The explosion of Chernobyl's fourth reactor in the Spring of 1986 shook Earth and its neighboring universe, Equestria to their cores. Celestia among several others lost a dear friend that day...or so they thought.
Doctor Radius Hoofenschtov was Equestria's top nuclear physicist for years and was very close to Princess Celestia. He was a brother, son, cousin, uncle, all around family stallion, and the lover of Celestia herself. He would spend most of his days at work at the Equestrian National Nuclear Facility located several miles North of Canterlot but would occasionally be asked to lend a hoof at other facilities, particularly a certain one in a small city in Ukraine.
This would not be his first time crossing Canterlot's Portal Express Highway that linked Equestria to Earth and ultimately the nuclear plant of Chernobyl but it would end up being his last. In the wee hours of the morning on April twenty-sixth, 1986, Equestria will have lost one of the most brilliant minds they could have ever asked for. The good doctor was only there a few times per year but much to his misfortune, he would be making a last minute visit on that fateful night, bringing about his untimely demise at only thirty-five years old.
Thirty years have passed and though Equestria nor Earth has forgotten about the tragedy, it has been placed in the back of everyone's minds and most have moved on...that is until a strange distress signal interrupts a Canterlot radio broadcast and after several hours of research and a call from Ukraine's Prime Minister, Celestia finds that her long lost lover may still be alive.
Willing to stop at nothing until the truth of Radius's fate is uncovered, Celestia assembles a team for the mission to go to the ghost town and attempt to locate him. Despite the advice of her sister Luna and several nobles, Celestia even makes the decision to brave the many dangers and include herself in said team. If he truly is still alive, the doctor has endured a great deal of suffering over the three decades of being trapped in the radioactive exclusion zone so Celestia is determined to learn the truth and give him his life back; even if that means enduring injury or radiation poisoning herself.
Nopony can begin to imagine how Radius managed to survive all these years or what kind of state he may be in but they about to find out...and they surely will not like what they see.
This story is to commemorate the disaster of Chernobyl and the many lives lost due to the event and those that are still affected by the radiation to this day. Also be advised, it in no way has anything to do with the "Fallout" franchise or "Fallout Equestria" nor is it a "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." crossover (though it does contain a few references as per the requests of some of my loyal readers). Rated Mature for explicit gore, severe burning, graphic violence, strong language and sexual content including attempted rape scenes. No holding back. The cover image was made by the ever so talented little-tweenframes.
"Oh Radius, yes!" Celestia gasped blissfully as her coltfriend passionately made love to her after a date at a Canterlot opera house. "Yes! Oh Radius, don't stop! Oh my g-ahh! Hahhh...hahhh..."
"Ooohh yeahhh, Celestia, my darling!" Doctor Radius Hoofenschtov moaned as he thrust in and out of the mare he loved, both of them teetering close to the brink of orgasm. "Oh Tia, I thi-guh! I-I think I'm almost th-*huff!* Almost there!"
Princess Celestia and her lover, Doctor Hoofenschotv had secretly dated for the past year and a half and tonight was the first time they had both appeared together in public. In the past, it was considered rather improper for royalty to form romantic relationships with ponies who were considered commoners by the standards of the elite. It was especially taboo to engage in intercourse outside of wedlock, however, this idea was now considered outdated as the turn of the century and the new millennium was a mere fourteen years away. This was the spring of the year 1986 and the ever changing times were paving the way for more modern ways of thinking and the freedom for anypony to love whomever they wished.
Though he was not a noble or member of royalty, Radius was by no means a commoner by realistic standards. Only to those with political pull, according to their unreasonable ways of thinking was he just an average unicorn. With an IQ of one hundred ninety-seven however, he was indeed not average. Aside from his superb intelligence, many would ask what somepony as regal and royal as Princess Celestia saw in him past his large, thick framed glasses and tacky bowtie. By no means was he a bad looking stallion but he was incredibly awkward and as long as he could remember, had difficulties with social interactions.
Radius was like many who were often referred to as "nerds","geeks","dorks", and the like. For most of his life he was the shy, quirky type whom had little to no luck with wooing mares. That was until he received an invitation to the Grand Galloping Gala of 1984 and would find himself meeting Princess Celestia in person. Celestia, being drawn to him by his intelligence and classy personality was the one to break the ice to engage in conversation and ended up spending time with Radius throughout the entire event. The two quickly became close friends over the next few months and that is when Celestia invited him to dinner at the Royal Canterlot Palace and made the first move.
Despite his genius level intelligence, he did not immediately catch on to the fact that the princess of all beings was courting him. In fact, his obliviousness soon left Celestia quite frustrated and gave her little choice but to be more up front about it. The Doctor was not much for picking up on such cues but If there was something she truly wanted in a stallion, it was his smarts, his class and over all, his kindness. Not to mention she also admittedly could not help but adore his shyness as it simply gave him that charm about him that she found difficult to ignore. With a regal princess vying for his attention however, it would prove difficult for one to not be apprehensive at first. While most mares preferred a stallion with popularity, muscles and bits to throw around, Celestia was anything but superficial and could not care less about those things; though Radius did earn quite the substantial salary in his line of work.
"Ahh! Tia! I th-think I-I'm gonna...!" Radius screamed as he neared his peak, his entire body throbbing with every beat of his heart. "I'm co-aaahhhh! Haaahhh! Haaahhh!"
"Radius, oh my god, yes!" Celestia screamed as she reached her own orgasm. "I'm almost...hnnggg!...ahhh!"
Finally the couple reached the point of no return and everything went hazy as their bodies throbbed and the two collapsed onto each other and lay there as they tried to catch their breath. As they lay there gasping for air, they enjoyed what they felt was the best part of their time together which was simply holding each other close to feel the warmth of their bodies against one another. For the loving couple of lovestruck ponies, their lovemaking session like all their others before it was pure, unadulterated bliss.
This was not their first time having engaged in intercourse with each other as they enjoyed their first time as a couple three months into their relationship. For Doctor Hoofenschtov, his first time with Celestia was his first time ever giving her the honor of having taken his virginity at the tender age of thirty-four. Over a year after their relationship began, they were still going strong and becoming even closer by the day. There was simply no denying it. The two ponies were in love and were not planning on keeping it a secret much longer.
"Hey Tia." Radius cooed as he playfully nibbled Celestia's ear.
"Yes, dear?" Celestia answered, her eyes half lidded as she looked into those of her lover.
"Love you."
"Love you more."
"Nuh-uh."
"Oh whatever, you know we just can't get enough of each other. My god, every time we do this, I just feel another hundred years younger!"
"And yet you don't look a day over twenty-five. I swear, I can't stop forgetting that I'm in love with somepony who's been around this long. I keep thinking you're ten years younger than me."
"Aww, you always know just what to say. I love this new confidence you have though! I'm telling you, darling this is the most passionate you've ever been! I don't know what's gotten into you but I like it!"
Like most stallions who had little to no luck with mares, Radius also once had little confidence and self esteem. Over time, his relationship with Celestia completely changed him. Gone was the meek, lonely, withdrawn Radius who kept to himself as he had transformed into an upstanding, proud social butterfly. He and Celestia simply made each other happier than either of them had been in a very long time.
"Thanks, sweetheart." Radius said in response to Celestia's compliment. "So, uh...I kinda wanted to talk to you about something. You know, our big revealing that we're dating and all."
"Uh huh. What about it, dear?" Celestia asked. "I mean, we've already been out in public together tonight so it's not like it's completely under wraps anymore."
"Yeah, I was a little apprehensive about it at first but I thought about it a lot more. I say I'm ready when you are. I feel like I want the whole world to know how happy I am!"
"Aww, me too! I love you Radius!"
"And I love you too Tia!"
Celestia and Radius had discussed their readiness to come out to the public and reveal that they were a couple many times and finally felt that they were ready to do so. They ultimately decided that they would take a somewhat slow approach to it at first by simply showing up in public settings together more often just to get the gossip started. Soon, all of Equestria and beyond would know of Princess Celestia and Doctor Radius Hoofenschtov, the happiest couple with nothing to hide and everything to show.
"So, I was thinking tomorrow we cou-" Celestia began before stopping herself. "Oh that's right, I forgot. You were taking that trip to Earth tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah, the Soviet Government asked me to help out with this test they plan on doing at that Chernobyl plant in Ukraine." Radius answered. "Though I'll be honest, I'm pretty miffed about that overseer running the place. Uh, Anatoly Dyatlov's his name. The guy's pretty reckless and I have half a mind to report him again. I've got a bad feeling about him being in charge."
"From what you've told me about him last time, it sounds like he's nuts. I would If I were you. Quantum physics isn't something to mess with."
"Ha! You learned that from me! See, If I weren't around you wou-oof!"
Celestia responded to Radius's teasing by firmly laying a pillow across his face, knocking his glasses off. The two had the type of relationship where they were comfortable with joking around as they made each other feel like a couple of lovestruck foals.
"Unless you want another pillow upside your face, I suggest you just shut up and snuggle!"
"Coming in at number nine on the countdown for the sixth consecutive week..." The DJ on the radio began while Dr. Radius prepared for a shift at the Chernobyl Nuclear Facility. "That was 'Adult Education' by Hall and Oates! I know plenty of people who could use some education in the form of a swift kick in the rear, that's for sure! Well, don't let the locker slam on your plans for tonight! More coming up in just a moment. I'm Casey Kasem...and now, on with the countdown."
"Hey Radius." Vladimir Shashenok, one of Radius's shift partners said as he switched off the radio which sat on a table in the staff break room. "Ever since you brought that American music here, everybody seems to be a lot more productive. Can't beat going to work in a good mood for once, eh comrade?"
"Well duh." Radius replied with mock rudeness to his colleague and friend. "It's a lot better than that depressing Stalin propaganda you commie bastards listen to. I'm telling you guys, those Americans know how to make some good music!"
"Whoa, we got ourselves a wiseguy here!" Radius's other colleague Valeriy Khodemchuk joked as he lifted the seventy-four pound equine up and began messing up his mane.
That was the kind of relationship Doctor Radius had with most of his working partners. They could all clock in for their shift, laugh and joke with each other the entire time but still have the professionalism to get their job done quickly and efficiently. Afterwards, they would often go out to the nearest bar but as of late they have not done so quite as much as Radius now had more of a reason to go home sooner in the form of the mare he loved so dearly.
Radius was a very well known and highly respected physicist throughout both Equestria and Earth alike so power plants from every corner of the globe often asked for his help and expertise with important procedures. The Chernobyl Nuclear Facility in Pripyat, Ukraine was no exception as the head director and the rest of the staff were preparing for an extremely delicate test on reactor number four's ability to perform under the pressures of a surge. The plan would be for Radius to review and approve parameters set for the test and guide control room staff to ensure safe and efficient operations. Tonight unlike other nights however, the individual in charge of the shift, Deputy Chief Engineer Anatoly Stepanovich Dyatlov had other plans in mind for both Radius and the test parameters.
Much like any other shift asked of him by a fellow nuclear facility, tonight upon his arrival, he received a small stack of papers explaining his assignment and just like any other, he read it over down to the last letter. What Radius found to be rather amiss however was that his papers revealed that he was to work down in the steam pipe room to simply monitor and record pressure meters. On the last page of the papers stapled together would be the name of the shift's on duty supervisor and had it been the reasonable Aleksandr Akemov, what was most likely a simple mistake would be promptly corrected. Regardless, Radius sent the foreman who handed him the packet with a message for the shift's decision maker and a much less polite one than usual. Any moment, Radius fully expected to be called to the control room to be shouted at and the way he was feeling, he was not about to nod politely and pretend to agree.
The nerdy Radius was once a very shy and meek pony who simply wished to avoid confrontations so he would be rather quick to give in but his relationship with Celestia had changed him. For the entirety of his life, he had been pushed around by others and could not find the courage to stand up for himself. When he and Celestia began seeing each other however, he quickly developed more confidence and self esteem, both from his marefriend's encouragement and the mere fact that a Princess saw something special in him to begin with. Until they would reveal it to the public, their love for each other could not possibly be more plain to see but Radius had plans of his own to take it to the next level and proclaim his love for in in front of all of Equestria.
"So Radius, how's it going with Celestia?" Vladimir asked.
"Yeah, did you ask her yet?" Valeriy asked as well.
"Not yet..." Radius began. "But I plan on asking her on our next date tomorrow night. I've got a ring picked out and everything."
"Congrats, buddy! You nervous?"
"To be completely honest with you...I've never been more nervous in my entire life. I love her to no end but I mean...my God, I'm about to ask her to spend the rest of my life with me."
"Just relax, comrade." Valeriy assured. "By what you've told us, it sounds like she loves you just as much."
"I know, it's just...like, we've gotten past the fact that she's royalty and I'm not but it's still something that's kinda hard to ignore. Especially since we're about to announce our relationship to the public."
"Well man, they say love has no bounds. If the public or those stuck up nobles have a problem with that, they can shove it. Fuck what they think. If you two make each other happy, then go ahead and be with each other."
"You're right! Still, I can't help but be nervous but I've already decided that I'm going thro-"
"Attention, Doctor Radius Hoofenschtov!" A voice on the facility's intercom called out. "Anatoly Dyatlov would like to speak with you immediately! Please report to control room number four!"
"Aw jeez, what is it this time?" Vladimir asked. "You two seem to butt heads a lot lately."
"And now, I plan on giving him a piece of my mind." Radius replied. "He's got some nerve sticking us down here for this shift and I sent a him a message telling him what I think. Plus, he's nuts! His methods scare the hell out of me and his hotheaded temper on the job is not cool. You need to keep your wits together while working with a reactor like this one and he's proven to me that he's not fit to do it. Wish me luck, fellas."
Radius and the plant's vice chief engineer, Anatoly Dyatlov were enemies from the time they first met two years ago and showed no signs of getting along ever since. Radius strongly disliked Dyatlov because of his reckless methods and short temper and Dyatlov hated Radius even more because he reported his behavior to the plant's main supervisor. That report cost Dyatlov a promotion and a written disciplinary action was taken against him as well. Of all the things he could despise the good doctor for, what Dyatlov hated most of all was the fact that he was put in hot water by a pony of all creatures whom he deemed a lesser being than him.
Radius quickly made his way to the control room where he was to speak to the head of tonight's operations and hopefully convince him to see things his way. He did not get his hopes up but he could still at least try to come to an understanding. Unlike Anatoly Dyatlov, Radius was always willing to set differences aside just as long as the other was willing to do the same. Just as always, Radius approached the door to the control room in a calm manner hoping for a compromise but expecting an argument.
"You wanted to see me, Mr. Dyatlov?" Radius said politely as he pushed the door open.
"Yeah and you better keep your fucking mouth shut, glue!" A gray haired, mustached man in his late fifties retorted.
An argument was indeed what Radius was about to get but this time, he was in no mood to back down and allow himself to be spoken to in such a rude manner. With confidence and poise, the normally meek pony who stood no higher than a man's waist held his head high and stood his ground. This was the day he would finally, preserve his dignity and demand the respect he felt he deserved weather he knew he was going to get it or not.
"Quit calling me 'glue'!" Radius shouted, taking Dyatlov by surprise. "For the last time, my name is Doctor Radius Hoofenschtov and from now on, you'll address me as such! Now just tell me why you needed me up here and get it over with! I'm getting tired of you!"
As soon as those words came out of Radius' mouth, a hush fell over all the other workers on the control room. The other employees simply could not believe their ears as they stared in shock at the two enemies. Talking to the vice chief engineer in the way that Radius just did would normally call for automatic termination of one's job and expulsion from the company owned town of Pripyat. Radius however was merely a borrowed worker and therefore not a resident of Pripyat so this was a problem that he did not need to worry about. To the rest of the crew, it was a breath of fresh air to finally see someone or somepony stand up and treat Dyatlov with the same respect that he had always treated the other workers with...or rather his complete lack thereof.
"You...insolent little fuck!" Anatoly Dyatlov screamed, his face reaching the same shade of red as Radius's mane. "I ought to break your legs for that!"
"Did you not hear a word I said?" Radius retorted, refusing to tolerate any more nonsense. "What did you want? I've got shit to do and you're wasting my time."
"I was going to be generous and just tell you to stay out of my way as we're doing an important test on the reactor! Now that you've displayed such insubordinate behavior, consider yours-"
"Have you forgotten that I'm not actually employed here? If you want to sack me, I couldn't care less. I still have my job in Equestria and plenty of other plants that operate the right way. Just keep in mind that when I leave, your job will follow suit."
"Shut your fucking mouth, glue! I've been working here too hard for too long to be told off by an animal!"
"Hey, let me ask you something. Why did you stick me and the other two on pressure watch duty furthest away from the control room and closest to the reactor? I'll be honest, that freaks me out a little, especially since you're in charge of this whole thing."
"Just get the fuck out of my sight and get to your assignment! After tonight, I'll see to it that you never set hoof in this plant again!"
"Oh trust me, I'll be glad to see the last of the half-assed operations in this dump!"
"I said fuck off!"
"Bite me, prick!"
With his head held high, Radius strutted out the door of the control room after finally telling off someone who needed to learn a lesson in respect. Radius had first started taking the occasional shift at Chernobyl a year before he and Celestia started dating and at the time, he was too meek to talk back. Time went by, life events ensued, and attitudes changed. Radius was a different pony from what he was before he met Celestia who would often encourage him to be more upstanding. Not only did the direct encouragement help him but just having a special somepony in his life boosted his self confidence tremendously.
"You said 'bite me' to the boss!?" Vladimir Shasenok gasped in disbelief after Radius told them how the discussion went.
"And you told him he was wasting your time!?" Valeriy Khodemchuk asked, also aghast at Radius's new attitude.
"Yes I did, guys." Radius beamed with pride. "And it felt fucking amazing! I finally told that prick where to shove it! Woohoo!"
"Damn! How're you feeling?"
"Like I'm on top of the world! I feel like I could do anything!"
"Good for you, comrade!" Vladimir cheered. "I've been wanting somebody to knock that prick down a peg for years! I just hope you kno-"
"Wow, fellas I just...I feel like I'm walking on air! I just told off somebody who needed it for a long time and I'm about to propose to my love tomorrow night! I just have this feeling that nothing could go wrong! Somebody gimme a cigarette will you?"
"Here, let's all have one and take our good moods back down to the reactor room. As glad as we all are about you telling Dyatlov where to shove it, we still got some work to do."
"Man, Vlad, you're a damn buzzkill, you know that?" Valeriy said jokingly.
"Hahaha! And my foot's about to get acquainted with your ass if you don't take that back, comrade!"
Meanwhile, back in the control room...
"I can't believe that shit walker has the balls to tell me what's what around here..." Anatoly Dyatlov huffed as he prepared to resume the test on the reactor. "I swear, if I could, I'd open the lid on that reactor and drop him in. That little fucker. Hell, he doesn't even stand as high as my waist, I bet I could pick him right and and throw him off the top of the bui-"
"Mr. Dyatlov sir?" Shift Foreman Aleksandr Akimov said. "Waiting on your orders to commence the test."
During the typical shift at this time of night, Akimov would be the one in charge of operations but tonight he was outranked by Dyatlov. Although he was indeed glad to see someone or somepony stand up to Dyatlov for a change, Akimov had a lot to lose if he were to be fired from his job at the plant unlike Doctor Radius. Radius only worked there on occasions when extra staff was needed but the very livelihood of Aleksandr and his family depended on keeping his boss happy and refraining from back talk was a good way to do so.
"Ah, right." Dyatlov replied as he remembered the task at hand. "Continue decreasing power to the reactor. We need to get it down lower in order for the test to work."
"But we're already nearing five hundred megawatts!" Reactor engineer Leonid Toptunov spoke up. "In my training, I was told we're not to let it drop below seven hundred!"
"Gah, I'm surrounded by morons! It's not your job to think, kid, your job is to follow orders! That goes for all of you here!"
One thing the workers of the control room had in common with Akimov was that they too had a nice home and every thing their families could ever need provided for them through their employment at the Chernobyl plant. The only thing Radius lost was a few night shifts per year and he could still see his work time chums and catch up with them outside of the plant. Dyatlov had the power to fire any one of them and being in the mood he was in after the exchange with Dr. Radius, the rest of the staff did not feel that it would be wise to test his patience any further.
"We hear you loud and clear, sir." Akimov said calmly as he stepped between Dyatlov and Toptunov to quell the argument. "I'm sure that you...know what you're doing."
"Damn right I do!" Dyatlov replied. "Now get to it!"
Despite the risks the team was taking by following Dyatlov's instructions, the risk of losing their jobs for insubordination was enough incentive to go through with it nonetheless. There was just too much to lose no matter what angle one could look at it. The reckless behavior of the supervisor could cause a catastrophe but failure to follow orders from superiors could cost them dearly. Their homes, their premium health care, and their handsomely paid vacation time they worked so hard for could all be stripped away if they angered their boss any further. The pressure on the entirety of the control room staff was unreal and the only thing they could do was keep their wits about them and their fingers crossed.
"Aleksandr, are you sure this is a good idea?" Leonid whispered to the more reasonable but lower ranking of the two bosses. "This can't be safe."
"I-I don't know." Aleksandr replied. "I mean, yeah we're really not supposed to let the power drop that low but...Oh Christ, I'm really stuck between a rock and a hard place. I just don't know what to tell you."
"I've got a bad feeling about this. Well, here goes...everything."
