep. And if we want to find that signal, we’re gonna have to wander. And if we come across dragon ants...well, it’s easier for me to keep them off one pony rather than two. And he’s the one with the PipBuck.” Millie shrugged. “If it makes you feel better, we won’t even wait until sundown. One hour, then if we don’t find anything, we’ll start heading to the city.”

The mare groaned. On one hoof, Millie made sense. On the other, she really didn’t want to leave Cobalt alone with her. And on a third hoof, this was just a signal that could be nothing but a wild goose chase. “Do you have to go looking for the signal?”

“I didn’t ditch those Intangible bastards just to walk away from what could be a distress signal from a pony in danger.”

Gentle winced. Right. Might be a distress signal… She sighed. “One hour, and then you’ll start heading back?”

“Assuming we don’t find the signal and its source, yes.”

“...fine. I’ll wait by the entrance after an hour. If you’re not back within another hour, I’ll assume you found something. And if you’re not back by midnight, I’ll assume...”

She didn’t finish. She didn’t have to. Millie nodded. “You won’t have to make that second assumption. We’ll be back.”

Quest Updated
A LACKLUSTER START
Locate the source of the strange radio signal.

Despite Millie’s warnings, Cobalt didn’t notice anything that resembled a dragon, an ant, or any mix of the two. He wasn’t even sure what would constitute a mix, and when he asked his companion, she just shrugged. In his head, he imagined an ant with a dragon’s head, or an ant as big as a dragon. Both mental images scared him, and he walked closer to Millie.

It only took half an hour or so of walking before the static began to clear up. An urgent male voice took over, finally comprehensible. Both ponies quickly directed their attention to the PipBuck on Cobalt’s leg.

“...backup, pronto! Anypony who can hear this, please make contact as soon as possible! Message repeats. Mayday! Mayday! This is Second Lieutenant Protein of the CoNCORD. We’re...we’re pinned down here at the mountain east of Lackluster! Captain’s been shot - don’t think he’s gonna make it! Hell, don’t think any of us are gonna make it...we need backup, pronto! Anypony who can hear this, please make contact as soon as possible. Message repeats. Mayday! Mayday! This is Second Lieutenant Protein of the CoNCORD. We’re...we’re pinned down...”

“The CoNCORD...” Millie grumbled.

Cobalt tilted his head. “The who?”

“Coalition of National Combat Operatives Rectifying Disharmony.” The mare reached back and took out her assault rifle, sitting on her haunches so she could hold it properly. “Pretty much the closest thing the Horseshoe Wasteland has to a military. And even then, they’re not doing much of a good job. All they ever do is scout out unfamiliar territory, see if there’s anything dangerous there, and then run back home to tell ponies to stay away rather than actually fighting it off.”

“You don’t like them?”

“Kid, I don’t know if you forgot or something, but I was in a group of murderous assholes until just recently. Those guys kept warning towns before we showed up, and while now I’m glad they did, it was still a huge pain in the flank to have the townsponies prepared to fight.” She checked to make sure her firearm was loaded fully. It was. “Literally, too. Some of them shot me right around the cutie mark, and if not for my armour, I probably would’ve lost it entirely.”

“Can you lose a cutie mark?”

“Who knows? Not like it’d even do anything. It’s a picture on your butt. Sure, you celebrate when you get it, whoop-dee-fucking-doo, but then after that it’s just a way to make blank flanks jealous or to give ponies around you a general idea of what you do for a living.”

She finished her little rant, finished checking her gun, and started on her pistol next. “But getting back on topic: no, I don’t like the CoNCORD. Not because of what they did to the Intangibles - futile as it was - but because they never do anything. They see danger, they warn others rather than getting rid of it. Hell, you’ve probably killed more raiders than all of them combined.”

He doubted that, and he told her so.

“Yeah? Just wait until we see what’s got them trapped over at the mountain. I’ll bet you fifty caps they outnumber their enemy three to one, and they’re still hiding their asses behind some rubble or whatever.”

“Of course the one time it’s actually a decent threat pinning them down is the time I make a bet with a kid about how it isn’t.”

Ten Mill would not stop grumbling to herself as she shot at as many of the mercenaries as she could without letting them get close. She had ordered Cobalt to stay back and try to snipe them, but apparently he wasn’t up for the second part of that assignment, as she noticed no help.

She had to admit, these mercs weren’t fooling around. Rather than the insane raiders that only proved dangerous if they cornered their prey, or the often poorly-equipped slavers that were only capable of shooting attempted escapees, this group was almost as well-armed as the Intangibles were during their assault on Winterstar. They lacked the StealthBucks, but they had the sheer numbers, weaponry, and even armour that made the group so feared.