Leonid then slowly pushed forward a lever on the control panel thus commencing the decrease in power to the reactor. The goal of the test being performed was to find out if the reactor could properly handle a rapid surge in power in the event of an emergency. The team was already behind schedule due to numerous setbacks and as a result, Dyatlov and the plant's head director whom was currently at home sleeping were determined to have the test finished tonight.
The time was now 12:35 am and so far, things were off to a decent start. The power was dropping at a slow and steady pace and was approaching four hundred megawatts. Just another hundred and the test could continue to go as planned. Once the level hit three hundred and ninety megawatts however, is when a new problem would arise. The power level suddenly began to plummet and it did so far too quickly to not be a matter of concern.
"Mr. Dyatlov!" Leonid called over to his supervisor. "The power is still dropping and it's getting faster by the second!"
"What?! How the hell did you manage to fuck this up?!" Dyatlov yelled as he read the meter that was mounted on the wall. "Shit, now it's at one hundred and sixty! Akimov, get over there and help him pull his head out of his ass, the damn idiot!"
Unlike Anatoly Dyatlov, Aleksandr Akimov was more understanding in the fact that Leonid Toptunov was newly promoted to his position and was undergoing an unfair amount of pressure. In truth, they all were dealing with a lot. Every major decision was being made from that very control room and the future of the Chernobyl plant and the entire city of Pripyat was in their hands. Despite the massive amount of stress, the wisest thing to do would be to remain calm so the decisions being made would be safe and smart ones. This was something Akimov was particularly good at.
"Okay, Leonid, let's just try this again." Aleksandr said calmly as he stepped over to assist Toptunov. "Don't worry, you'll do just fine."
Meanwhile, in the water line room...
"Hey Radius." Valeriy Khodemchuk said after a nervous gulp. "You might wanna come take a look at this."
"What's wrong?" Radius asked as he trotted over to a pressure gauge that Valeriy was staring at. "Hmm...wait, this can't be right. How did...no! Oh, no no no no no, this is not good! Thanks for pointing this out Valeriy, I'm gonna phone the control room about this immediately!"
Without any hesitation, Radius levitated a telephone off the wall, dialed the extension number that connected to control room number four and waited for an answer on the other end. While it was ringing, Radius hoped so badly that he would end up talking to someone who was level headed and willing to listen to others. Once he received an answer however, he found that he was not about to be so lucky.
"Yes, what is it?" Dyatlov answered on the other line.
"Look, man..." Radius began. "I know you don't like me and honestly, I don't really care for you all that much but for safety's sake, I really need you to listen to me just this one time."
"Aside from your very existence, what's the problem?"
"Ah, very funny you commie asshole. The water pressure in the reactor's cooling reserves is way too low so we need to take it very slo-"
"That's what you called to tell me? There's not enough water? Ha! And for a second I thought you were calling to tell me about some kind of problem. Quit wasting my time, glue."
Click!
"Mother fucker! Okay, guys, we'll have to perform a manual override to get some water flowing before the reactor overheats."
"And Dyatlov?" Vladimir asked.
"He's worked his last shift here as far as I'm concerned. Come on, we gotta cool this thing down."
In the large room that Radius and his two colleagues were working, there were several large steel pipes on the walls that came from the lower basement level of the plant, went through the ceiling, bent back down and ended just under the reactor. These pipes were used to direct water flow from the massive cooling pond outside and bring it to the underside of the reactor to keep it at a safe operating temperature. The warmed water that would no longer be useful until cooled again would then be pumped back out to the pond to make way for cooler water to come in again. The only problem was that this system was not working properly and someone needed to quickly remedy the situation.
Radius quickly went to work and opened the valves on the spare water pipes. After that part of the task was done, Radius quickly booted up a wall mounted computer system and once it was turned on and the program loaded, he used his pass code to initiate the emergency pump sequence. Doing so would activate the extra water pump forcing more water into the cooling drums thus keeping the reactor at a safe operating temperature. With the preparations made for this to take place, the best thing the trio could do now was watch the pressure and temperature gauges very closely and be ready to take the next course of action if that did not work. Much to the team's misfortune, they were about to find out that things were not going to be easy on them.
"Hey Raddy, it's still heating up!" Valeriy warned.
"There's more water going through but it's still not enough!" Vladimir called over, his voice beginning to shake. "It just gets vaporized as soon as it gets to the reactor! It's getting hot very fast!"
"Looks like I'm gonna have to swallow my pride for now." Radius sighed as he picked up the phone to call the control room again.
"Control room four, go ahead." Anatoly Dyatlov answered on the other end.
"Anatoly, look man, you seem like a pretty reasonable guy. I'm telling you, there's something very very wrong here. Please, let's just put our differences aside for now and work toget-"
"As much as I really hate to say this...you may be right. Okay, I'll have it taken care of. Thanks."
Click!
"Well, what'd he say?" Vladimir asked. "What happened?"
"Progress." Radius replied. "He actually listened to me...and he thanked me! There's hope for that jerk after all!"
"Glad to hear that, comrade." Valeriy said. "Just thought I'd mention this though, If you knew more about what happened to him in the past, you'd understand why he acts the way he does."
"Really? What happened to him?"
"Many years ago, he had a son." Vladimir began. "He was exposed to radiation and later died of leukemia. Dyatlov was never the same after that. His life has been all about conquering all that is nuclear power since then."
"And just why the hell have you guys never told me that before?!"
"You never asked." Valeriy replied with a shrug.
"Well, If I would have known before, then maybe I would have been more understanding with him! Fuck!"
Back in the control room...
The time was now 12:42 am and not only was Anatoly Dyatlov needed to do something about the water shortage and power the now stalled reactor back up, he was dead set on carrying out the test tonight without any more delays. Even he knew that a situation like this was one that required careful planning and rational thinking in order to properly deal with. After a few minutes of pacing the control room and pondering his next course of action over a cigarette, Dyatlov finally had an idea that was a long shot but could work to cool the reactor and resume the test.
"Pull the control rods up." Dyatlov ordered Toptunov.
"Are you mad?!" Toptunov gasped. "That gives us even less control over the reactor!"
"He's right!" Akimov added before Dyatlov could respond. "This could be extremely dangerous! We should shut the reactor down and allow it to cool off before we do anything else!"
"For the last time, the test gets finished tonight!" Dyatlov retorted. "No more hold ups! If you don't do as you're told then you may as well start packing when you get back to your flat later!"
Once again, Dyatlov reminded the entire staff that failure to follow orders would result in losing everything. Refusing to put the comfortable lives they had provided for their families at risk Akimov and Toptunov decided to simply cross their fingers and hope everything would somehow work out. Sweat started forming on the faces of everyone working the control room as Leonid Toptunov slowly pulled the lever that would remove the boron control rods from the core of the reactor. At this point, there was no going back.
After approximately ten minutes, the power level begins to rise back up and within another five minutes, it reaches two hundred megawatts. Now that the level is where Dyatlov wants it for the test, the final preparations were being made. The test that should have been done before the plant even opened was about to go underway and Dyatlov was not about to let anything get in the way with as far as they all have come.
Meanwhile, with Dr. Radius and his friends...1:10 am...
"Damn it!" Radius cursed as he read the pressure gauges. "He said he was going to fix that water shortage! I give up!"
"I knew he was all talk, man, I figured it was too good to be true." Valeriy Khodemchuck groaned. "He never thanks anyone for anything."
"So what do we do now?" Vladimir Shashenok asked.
For the first time in his entire career as a nuclear physicist, Dr. Radius Hoofenschtov was completely stumped. As long as he could remember, he always had a solution to any problem he had come across even when he was fresh out of college. As he continued to think of anything he could do about the continuing water shortage and dangerously high temperature of the reactor, he became increasingly worried as he simply had no idea how to stop it.
"I don't know, guys." Radius sighed. "I'm only as good as the guy in charge. If he's gonna be reckless and operate the way he does, it's his ass if something goes wrong!"
"Well, at least we have that going for us." Valeriy said.
"Hey! They just shut the turbines down!" Vladimir shouted. "The reactor could go completely dry if the generators don't turn on!"
"You're shitting me!" Radius shrieked as he read the out of control steam pressure gauge. "The generators don't start up fast enough! We gotta get down to them and manually switch them on! Hurry!"
Radius galloped down the steel deck above the reactor as fast he could with his shift partners close behind. Valeriy and Vladimir knew that Radius was very well educated in his profession and therefore knew very well what he was doing and what needed to be done. The fact that he was a four legged equine that stood no higher than up to their waists made no difference to them.
After the brief sprint, the trio ran down the steel staircase and bolted to the backup generators where they would switch them on in order to keep what little water was left flowing through to cool the reactor. After the turbines shut off, the diesel generators were set to automatically turn on approximately one minute later. These were sixty seconds that could not go by without water being pumped through. Radius and his friends needed to take the safety of the people in the plant and the entire city of Pripyat in their own hands and hooves.
Once the team reached the generators, they wasted no time using the emergency keys that all plant workers were given to crank the ignitions of the diesel powered machines. Even Radius who was a "borrowed" employee had a set of his own keys and quickly levitated them out of the pocket of his lab coat and started one of the generators. Within seconds, all of the generators were started and were soon powering the water pumps. Though the vital task of starting the machines up was done, it still may have proved to be too late as an intense tremor began and the floor shook so violently that it nearly knocked the two human plant workers off their feet.
"What the hell was that!?" Vladimir asked as the team climbed back up the stairs.
"I don't know, fellas..." Radius began. "But as long as I've worked in plants like this, I have never felt the floor shake or heard a whacky rumbling sound coming from the rea-hey Valeriy! You alright!? What's going on up there!?"
Valeriy was in fact not alright and Radius could plainly tell. Valeriy was always a one to get ahead of a group and the other two watched him standing at the top of the stairs, his body shaking and every last bit of color draining from his face. Valeriy was petrified with fear by what he was seeing and Radius and Vladimir were about to find out what it was as they climbed the stairs to join their comrade.
"Ohmiguhh! Issgonna bl-th-the c-c-caps are!..." Valeriy frantically babbled incoherently as he pointed a trembling finger down at the nuclear reactor.
"Calm down, man, out with it!" Radius said as he and vladimir reached the top of the deck to see what was literally scaring the pigment out of their distressed colleague. What they saw happening down below was enough to make every hair on their bodies stand on end as they quickly understood why Valeriy was so petrified.
"Oh...my...GOD!!!" Vladimir screamed as he observed some of the control rod caps popping off the top of the reactor.
"For fuck's sake, hit the alarm!" Radius screamed. "Abandon ship! Let's get the fuck out of hereee!!!"
Wasting absolutely no time, Vladimir opened up a clear plastic case on the wall revealing a large red button and then pressed that button down with the palm of his hand, sounding an alarm throughout the entire facility. Radius had to shake Valeriy around to snap him out of his trance and before they knew it, they were all bolting to the other side of the steel deck. Nothing could be done except to find the nearest exit and get themselves as far away from the building as they possibly could as the reactor was at the point of no return and could not be helped.
The team of three was sprinting and galloping down the deck directly above the five hundred ton concrete lid of the reactor which they would all agree was not a position they felt safe being in. The pony and the two men kept running as fast as their legs could carry them. They were just about to reach the halfway point of the long steel deck until a hitch in their escape plan would ultimately be the signature on their death warrants.
"Raddy, look out!" Vladimir shouted as he grabbed Radius by the collar of his lab coat.
Just ahead of Radius, a small pipe had burst causing a bolt to shoot out like a bullet narrowly missing his throat as Vladimir yanked him out of its path. Vladimir's brave action then caused him to lose his footing and before he and Radius hit the steel deck, Valeriy ran into them and joined them on the floor.
"Hey, thanks, Vladdy." Radius said as the trio got back to their hooves and feet. "I owe you o-"
BAM! FSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!
Just before the team of three could make a break for it, a much larger pipe burst directly in front of them sending hot steam in every direction. As they struggled to stay on their hooves and feet, they tried their best to shield their faces from the burning water vapor. There was not much radius could do as raising his fore hooves would just send him falling back down on his back where he would be even more defenseless. After just mere agonizing seconds that seemed like decades, the hot steam rushing into his face subsided and was replaced by a feeling of falling, not to the floor of the deck but from a substantial height that could severely injure most creatures. His fear was confirmed when he felt a sharp, intense pain as he had landed on something hard with a loud thud at least twenty feet below the deck he was standing on moments before.
"Gaahhh! My leg!" Radius screamed just after landing.
"Ahh! Where are you guys!" Valeriy, who was also clearly in pain asked.
"Oh fuck, man!" Vladimir screamed from a few feet away. "My back! I landed on my back!"
The two men and pony could only lay there and wait for their eyesight to return where they would then try to figure out how to escape but still, it was looking very bleak. As Radius crawled around with a broken rear leg and the other badly sprained, he frantically looked around while the blur that he was seeing slowly came into focus. The ground under the trio was violently shaking and the rumbling that was coming from the reactor before sounded as if it were right under them. They quickly found out that it indeed was and that they were all laying a few feet apart from one-another on the top of an unstable nuclear reactor that was about to destroy and entire massive building within moments.
The time was 1:23 am on April twenty-sixth, 1986...
Two men and one pony lay crippled and helpless on the five hundred ton lid of reactor number four of the Chernobyl Nuclear Facility. At a time such as this, every event that ever occurred in their entire lives went rushing through the minds of the three working partners. From their very own births to their first words and steps, their graduation of high school then college, their first dates and births of younger loved ones all went shooting through their minds as they lay on a cauldron of death and destruction. Being that they were crippled on top of a giant radioactive powder keg along with their lives being replayed right before them could only mean one thing. They all had seconds to live and they knew it.
"G-guys?" Radius whimpered. "I just want to let you know that...it was an absolute pleasure working with you two."
"Likewise, comrade." Vladimir said. "It's been a great run!"
"Fellas, I don't...*sniff* I don't think there's anyone else I'd rather die next to!" Valeriy said as he began to weep.
Vladimir Shashenok, Valeriy Khodemchuk and Dr. Radius Hoofenschtov each crawled over to each other so they could all have that final moment with their friends. Radius pulled a small picture of his one true love Princess Celestia that he always kept with him out of his pocket and stared at it for the mere few seconds it took for him to start sobbing. With all the strength the three could muster, they all joined each other in a tight group embrace and held each other as firmly as they could until the lid of the reactor shot up into the air carrying the three friends with it.
"Jesus Christ! Whoaaa!!" Anatoly Dyatlov screamed as the floor of the control room shook violently. As the lights of the room flickered on and off rapidly and the tremors intensified, everyone working in the control room was thrown to the floor. The commotion sent the room into such disarray that the piercing sound of the emergency alarm could not be heard. Finally, after several seconds of being tossed around, the quaking suddenly ceased and the lights cut out leaving the room pitch black save for a strange, orange glow flickering outside the windows of the control room. Slowly, all of the disoriented workers returned to their feet to see the source of illumination coming from the housing of reactor number four a few hundred feet away.
"Oh my god!!" One of the workers shouted as he and the others huddled around the window.
"We're gonna die!!" Another screamed. "We're all gonna die!!"
"Call the fire department! Tell them what happened!" Aleksandr Akimov ordered as the crew went into a panicked frenzy.
"What!? What's going on!?" Anatoly asked as he pushed his way towards the window through the group of workers.
The massive hole blown into the roof of the side of the building that housed the reactor and the massive flames bursting out of it were terrifying sights to behold. To see thick smoke billowing from the raging inferno that engulfed that side of the building was nightmare inducing for everyone but the sudden realization hit the trembling fifty-five year old man that he was mostly responsible. As he stared out the window at the aftermath of the massive explosion, his pupils fully dilated and he struggled to find words suitable for the situation he witnessed save for the only ones he could force from his mouth.
"...What have I done?..."
The evacuation of the city of Pripyat was begun thrity six long hours after reactor number four exploded. It was not until a full week later that the last of the residents were taken out by bus...
There was still a massive fire burning at the reactor's core causing molten materials to melt through the floor. If it melted all the way through, it would reach the water underneath and there would be another explosion massive enough to level half the country. For weeks, the brave men and women of the emergency crews worked tirelessly to put the fire out by dropping sand on it from helicopters. It was finally brought under control...
Thirty one people died as a direct result of the disaster and included plant workers, firefighters, police officers, and brave volunteers. To this day, the effects are still being dealt with as survivors and their children who were exposed to radiation suffer from mutations and cancers...
Those responsible for the disaster including chief engineer Nikolai Fomin, the plant's head director Viktor Bryukhanov, deputy chief engineer Anatoly Dyatlov among three others were put on trial for their negligence. Anatoly Dyatlov pleaded guilty to his charges, expressed genuine remorse at his trial and had the following things to say before he received his sentence...
"With so many human deaths, I cannot say I am completely innocent." ~Anatoly Stepanovich Dyatlov~ July 8th, 1987. Born March 3rd, 1931, Died December 13th, 1995.
A depressed Princess Celestia lay wide awake in her bed as her sister lowered the moon and made way for the elder to raise the sun, the whites of her eyes rather bloodshot and dark circles forming around them. After losing Radius, Celestia fell into a deep, seemingly endless depression though being reunited with her sister Luna some twenty-four years later helped immensely. After so many years, Celestia would normally go about her day and her royal duties without much of an issue but today was different. Today was the very day that her lover Doctor Radius Hoofenschtov was tragically taken in Earth's worst nuclear accident exactly thirty years ago. Every April twenty-sixth, she could not help but let the thoughts of what could have been get her down as she learned of his plan to propose to her.
Celestia had told her younger sister much about the relationship she had with Radius after her separation from Nightmare Moon. Each year when that dreaded spring day came, Celestia would in a way emotionally shut down much to her younger sister's confusion. She would then eventually end up remembering why, some years sooner than others. This year however, Luna made it a point to remember without needing to be reminded. As she continued to lay in her bed after an utterly sleepless night, Celestia used her aura to open a drawer of her nightstand and levitate a small framed photograph of the happy couple that was herself and Radius, both smiling ear to ear. It had become her annual ritual to remove the photo from where she kept it and stare at it as she reminisced about the past and wonder what the present could have been like if Radius had stayed home on the night of April twenty-sixth, 1986.
"Sister, dearest?" Luna greeted sweetly as she slightly opened the door of her elder sister's bedroom. "I brought you a nice hot cup of tea and I made you breakfast in bed. May I come in?"
"Y-you *sniff* m-made me..." Celestia repeated as she used every last bit of strength she could muster to avoid breaking down into a sobbing mess. "Lulu, of c-course you may come in. Th-thank you so much."
Without a moment's hesitation, Princess Luna entered Celestia's room with a tray of pancakes and a piping hot cup of her favorite tea floating in her aura. After setting the tray in the bed and the tea cup on the nightstand, Luna then sat down next to her sister ready and willing to listen to her open up about her woes and vent to her heart's content.
"Tia..." Luna spoke softly. "I understand that this particular day of the year is hard for you...so I would like you to take the day off. I wish to carry the burden of your duties and raise the sun so that you may grieve in peace. Just know that if there is anything you need, and I mean anything at all, do not hesitate to inform me."
Upon hearing that her sister was utterly going out of her way to lighten her mood, Celestia simply did not know what to say. Typically, Luna would be perplexed by Celestia's tardiness but then remember at the last minute the unfortunate significance of this date. Be it that she would be reminded by one of Celestia's most faithful guards or happen to trot in on her bawling with the photograph in her aura, Luna would normally figure it out at the worst possible time. The mere fact that she had the day planned out so she could attend to her emotional needs alone was enough to make Celestia feel a little better.
"L-lu*hic* Luna?" Celestia sobbed as she sprang from the bed sheets and held her sister close. "Don't ev*sniff* please don't ever l-leave me again!"
"As long as I can help it..." Luna began as she hugged Celestia tight. "I will always be by your side! Though, it wasn't I who had much a choice in the matter the last time I left."
The very moment the well meaning sister finished her sentence, she immediately realized that she may have made a poor choice in words as Celestia's sobbing intensified to a point where she began to hyperventilate. At a time like this, bringing up something that caused her sister one thousand years of heartache and regret was most likely not the best course of action and proved to be counterproductive in her efforts to comfort her.
After a solid twenty minutes of bawling into her sister's chest, Celestia finally calmed down enough for the two of them to engage in rational conversation. In order for Luna to properly listen and Celestia to be able to get things off her chest, her dialog being coherent would prove helpful. Letting it out through crying however was a good start.
"Tia, that didn't come out right." Luna said sheepishly as she dried her sister's tears with a tissue. "I'm sorry I brought tha-"
"I don't know what I'd do without you." Celestia interrupted.
"You...Oh my. Thank you, Tia."
"Lulu, when I...sent you away, I could never forgive myself. Not a day went by without feeling like I'd betrayed you and wondering if there was anything else I could have done to free you from Nightmare Moon. Back in eighty-six when I lost my coltfriend, I was an emotional wreck for a very long time. I never felt so alone before. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I knew I would see you again soon."
"No, you did nothing wrong, sister. Don't ever think that."
"Luna, I need to tell you something that I've never told another soul as long as I've lived. I need you to promise me that you'll keep this secret."
"Of course. I promise, Tia."
"When you were gone, I had a lot of time to think. You and I have both outlived countless friends and loved ones and that was starting to bother me so badly. The only reason I didn't kill myself was because I knew you would eventually be back."
"What?! You mean to tell me that you contemplated taking your own life?!"
"On several occasions. I counted down the days to when you would be returning and that's what kept me going...and then I met Radius."
"You've told me much about him. I would have loved to meet him."
"He changed my life forever, Luna. I never had any other stallion quite like him."
Celestia had spoken of Radius on many occasions and often described him as one of the few ponies who helped her carry on while she waited those final years for her beloved sister to be freed from Nightmare Moon. Celestia loved and dearly missed everything about him. First being drawn to him by his genius level intellect and admittedly his cuteness she saw in him, she soon got to know him better and learned of his other wonderful qualities. As the two sisters spent breakfast time together, Celestia talked and Luna listened. She described Radius's kindhearted nature, his shyness at first, and even where he got his degree in quantum physics.
"Oh and his stamina..." Celestia sighed as she began to space out.
"His...stamina?" A confused Luna repeated. "You mean like in bed?"
"Our first few times were a bit awkward but after he got the hang of it, he could rut me for hours."
"Oookay, that's a little too much inf-"
"His stallionhood was average but he more than made up for it when he got into it so passionately."
"Ahem. Sister, you know you can tell me anything but there's only so much I want to kn-"
"I was so honored to have been his first. He was a fast learner too. Somehow he just knew how gentle or rough I wanted it on any given night."
"Do snap out of it, Tia."
"Oh my God, I'm getting so heated up just thinking about it...all those things he could do with his horn...afterwards, we'd just lay there and enjoy the warmth of our bodies on each other's."
"Say, Tia, why don't we take a trot outside!? Today's weather is beautiful!"
"Oh! Uh...did I say all those things out loud?"
"Yes. Yes you did. Not to worry though! Come hither! A leisurely stroll around the city in this weather will be good for you! We're going to have to have a talk about those suicidal thoughts you mentioned though. Contrary to what most think, we are able to die at our own hooves, you know."
"I promise you, Lulu, that's all in the past. I have you and many more wonderful friends by my side. I'd never throw such an amazing thing away like that."
The two sisters wasted no time preparing for a pleasant trot together. The sun was shining brightly and the birds were singing sweetly on this wonderful spring day. It would be perfect for a depressed pony and should do wonders lightening her mood. There were plenty of things that could cheer Celestia up and her sister whose presence brought her great joy was determined to make happen.
After a quick shower, Celestia was ready to take on the day with her younger sister by her side. Luna made her final preparations by raising the sun and before long, the two set out to trot down the streets of Canterlot and enjoy the magnificent spring weather. Though Luna had planned to spend time with her sister, neither of them had any idea precisely what they wanted to do. That however could end up being the fun part and the possibilities were endless in a city Like Canterlot. Still, even if they did not find a certain activity to keep them occupied, simply spending the day in each other's company should make for a pleasant day.
"Gooooood morning, Canterlot!" The local DJ Vinyl Scratch greeted as she began her daily broadcast. Celestia and Luna had found their way to Pony Joe's Doughnut Shop where they listened to the radio that sat upon the counter. "Looks like the royal sisters are giving us some fine weather today on this last Tuesday of the month! And like every last Tuesday of each month, we're doing our signature 'Flashback Tuesday' from now until seven o'clock tonight!"
"I rather enjoy this Flashback Tuesday." Luna said as she sipped a large mug of coffee.
"It's actually the perfect day to have it too." Celestia added. "It's one of those things that just makes me feel better."
"I'll be putting on some records from the seventies, eighties, and if they don't suck like most of them..." Vinyl continued. "...a few hits from the nineties from some of Equestria's and Earth's top artists! We'll be taking requests too. Coming up first, we've got a hot hit from Earth's only Madonna! Lucky star! Don't you sexy ponies go anywhere!"
"I'm so glad you are trying to look on the bright side of things." Luna said before downing the last gulp of her coffee. "Oh, Joseph? Your princess requires another tall one! Make it a quadruple shot espresso and keep them coming!"
"Anything for you, pretty princess." The stallion behind the counter replied with a blush.
"Oh Joe, you charmer. I love it when you call me that." Princess Luna's face followed suit as she too blushed at the compliment.
"Do you two flirt with each other often?" Celestia asked with a snicker.
"Every single time I come in here. Why doth thou inquire?"
"Luna, do you have any idea what yea-"
"Sorry, sorry. Why do you wanna know? Better?"
"Much. And I'm just curious is all."
"Okay then. Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't think he was cute and he's way more down to Earth than those stuffy ponies who follow us around. Now, why don't we get back to what's important today? Things that make you feel better. Now, keep in mind I'm not trying to get you to forget about Radius. I just don't want you to be so sad and feel so alone like you do every year. Happy thoughts, okay?"
"Well...the day I forgave the man responsible, I felt like I shed a thousand pounds off my back. That was a good day."
"You never told me about that!"
"I didn't? Oh wow...Well, I guess now is as good a time as any. It was in 1995, not quite ten years after Radius died."
Princess Celestia slowly trotted down a narrow path in the Canterlot Cemetery on a cool November afternoon in 1995. She would visit the grave where she had a statue erected of her lost lover quite often. Celestia felt that today should be no different as any other time that she would come here to grieve. It was the same every time, she would simply go to the statue to place a bouquet of flowers before it, reminisce and weep for a little while. It was all about to change as she neared the statue where she saw a human walking up to it with a bouquet of his own in his hand and a walking cane in the other.
Celestia knew that Radius had human friends from Earth but she did not recognize this one in particular. The man walked very slowly towards the statue and as Celestia trotted closer, she could see that the man was using all his strength just to stay on his feet and must have been ill or very old. The princess trotted over and stopped when she was standing ten feet behind the man as he knelt down to place the bouquet before the memorial.
"If only I'd have listened to you..." The man who wore a thick winter coat and Russian style hat said. "If I would have listened to you, this wouldn't have happened."
"Excuse me, sir?" Celestia asked as she took a step forward. "I couldn't help overhear what you...um, what did you mean by that?"
Upon hearing her, the man slowly turned around revealing his face with slightly lumpy skin that appeared to be badly burned. His hands twitched very frequently as he tried to come up with an answer to the question asked by the magnificent creature that stood before him. Upon Further observation, Celestia could tell that his hands twitched the way they did because he had very little control over it and it was apparent that the man was very sick.
"I..I.." The man stuttered as he tried to answer. "A-are you...Princess Celestia?"
"Yes, I am." Celestia replied. "Did you know Radius?"
"Yes I...I did. I worked with him at the power plant where he died. I'm...Anatoly Dyatlov."
The man who stood before Celestia was the one who was responsible for the death of her coltfriend nine years earlier. At a mere sixty-four years old, Anatoly Dyatlov was reduced to a pale, sickly, withered away man who's body had been outright fried by the radiation he was exposed to that day. Celestia had never met him before and she would be lying if she said she ever wanted to. Despite having never met him nor even knowing what he looked like before, she always hated him and felt that the five years he had spent in prison was too good for him. He was originally sentenced to ten years but was released early due to health complications.
Celestia just stood there and stared at the man who's name she had cursed since April of 1986. There was plenty of room for anger, hatred or countless other emotions that the royal alicorn could have going through her mind. Of all those feelings she could have towards the trembling man that struggled to stand before her, there was only one that she could find it in her heart to have. Princess Celestia took pity on him.
"Your Majesty..." Anatoly began. "There is nothing I could ever possibly say to you to...express how sorry I am. Your stallion friend was a million times the engineer I ever was and...I just...if I *hic* if I just listened to him, he'd still be here...He was just trying to help and I was so cold towards him."
The longer Celestia stood there and listened to Anatoly speak, the more relaxed she became as every last ounce of hatred and ill will she had bottled up towards him simply melted away. She had always felt that he had gotten away with his negligence that fateful Spring morning but aside from him having such a short term in prison he had certainly paid his debt as his body was completely destroyed and every moment he lived, he was in constant pain.
"I understand how you must feel about me." Anatoly Dyatlov continued as he began to weep. "I just want you to know though, not a day goes by without me feeling deep remorse and regret for what happened. I wish so badly that *sniff* that I could have told him I'm sorry. Since you're here...I would like you to say to me whatever you may have wanted to. If it will put you at ease to get it off your chest, I'm ready for whatever you have to say."
"I forgive you." Celestia said quietly.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."
"I forgive you, Anatoly Dyatlov."
Dyatlov heard what the princess said the second time but he simply did not know what to make of it. He was expecting to hear of how hated he was by so many and that she wished unto him nothing but pain and misery for the rest of his days. The last thing he expected was to be told he was forgiven.
"Y-you...forgive me?" Anatoly said, no longer able to hold his emotions in check. "Oh, bless your heart. I-I don't know what to say."
"Your remorse is genuine and you've been through so much since then." Celestia said. "You've come to pay your respects to Radius and after seeing what the radiation has done to you I just...I simply don't have it in me to hate you. I just can't do it."
After taking a moment to think about what Celestia had just said to him, Anatoly let it all out and wept until he nearly lost the strength to stand on his feet. Anatoly Dyatlov was always one to avoid crying as he was afraid that it was a sign of weakness. The years following the events at the Chernobyl Nuclear Facility however, he had learned that having a soft side did not make someone weak. As the tears continued to flow down his face with Celestia starting to build up some of her own, Anatoly extended one of his wrinkled, withered hands to offer the Princess a hand shake. Celestia did not hesitate to oblige and offer her hoof in return. Both She and Anatoly Dyatlov felt an indescribable weight being lifted off their shoulders that day.
"Sister, I'm so proud of you!" Luna said as she dried a few tears with a nearby napkin. "It take such a wonderful pony to be able to forgive like that. So, what happened next?"
"After we paid our respects, I offered to trot with him back to the train he was catching." Celestia replied. "After only a few steps, he lost the last bit of strength he had left and couldn't walk any further."
"Uh huh. And?"
"I wasn't about to leave the poor man there so I put him on my back and carried him to the train depot."
"Aw jeez..." Donut Joe sniffled as he listened to Celestia's story. "That's just beautiful."
"Joseph, are you putting on the waterworks over there?" Luna teased.
"No! Totally not crying!"
"Aw, that's too bad. I've always liked guys who aren't afraid to show their soft side."
"Totally am crying!"
After a brief pause, both princesses and the pony behind the counter shared a good, hearty laugh together. Though the day was still young being that it was only half past ten in the morning, it was still turning out to be a good day of remembrance of a fallen loved one. The story Celestia had just told about her forgiveness towards Dyatlov was a good step in the recovery process and it seemed like today promised many more to come.
"You know..." Celestia began before taking a sip of her coffee. "I'm really glad he and I went to the cemetery at the same time and had that talk when we did. Otherwise it never would have happened."
"Why is that?" Luna Asked.
"He died three weeks later. His heart had to work so hard just so he could take a step and it just couldn't take it any more."
"Oh wow, I guess that was good timing. Poor guy."
"He didn't deserve to die believing that he was hated by everypony. I'm glad I could make him feel a little better before he passed."
"I can't stress enough how proud of you I am, sister. Not many ponies would be kind enough to...to...Joe? What's wrong with the radio? I wanted to hear some more of those funky, fresh tunes."
"Word is it's some kinda wacky signal from Earth, Lulu." Pony Joe replied as he adjusted the dials on the radio. "It's been going in and out all morning and it's starting to get pretty annoying."
"Uh, sorry about that, everypony." The radio DJ said as the static faded. "We're having some technical difficulties here because some signal from Earth got crossed with ours. We're working on tracing exactly where it's coming from and dealing wi-"
Kssshhhhht!
"I don't get it." Princess Luna said as the static returned. "The only way a signal from Earth could interfere with an Equestrian broadcast is if someone set it to intercept ours on purpose. Who would do that and why?"
"I couldn't even begin to guess." Princess Celestia replied. "All I know is that it's ruining Flashback Tuesday."
For several minutes, the strange static continued to interrupt what was supposed to be a fun radio broadcast with popular old tunes. Once in a while, the DJ could be heard cursing in the background but soon the static would take over again. After another few minutes, the static would be joined by a new squealing sound and soon after, the sound of someone or somepony's voice began to cut in and out. The voice was too chopped up to hear properly but the patrons in the doughnut shop including the princesses were curiously staring at the radio as they tried to listen more closely.
"The hell's going on here?" Pony Joe gasped as somepony's broken dialog could be heard on the radio."
Kssshhht! "I haven't go...mu...time. I've been stu...ere for s...any years! If anypony can h...I'm broadca...rom the Chern...wer plant in Prip...kraine..."
"Are you hearing this, sister?" Luna asked as she listened closely to the strange broadcast. "Tia?"
Instead of answering, Celestia continued to listen closely. Not only did this odd signal catch her attention as something to break up the monotony of the day, she couldn't help but think that she may have heard this voice before a long time ago. She just simply could not put her hoof on where though. If the voice were to have been obstructed by less static, then perhaps it could be more easily identified. The only thing anypony could pick up from what they were hearing was that it was a male whom of which sounded very stressed out.
Kssshhht! "Somep...elp me, I'm st...live! I don't kn...urvived this but the rad...on has tur...into a...ster! I've suffered here f...so long! I just want to se...iends and fami...gain before it's too late..."
After a few moments of this mysterious male in distress fading in and out on the radio, he gradually came in more clearly and got across his point that he was in desperate need of help. Still though, most of his dialog was broken and several words were nearly impossible to make out. The last comment from the frightened individual however, could not have been more clear.
"My nam...ius Hoo...ov! Please! I can't take this anymore! Somepony get me out of here!"
Finally the radio went completely silent and not even static could be heard from it. All the patrons of Pony Joe's Doughnut Shop, the princesses included simply did not know what to make of the whole thing that they had just heard. For what seemed like an eternity, everypony just stared at the radio to listen closely in case anything else would come from the strange interference. After a few clicks and a small amount of static, the device appeared to return to normal working order.
"Wow...okay, that was weird." Vinyl Scratch said as the Canterlot station's signal took control. "Sorry, folks. It all seems to be over now. Whatever that was is off our airwaves now and we're trying to figure out what the deal is. Looks like we can go on with Flashback Tuesday though! Coming up by request, Earth's one and only Prince! Rest in peace, buddy. Now, let's go crazy!"
"Oooh! This is my jam!" Luna beamed as her favorite song started playing. "Celestia,why don't we play music like this at the Gala?"
"We, uhh..." Celestia stuttered as her thoughts were still on the strange interference. "We...used to."
"Well, that certainly was a bit odd." Princess Luna said as she and her elder sister trotted down a busy Canterlot street towards the city park.
"Uh huh." Celestia quietly replied.
"Are you alright, sister? Tia?"
Most of those who heard the strange broadcast either shrugged it off as a hoax or just simply a compilation of gibberish. Princess Celestia on the other hoof was still thinking about it and very deeply at that. Though the dialog was difficult to hear, the words that could be heard kept echoing through Celestia's mind.
"He used the word 'somepony'" Celestia thought to herself. "So he's a pony trapped somewhere on Earth? He also said something about years. Years as in plural, not singular. He's been trapped for that long? When they find out where that signal came from, somepony really should look into that."
"Celestia!" Luna said as she stood in front of her sister blocking her path. "What's gotten into you?"
"I'm sorry, Lulu, I just can't stop thinking about that broadcast." Celestia replied.
"*sigh* Just my big sister thinking with her big heart again. It did sound like that pony was in trouble so of course you'd want to try and help. You really are a saint, you know that?"
"Aww, thanks, Luna. Look, I'm just a little concerned is all. He sounded like he was in terrible distress and..."
"And what?"
"Promise me you won't think I'm crazy."
"Of course."
"That voice...I've heard it before. It sounded so familiar."
"That so?"
"Uh huh."
"I don't think you're crazy."
"Thanks, Lulu. Thanks for everything you've done for me today."
"And I'd do it all again. So what shall we do regarding the pony in distress?"
"Let's head to the radio station. Maybe we'll be able to tell us where the signal came from. That'd be the first step in rendering aid to somepony in need."
"Lead the way, sis."
"I'll set a few tracks to play back to back while I take a quick break." Vinyl Scratch said over the microphone for the entire city of Canterlot to hear. "Looks like I got a couple of royal visitors here and I don't wanna keep 'em waiting. Don't you sexy ponies go anywhere!"
After her brief announcement, the DJ then flipped a switch, setting her off the air, removed her headphones and joined the princesses outside of her studio.
"Hey, what's up, you two?" Vinyl casually greeted. "We aren't sure exactly where that whacky signal was coming from but we've narrowed it down to somewhere in Eastern Europe on Earth."
"Incedible!" Luna replied. "Then we are that much closer to discovering the whereabouts of the pony in distress."
"Once they can pinpoint the exact location..." Celestia began. "...then the necessary steps can be taken to begin a search and rescue."
"I think we can handle that." Vinyl said. "We got some people poking around and soon, they'll get it figured out."
"Excellent. Oh, do you happen to have a recording of that incident?"
"Yeah, we record every minute we broadcast. Hang on a sec, I'll get you a tape."
As Vinyl Scratch went back into her studio to prepare a cassette, Princess Luna thought some more about why her older sister would go so far as to ask for a recording of the broadcast. She was glad that Celestia was not spending her day sulking but taking it upon herself to investigate a distress call rather than leaving it to the authorities who were already on the job would simply cause her more stress that she did not need.
"Is this going to be a new obsession of yours, tia?" Luna asked. "I hope this doesn't end up like the time you took up that part time bar tending job."
"Lulu, I told you." Celestia began. "That voice sounded familiar. I just feel like I need to know more about it. That and...well, Vinyl said it was coming from Eastern Europe. What if..."
"What if what?"
"N-nothing. That was all I had."
"Here's the tape." Vinyl said as she hoofed a cassette to Celestia.
"Thank you, Miss Scratch. While the authorities on Earth search for the exact location of the signal, I'll see if I can put some more pieces together. Let's go, Lulu."
After speaking with the DJ, Celestia and Luna made their way back home to the palace. Other than lowering the sun in her sister's place to make way for the moon, Luna planned to continue relaxing and making sure Celestia was doing the same. When they arrived however, Luna would soon be disappointed as Celestia immediately went to her private study in search of her tape player and headphones.
Soon, Celestia had all the things she needed set on her desk including the tape player, a pen, and notebook. As she waited for information regarding the recent interference, Celestia repeatedly listened to the recording from the early afternoon into nightfall. After listening to it a few dozen times, she had everything the pony in question wrote down and felt that she was ready to fill in the blanks.
"Hmm, let's see..." Celestia said to herself as she filled in the first few words she heard from the recording. "'Hello, can anypony hear me?' Seems simple enough. I'm stuck on the second line though. Unless..."
Celestia continued to write down what she felt best filled in the blanks. Once she got a little further, she lifted the piece of paper up to take a good long look at it.
Hello? Can anypony hear me? I haven't got much time! I've been stuck here for so many years! If anypony can hear me, I'm broadcasting from the...
"Damn..." Celestia said under her breath. "Broadcasting from the what? It cuts off at 'chern'. Hmm, okay I'll skip forward a bit. Wait...power plant! Okay, that makes sense. What's next? 'prip' and 'kraine'...Wait a minute...Eastern Europe...Ukraine! Okay, let's go back to 'chern'."
Celestia had put several of the missing words together but for nearly half an hour, she was stuck on that one particular part that came before "power plant". In the back of her mind, she had an idea but felt that it would be nearly impossible if at least a highly improbable long shot.
"Okay, I've got to be losing my mind here." Celestia huffed to herself out of frustration. "I'm coming up on forty-eight hours without sleep and there's no way it would come from a place like Chernobyl. He said he was sending this out from a power plant, nopony can set hoof inside the Chernobyl Facility and live more than a few minutes! Let alone years! Wait, I think he was giving his name too."
The weary princess then decided to skip a few more lines down towards the end where it appeared that the mystery pony was trying to say who they were. So far, the only things Celestia knew that this individual was a male pony trapped at a power plant in Ukraine who's name was...
"Okay, I have officially lost my mind." Celestia said as she uncorked a wine bottle and poured herself a glass. "It's the date that's getting to me, nothing more. Radius has been gone for thirty years and he's in a better place. I need to take my mind off this whole thing."
At this point, Celestia was very tired and knew that it would be in her best interest to turn in for the night. After polishing off her second glass of wine, she poured herself a third. Just as she began to work on it, she heard five firm knocks on the door of her study. Normally she would hide her drink before allowing somepony to enter but on a night like tonight, Celestia was simply not in the mood to impress anypony else.
"Come in." Celestia answered.
Without hesitation, the door opened revealing a dark blue Pegasus guard. Celestia was more relaxed now that she had two and a half glasses of wine in her so instead of asking what the guard wanted, she simply waited for him to speak first. She simply was not in a hurry for anything.
"I'm sorry to bother you your maj-" The guard began before being cut off.
"Meh, don't worry about it." Celestia interrupted before taking a final gulp, finishing her third glass. "The way I'm feeling right now, nothing in the whole world can bother me."
"Ah. I'm glad you're feeling well, your majesty. Ahem, anyway, there is a phone call for you from a leader from Earth. We have him on hold in the main hall."
"Okay thanks a lot. Hey, Blue Streak?"
"Uh yes, Your Majesty?"
"You're so helpful, you know that?" Celestia's buzz was really starting to show and her guard was fully aware of it.
"Oh, why thank you, Your Majesty. That's very kind of you to say."
"I appreciate everything you and the rest of your squadron do for my sister and I. You guys are the best."
"Again, thank you but you still have a prime minister on hold. He said the matter is of utmost importance."
"Right, right, let's go. Trot with me will you?"
"Of course."
"Hey, about my sister..."
"Yes?"
"She thinks you're pretty swell."
"Oh?"
"Do you like her?"
"With all due respect, Your Majesty, I don't think you're really yourself right now. Besides, she's taken quite the liking to the fella who runs the doughnut shop. Just a bit further and we'll be at the phone, okay?"