Well, feared before Love and Incinerate.

A sudden shot from the side hit Millie in the shoulder, causing her to nearly drop her assault rifle. Her armour had taken a beating already; then again, she’d ditched the more protective parts before running from the Intangibles, since she couldn’t afford to be weighed down. As intimidating as what was left looked, it didn’t do much for anything but her torso.

Another bullet came in and buried itself into her left hind leg. While she was no stranger to pain, this was more than enough to begin slowing down her movements, but it didn’t slow down her rate of fire. Mercs that got too close went down as soon as she decided she didn’t like them within that range, and the numbers were slowly thinning.

Then her gun jammed.

“Bitch!” she screamed at her weapon, as though it could understand her, as she tried to fix the jam. She got it working after a few seconds, but in those seconds, two mercenaries had gotten within a range she normally wouldn’t have allowed. She put some bullets into one as soon as she could, but that left one more, who suddenly had his shotgun pressed right against her temple.

BANG!

Millie cringed, only to discover that she was untouched. A look through her peripheral vision revealed that the mercenary was similarly fine.

His shotgun, however, was now cracked in two and lying on the ground several feet away.

Grinning, the former Intangible pulled her pistol out and shot two rounds into the stallion’s throat, causing him to fall over gurgling blood. Leaving him to drown, Millie aimed the small gun at some other ponies who were getting too close for comfort, the shots much more precise than the automatic fire from her larger weapon.

However, switching to her pistol didn’t mean she was instantly saved. It may have been more accurate, but it was weaker and didn’t penetrate the mercs’ armour at all, meaning the only effective hits were directly to the head. Lacking a PipBuck of her own, she couldn’t use S.A.T.S. to make sure her aim was true, and instead had to rely on her own instincts and luck. She managed to get moving again, backing up towards where Cobalt was, hoping she could grab a healing potion from his saddlebags.

She got halfway there when, strangely, the gunfire stopped altogether. Glancing around, she saw that the mercenaries had vanished - likely back behind cover. Taking advantage of the situation, she turned and limped her way back to the rock Cobalt was behind.

“Millie?” he asked, concern evident in his tone as he noticed her hobble along. Obviously he hadn’t been paying attention to the entire fight (his lack of sniping assistance proved that), seeming to not realize what was wrong.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” she grunted as she sat down with a hiss. “Get me a healing potion. And if you’ve got a weak stomach, don’t look at me for a few seconds.”

While he obliged in her request, she turned her head to the bullet lodged in her leg. She could handle having some lead in her body, but this was keeping her slowed to a crawl. Something that was nothing but a disadvantage in any situation. Leaning down, she used her teeth to grip the tiny bit of metal that was poking out of her skin, and roughly yanked it out.

Millie was no doctor, but she knew this was the best she could do at the moment without limping off back to another town. Grabbing the healing potion offered by her small friend, she gulped it down quickly, the wound left by the now-extracted bullet mending itself just enough to let her keep walking.

Just in time, too. As soon as she stood up with minimal wincing, the sounds of gunfire reached her ears once more. Grabbing her assault rifle, she ran out from behind the rock to fire back, only to realize after a few shots that she wasn’t the target.

The mercenaries that had previously been focused on nothing but ending her life were now running about frantically, guns firing all over the place as they tried to aim at an oncoming swarm of ponies that appeared from nowhere. However, even at a distance, Millie could tell something was wrong with these ponies. And what was wrong nearly made her run back behind the rock to hide.

For one thing, they were all as black as charcoal, but not by natural causes. No; instead, they looked as though they had been roasted alive. Their eyes were bright red and constantly twitching, yet never blinking, and they didn’t have a single hair on their bodies. They had no armour, yet bullets that embedded themselves in their skin had no impact whatsoever. Even shots to the legs didn’t so much as slow them down.

And when they got close enough to a mercenary, they opened their mouths and breathed fire on them, incinerating them into a pile of ash.

“...this day just gets more and more fucked up,” Millie grunted. She backed up to the rock and looked at Cobalt. “I think we should start running out of here.”

He looked at her with worry. “B-But...the distress signal...”

“To hell with the distress signal! There’s fire-breathing invincible ponies over there. Unless you’ve got something to fight against that, we need to get...somewhere...safe...” She trailed off upon seeing the look in his eye and sighed. “You do. Of course you do. Why should I have expected anything different?”