After a minute or so, Celestia and her guard were approaching a wall mounted telephone that had someone quite important waiting for her on the other line. Though she was quite tipsy from drinking her wine a little too fast, Celestia knew she needed to keep her composure and be careful of what she said. After all, she was the face of the nation of Equestria and as such it was her duty to represent her homeland in a polite and professional manner.
"Hey, what's up?" Celestia said as she answered the phone, mentally kicking herself for her lack of professionalism.
"Hello, Your Majesty." The man answered with a thick Slavic sort of accent. "First off, allow me to apologize for calling you at this hour but I'm afraid this matter cannot wait. My name is Volodymyr Groysman, I'm Ukraine's new Prime Minister."
"Oh? What um...What can I do for you, Mister Prime Minister?"
"Well, I'm calling regarding a radio signal that intercepted one from your world."
"Of course! So it did come from Ukraine! I did some digging and I was able to make out some of what the individual was saying."
"Ah, so you and I both are on the same idea then. Good. Now, I truly am sorry for bringing up a touchy subject but I also understand that you lost somepony close to you in our nuclear accident thirty years ago, yes?"
"Thirty years ago on this very date. It's been hard but I've been able to manage and thank you for the condolences. But tell me, what, if anything do those two things have to do with each other?"
"Princess Celestia, I don't know how else to say this so I'll just come out with it point blank. We've traced the signal's precise location. It came from the abandoned city of Pripyat...hello?...Your majesty, are you still with me?...hello?"
"Y-yes, I'm still here, it's just...wow."
"Ah yes, I completely understand that it must be hard for you, bringing up a sour memory like this but-"
"Oh it's not just that, Mister Prime Minister, a lot of things have been on my mind today. Not only was this the day the stallion I wanted to marry was taken from me but now a radio broadcast with a voice that reminds me of his comes along and now you tell me it's coming from the very place he died!"
"Your Majesty, please calm yourself! Forgive me, I had no intentions of causing you stress but we have listened to the same recording several times and judging by the being's use of the word's 'anypony' and 'somepony', we think that tells us what species he is. Lastly, we've gone back and looked at every last record and bit or surveillance footage. Doctor Radius Hoofenschtov was the only Equestrian citizen and pony in the entire city of Pripyat and ergo the only one at the Chernobyl Power plant that night."
"Mister Prime Minister...what are you trying to say?"
"Before I tell you, I want you to promise me you have somepony for support with you. Oh, and maybe a paper bag too."
"Okay, fine. Blue Streak, please go get my sister and bring her back here."
"Yes, Your Majesty." The Guard replied before bolting away to retrieve the younger princess.
"Alright, I have my sister coming to join me. Now please, I need to you to tell me what's going on! I don't even know anymore!"
"I really admire you ponies." The Prime Minister sighed. "I feel terrible about putting this stress on one but...Your Majesty...We think Doctor Hoofenschtov may still be alive."
"Tia!" Princess Luna shouted as she shook her unconscious sister. "Wake up! I need to know that you are alright!"
"Wha!?" Celestia gasped as she sprang awake.
"Good Lord, her pulse is going through the roof!" A yellow unicorn who was a nearby doctor said. "Here, take this paper bag. Deep breath's now, Your Majesty. There you go, everything will be fine."
As Princess Celestia hyperventilated into the bag in order to calm herself, it occurred to her that she fainted over the news that the leader of Ukraine had given her. After a few more minutes of using the bag and her sister gently rubbing her back, Celestia's breathing finally slowed down enough for her to think rationally.
"Sister, dearest, what's wrong!?" A concerned Luna asked.
"Lulu?"
"Yes, Tia?"
"I'm going to need a hell of a lot more wine if I'm going to deal with this shit."
The night before the dreaded twenty-sixth, Celestia spent its entirety laying wide awake and after passing out from shock following a phone conversation, the younger Princess Luna simply would not allow her sister to go another moment without sleep. Once she lowered the moon and began to bring the sun up to begin the day, the night princess would be having a serious conversation with her elder sister. Something was very wrong and after allowing Celestia to get her much needed rest, Luna intended on finding out what it was.
While Princess Luna stood outside her sister's room on a balcony and focused her magic on bringing the sun up into the sky, she kept her ears perked up towards Celestia to listen for any signs of her waking up. just as the sun poked up over the horizon and gained enough momentum for Luna to release it from her magic, her ear twitched at the sound of her elder sister stirring in her bed. It would not be much longer before Princess Luna could find out what Celestia's problem was and why she behaved in such a manner that greatly concerned their guard squadron.
"Are you feeling well rested?" Luna asked as Celestia sat up and rubbed her eyes. "If all that wine you had hadn't put you to sleep, nothing would have."
"Yes, Luna, I'm feeling fine." Celestia replied. "No hang over to speak of either."
"Good. So look, you and I need to talk. What happened to you last night?"
"I already told you, Lulu. You didn't believe me."
"That's because you were speaking as if you were on whatever the element of laughter uses and you weren't yourself. Now that your drunkenness has subsided and we have a moment, you can calmly tell me what's gotten into you and we can get to the bottom of it."
Celestia then bagen nervously fidgeting by and rubbing her hooves together as she took a moment to think, avoiding eye contact with her sister like a plague. The concerned night Princess responded by gently placing a hoof under her elder sister's chin and turned the latter's face towards her own so they were looking each other directly in the eyes.
"Tia, I love you so much and I'm really worried about you." Luna continued. "I mean, that foul language you used last night and in front of nearly a dozen of our guards...it's just not like you to curse and even less for you to drink yourself stupid. I know you only do it when things go wrong...and I know for a fact that things have most certainly gone very, very wrong. So tell me...what happened when you talked on the phone last night?"
"Okay, I'll start from when I started listening to that tape." Celestia began, after a defeated sigh.
"Alright then."
"I had to have heard it nearly a hundred times. I was able to put a lot of the words together."
"Okay, go on."
"Somepony has been trapped in Eastern Europe and they said they were holed up in a power plant."
"That's...huh."
"Strange, I know. Anyway, I was able to hear him say that Ukraine is where he was. I also was able to figure out that he was a pony too. That's where I got stuck for a while. I decided to take a break and that's when I got the phone call."
"From whom?"
"The prime minister of Ukraine was on the other line and he told me that he knew about that strange radio broadcast, where it came from and why we were able to hear it. See, they have small wormholes between Equestria and Earth that are right next to radio towers. That's so Equestria can pick up an Earth broadcast and vice versa."
"Wow, that must make for a confusing night. What did he have to say about it?"
"Luna, sister, you know I love you more than anything, right?"
"That feeling is one hundred percent mutual."
"But if I tell you, there is no way, you'll believe me."
"Try me."
For the first time in over a millennium, Celestia simply could not be sure weather her sister would take her word for it or think she was losing her mind. For many thousands of years, the two sisters have endured it all through thick and thin but nothing was about to prepare Luna for what Celestia was about to tell her and Celestia herself was nearly in shock at the words that were about to come out of her mouth.
"Lulu, they think my coltfriend Radius somehow survived and has been living in Pripyat for the last thirty years."
Luna did not answer and instead just cocked her eyebrow and gave her sister a perplexed stare. She was always willing to give Celestia the benefit of the doubt and help her through anything she could but she first needed to know what she herself thought of the strange phone conversation. So far Celestia had only told Luna what was said by the other party but she needed to know exactly what she thought of it.
"Okay." Luna began. "So what is your take on it?"
"I don't know, Lulu." Celestia replied as she rubbed her temples. "Like, if there was some way Radius somehow survived a huge explosion and tons of radiation, i mean, I guess I'd be glad he was still alive. On the other hoof, the idea of him living and suffering in some abandoned wasteland for this long makes me sick."
Luna then opened her mouth for a moment to interject but Celestia cut her off before she could speak.
"And this Pripyat is nothing like the moon, luna." Celestia said. "Try to imagine being trapped in a place with toxic substances that cook your entire body from the inside out. I've seen what radiation does to people. Not a day goes by without me regretting sending you away but the moon is a luxury resort compared to a nuclear fallout zone."
"Alright, alright sorry." Luna said. "But what I'm asking you is do you believe what the Prime Minister said? Do you really think that there is some chance that your coltfriend is actually still out there alive somewhere? I mean, how is that possible? Wasn't he caught right in the explosion?"
"Some of the signs actually make sense, Luna. And all these things that just fall together like that like the fact that it's a missing pony, he's in a power plant in Ukraine, and it sounded an awful lot like he was trying to say 'Chernobyl' when he got cut off by the static."
"That's...an awful lot of coincidences."
"Right, and that's why I intend on looking into it. I can't just let this whole thing go without at least discussing it further with Ukrainian authorities."
"I understand, Tia. If it will put you at ease and this matter to rest once and for all, then I say go for it."
"Thank you, Luna. If we look into this together, we'll soon find the trut-"
The royal sisters' conversation was suddenly interrupted by nine firm, and urgent sounding knocks on the door of Celestia's personal room. After briefly glancing at each other, Celestia gave Luna a small nod before the former spoke up to the visitor.
"Enter." Luna said before the door swung open revealing a guard holding a package.
"A thousand pardons, your majestys..." The guard began with a bow. "But this parcel I have here was delivered via overnight express on urgent circumstances from the Prime Minister of Ukraine on Earth. I was told that it regards a matter of utmost importance and it cannot wait."
"Ukraine, you say?" Celestia asked. "Yes, hoof it over please."
"Thank you for bringing it to us, cadet." Luna said. "You are dismissed."
With another bow, the guard then exited the room, closed the door behind him and left the two sisters with the mysterious package. It was a small, rectangular object wrapped in brown paper with a tag attached that read "Urgent! Open immediately!" Wasting no time, Celestia used her aura to tear through the paper and packing tape until shortly she pulled out what all the fuss was about. A VHS tape with a small, folded note taped to the front. Celestia then pulled the note off revealing a label on the front of the tape that read "Reactor room surveillance footage-4/86".
"That's odd." Luna said. "Why would he send us this? We already know what happened."
"Well, we're about to find out why." Celestia replied as she prepared to read the note aloud."
Dear Princess Celestia:
First off, I would like to sincerely apologize for the stress you have been going through due to the recent circumstances that have arisen. I understand that what I told you on the phone last night must have been difficult to hear but after our conversation was cut off, I decided to take another look at the footage enclosed in this package. Your Majesty, you would not believe what I found unless you saw it with your own eyes. When you play this tape, fast forward to 1:23:36. Once you have done that, slowly move forward just a few frames with your eyes on Radius. I must warn you however, some of what you will see may strike a nerve with you and I apologize in advance for that. I await your response.
Sincerely, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman
p.s.- Be sure to use a high definition tv to get a clear picture and see what we couldn't before.
"Luna, meet me in my study." Celestia said as she trotted out of the room with the tape in her aura. "I need to go dig something up."
Luna obliged and soon found herself in her sister's private study. It felt somewhat odd to her as this time she was granted permission by her elder sister to be there unlike most other times that she would prefer were kept secret. While she waited for Celestia to return with the necessary equipment, Luna prepared the the large flat screen television by unplugging the accompanying gaming console and moving any unneeded wires out of the way.
"Okay, Luna, let's hook this thing up." Celestia said as she entered the room. In her aura, she held a strange gray device with a rectangular slot on one side with a wall plug and what appeared to be a coax cable.
"And what, pray tell, is that?" Luna asked as Celestia began to attach the device to the television.
"This, my dear baby sister, is a VCR. As ancient as this technology is and as long as it's been all but obsolete, it has yet to be replaced when it comes to recording surveillance footage."
"Fascinating. How long ago were these decommissioned?"
"Uh, I think around like 2003 or something. I wasn't really paying attention, I think it was sometime around the early two thousands when DVDs phased these out."
"I thought you said it was ancient!"
"Look, I got it all set up now, okay? We've got bigger things to worry about so let's just play this tape."
Celestia was getting anxious about what the Prime Minister of Ukraine so badly needed her to see so with much haste, she inserted the cassette tape into the VCR and after several clicks, the device began blowing out clouds of dust. After several more seconds, the outdated electronic device began emitting a strange whining sound but soon started playing the recorded footage.
The footage that played before the two princesses who carefully observed every inch of the screen was apparently shot from a camera approximately fifteen yards from none other than reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Facility. The time displayed on the screen was just past midnight and the date was the one that had always made Celestia shudder; April twenty-sixth, 1986. All operations taking place seemed to be going normally as all the workers who walked past the view of the camera acted as if it was just another day at the office. It all seemed as if nothing was going wrong until Celestia saw a certain somepony come into view on the bottom level closest to the reactor.
"Oh my God!" Celestia gasped.
"What? What's wrong, Tia?" Luna asked.
"That's him...that's my Radius..."
Doctor Radius Hoofenshtov was on the screen trotting alongside two men wearing white lab coats and hardhats. Celestia remembered Radius describing the two men he worked with so she was able to identify them as his two favorite co-workers Vladimir Shashenok and Valeriy Khodemchuk. Since the time was just moments past the displayed time striking midnight, the three friends must have been heading to the employee locker room to clock in for their shifts. The two men and the pony who walked and trotted down the steel deck together appeared to be laughing and joking among themselves which wrenched at the hearts of the two sisters who watched as these poor souls were oblivious to their impending doom.
After watching for a few more minutes, Radius and his colleagues walked and trotted off camera, their time cards in hand and hoof ready to be punched. Moments later, none other than Anatoly Dyatlov walked into view holding a clipboard with two of his subordinates in tow. There was no audio in the footage but the three appeared to be discussing the test that would begin momentarily and in just over an hour from then end up rendering a large area uninhabitable. Celestia had long forgiven Dyatlov and the more she thought about it before, the more she sympathized with him as his involvement in the meltdown weighed on him heavily until the day he died.
"Are you alright, Tia?" Luna asked, noticing that her sister was stifling tears.
"Yes, I'm fine, Luna." The watery eyed Celestia replied as she gently laid a hoof of the tv monitor. "It's just that...it's been so long since I've seen Radius actually...trotting around. And that poor man. He didn't mean to cause it and I know he hated himself for it."
"I know, sister, I know. Just remember why we're reviewing this though. There is something that happened later in the video that we need to see. Let's skip forward, okay?"
"Yes, of course."
Knowing that for whatever reason it had to be done, Celestia then used her aura to activate fast forward mode on the VCR and watched as the footage reeled up towards 1:23 in the morning just as the letter from the Prime Minister had instructed. To avoid skipping past it, Celestia decided to stop one minute before that time. The letter did warn that what the tape showed would be hard to watch but there was nothing in the entire world that could have prepared her for what was about to unfold.
"He was right on top of the reactor?!" Celestia cried out as she saw her coltfriend crippled and helpless after his twenty foot fall. "They never told me that!"
"Stay strong, Tia." Luna calmly said as she placed a comforting hoof on her sister's shoulder.
Celestia did not answer and began to shed tears as she continued to watch the video. On the particular part of the recording that the two sisters were watching, the camera began to briefly cut in and out as that was the time when the magnitude of the floor shaking reached its peak. Just as the specified time where the video was to be paused approached, Celestia prepared her aura to press the pause button on the VCR. Just before she could press it however, the lid of the reactor shot up through the ceiling of the building, ending the footage as the impact from the blast had destroyed the camera that was recording it. To see the actual alleged death of Radius unfold before their eyes was painful for both Princesses but for Celestia it was as if old wounds were being torn open to bleed again as she went into a hysterical sobbing fit.
The warning in the Prime Minister's letter appeared to be a drastic understatement. Celestia had just witnessed her coltfriend that she lost three decades ago getting killed in a nuclear explosion all over again and it would take a half hour of her sister holding her close to make her hyperventilating to cease. Still, the regal sisters had a task at hoof that they badly needed to complete and a hidden detail in the video that they had to investigate.
Finally, Celestia and Luna rewound the tape back to the point just before the explosion and promptly paused it. Ever so slowly, they skipped forward frame by frame with their eyes on Radius the entire time. Each frame that skipped by felt like another bullet in Celestia's heart but the sisters bravely continued. Each passing second was another frame skipped over and just when Celestia nor Luna could take the agony of waiting another second, they found the clue that would change everything known about the death of Radius Hoofenschtov. What the princesses were looking at was Radius embracing two men on top of the reactor a fraction of a second before it exploded. Even the deadly gasses could be seen seeping out of the gap between the reactor and its lid.
The only difference between this particular frame and the rest was that Radius' horn was glowing brightly with his unmistakable green magical aura that matched his eyes. Along with his glowing horn, there was a bubble of the same color surrounding the pony and both men. This would turn out to be the biggest breakthrough since the tragedy all those years ago.
"He used a shield spell!" Celestia gasped as she began to sob again. "A fucking shield spell! Oh my God!"
"Sister, I..." Luna stuttered. "I can't even...I don't know what to say! "
"Luna, do you know what this means?! He could still be alive! There's a chance that he's still out there! This right here is proof!"
"Tia, I think you actually may be right this time!"
"This is just incredible...okay, okay, okay, just keep it together...keep it together."
"Yes, I couldn't agree more. Calm yourself sister. You can't make proper decisions when you lose your mind. That's it, deep breaths, Tia. Oh, and do cease the cursing, it's rather unbecoming."
"Okay...let me think...I believe my next course of action is obvious, Lulu."
"And that is?..."
"I'm going to start recruiting some help. I'm getting Radius out of there!"
"So what exactly is the plan, sister?" Luna asked as the two sisters sat at a table in Celestia's private study.
"Well, Lulu, the plan is for you and I to take some time here to make a plan." Celestia replied.
"Oh. So, you don't actually have one at the moment."
"Um, I do not."
It was true, Celestia currently did not know where to start but she and Luna could now use the time they had to determine the proper course of action to take from this point. The very first step to doing this was to assess the over all situation and then start with going over what options they may have at their disposal. As emotional as Celestia has been however, it was of utmost importance that she remain calm throughout the thinking process as to avoid making rash decisions. Being that she and her sister were as old as Equestria itself though, the two of them had little trouble with maintaining their composure.
"Alright then..." Celestia began. "Let's just take a moment to review what we're dealing with here."
"Well, the way I see it..." Luna began. "We have an Equestrian citizen lost in an abandoned city plagued by radiocative partacles in another dimension."
"That is for the most part correct aside from the minor details."
"Such as?"
"There are a few particular things about the exclusion zone around Pripyat that we need to keep in mind. One, the radiation is higher in some parts of the area than others."
"Alright. What else?"
"There is a reason why the Ukrainian authorities normally refuse to allow anyone within the zone at night. That's when the mutated wildlife comes out. Due to the lack of human presence, there are supposedly several hundred wolves in the area and they are anything but normal too."
"Wow. How do you suppose Radius has survived all this time with such obstacles?"
"I don't know, Luna. Really I don't but Radius was a genius. He was a resourceful one and he had the highest IQ of anypony in modern Equestrian history. That's...kind of what drew me to him."
"Focus, Tia. We need to figure out what we need to do to find him."
"We can't do this on our own. We need to get some help with it."
"Most certainly."
"We'll need to gather up some ponies for the job. The only course of action I see fit is to hire some qualified ponies to go into the zone and try to locate Radius."
"You mean like some of our guards?"
"Well, not exactly. The more I think about it, the more names of those I'd trust to help come to mind."
"Who?"
"Hold that thought, Lulu. I need you to go call Mr. Groysman back and tell him I'll be getting some help rounded up. I'll be making some calls and writing some letters of my own."
While Princess Luna went to call the Prime Minister back, Princess Celestia grabbed a quill and a stack of parchment with her aura and went to work writing out the letters to summon some of Equestria's finest. After approximately fifteen minutes, Celestia had finished her fifth letter and took a few more to review her work. Once she was satisfied with what she had on the parchment, one by one she placed each of them into their own addressed envelopes, sealed them shut and placed stamp her own signature seal on the wax. Normally, Celestia would prefer to contact somepony by telephone but she knew that the particular ones she had in mind had not yet acquired such technology so the standard mail would have to suffice.
With the envelopes sealed and stamped, Celestia then cast a spell, sending each one of them to the ponies they were addressed to. Doing so rather than sending it out via Equestria's postal service would ensure that the letters reached their destinations more quickly. With that task finished and the letters on their way, Princess Celestia then levitated a corded phone that sat upon her desk and dialed the number of somepony she knew who had gotten one of his own. After a moment of ringing, somepony picked up on the other line.
"You've reached the Palace of the Crystal Empire, how may I help you?" A mare on the other line asked.
"Good evening, miss." Princess Celestia greeted. "This is Princess Celestia calling from the South."
"Oh! How can I help you, your majesty?"
"Could you transfer me to Prince Shining Armor, please? It's a matter of utmost urgency."
"Ah, right away, Your Majesty. One moment, please."
"Thank you, miss."
After the pleasant exchange between Celestia and the secretary she just spoke to, a nice, soothing piano solo began playing as the Princess patiently waited on hold. She had informed the secretary that her reason for calling was extremely important so she anticipated that she would not have to wait very long on hold. As soothing as the music on the other line was, Celestia could only take so much for so long and after ten minutes, she began to get slightly impatient.
"What the hell is taking him so long?" Celestia swore under her breath.
Still another five minutes later, nopony answered her. Being several thousands of years old, one developed the patience of a saint but even Celestia became bored while she kept waiting until eventually her mind just trailed off onto whatever subject happened to pop into it. Finally, after yet another five minutes, the music stopped and the Princess could hear some slight background noise."
"Uh, he-*pant* hello?" A winded stallion answered.
"Wow, Shining Armor, what kept you?" Celestia asked jokingly. "I didn't think your hallways were that long."
"Oh! Auntie *gasp* Celestia! It's been *pant* a while? How are *phew* you?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing. What were you doing when I was on hold for twenty minutes?"
"Oh, uh I was just doing some excercises. Ever since I stepped down as guard Captain, I kinda put on a few so uh...you know."
"Don't let him fool you, Auntie!" A young mare yelled from the background. He's been smoking again! He never got winded this easily before!"
"I have not!" Celestia could tell by Shining Armor's tone that he was not being entirely truthful and decided she would bring that up near the end of the conversation.
"Oh is that Cadence?" Celestia asked, glad to hear from both of the young couple. "Tell her I said hi!"
"Uh, sure, I'll put you on speaker."
"Okay then. So, I think we've gotten a little of track here. I suppose you two are wondering why I'm calling at this hour."
"Yeah, what's going on? Cadence asked.
"I need your help with something, Shining Armor. I'll explain the best I can so bear with me."
"Okay, no worries." Shining Armor said, willing to help any way he could as always.
"Okay then. See, thirty years ago, I had a very serious relationship with a physicist named Radius Hoofenschtov. He was supposedly killed in the Chernobyl meltdown in Ukraine back in 1986. Are you with me so far?"
"Yeah, I remember you telling me about that before. I'm sorry to hear that."
"Thank you, dear. So recently, a strange signal interfered with a local radio broadcast. It was a bit weak but the voice was familiar and I was able to put a few things together and I even got a call from the leader of Ukraine. He sent over some new found evidence that suggests...that he might still be alive there somewhere after all these years."
"Wow, that's rough. Isn't that place a dead zone or something?"
"And that's why I need to search that area and get him out as soon as possible if we find him. I need your help, Shining. I confess, it will be a very dangerous mission but I can't think of anypony I trust more to lead some more recruits and find our missing citizen."
"You Know you can always count on me."
"Not only are there dangerous creatures under every rock there, the area is also plagued by radiation."
"Okay, but I'm always willing to help you with anything you need."
"I'll also pay you for your troubles, dear. Please, I can't do this witho-"
"Auntie, I said I'll help."
"Oh...right. Thank you so much, Shining."
Even though Shining Armor was always willing to help with anything regardless of the dangers of the job, Celestia truly did not expect him to welcome such a challenge as quickly and with no hesitation the way he did. Shining Armor was until the previous year the Captain of the Cnterlot Royal Guard but since then, many things changed. He was married to his true love, held the title and position of Prince of the Crystal Empire and was now even a father. The mission he had just agreed to assist in was full of dangers he had never faced before and now, he had a lot more to lose should something go wrong.
"Really, it's no problem, Auntie Celestia." Shining Armor assured the Princess on the other line.
"I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate this, dear." Celestia replied. "So, here is what I'd like you to do. I've sent out letters to five others who I thought would be qualified and willing to help so if you could gather up some of your Royal Guard survival gear and such, that would be immensely helpful."
"Of course."
"On Friday, at three in the afternoon, I'll be having everypony willing to go meet with me at the palace here in Canterlot. Just talk things over with Cadence and show up then. Sound fair?"
"You bet!"
"Again, thank you so much...Oh and Shining?"
"Yeah?"
"You know I care so much about you. I understand you're very stressed out but please stop smoking. There are so many better ways to deal with stress and we all like having you around."
"I...I'm sorry, Aunt Tia. Okay, I'll give it up. It's just that...well, ruling this place with Cadence is stressful enough but then we become parents. I didn't know it was going to be so rough."
"You want rough?" Cadence asked in a sultry tone. "Get on your back and I'll show you what rough is!"
"Gotta go! See you on Friday!"
Click!
"O-okay then...wow."
As strange of a turn the conversation took, Celestia knew that she had gotten the job done and summoned her former guard Captain to assist her in the mission to retrieve her long lost flame. The day was Wednesday so having the meeting on Friday would give anypony willing to help a full day to gather their things and make other necessary preparations. The only things left to do at this point were to have Ukraine's Prime Minister grant permission to enter and await the responses of the ponies who Celestia chose for the job.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville...
Just like any other, the beautiful Spring night that Princess Luna had brought to all of Equestria was pleasantly cool and as calm and peaceful as ever. Now that it was nearing ten o'clock, most ponies were just getting ready for bed if they were not already sound asleep. Ponyville, being a fairly small town, was no exception as the number of ponies still walking the streets could be counted on one hoof. The only sign of life at this point was that of a light blue pegasus mare with a magnificently multi colored mane and tail flying up to her home made of cloud.
Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty and newly recruited member of the Wonderbolts was just returning to her floating house after a night out with friends just as she did any other night prior. Tired but satisfied after a day off from her usual duties spent with her closest friends, Rainbow Dash landed on her front porch and began to push her door open until she observed something that was slightly out of order for this time of night.
"Huh, weird." Rainbow Dash shrugged as she pulled an envelope out of her mailbox. "I already picked up today's mail. Since when do they deliver twice a day let alone at this hour?"
Rainbow dash then proceeded to read the sending address on the envelope as she pushed her door open and flipped the light switch next to her front door. Normally, the mail arrived around noon and could be read outside in the daylight. Not only that but after her night out, Rainbow Dash had relaxing in her living room chair with a mug of cider as the first thing on her mind. After grabbing her drink from her fridge, the tired pegasus made her way to her easy chair where she broke the wax seal on the envelope sent to her by Princess Celestia.
"Hmm...What do we have here?" Rainbow Dash said to herself as she began reading the letter.
Dear Rainbow Dash:
I am writing to you and four others at this time about a matter requiring swift action. As you may know, a nation on Earth known as Ukraine had a nuclear accident thirty years ago that allegedly took the life of an Equestrian citizen. Recently, my sister and I have acquired some evidence that suggests that he may still be alive. He is lost in the so called "exclusion zone" in an abandoned city near the wrecked Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. I am calling on you because you are one of the few that I can trust to help me with. This will be a search and rescue mission and your areal skills will come in quite handy. After helping defeat and reform discord, fighting an invading changeling army, and stopping Tirek I am very confident that you will be an asset to the team I am assembling. I will be hosting a meeting with those who are willing to help on Friday at three o'clock in the afternoon to go over the details. I would be forever indebted to you if you would be willing to help me with this, Rainbow Dash. I hope to see you here on Friday. Thank you in advance.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia.
P.S.- Please refrain from telling Twilight Sparkle about this. Knowing her and how crazy she is about science, she'll want to go and study the affects of radioactivity on wildlife or something of the like. I'd just rather she stayed in Ponyville this time. Thanks.
"Sweet." Rainbow Dash said before taking a sip of her cider with her loyal pet tortoise on her lap. "It's been a while since I've seen some real action eh, Tank?"
The Following day which was a Thursday came and went and Rainbow Dash had used it to make preparations of her own. She needed somepony to look after Tank her pet tortoise while she was gone so she asked her Friend Fluttershy to help with that. After that, she used a payphone that was recently installed in the village park to leave a message informing her wonderbolt Captain Spitfire that she would be absent for an currently unknown amount of time. Spitfire was at her office to answer the call but Rainbow Dash was able to leave a message there as she did not own a phone at her home. The Captain was normally not one to tolerate a member missing too many training sessions but surely since Rainbow Dash was summoned by Princess Celestia, she would understand.
On Friday morning around eleven o'clock, Rainbow Dash made here way to the train station where she would be boarding the train to Canterlot. She decided to bring her letter from the Princess with her and proceeded to read it over again while she flew over to the depot. This may have proven to be a minor mistake as holding a letter donning the Princess's seal out in plain sight seemed to have caught the attention of somepony who was not intended to be involved.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" A familiar voice called as its source swooped down to join the cyan Pegasus.
"Oh! Hey, Twilight." Rainbow Dash greeted as she tried to tuck the letter back into her saddlebag. "What, um...what's up?"
"I was about to ask you the same. I see you got a letter from Princess Celestia. What's that all about?"
"Uh, it's an invitation to our...monthly quesadilla party."
"Quesadilla party?"
"Yeah. She never told you about these because she knew you wouldn't like it. All cheesy and stuff, we wear sombreros, and drink tequila and...stuff."
"Well, she'd be right, I really don't like quesadillas."
"Right. So hey, catch you later alright? Gotta get there by three so I can help grate those giant bricks of cheese."
"That's funny. Big Macintosh told me the same thing when I asked him about his letter."
"Big Macintosh got one too?"
"Yeah. Why, you didn't know?" Twilight was clearly starting to become suspicious as she raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't he usually come to those parties or is he...new to it?"
"Uh, yeah, totally, catch ya later, bye!"
With somepony like Twilight Sparkle asking questions, it would only be a matter of time before she could figure out what Rainbow Dash was really up to. Instead of trying to make up more bogus excuses, Rainbow instead decided to pretend to be in a hurry and simply bolt away until she was out of the nosy princess's sight. As she finished closing the distance between herself and the train station and approached the platform, she wondered if it what Twilight said about Big Macintosh getting a letter was true. After glancing about, sure enough, she spotted the big red Stallion trotting up to the platform with his sister Applejack in tow.
"Are ya sure ya wanna do this, Big Mac?" Applejack asked her brother.
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh replied.
"'Cause ya know, the letter did say you had a choice. Ya don't have ta go ya know."
"AJ, ah know the princess said I didn't have ta go if'n ah didn't wanna but ah lost a game of hoof wrestlin' with her so ah owe her one. 'Sides, it'd be rude ta say no ta her after all she does fer Equestria."
"Hey, you guys." Rainbow Dash greeted.
"Hey Rainbow." Applejack replied. "Can ya help me out? I need ya to swing your flank around and talk some sense into mah brother."
"What? Why?"
"He'll listen to you, he ain't gonna take mah word for it!"
"What, because he's going to Chernobyl too? I think Big Mac can hold his own, AJ."
"But he's goin' so far away from home! He's going ta Earth! As in not on the farm!"
"It's about damn time ah took a break from the farm!" Big Mac shouted.
Applejack just stared at her brother in horror at what he had just said. It was all true though. It had been a long time since Big Macintosh had set hoof off of Sweet Apple Acres and even longer since he had left Ponyville. He was tired of the same old routine every single day and wanted so badly to just go somewhere else for a change. Applejack was never one who liked to go far from home but would travel when she needed to. That was just the Apple family way, to stay put in their hometown unless absolutely necessary.
"Big Mac!" Applejack scolded. "H-how could you say that?"
"Ah'm comin' back ain't I? Jeez, can't ah leave this little town for once in mah life and see somethin' new?!"
"B-but..."
"Eenope! Ah'm goin' ta see some new places and if'n ya got a problem with that, ya can piss off!"
Just as Big Macintosh finished his sentence, the train approached and stopped at the platform. Without another word, he stepped into the train leaving his sister with the same shocked look on her face. Rainbow Dash then trotted in behind him and after turning around to give Applejack an apologetic look before the door closed and the train began to roll off.
"Dude, you alright?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I've never seen you so pissed before."
"It needed ta be said." Big mac replied. "She's all about me stayin' put and she's so damn scared of anything new or unfamiliar. Sure, we're a bunch of hicks but we don't have ta stay 'round home and cower from the unknown."
"I see what you mean, Mac but you did kinda lose it back there."
"Yeah, ah guess ah did...*sigh*...Ah'll apologize ta her when ah git back. Ah just need some time away from home fer a bit."
"Hey, it's all good. So, you lost at hoof wrestling to the Princess?"
"Sure did."
"And you're not embarrassed that you lost to a girl?"
It was now nearing three o'clock in the afternoon and the two royal sisters were preparing for the meeting they would be having with the six others that Celestia had summoned. She was never one to try to make her subjects do something they did not want to so worst case scenario, only Shining Armor would show up and Celestia would have to start over and search for more help. Best case was that everypony showed up and the orientation could commence.
The meeting was to be in Celestia's private study which had more than enough room for all and the table that was being set up. As Luna and Celestia set the remaining chairs up at the table, the two talked about the reality of what was about to play out. This mission was no ordinary one and nopony had ever encountered such obstacles as the ones that were common in the city of Pripyat. Not only that but going into a dead city large enough to house fifty thousand people to find one pony who has been lost there for three decades was not going to be as easy as it seemed; and what if they were to find him? Surely he would not be the same.
"Tia, it just occurred to me." Luna began as she finished setting the chairs. "Do you still love him? I mean, clearly you care enough to send several ponies to find him but do you still have the same feelings towards Radius as before?"
"I-I don't know, Lulu." Celestia replied. "Until the other day, I thought he was dead for all these years. If I find him, I'll know for sure though but until then, we just have to wait and see."
"I understand. Now, suppose he is still alive and you do find him. You said he was thirty-five years old that day, right? So after all this time, he would be sixty-five."
"That's right. Now that you mention that, that voice was a little more raspy than I remember. That and at his aging state, we haven't much time. Over time, he'll get weaker and eventually succumb to any hazards that may come his way.
"I never thought of it that way but that does make sense."
"Your Majesty?" A mare's voice coming from the speaker phone on Celestia's desk said. "Prince Shining Armor and two others are here to see you. They're a little early though."
"That's quite alright." Celestia replied as she used her aura to press the pager button. "Just send them right up to my study, please."
"Of course, Your Majesty. Oh, and it looks like the pizzas you ordered are here as well."
Meanwhile, outside the palace...
"C'mon, Mac, Hurry up!" Rainbow Dash said as she and Big Macintosh rushed to make their meeting on time. "We don't have time to stop and see the sights!"
"Where has this city been all mah life!?" Big Macintosh gushed. "It's so purdy here!"
"You've never been to Canterlot!?"
"Nope. Mah sister always told me she thought ah wouldn't like it! She ain't here right now and she's still pissin' me off!"
"Well, don't dwell on how mad you are at Applejack. Just be glad that you're getting out and seeing something new for a change."
Rainbow Dash and Big Macintosh proceeded to fly and gallop respectively to the palace where they would join the others and learn details of the task requested of them. The big red stallion would occasionally become distracted by a tall building or a magnificent statue as he was not used to seeing such things. It was only ten minutes until three and Rainbow Dash was determined to kick her old habit of being late for things physically pushing Bic Macintosh into the direction of the palace whenever he paused. Tardiness was not tolerated in the wonderbolts and now that she was one of them she was not about to allow herself to make such a mistake again.
At last, the two ponies finally made it to the front to the palace's courtyard gate where two guards who recognized Rainbow Dash promptly opened it and allowed both of them inside. After reaching the front entrance, another guard approached the duo to escort them to exactly where the meeting would be starting in five minutes.
"Ah, Miss Rainbow Dash." The guard greeted. "Right this way, you two."
"Thank's bud." Rainbow Dash replied. "I didn't think we were gonna make it with Big Mac here slowing us down." Rainbow Dash then waved for their escorting guard to lend her his ear so she could discreetly whisper to him why they were almost late "He doesn't get out much."
"Oh, by the way, he looks like he may need somepony to give him a little push."
"Huh? Big Mac, what are you doing?"
Being that the farm pony had never visited Equestria's Capitol city, he obviously had never laid eyes on the massive and magnificent palace before in his entire life. Big Macintosh simply could not help himself as he stared up at the castle with his pupils fully dilated as he was caught in a trance.
"Sooo purdy..." Big Macintosh said as tears flowed down his face.
"Come on you big oaf!" Rainbow Dash snapped as she wrapped her forelegs around the Earth pony. "If I have to carry you, you owe me free cider for life!"
"Perhaps I could be of assistance?" The guard said as he casually used his unicorn aura to pull a large revolver out of a holster on his uniform.
"Whoa! You guys carry guns now? Awesome!"
"Yeah, now watch this!"
Pow!
In order to snap Big Macintosh out of his trance, the guard fired a shot up into the air flawlessly grabbing Big Macintosh's attention. After that, the guard finally was able to escort then two recruits to the Princess's study. It was now 2:59pm and the trio was standing outside the door to Celestia's office and could now let the meeting begin.
"Here we are, you two." The guard said as he began trotting away.
"Hey thanks a lot, dude." Rainbow Dash said. "Maybe sometime you can show me how to use that thing."
"What the f...wow! Way to be blunt, sweetheart! Hows about when you're done, you come to my place and you can do whatever you want with it."
"I was pointing at the gun, you dick."
"Oh! Right, I knew that! Heheheh, gotta love this human tech, eh?"
"Don't you have like, a shit load of paperwork to fill out?"
After the embarrassed guard left the two alone, Rainbow Dash knocked on the door in front of them and waited for an answer. Not even three seconds later, the door quickly opened revealing Princess Luna standing in the doorway.
"He most certainly does have paperwork to fill out!" Luna angrily scolded as the Guard nervously trotted away. "Don't think we didn't hear that! I'm writing you up! You know better than to discharge your firearm without...Oh, Tia! Rainbow Dash is here!" Luna called back to her sister. "And...Big Macintosh! Why, I haven't seen you since that Summer's end carnival in Ponyville a few years ago!"
"You two met each other?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh replied. "We competed in a lot of games there and mopped the floor with everypony else."
"Indeed we did. Tia, did you invite him with me in mind? Have I ever told you I love you?"
"Luna, will you just let them in and shut the door already?" Celestia said. "Help yourselves to some pizza, you two."
With much haste, Rainbow Dash and Big Macintosh entered the room where Celestia would make a head count and start the meeting. Along with Celestia and Luna, there were three other ponies sitting at the table enjoying some of the pizza that the princess's had bought for them. Shining armor had showed up as expected but the other two that were at the table were two pegasi that Rainbow Dash certainly did not expect to see. The two familiar ponies were a yellow mare and a light blue stallion, the latter of which was completely oblivious to any of his surroundings as he was messily devouring several slices of the cheesy pie simultaneously.
"Captain Spitfire!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Soarin! You guys got a letter too!?"
"Sure did." Spitfire replied. "Dammit, Soarin, can you at least eat like you're sane when the Princesses are around?"
"Ah cam'p helfit, issooo goofg!" Soarin' said with a mouthful of pizza.
"Alright, everypony!" Princess Celestia declared. "Before we start, I'll just go ahead and do a head count here. Let's see...Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, Soarin, Big Mac...Huh. Well that's everypony except..."
"Hey, sorry I'm late everypony!" A yellowish mare with a mane and tail striped with different shades of gray said as she pushed the door open.
"Hey, Rainbow! What are the odds, eh? Looks like we're about to go kick some flank again!"
"You two know each other!?" Spitfire gasped.
"Oh, Miss Yearling!" Celestia said. "Thank you so much for coming! Okay, now that everypony is here, let's start. Is anypony familiar with the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown of eighty-six?"
Upon Celestia asking her first question, a hoof from everypony with the exception of Big Macintosh shot up into the air. Such was to be expected from the farm pony who rarely left his hometown much to his own frustration but a simple explanation could easily remedy that. After taking a moment to tell Big Macintosh the basics of the event, he seemed to have a decent understanding of it.
"Alright then, I'll go ahead and explain why we are all here today." Celestia continued. "Firstly, the six of you are here because you are all saints and I'm forever indebted to each and every one of you."
"Hey, we all look out for each other, Auntie." Shining Armor said. "It's really no trouble."
"I fear that idea of yours will change once we get to the exclusion zone. Lulu? The map, please?"
Princess Luna then pushed the pizza boxes on the table to the side and used her aura to gently lower a large map into their place. The map in question was that of the Nation of Ukraine with a large, oddly shaped area near the Northern border of Belarus labeled and bordered in red.
What we are looking at, everypony..." Celestia proceeded. "...is the zone. The area where we will be searching for this pony here."
Celestia then laid a photograph of Radius on the table for everypony to see. Just doing so left somewhat of a pain in her chest as she so badly missed the smile from the happy looking stallion in the picture.
"Now, he'll more than likely look a bit different today." Celestia went on. "This picture was taken thirty years ago so now he will be in his mid sixties. He is a certified genius with an IQ of one ninety-seven so somehow he has managed to find a way to survive in the zone. Our goal is to get him out of there and reunite him with his friends and his family. I've informed them of our discovery and his parents are now in their nineties. I promised them that If I found him alive, they would soon see their son again before they pass."
"With us on the job, I guarantee results!" Spitfire declared. "Right everypony?"
"Right!" Everypony else replied in unison.
"Now that's what I like to hear!" Celestia said. "Now here are the basics on what we'll be doing. We'll be splitting up into teams so that we may cover more area in a short period of time. I recorded an intercepting signal from Radius stating that he was in the city of Pripyat so that sort of narrows it down. We'll start by searching the side of the town that's furthest away from the power plant. The pegasi will be mostly doing an areal search while the rest of us will cover the ground."
"Tia, are you ready for the video call with Mr. Groysman?" Luna asked.
"Oh! Yes, wheel that monitor over here, will you please?"
Princess Luna the proceeded to used her aura to push a small cart with a computer monitor sitting on it and what appeared to be a small camera on top of that. She then carefully stepped over the wires to the front of the screen and pressed the largest button causing it to flicker on. After a few seconds, a bar appeared in the middle of the screen accompanied by the word "loading" underneath it. Once the bar finished changing color from right to left, a man sitting at a desk with a slightly tan complexion and black hair and wearing a clean, dark blue suit appeared on the screen.
"Whoa, cool!" Rainbow Dash said in awe.
"Is he alright?" Big Macintosh asked out of concern. "He looks mighty cramped trapped in that box."
"Wow, Mac, I love AJ like a sister but her holding you back the way she has been is starting to bug me."
"Heheh, so how do you like our technology, everypony?" Volodymyr Groysman chuckled.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Groysman." Celestia greeted. "Thank you so much for calling to speak with us."
"It's the least I could do, Your Majesty. So, I trust that you've explained to everypony the general idea of what we are up against?"
"Most of it. I've discussed the plan with them but I haven't mentioned the details regarding the area yet. Care to explain?"
"Absolutely. Now, I want everypony to listen very carefully. The thirty kilometer exclusion zone is a very dangerous place. Not only is it highly contaminated with radiation, some spots more than others, but there are also scores of creatures living there that would tear you apart as soon as look at you. Since the town's abandonment, the population of wolves has skyrocketed. Normal wolves would rather avoid contact and would be more afraid of you than you of them but the ones there are anything but normal. Also, keep a close eye on the wind direction as opposed to the plant's position. If you're downwind from it, move away immediately."
"I've dealt with worse." Daring do said.
"Same here." Rainbow Dash added. "Plenty of times."
"Well, be that as it may..." Groysman continued. "You can not, I repeat, absolutely can not let your guard down. Though you may have seen a lot of dangers before, you need to always be prepared for the worst. That and I can not stress enough, you must never go about the streets of the city at night. The first thing you have to what you arrive is to find a building to use as a base and camp area. Preferably an upper floor in one of the apartment flats. You'll be hidden from any creatures on the ground and further away from the soil's radiation that way."
"I'm writing all of this down." Celestia said. "Pay close attention, everypony, this is very important."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. Oh, I also wanted to mention that I have made a few arrangements for you in advance. First, I've provided any and all equipment you will need. I'll walk you through that when you meet me in Kiev. Next, I've hired some local help to act as guides. They will be patrolling the area day and night. They will meet you once you arrive in Pripyat and you will know them when you see them. They will be around to help search and make sure that you are all safe as well as act as a direct link between you and I if and when any updates need to be shared."
"I have a Question, sir." Shining Armor said as he raised his hoof.
"Of course, Mr. Armor. Go right ahead."
"I have some gear that I brought that I once used when I was Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard. Could I bring some of that too?"
"If you can carry it, then it's an excellent idea. You can't be too prepared in the exclusion zone. Feel free to bring whatever you think you may need. Any more questions?
The Prime Minister explained everything he needed to and as such, not a single hoof could bee seen in the air with a curious pony attached to it. Groysman took one last moment to look around the room through his camera for anypony he may have missed before proceeding to wrap up the meeting.
"Excellent." Groysman said. "Get yourselves plenty of rest tonight, everypony. I'll be sending a bus to pick all of you up from Canterlot's Interdimensional depot at six o'clock sharp. One of the security guards who patrols the zone's checkpoint will be driving you. I'll see you in Kiev before you set out."
"We'll see you there, Mr. Groysman." Celestia said. "Thanks for your help."
"My pleasure, Your Majesty. I'm ending this call now."
To conclude the meeting, Prime Minister Groysman tapped a key on his keyboard and just like that, the computer screen that sat atop the office cart went dark. The plans were now a go and the only thing to do was to start packing and get plenty of rest for the road ahead would surely have its fair share of bumps. Now that free time was available however, Princess Luna felt that it was necessary to ask some questions od her own and clear up any misunderstandings.
"Um, sister?" Luna asked. "What is this 'we' you kept speaking of?"
"What do you mean?" Celestia asked.
"Well, you said something like 'we will see you there' and 'we need to be careful' and such."
"Oh, I thought I was pretty clear."
"Beg your pardon?"
"You didn't think I was just going to toss a bunch of my subjects into a nuclear fallout zone did you? I'm going with them."
"I don't see what the big deal is." Celestia huffed as she, her sister and her six recruits had dinner together in the royal dining hall. "You don't think I can hold my own?"
"It's not that as much as it is that you're going to a nuclear dead zone!" Luna snapped.
"Lulu, listen to me for just one damn second will you?"
"Fine."
"You and I move the sun and the moon every day. You and I have both fought in wars alongside each other. We kicked Discord's ass, wasted King Sombra, survived a changeling invasion, and Tirek's rampage!"
"Not to mention my staying on the moon for a thousand years. You try going that long without sex and see how good of a mood you would be in."
"See? That's what I'm getting at, Lulu! We're tough! We're experienced in everything! We've seen just about everything the world be it ours or otherwise can throw at us!"
"Celestia, you...I...*sigh* damn it all, you're right."
"See? We'll all be fine. We will all be looking out for each other so we'll go to this place, find out what became of Radius and come back home."
"What do you think became of him?"
"I'm trying to keep an optimistic yet at the same time, realistic mindset. We'll just have to wait and see."
The royal sisters and the six volunteers spent the remainder of the evening in each other's company, conversing over a dinner fit for royalty and even shared a few laughs together. Just as Soarin started asking everypony if they were going to finish what was left on their plates, dessert arrived in the form of chocolate cake accompanied by strawberry ice cream. These ponies were about to wake up bright and early to go to the abandoned city of Pripyat the next morning so Celestia made it a point to treat them all to the best her money could buy.
After a while longer, Celestia continued to talk things over with her sister to help put her mind at ease. Luna did gradually calm herself more after remembering all of the trials and hard times she and Celestia have pulled themselves and their whole nation through over the last several thousand years. After dessert, the volunteers were served wine of which they all knew their own limits to. As silly of a bottomless pit Soarin can be at times, even he preferred not to overindulge on the drink and make a fool of himself in front of the Princesses.
Finally, the time neared nine o'clock which for most meant it was time to go out for an evening on the town but everypony needed a full eight hours of sleep before waking up a five in the morning. They needed to reach the bus station by six where they would then have a brief meetup with Prime Minister Groysman and then finally head off to Pripyat. The volunteers all shared a large guest room as most of them slept soundly. Rainbow Dash on the other hoof was having some difficulty falling asleep though.
"Psst. Yo, Big Mac?" Rainbow Dash whispered, wanting somepony to talk to. She received no answer from the slumbering farm pony so she decided to try somepony else. "Spitfire?" Again, no answer. "Shining Ar...is something burning?"
Rainbow Dash caught a whiff of smoke while she searched for anypony who may still be awake. It was a much different type of smokey odor than she remembered from campfires or cookouts and very unpleasant to boot. Curious as to where it was coming from, Rainbow Dash quietly slid out of her bed and pushed the already slightly open door open and looked around for a moment until she heard the faint tapping of hooves on the hard floor to her right. A few yards away to where the hoofsteps seemed to be coming from was a balcony off the side of the castle where Luna's magnificent night sky dotted with a great many stars could be seen.
As Rainbow Dash trotted towards the balcony, the smell of smoke got even stronger. After a few more steps towards that direction, she could just begin to make out a light colored pony leaning against the railing with a strange, small orange glow, directly in front of his face.
"Hey, what's up Shining?" Rainbow Dash asked, startling the unicorn.
"Whoa!" Shining gasped as he waved a hoof in the air. "Oh, hey, Dash. What, um...whatcha up to?"
"What are you up to? Setting stuff on fire?"
"No, that was the...uh...fireflies."
"Fireflies don't smell like that, dude."
"Every fifty years they do. They burst into flames every half century kinda like a Phoenix."
"Really? Cool. It looked like one did right in front of your face."
"Well yeah, it totally did. So I take it you can't sleep either, huh?"
"Nope. We're going to Earth tomorrow to a desolate wasteland and are bound to see some action."
"So you're nervous?"
"Nah, man, I'm excited...in a sick...kinda fucked up way. Oh, sorry, that just slips out sometimes."
"Are you kidding? I always have to watch my mouth around Cadence, Flurry Heart and pretty much every other stuck up mother fucker around here and the Crystal Empire. It's a breath of fresh air to talk to somepony who I can actually have a real, casual conversation with."
Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor were really more acquaintances than close friends as they haven't actually spent any time to talk one on one before. Be that as it may, judging by Shining Armor's odd, shifty behavior and seeming to gripe about life at home, Rainbow Dash could tell there may be more to it and decided to get him to open up about how he was feeling.
"What's bothering you, dude?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"N-nothing, I just..." Shining Armor stuttered before realizing the pegasus was on to him. "Rainbow, I just...*sniff* I didn't know this was gonna be so fu*hic* fucking hard."
"Hey, hey, keep it together, big guy. So you're a father now. I get it, being a parent isn't easy. I don't know if I'll ever be cut out for that so major props to you."
"Th-thanks, Rainbow. It just all happened so fast, you know? I don't even think I was ready for it and to top it all off, my daughter's a fucking alicorn! Oh, and don't get me started on being Prince of the Crystal Empire. One regular unicorn isn't made to deal with all this shit!"
"Shining, buddy, just relax, okay? Look, you and I may not really know each other all that well but if there's one thing I do know about you is that a lot of ponies look up to and admire the hell outta you. Twilight has always gone on about how you never back down from what needs to be done. Hell, as awesome as I am, I don't think I even have half the ponies who feel that way about me."
"You're right, Rainbow. I do have that and I feel bad that I'm bitching about it but-"
"But at the same time, having all those ponies who depend on you and a shit ton of responsibilities-"
"Can drive anypony crazy and sometimes y-"
"You just need to get away from it for a little while!"
"Rainbow Dash?"
"Sup, bro?"
"I think you and I are gonna get along great."
"Alright, dude. Well hey, there's no shame in crying once in a while so don't let that get you down."
"Yeah...I'm glad we had this talk, Rainbow. Thanks for listening."
"No problem. Now c'mon. We should get some sleep. We got some big fish to fry in the morning."
"You go ahead, I'll be right behind you."
"Alright then. Oh, Shining?"
"Yeah?"
"Make sure you scrub the smell of those dead fireflies off you in the morning, alright? You smell like you were burning some nasty shit."
"Ah, right...that."
After getting back to her bed, Rainbow Dash could finally shut her eyes and drift off to sleep. Approximately five minutes later, Shining Armor followed suit and was soon snoring away. They all needed to get all the rest they could before their departure to Earth and their search for the missing pony. Even though this trip would not be one of leisure, it could be just what Shining Armor needs to get back into the saddle of what life was like in his days as a bachelor. It had been quite some time since he had a break in routine so it seemed like this could actually help him.
Just before Celestia began raising the sun one last time before she would be joining her volunteers, an alarm clock that sat upon a night stand in the guest bedroom rang, jolting everypony up from their sound sleep. No compalints could be heard from a single one of them though as they were all used to waking up early in their lines of work by now. Shining Armor was formerly the Captain of the Royal Guard so getting back into early rising was easy enough for him. Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, and Soarin were wonderbolts and today was just like any other to them. Daring do often found herself waking up before dawn to start her own quests and Big Macintosh would be hauling heavily loaded carts around the farm around this time or even earlier sometimes.
To save time and ensure their timely arrival to catch the bus, everypony packed their luggage the night before. Shining Armor had provided enough standard issue guard supplies for everypony and even had some extras left over. Supplies such as food rations, water purification tablets, binoculars, first aid kits, and a great many other items went into the bags everypony was carrying. Though they were ill equipped for any radioactive dangers they may encounter, the Ukrainian Authorities would be providing the team with such necessities.
After a brief shower and quick breakfast, everypony joined Princess Celestia on a brisk trot to the bus depot which was less than a mile away and did not take long for the group to reach. The trot was indeed not very long and everypony except one was able to get their without any trouble which was a cause for concern when a white unicorn re-joined the group in a winded panting state.
"Shining Armor, are you alright?" Celestia asked out of concern.
"Yeah, you're acting like you just got done chasing your filly around." Spitfire added. "What gives?"
"I-I'm fine, you guys." Shining Armor replied. "I just put on a few pounds after leaving the guard is all...and my bag feels extra heavy for some reason."
"You'll be fine, buddy." Rainbow Dash said as she patted Shining on the back. "Just remember, you can talk to me anytime."
"Thanks a lot, Dash. I'm really glad I got somepony here who gets me."
"Hey, I think that's our bus." Soarin said while pointing a hoof down the road.
Sure enough, rolling towards the awaiting group at a slug's pace was a somewhat short, older model, slate gray bus with six rows of seats and thick, black smoke billowing out of the tailpipe. On the side of the bus was strange white text that nopony recognized. As the bus inched closer and finally came to a stop right in front of the group, Celestia could get a good look at the text on the side and interpret it.
"Let's see..." Celestia said as she squinted at the bus. "Ukrainian Exclusion Zone Authorities."
"Y'all can read that?" Big Mac asked.
"You have time to learn a lot of things when you're as old as I am."
"Good morning, comrades!" Said the driver in a thick Slavic accent as the two piece door swung open. Seated behind the steering wheel was a short, slightly heavier man in his late fifties. The driver donned a full uniform which included dark green pants, a jacket, and a matching security guard style cap atop his head. A cheerful, welcoming smile could be seen underneath the thick, bushy, gray mustache that covered most of his upper lip.
"Good morning, sir." Celestia greeted as she was the first to climb the steps onto the large machine. "Thank you for picking us up."
"Oh, my pleasure, Your Majesty. You have a beautiful country here. I'll have to take my next vacation here. Anyway, my name is Denys and I'll be taking you to see the Prime Minister and then to zone after that."
"Ah ain't never been on one of these before." Big Mac said as he took a seat.
"Oh? Then you'll love the ride we're all about to go on. Once we pass through the gate, you'll all need to buckle up and hold on tight. Everyone on? Okay, off we go then!"
Once everypony was on the bus and had found a seat of their own, the driver shut the door, stepped on the clutch and shifted into first gear which brought the bus to it's sluggish pace. Since there were a lot of ponies and a few people walking around, the driver put safety first and did not exceed fifteen miles per hour until he was clear of the bus station and the pedestrians he shared the cobblestone street with. The team was now headed towards a short stretch of highway which lead to the gate to Earth and the driver could safely get up to forty miles per hour. Rainbow Dash was getting slightly impatient as she was not fond of low speeds. She would have to wait just a bit longer though as the driver had to slow down as they approached the gate.
The inter-dimensional gates looked just like any other international border crossing. It had seven lanes, each with a set of two small guard posts with a security officer occupying each, one a pony and the other a human. Each lane lead to a continent of its own and the driver steered the bus towards the lane labeled "Europe". Once the bus was lined up with the lane the team needed to go through, the bus came to a complete stop and Denys opened his window to talk to the pony at the guard booth.
"What city and nation?" The Pony asked as Denys handed over a small booklet.
"Kiev, Ukraine." Denys replied.
The pony then briefly glanced over a few pages in the booklet, placed an ink stamp on it, hoof it back to the driver and proceeded to open the gate.
"Welcome home, sir." The pony said with a salute. "When you get to the portal under the big arch, drive no slower than seventy-five miles or one hundred and twenty kilometers an hour."
"Thanks, comrade." The driver replied as he shifted gears.
"Seventy-five?" Rainbow Dash said. "Now you're talking! I hate going so slow!"
"Heheheh, don't worry little pony! In about two kilometers we'll really be going for a ride!"
Without warning, Denys shifted the bus into its fourth gear causing it to rapidly accelerate until it peaked out at sixty miles per hour. Once the engine started to rev high, Denys shifted into fifth gear. Not long after, the bus reached seventy-fives miles per hour but did not stop there.
"The portal's coming up fast, everyone!" Denys announced before shifting into sixth gear. "Buckle up and hang on!"
Not knowing what to expect, everypony quickly fastened their seat belts and braced themselves. Celestia had been to Earth many times before so this was nothing new to her. Everypony else on the other hoof, especially Big Macintosh was getting very nervous. Out of curiosity, they all looked ahead out of the front windshield to see that sure enough, a giant arch made of concrete with a bright white light coming from the other side stood in the middle of the highway. Standing to the right was a large electric digital sign that read "Now entering Earth. Next Stop Kiev, Ukrain, Europe. Minimum Speed 75 MPH or 120 KPH. Turn on headlights".
"Here we go!!" Denys shouted as he shifted into the seventh and final gear. "Sit back, hold on and don't yell!"
Without warning, the bus whipped past the entrance of the portal causing it to jolt up to one hundred miles per hour.
"Whoooaaa!!" Everypony except Celestia yelled in unison as the rapid acceleration firmly pushed them against the backs of their seats.
As the Bus continued to accelerate, the walls of the portal flashed in every possible color imaginable. At this point, Denys the driver had put on a pair of sunglasses and proceeded to casually sip a cup of coffee he had brought with him. Despite his calm, collected behavior, the sweat running down his brow indicated that his complete concentration was required to get the bus safely to the other end.
The bus was now taking the team through the portal at one hundred-fifty miles per hour which was fifty miles faster than the bus's top speed on plain asphalt. As the large diesel engine roared so loudly it drowned out everypony's thoughts, it became clear that the wheels were no longer what was pushing the ten ton vehicle along.
At the end of the tunnel-like portal, a bright white light could be seen and it was approaching at a breakneck pace. Denys had all of his focus on that white light as he wiped sweat from his brow and had a grip on the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles turned white. As quickly as it began, the trip through the wormhole was over. The bus shot out of the exit like a twenty thousand pound cannonball and even became airborne for a brief moment. When the bus came down from its ten foot drop, it did so hard and at that point everypony was incredibly grateful that they had listened to Denys when he instructed them to buckle themselves in.
The second the wheels touched the asphalt, Denys pressed the clutch and brake pedals down with as much strength as his short, stout legs could muster. The sound of roaring engine was joined by the shriek of the tires scraping against the road and the metallic squeal of the brakes as they began to glow cherry red while they were pushed to their limits in order to bring the bus to a stop.
"Whoa there, old girl! Whoa!" Denys said aloud as the bus finally ground to a halt. "Whooo! After thirty-two years of service, the old slate buster's still got it! Oh, I probably should have mentioned the bags you're all welcome to use back there! Anyway, welcome to Ukraine!"
The team was finally there. The magnificent city of Kiev, where everywhere the ponies looked, they could see all kinds of amazing statues and architecture. Ukraine's capital city which was home to two point eight million people was quite the astonishing spectacle particularly to the farm pony Big Macintosh who stared in awe at the tall buildings and beautiful Eastern Orthodox cathedrals they rode past.
"What do you think, comrades?" Denys asked his passengers as he drove them to the Prime Minister's office. "Beautiful city, no?"
"Eeyup!" Big Macintosh replied as tears of joy streamed down his cheeks.
"This city is very old too, isn't it?" Celestia asked Denys.
"Goes as far back as fourteen hundred years, Your Majesty." Denys replied. "Here's the Capital building. I'll drop you off here and that policewoman will bring you to see Mr. Groysman. I gotta go take the old slate buster here for new tires and brakes but I'll be back soon to take you up to the exclusion zone."
The bus came to a stop at Kiev's capital building and Denys pulled a lover opening the door. As everypony arose from their seats, a woman wearing black slacks, a black pressed shirt with a black tie and a matching police cap came out of the front entrance and walked over to the team. The woman in question also wore a utility belt equipped with a pistol and other items and a badge on her shirt.
"Good morning." The officer said. "You must be the Equestrians here to see Mr. Groysman."
"That would be us, Miss." Celestia replied as she and the group began to follow the Kiev City officer into the building. "Such a magnificent city you have here."
"Thank you. I've actually been to Canterlot couple times. I take vacation there every year."
"Wow, humans takin' vacations in Equestria?" Big Macintosh asked. "Ah got some cacthin' up to do. Ah've hardly been out of mah home town let alone to another dimension."
"Well, here you are now." Rainbow Dash said. "Take some pictures and you'll have something to show Applejack what she's been missing."
"I take it you don't get out much, eh?" Daring do asked.
"Nope."
After the team was lead into the building by the Kiev City officer, she stepped onto an elevator to which the other followed suit. The door then closed and the elevator went up several floors until it stopped at the very top. A few seconds later, the door opened and the officer stepped out and took a right and kept walking down a hallway until she reached a door with a chrome placard that read "Prime Minister Groysman" on it.
"Here is Prime Minister's office." The officer said in her thick accent.
"Uh, say again?" Rainbow Dash said.
"Oh da, sorry, English isn't first language. Came over from Russia and I had to learn Ukrainian too."
"She said this here is Mr. Groysman's office, Rainbow." Celestia elaborated.
"He is expecting you so just knock and he will have you go in. I go. Good luck, comrades."
"Thank you, Miss." Celestia replied as the woman walked back to the elevator.
The faint sound of a man talking could be heard on the other side of the door. Only one voice could be made out so the person inside the room was either talking to himself or on the phone. Celestia did as the officer had instructed and knocked on the door to the Prime Minister's office. If he was too busy for them at the moment, surely he would ask them to wait before coming in. A few seconds later however, the team from Equestria got their answer.
"Yes, come in!" A male voice called over from inside the room.
Celestia then used her aura to turn the door knob and entered the room as did everypony else one by one. The office was quite large and in the middle of it was a large rectangular table slightly larger than the one in Celestia's study and it was surrounded by eight swivel chairs. On the left side of the room were dozens of cardboard boxes neatly stacked on top of each other. In the very back of the room was a fairly large desk with none other than the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodimyr Groysman sitting behind it. Groysman however appeared to be anything but happy as he continued speaking on the phone. He was speaking in his native tongue so only Princess Celestia who had taken time to learn basic Ukrainian could understand a few words of what he was saying.
"Oh, that's not good." Celestia said quietly as she waited for Mr. Groysman to finish his conversation.
"What? What's the problem?" Spitfire asked.
"I'm not sure if I heard that right so let's just let him explain."
"Ah, the ponies!" Mr. Groysman exclaimed as he hung up the phone and arose from his chair. "Welcome!"
"Thank you Mr. Groysman." Celestia replied as she shook the Prime Minister's hand.
Groysman then proceeded to shake hooves with everypony one by one as he pulled the chairs out for them to sit in. Such diplomatic meetings traditionally meant for the leader of a nation to show hospitality to their visitors and Groysman was doing an excellent job at making the ponies feel welcome.
"Feel free to help yourselves to some cold water." Groysman said as he carried an office water cooler over to the table and placed a stack of paper cups next to it.
"Hey, this guy's alright." Spitfire whispered as she nudged Rainbow Dash with her elbow.
"Mr. Groysman, I need to ask you..." Celestia began. "Your conversation on the phone, what was that about? Is something wrong?"
"I'm afraid so, Your Majesty." Mr. Groysman replied. "For several years, the building which houses reactor number four has been crumpling and won't hold for much longer. We started building a massive steel arch over it to contain it once the inevitable happens. It was expected to be finished next year but I just got word that another one of our workers has gone missing. Something terrible is going on there and I have no choice but to suspend the project and pull the workers out for their safety."
"Jeez, and I thought we were just going to search for a pony." Rainbow Dash said.
"Correct. Once you get there, you may proceed to search for your lost citizen while I have some guys help track the others. Now, if you could keep an eye out for out missing workers, that would be greatly appreciated but I won't keep you from doing what you came here to do. Like I mentioned before, I've hired two guys to act as your guides and they'll be helping search for the three missing workers as well. These guys are some of the best who had ever served in the Ukrainian Army and I have total confidence in their abilities."
"Okay, so when do we meet these guys?" Daring Do asked."
"They'll be waiting for you on the North side of Pripyat furthest away from the reactor. I've asked the bus driver Denys to drop you off there so you won't have to go far. Oh, if you don't mind, may I see what type of equipment you brought, Mr. Armor?"
"Of course." Shining Armor replied as he levitated his bag over which seemed heavier than it should have for some reason.
Mr. Groysman then proceeded to unzip the duffel bag and go through the contents. For the most part, he seemed to approve of what Shining Armor had packed until he pulled out the water purification tablets with a curious look on his face.
"Hmm...Sorry, Mr. Armor but these will do you no good." Groysman said as he set the package of tablets on the table. "You don't want to drink the water from there no matter how many of these you use. See those boxes over there? I've gotten some things together that you'll want to bring with you and some pallets of sealed, purified water will be going with you as well."
"Okay, sounds good, sir. Thanks."
"No worries. But I must ask you..."
"What's that?"
"Why the Hell did you stuff another pony into your bag?"
Mr. Groysman then reached into the bag and pulled out a lavender colored mare with a horn and wings. The mare in question had a large sheepish grin on her face and judging by the looks everypony else was giving her, she would need to explain herself quickly.
"Twilight!?" Shining Armor yelled as Mr. Groysman gently set the stowaway down on the floor. "What the hell were you doing in my bag!?"
"Rainbow, I though I said not to tell her about this!" Celestia boomed.
"I didn't, I swear!" Rainbow replied. "She tried to follow me to the train station and I told her I was going to a quesadilla party!"
"Ohoho, this oughtta be good." Spitfire said.
"Twilight as in the Princess?" Groysman asked. "With all due respect, Your Majesty, what is the meaning of this?"
"I'm sorry, everypony but I just couldn't pass up this opportunity!" Twilight said. "I mean, do you have any idea what kinds of discoveries could be made there? The plantlife! The woodland creatures! The soil! All those things that could be studied! Think about the scientific applications!"
"Well, it looks like now that she's here too, it can't be helped. We don't have another bus going to Equestria until next Wednesday. It looks like you have a team of Eight now, Your Majesty."
"Alright then." Celestia said. "But Twilight you and I will have to talk about your stowing away in Shining Armor's bag."
"I know, I'm sorry, Princess." Twilight said. "On that note though, Shining, I'll have to talk to you about your choice of bourbon. That stuff was terrible!"
"Uh, Twiley?" Shining Armor Said as he pulled an empty aftershave bottle out of his bag. "I didn't pack bourbon."
"Oh...Yikes."
After their brief meeting with Prime Minister Groysman, the team with its newest purple addition left the office building with his best regards and several boxes of necessary equipment. These items included two way radios, sealed food rations, first aid supplies, purified water, and much more. Mr. Groysman informed the group that they would be receiving all necessary radiation protection from the staff at the checkpoint where they would be entering the exclusion zone.
The group had to wait a few extra minutes for Denys to show up as he mentioned before that he needed to take the bus to the shop for some routine maintenance. Prime Minister Groysman had called ahead for a box truck to take the boxes and pallets of supplies from his office where they would then follow behind the team in the bus once it arrived. Finally, after a twenty minute wait, Denys's old reliable bus he called the slate buster could be seen coming towards the ponies. As it slowed down to a slug's pace, it was apparent that it was recently fitted with brand new tires and the brakes no longer made that ghastly squeal.
"I rather like this Denys." Celestia said as the bus with everypony's favorite driver came to a stop before them. "Very cheerful."
"Hop on, comrades!" Denys Said after opening the door. As everypony trotted up the steps one by one, Denys held out a fist for each pony to bump as they trotted past him. "Eh, I don't think I remember the purple one. Where did she come from?"
"She thought it was a good idea to stow away in my bag." Shining Armor huffed.
"Ohoho! That's clever! You're a clever one, my friend!"
"Why thank you, sir." Twilight replied as she took a seat next to her brother. "I'm glad someone here appreciates cleverness."
"I still can't believe you did that." Shining said. "Don't get me wrong, I like science myself but we're here for a different reason."
"And since you decided to come with us uninvited..." Celestia began. "I think you'll fit in just fine with our search party."
"I'm totally willing to help search for Radius." Twilight said. "I just think while I'm at it, I could take soil and tissue samples and maybe have them analyzed."
"Okay, your truck is behind us and ready to follow!" Deny's announced. "Next stop, the checkpoint! We should arrive in about two hours!"
"Two hours!?" Rainbow Dash groaned. "Why's it gotta be so far away!?"
"Relax, Private." Spitfire reassured. "This ride'll be over before you know it."
"Yeah, and just be glad we can all be here together." Soarin added.
"I'm just glad to have been called up for this to begin with." Daring do said. "This could yield some good material for my next book."
"Well now that you mention that..." Rainbow Dash began as her ears perked up. "...I guess it's not all that bad."
After a solid twenty minutes of slowly going through stop and go city traffic. Denys steered the bus onto the entrance to the highway thus officially beginning their one hundred mile journey to the exclusion zone. Once the bus reached a speed of sixty miles per hour, Denys set the cruise control and let the machine do its work while the box truck full of equipment followed behind the whole way. Traffic was very thick at first but as they rode further away from Kiev, the cars on the highway were more thinly spread out until one would go by once in a great while.
As time went on and the distance between the team and their destination continued to close, the highway became completely straight and the lack of any sights was making some of the passengers drowsy. The only thing even slightly interesting was a minor blockage in traffic up ahead in the form of a small, red compact car that had apparently run out of fuel with another small white car stopped next to it.
"Hammond, you blithering idiot!" The man in the white car shouted in a British accent as the bus passed them by.
"I could have sworn I've seen those guys before." Daring do said.
"Like where?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"On TV. I think they're from the BBC channel or something."
"We should be arriving in twenty minutes!" Denys announced.
At long last, the long, boring ride down the highway would soon be over and everypony could stretch their legs and make the necessary preparation before entering the exclusion zone. After the twenty long minutes that Denys had promised, the bus was now approaching a checkpoint complete with a gate, several armed guards and a few various small buildings. Most of the more anxious ones including Rainbow Dash were hoping that they could simply just drive up to the gate, have a guard open it and pass through. They would soon be disappointed as Denys drove into a parking spot in a small lot and stopped the bus. There was still a lot of work do to before being aloud in particularly of the paper variety.
"I trust you like Ukraine, no?" Said a guard wearing uniform similar to what Denys was wearing. "Heheheh, follow me, comrades."
After hopping off the bus, everypony followed the guard into one of the small buildings. Once they were all inside, the officer then motioned all of them to each take a seat at a table. After everypony was seated, he then proceeded to count the volunteers including Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle.
"Let's see..." The guard began. "One, two, three...eight of you. Okay, I'll go get the paperwork. Once you're all done with that, I'll go over some rules and fit you with some additional equipment you'll need."
The guard then walked out of the building over into another one to retrieve the forms that everypony would need to fill out. Even Celestia was not prepared for what was to come next as the guard returned with one of his co workers both of them carrying as much weight as they possibly could in pure paper.
"You're kidding." Rainbow Dash said as the two officers handed each pony a sizable stack of papers and a pen. "You're kidding, right?"
"Heheheh, don't worry, my friend." The guard replied. "Everyone has to fill these out before coming in."
"Okay, let's see." Soarin said as he started going through the questions on the paper. "Date of birth, height, weight..."
"Mother's maiden name..." Spitfire began. "Felony convictions, none...family history of illnesses..."
"Uh, pardon me, sir?" Big Mac spoke up. "How am Ah supposed to find out mah Pa's sperm count?"
"Give him a call." The guard replied. "Here, you can borrow this phone."
"He's dead."
"Oh...Okay just put a zero then."
Two Hours Later...
"Please tell me this is the last of the paperwork." Rainbow Dash pleaded.
"Da, this is all of it, comrade." The Guard chuckled. "You're all done. Now I just need to explain a few things and you should have your camp set up within the hour. Okay, first off..."
Before finishing his sentence, the officer briefly glanced at each stallion in the room one by one before picking up a small box off the floor and rummaging through its contents.
"...how many of you males here plan on having little baby ponies?"
Without hesitating, all the stallions' hooves shot right up into the air.
"I'd love to be a dad..." Soarin sighed. "...someday."
"Cadence and I would probably wanna have another eventually." Shining Armor replied.
"Ah think Ah'd have foals someday." Big Mac said.
"Okay, then you'll need to wear these." The officer proceeded as he pulled what appeared to be athletic cups with elastic straps out of the box. "These are lined with lead. You attach these to your jewels and they protect from most radiation. Take it from another guy, you'll be glad you put these on."
The officer then proceeded to walk around the room and hand each of the blushing stallions a lead lined athletic cup of their own.
"Don't worry, fellas." The guard reassured. "You can use that restroom if you need some privacy to put them on. Okay next, you all need to take an iodine tablet once a day while you are out there. Also, I cannot stress this enough, never go out at night. Now, I'm sure you've also heard about the missing workers. If you happen to stumble across any of them, we ask you to render any necessary aid to them and inform us via two way radio immediately. You all with me so far?"
After looking around the room to see everypony nodding, the guard continued.
"Okay, good. Now, same goes for your lost pony, you find him, render first aid, let us know. Now, about the radiation. You'll all have your saddle bags fitted with an alarm that will go off when radiation in your immediate area is too high. If that happens, you must move until it stops beeping. You will each also get one of these. This is a Geiger counter and it will be your best friend out here. Lastly, in the unlikely event that you may need to trek an area with extreme radiation levels, we'll be loading up several boxes of lead lined body suits specially made for four legged equines. Just a precaution. Any questions?"
One last time, the checkpoint guard looked around the room for any hooves in the air with a curious pony attached to it. Once he did not find any, he could dismiss the group and allow them back onto the bus and through the gate.
"Your Majesty..." The officer began. "My friends from Equestria...welcome to the exclusion zone. Be careful out there."
"Thank you, sir." Celestia replied as she offered her hoof for a bump to which the guard obliged.
Denys was sitting in the driver's seat of the 1984 bus he drove reading a book as he waited for the ponies to finish their preparations. As everypony filed in and took a seat, the driver and passenger of the box van proceeded to load several more boxes into the back. The cargo compartment of the van was filled to the brim with the supplies needed to survive the exclusion zone as it should be. Finally, after an entire morning of riding down a highway and filling out obscene amounts of paperwork, everypony was back on the bus and on their way to do what they came to do and that was to locate and rescue Radius Hoofenschtov.
The engine was started, the gate was up and the bus was now moving past it. There was no going back now. If anypony wished to opt out without being judged by the others, their chance for that was left at the gate that was now fading away in the distance. Based on the way everypony was feeling about the mission however, packing it in and quitting before the start was the last thing on their minds. They all promised to help Princess Celestia in her time of stress and they were determined to see it through to the end; that is, if they knew just precisely what they were getting themselves into.
The further the bus went into the boundaries of the thirty kilometer exclusion zone, the more broken up and crumbling the road seemed to get. Since it lead into a town that has been completely uninhabited for three decades however, there was little to no reason that it should be maintained. Upon first passing through the gate, thick forest covered both sides of the road and being that the month of May just began, the leaves on the trees were almost completely developed.
There were only a few short miles to go before the team would arrive on the Northernmost side of Pripyat where they would set up a base and begin their search for Radius. Even though they weren't necessarily responsible for locating the three missing men who were working on the reactor's containment arch, the volunteers were more than willing to help search for them too. After several minutes of riding down the bumpy, unkempt road in the rickety old bus, the forest around the sides of the roads began to get thinner and thinner. The plants and trees appeared to be healthy, the team was merely nearing a more open area.
A few hundred more yards later, the forest completely gave way to a massive industrial yard full of massive steel power poles with thousands of cables attaching them all together. As Denys glanced over at the poles, he stroked his mustache as he started to think that perhaps he was forgetting something until it suddenly hit him.
"Oh drat, I forgot something!" Denys gasped. "Erm, Miss Dash, can you do me huge favor please?"
"Sure, dude, whatcha need?" Rainbow Dash replied.
"See that compartment behind my seat? I need you to pull out the little grey metal box. It looks sort of like a toaster and has some wires coming out of it."
"You mean this thing?"
"Da, that's it! Will you plug that cord into this outlet and set it on dashboard for me, please?"
"Sure, bud, no problem."
"Thank you, comrade. That's a Geiger counter. It lets us know if radiation gets too high."
"Cool."
As the bus exited the forest area, the sky and road ahead of them could now be seen more easily. Approximately a mile and a half up ahead, another dense wooded area could be seen with the faint skyline of several tall buildings coming in clearer the closer they got to it. To the right was the massive Pripyat River which quickly seemed to move further and further away until a large lake came into view blocking the river from sight. It was what the ponies saw coming up next near the Northernmost end of the lake that caused emotional tension for a certain white alicorn.
"Is that what I think it is?" Spitfire asked.
"Whatcha looking at?" Daring do asked.
"See that big building with the smoke stack? Correct me if I'm wrong but I think th-whoa! Okay that big gaping hole there gives it away!"
"My god...that's..." Twilight began.
"The reactor." Celestia finished.
"You gonna be okay, Yer Majesty?" Big Macintosh asked.
"Y-yes, I'm fine, it's just...wow. I've never actually see it in person before, only in photos and video footage. Hard to believe Radius may have survived an explosion big enough to take out that big of a chunk of that building.
"Sorry to interrupt but I need the windows shut until we pass it!" Denys announced as he pointed to the Geiger counter on the dash board. "This area is hot and the sooner they're closed, the better."
Without hesitation, Celestia used her aura to shut every single window on the bus. Still, the machine that sat in front of Denys as he continued past the destroyed building proceeded to make a repetitive ticking sound. A minute or so later, the constant ticking turned into a loud crackle as the device's needle suddenly spiked up. The bus must have just entered a hot zone so in order to keep exposure to a minimum, Denys shifted the transmission into a higher gear and sped up in order to move out of the dangerous area as quickly as possible.
"So when that thing goes 'tick tick tick' that's bad, right?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Da, very bad." Denys replied. "That's why you need to have yours on and working at all times and when it goes off, move out of area until it stops. That little machine could save your life."
"Okay, Geiger counter equals very important. Thanks, Denys, I'll keep that in mind."
Meanwhile, in a cold, dark room on an upper floor of building number four...
As the bus driven by Denys and carrying the Equestrian volunteers continued to drive past the building that housed the reactor, a shadowy figure lurking in the darkness of the unlit room observed them out a window through a telescope. The optical device was more of a makeshift one as it was crudely made and appeared to be compiled of random pieces of scrap metals, plastics, and glass. As the unknown being zoomed in to get a closer look, what he saw next would be the biggest surprise he would laid his eyes on in many years.
"Equestrians?" Said a raspy voice. "But how? They heard the signal?"
As the creature continued to observe each passenger on the bus, he proceeded to sweep his focus from the front of the moving vehicle to the back. If it was a surprise to him to see ponies coming into the exclusion zone, seeing a certain white alicorn Princess was enough to make him drop the thick cigar out of his large, pointed teeth.
"What!?" The strange being cried as he fumbled with the telescope in order to double take. After bringing it up to a glowing green eye with slit-like pupils, he soon found that his eyes had not deceived him as he focused in on Princess Celestia sitting in the very back of the bus. "My god...How did she...shit. I didn't know she would be here. I-I can't...I can't let her see me like this."
Without another thought, the mysterious being quickly withdrew his telescope and retreated further into the decaying building, disappearing into the pitch black abyss.
Denys and Rainbow Dash whom the former had affectionately dubbed his co-pilot continued to keep a close watch on the needle of the Geiger counter that sat atop the dashboard just above the bus's oil pressure gauge. At this point, the bus had just passed by the building of reactor number four and the needle was steadily dropping, indicating that they were exiting the more highly contaminated area. As the needle finally went back to the lowest level it could go and the ticking sound only occurring once every few seconds, they were relieved to be out of the immediate hazard and into the outskirts of the city. The city that was once home to nearly fifty thousand people, most of them workers of the Chernobyl Nuclear Facility and their families. At long last, the group had finally entered the city of Pripyat.
Pripyat was a truly amazing sight to behold. All of the ponies had previously heard of the disaster that forced all the residents to evacuate but none of them, even Celestia had expected it to look the way it did. After a nuclear explosion that produced an intense toxic cloud so massive that several other nations in Europe could feel the effects, nopony expected it to look so beautiful. Most of the them would picture a gray, desolate, lifeless wasteland but were instead driving into what nearly looked like a forest, just with buildings scattered about. After thirty years the city's plant life had made a remarkable recovery though to the naked eye, was still unsafe to be inhabited for any extended periods of time.
Underneath all the foliage were the makings of a fully functioning city complete with many buildings of all types, shapes, and sizes, street signs, a few amusement park rides and even some playgrounds in the back yards of buildings that were once schools. Old rusted out cars sat where they had been parked thirty years ago and some even had grass and moss growing out of the rotting, flattened tires as they sat and decayed. To think that the small fleet of rust covered buses that sat in a lot behind the kindergarten building were used to bring the city's children to and from their schools was depressing to say the least.
"Wow, this is amazing!" Spitfire said.
"Incredible!" Soarin added.
"I didn't see this coming." Daring Do said. "This looks just like any other ancient ruins I've explored except it's just more modern."
"A city completely frozen in time." Twilight Sparkle said. "Just a reminder of the Soviet Union's dream that they hoped to achieve with a communist government but alas, failed to do so. Though Ukraine is its own independent nation now, right before our very eyes is the remains of a time that was so much different from today...and not very long ago either."
"Well said, Miss Twilight." Big Mac said. "Well said."
Due to the lack of maintenance to the roads, the crumbling remains of the pavement made for a bumpy ride so Denys had to slow the bus down significantly. After making a few turns on some of the streets, the bus was now heading Northwest and ultimately bound for the side of Pripyat furthest away from the power plant. Though the area the group had in mind was mush less contaminated with radiation, by no means was it truly safe as there were plenty other dangers hiding in the shadows. Everypony needed to constantly keep their guard up during this mission and they were all well aware of that. Getting cocky could lead to getting killed.
Finally, Denys and the team had reached the Northwestern-most point of the outskirts of Pripyat where they would start out by choosing a building to use as a base camp and commence their search for Radius Hoofenschtov and help locate the missing construction workers as well. There were several buildings to choose from in the form of apartment high-rises to use as their temporary home away from home. It was when the only thing in ahead was nothing but a thick, dark forest that Denys brought the bus to a stop, the box truck behind them following suit before the two man crew exited and began unloading the supplies.
Everypony was ready to get to their task and arose from their seats as did Denys. The short, stout, and usually cheerful security guard's demeanor changed to a more serious one as he had a few parting words for whom he felt were his new friends.
"Now, before I leave you all here..." Denys began. "I just want to say that it's been a pleasure driving you all today. I also need to reiterate that you all need to be extremely careful here and never travel about alone. If and when you find the ones you're looking for, I'd like to come back to get all of you in one piece. Work together as a team and look out for each other, okay?"
"Don't you worry about a think, friend." Daring do said as she extended her hoof for a hoof bump. "I've done this before, We'll all do just fine."
"We appreciate your kind concern, Denys." Celestia said as she did the same. "When you come back to get us, we'll all be here unharmed and waiting for you."
"Hey, thanks for everything, man." Shining Armor said with a salute.
One by one, each pony gave Denys a hoof bump before hopping off the bus with their luggage. With everypony now off the bus and their supplies provided by Prime Minister Groysman unloaded from the van, it was now time to select a suitable building and form a precise plan on where to begin searching. Before Denys shut the Slatebuster's door however, he decided to present his co-pilot with a small parting gift.
"Oh, Miss Dash!" Denys called out.
"What's up?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Catch!"
The cheery old man then removed his dark green security cap and tossed it out the door which Rainbow Dash caught with an extended wing before placing it atop her head.
"Hey, thanks, pal!" Rainbow Dash said with a salute.
"Godspeed!" Denys called out returning the salute with his now hatless, shiny bald head. His job was done as was that of the two men with the cargo van who had just finished unloading several boxes and a few pallets of survival gear. With a final wave goodbye, Denys shut the door of the bus, backed up a few yards back onto the crumbling pavement and with a couple toots of the horn, he was heading back to his post at the checkpoint. As the bus drove further and further away, the taillights faded away in a cloud of black smoke off in the distance until he was completely out of sight. Other than the two guides whom Groysman mentioned before, the team was all alone in the abyss that was the Pripyat Exclusion Zone.
"Well..." Celestia began as she looked around at the tall buildings. "Here we are."
"Eeyup." Big Mac said.
"So, uh, I guess we just get to it then, huh?" Soarin asked.
"Which one of these buildings do you think we oughtta use, Your Majesty?" Spitfire asked.
Though Celestia was well prepared for whatever the team may come across, one thing she had not thought about was what criteria they should go by when choosing a building to use as their base. Most of the apartment complexes looked nearly identical and seemed to be of similar height. It seemed that any of these old buildings would do just fine. Feeling that at this point she may as well just close her eyes and point at any random building, an unfamiliar voice spoke up to offer his input.
"That one over there." Said a male voice behind the team. "The big windows will help you get your supplies through when you levitate with magic. No point in carrying all that shit up there. Maybe try using your brains?"
Everypony turned around to see their somewhat rude source of advice in the form of man in his early thirties with bright red hair. The man in question stood there with a slightly bemused expression and wore a Eastern European style military outfit complete with urban camo, brown combat boots, a belt full of ammo and a pistol and an assault rifle slung over his shoulder.
"Oh, you must be one of our guides." Celestia said ignoring the man's rude tone.
"Yeah, I'm one of your guides alright." The man sarcastically repeated before lighting up a cigarette. "The Prime Minister's paying me some damn good money to keep you all alive so don't do anything stupid and get yourselves killed out here."
Again, Celestia decided to take the man's impolite attitude with a grain of salt, brushing it off as him possibly just being stressed out. After all, he was also putting himself at risk by being there so one is bound to have a moment where they are in a bad mood once in a while.
"Oh, we've been through it all, trust me." Celestia chuckled. "So, what's your name, sir?"
"I don't feel like getting attached to anybody." The man replied. "But if you feel so compelled to know, it's Frederick Schultz. Now why don't you all quit standing around all clustered together like that and get that building prepared? You're all sitting ducks right now."
"Oookay then. Alright everypony, we'll be using that building over there. Shining and Twilight, would you two help me get those pallets up to the top floor, please?"
"Try searching the building first. I'd check each room and make sure the place isn't crawling with mutant creatures if I were you."
"Ah. That's actually a good idea. Okay, everypony, we'll need to secure the building first and then we'll load our supplied up into one of the windows."
"Anything else I have to help you figure out?"
"Uh, no Frederick, I think you've helped us out plenty already."
"Well in that case, I'm going back to my Jeep. Groysman's gonna have to pay me a hell of a lot more if I gotta stand here and babysit you guys and I've got a big bottle of Bols with my name on it."
"Alright, thanks for your help, jerk."
Without another word, Frederick walked away into a dark alleyway between two buildings. After a few seconds, the sound of an engine starting could be heard before Frederick reappeared from the darkness but inside a late nineties, dark green Jeep Wrangler. Just as he drove past the team, he flicked his spent cigarette butt out his window and proceeded to light another while he sped away and disappeared into the foliage that took over the city.
"What flew up his ass?" Celestia said.
"D-did you just say?..." Twilight gasped.
"Yes, Twilight, I said 'ass'. I'm a pony with emotions like everypony else so get used to it while we're here."
"Sorry, I've just never seen this side of you before."
"I don't know about you guys but I like this side of her!" Spitfire said.
"Look, I think we should get to securing this building." Daring do suggested. "By the time we're done with that, it'll be dark so we should get moving."
"She's right." Celestia said. "I have no control over the sun in this universe so we are now all at the mercy of this solar system. Split up into teams of two, everypony. Let's get our camp set up so we can do what we came to do."
Everypony took a moment to choose their partner for the task of securing the building that would be used as a safe house and promptly commenced the operation. Celestia searched the rooms with Twilight by her side, Shining Armor teamed up with Rainbow Dash, Spitfire with Soarin, and Big Macintosh with Daring Do. Room by room, floor by floor, the vacant building was combed through by everypony. Some of the apartment flats were empty but most had been left in such a hurry that several of the former residents' belongings were left behind. Items ranging from beds and children's toys to large appliances such as kitchen stoves and air conditioners littered the dusty rooms.
It took the group a few hours to search the twelve floor apartment building but they were finally done and regrouped at their pre-planned rendezvous point on the very top floor. Each room was searched and nothing dangerous was found. In order for the winged teammates to be able to simply fly in and out without having to use the stairs, they chose a room with windows to the outdoors. Now that the building was proven safe, the supplies could be loaded into it by Twilight, Shining Armor and Celestia, all of them using their magical auras to levitate every box and pallet up to the top floor and through the window.
Getting the equipment up and through the window did not take very long but now that it was just past six o'clock in the evening, it would prove nearly pointless to start searching with as little daylight as there was left. Aside from the fact that the sun would be setting in less than two hours, the team could not start their search until they first devised a precise plan on how and where they would go about doing so. Not only that, but they would need to check through their new gear and discuss what would need to be done in the event of an emergency.
In total, there were three loaded pallets and twelve crates of supplies that were delivered by the two man crew with the van whom tailed behind the ponies while they were on the bus. One pallet was loaded entirely with bottles of clean water while another was stacked with half water and the other half ready to eat military food rations. Groysman even went out of his way especially saw to it that the food supplies were composed of vegetarian meals only. The third and final pallet was loaded with things such as first aid supplies, lead lined athletic cups for the stallions, saddlebags for them to be carried in, and several various sized lead lined hazmat suits made especially for ponies.
Now it was the crates' turn to be pried open and their contents inspected. Each wooden box was labeled by name, one for each pony and four more to be divided up by the group in its entirety. Each teammate received a pair of binoculars, a map of the area, a compass, a distress whistle, a package of iodine tablets, a smaller personal sized first aid kit, an electronic Geiger counter, a flare gun with six extra flares, a powerful aluminum flashlight, and several replacement batteries. One of other crates contained urban camouflage vests made to fit a pony's torso. The vests were all in various sizes and were even embroidered with a few bright orange reflective stripes so the wearer could be easily spotted by others in the event of an emergency. Two of the other crates were filled with eight two way radios, extra batteries, eight sleeping bags, and eight complimentary bottles of vodka. It was what was inside the final and largest crate that caught the team by surprise.
"Hot damn, Check these out!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she pulled a pump action shotgun out of the box. There were a few more various other firearms inside the crate that were modified so that a pony may fit their hoof over the trigger. There were also several smaller boxes of ammunition packed in along with the guns.
"Uh, are you sure we really need those?" A nervous Twilight Sparkle asked. "How many of you even know how to use one?"
"Ah can't say if Ah've ever done it but Ah'd sure like to learn." Big Macintosh said as he admired a semiautomatic rifle he held in his hooves.
"Besides that, don't you remember?" Spitfire asked Twilight. "Everybody who knows the area has told us how dangerous it is and unicorn magic is a lot weaker here. I think I speak for the rest of us when I say we should take their word for it."
"Though I do agree with that for the most part..." Celestia began. "...I think we should reserve them as a last resort. We won't be travelling alone and we'll meet back here before nightfall anyway. So now that we have an idea of what we have to work with, let's discuss a few things. From now on, this will be where we stay during our time here. Though our magic is indeed a lot weaker here, I was able to come up with a decontamination spell that will effect the whole building. Unfortunately, we won't be able to take it with us but we at least don't have to be poisoned in our sleep. Are you all with me so far?"
Everypony nodded as Celestia proceeded to unfold a map of the exclusion zone.
"Excellent." She continued as she lowered the map to everypony's eye level. "Okay, you'll all be sweeping the city in teams of two. You can stick with whoever you searched this building with or you can swap at any time. Any winged ponies can conduct an areal search but if your partner is without wings, please keep them in your sight for safety. Alright, let's see...we are right here on this map. We will start North and sweep the city towards the South. If Radius is here, I doubt he'll be very close to the power plant. Also, I would like to remind you to help look for the missing construction workers as well. If you find any of them, Radius, or any trace of them, alert the rest of us and shoot a flare up into the sky to give your location. Lastly, work as a team and be safe."
"Radius and those other guys are as good as found!" Daring Do Said. "Right everypony?"
"Right!" Everypony said in unison.
"I feel so lucky to have friends like all of you!" Celestia sniffled as she stifled a few tears. "So look, we're here for the night and we've got some time to just relax before we go to sleep tonight so let's take advantage of that vodka they packed for us."
"Uh, Princess?" Twilight asked. "You know what you just said, right?"
"I'm very well aware of what I said, Twilight. Again, get used to it."
After a night of having a few drinks, relaxing, and just getting to know each other better, everypony unrolled their own sleeping bags and went to sleep around ten o'clock. The plan was to wake up and make their rounds as soon as the sun poked up over the horizon around six o'clock. While everypony was still asleep, Rainbow Dash decided to stretch her legs and wings before the others woke up. As she glanced at everypony in the room, still sleeping soundly in their sleeping bags, she noticed that a particular pony may have beaten her to it as he was nowhere to be seen.
Thinking little of it, Rainbow Dash pushed the large window open, spread her wings, and jumped out. She did not plan on going far as it was still mostly dark outside though a small, orange glow on the ground in front of the face of Shining Armor happened to catch her attention. Wondering what he was up to, the curious pegasus swooped down to join him in front of the entrance to the building.
"Hey, dude, this place has exploding fireflies too?" Rainbow Dash asked as she landed behind the unicorn, startling him and sending him into a coughing fit.
"Jeez, Rainbow!" Shining gasped. "Don't sneak up on my like that!"
"My bad, bud. Sorry. But what are you doing out here? And where'd all this smoke come from?"
"Okay, Rainbow, you got me. I was smoking."
"Smoking? Aw jeez, dude, since when?"
"Since a bit before Flurry Heart was born. I've just had so much shit on my plate and and it was when Cadence and I found out she was pregnant that I just cracked and bought my first pack. I've been going through a pack a day ever since."
"Oh come on, man, you're smarter than that. No wonder you've been so winded out lately."
"I know, I know, it was stupid but...fuck, I just could hardly handle all the stress!"
"Hey, I get it, buddy, I really do. It's just that...well, we all care about you. All you're doing is slowly killing yourself. Hell, when I first met you, you were a strong, athletic hunk of a stallion. Now you're chubby and gasping for breath. It's not healthy and you'll really pay for it later on in life."
"You...thought I was a hunk?"
"If you weren't about to get married...man, you don't even wanna know what I thought of doing to you. Luckily, I'm not a homewrecker."
"Oookay, you're right, I don't wanna know. But look, please promise you won't tell anypony? The last thing I need is for everypony to get on my case about this."
"Hey, it's cool, I'm no squealer. The only way anypony will find out is if they catch you in the act."
"And I'll try to keep that from happening. Thanks, Rainbow."
"Hey, don't sweat it. Now come one, Everypony's about to wake up. We've got work to do."
After a few minutes, everypony else joined Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash outside the building to have a brief discussion before splitting up to sweep the town. Most of them were still slightly groggy from drinking vodka last night as some of them had consumed more than others. With their saddlebags packed with their necessities and their areas assigned the group fanned out with one objective in mind; Search every last building, alleyway, and street corner until Radius and the missing workers were found.
The pegasi would all be conducting an areal search while the wingless ponies and the two princesses would check every building. Each team would start from the North and head south until sunset where they would then rejoin the others at the base they had set up. The city Of Pripyet was home to nearly fifty thousand people and due to its size, it would take at least a week to cover the entire area if need be.
Spitfire and Soarin took to the skies together, focusing on the ground with their binoculars but at the same time making sure to keep track of each other's location. Daring Do was checking upper floors of buildings while Big Macintosh would start from the ground and work his way up until meeting his partner half way. Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor were doing the same while Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle would trot through each building together. Twilight was normally well suited to keeping her focus on the task at hoof but soon after she and her mentor entered their first building, she began to wander off and take samples and photographs of anything that caught her interest.
"Fascinating..." Twilight said as she observed a small insect under a magnifying glass. "The color pattern on this little guy is a lot different than one of the same species in a non-contaminated area. The spots are more randomly scattered around than neatly lined up like they would be on a normal bug."
As much as she wanted to be angry at her student for stowing away and now getting distracted from the task, Celestia simply could not find it in herself to feel as such. Twilight was always a studious one and starving for knowledge which is what lead her to make the brash decision of stuffing herself into her brother's bag. The elder Princess felt that it would be wrong to scold her for such a thing. Instead, she just slowed her pace so Twilight could keep up and watched her student with a warm smile and a feeling of pride. The lavender alicorn had come a tremendously long way since she started studying under Celestia and to see where her student was now was enough to make her eyes water up with what Shining Armor referred to as "liquid pride".
"What are you looking at, Twilight?" Celestia asked.
"See this moss here?" Twilight asked as she lowered her Geiger counter over the small green lump on the floor. "Impressive. The floor around it isn't showing much but the moss is reading twelve microsieverts per hour. Not many other plants hold onto radiation like that. I'll have to take a sample of this."
Twilight then opened her saddlebag and levitated a small, sealable plastic bag along with a scalpel out of it and proceeded to cut a small piece of the lichen to take as a sample. Though hiding in sompony's bag and coming along uninvited was a silly thing to do, Twilight was still incredibly smart and always prepared as she had packed items needed for taking and preserving samples. Not only that but she had even brought a microscope which she had to leave at the base camp in order to travel light.
"Um, Princess?" Twilight said. "I really am sorry I pulled a stunt like that. I dunno, I just can't keep myself fro-"
"I know, Twilight." Celestia replied. "I can't stay mad at you for wanting to learn. It's just what you like to do and it's really a wonderful thing."
"Thank you. I promise I'll do my best to help find Radius and those lost men too."
"That's all I can ask for. So, do you have all the moss samples you need?"
"Sure do!"
"Great! Now how about you see if you can convince that mouse over there to spare some of its hairs and let's go check out the rest of the upper floors."
"Oh?"
Sure enough, standing up on its tiny little hind legs was a small gray mouse looking up at the two ponies whom failed to notice that the small creature was frozen in fear. Normally, equines were not feared by small animals as most knew that they were harmless herbivores. This mouse on the other hoof, was absolutely petrified as it watched the two giants trotting towards it.
"Hey there, little guy." Twilight greeted with a smile. "Got a second?"
"Oh god please, no!" The mouse squeaked as it walked backwards while waving its paws in front of it.
"It's okay, we're not going to hurt you." Celestia assured.
"Yeah, that's what the other pony said before he devoured my whole family!" The mouse squeaked. You know what?! Go ahead and eat me, you'll be doing me a favor!"
"Um, little buddy, I think you're a little confused." Twilight said. "A pony couldn't have eaten your family. Were herbiv-"
"Other pony!?" Celestia repeated. "Wait, where did you see him!? What did he look like!?"
"No...don't make me relive that!" The mouse squeaked. "Tore them all to shreds! Didn't even give them a chance! The blood! G-g-guts all over the place! That glow! The evil look in his eyes and the teeth! Those monstrous pointed teeth!"
"Get a grip!" Twilight snapped as she took a step closer. "Just relax, Okay? What are you even talking abo-"
"Just get away from me!"
"Wait, where are you going!?"
The distraught little rodent could no longer think rationally and proceeded to scurry over to a table on the window side of the apartment flat the Princesses were searching. Before the two confused ponies could react, the mouse climbed up the leg of the table onto the top, came to a pause once it reached the window sill and stared down at the ground below. At this point, Celestia and Twilight Sparkle suddenly realized what the troubled creature was about to do.
"No!! Don't do it!!" Twilight shouted as she lunged forward in attempt to save the crazed rodent.
It was too late. Before the two horrified princesses could reach the window, the mouse jumped out and plummeted to the hard sidewalk below, killing it instantly. Twilight and Celestia could do nothing but gawk as they stared down at the small, red puddle on the pavement that the mouse lay in. In all her many centuries of living, Celestia had seen many things that she would never wish on her worst enemy but until now, seeing a mouse commit suicide was never one of them.
"Princess?" Twilight whimpered.
"Y-yes, Twilight?" Celestia stuttered.
"Did you happen to bring any of that vodka with you?"
Knowing exactly why her student was asking such a question, Celestia hastily levitated a full bottle of vodka out of her saddlebag, grabbed it and hoofed it over. Twilight then proceeded to uncap the bottle and take a few sizable gulps before passing it back to Celestia who quickly followed suit.
"Wow." Celestia said as she wiped the drops of liquor from her chin. "This...is going to be a looong day."
Meanwhile, with Big Macintosh and Daring Do...
"Ah gotta be honest, Ah never thought Ah'd be searchin' an abondoned town with mah favorite author." Big Macintosh said as he and the pegasus explorer found each other in the middle floor of a tall building.
"So, you've read my books?" Daring Do asked.
"Eeyup. Mah family doesn't think Ah'm much of a reader 'cause Ah spend most of mah time workin' the farm but Ah got a copy of every one of yer books."
"Glad you like 'em. Maybe after we're done with this little 'adventure', a new book about this will come our way."
"Heh, and AJ was all tore up about me comin' here! Shoot, Ah've never been so glad to git outta town fer a while!"
"Feels great, doesn't it? Just something new to break up the routine, y'know? Going to new places, seeing new things. It's what I live for, man."
"Ah think Ah'm gonna like workin' with ya."
"Likewise, big guy. Okay, let's see..."
Daring Do then used her wing to pull her map of Pripyat out of her saddlebag along with a marker which she uncapped and crossed out a small square that represented the building the duo had just covered.
"That's another one down with nothing to speak of." Daring Do said as she placed the map back into her bag. "How about we try that one out there?"
"Sounds good ta me." Big Macintosh replied.
The big, red stallion then trotted down the nearest staircase with Daring Do in tow until the two of them reached the bottom floor and exited the building. Usually being a stallion of few words, Big Macintosh found that with his famous searching partner by his side, he had talked more in a few hours that he normally would in over a week. It proved to be a breath of fresh air to the farm pony who spent most of his time cooped up in a small town with little to do or see.
As the duo trotted over to their next target, they continued their conversation and enjoyed getting to know each other. Once they reached one of the great many apartment buildings, it was time to repeat their process until they once again met each other half way.
"Alright, I'm gonna head up to the top now." Daring Do said. "See ya in a bit, 'kay?"
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh replied as he pushed the door open and trotted inside.
Again, the two teammates went through room after countless room, most of them completely empty with the exception of various every day objects such as beds, dressers, old broken televisions and other odds and ends. It along with the rest of the abandoned apartment complexes was a gloomy, depressing sight to say the least. As Big Macintosh passed one room in particular, he spotted a box of toys sitting in the corner. As he glanced over, images of a happy family of people enjoying their time together in that very room danced through his mind. His imagination showed him a happy toddler playing with his toys on the floor as his two proud parents sat on the sofa and watched the television set together. To think what this room once was and to see what it had been reduced to was enough to make the big, tough stallion stifle a few tears.
As sad of a sight as it was, Big Macintosh pressed onward and climbed the stairs to the next floor. He and Daring Do found that they both were able to search the rooms at the same pace so since Big Macintosh was now on the fourth floor, Daring must be on the seventh as there were eleven in total. After another fifteen to twenty minutes, the two would soon meet and proceed to trot to the next target provided there was nothing worth speaking of to be found.
"Uh, hey Mac... Daring Do's voice coming from Big Macintosh's radio said. "Dude, you oughtta see this."
"What's goin' on?" Big Macintosh replied as he pressed the key on his radio. "Where are ya?"
"Sixth floor, apartment sixty-eight. Get up here, okay?"
Wasting no time, Big Macintosh galloped to the stairs and climbed as fast as he could. As he skipped over the fifth floor, he made a mental note to go back and skim through it once he had the time to do so. Now that he was on the sixth floor, he observed the doors to each apartment, each of them labeled in numerical order. As he trotted down the hallway, he could see that one of the doors near the end was open, the number sixty-eight clearly visible as two black plastic digits glued to the front. Once he reached the entrance to the room, he was greeted by his winged partner once again.
"Hey, that was quick." Daring Do said. "Man, you're in pretty good shape."
"Oh, uh, thanks." Big Macintosh chuckled. "So, what'd ya find?"
"All of this shit here."
The room that Daring Do had told her partner to take a look at was indeed unlike any of the others as it appeared to have been lived in. The apartment was completely furnished with a sofa, a bed, a bookcase crammed full of books and magazines, an oil drum with a grill grate on top of it and a small trash bucket with what appeared to be the skeletal remains of several rodents. The two ponies then trotted to the bathroom where they found that the mirror above the sink had been shattered. As they looked around more, they found a large stack of soap bars, each of them packaged in their own small individual box. Over all, the flat was extremely dusty and looked to be abandoned for years but not all thirty that the city of Pripyat has been.
"Mane and tail?" Daring Do said as she picked up one of the soap boxes. "Haven't seen this brand in a while."
"Shoot, looks like somepony's been livin' here more recently but still a long time ago." Big Macintosh said
"Yeah. Let's have a look around, alright? See if we can find any leads. I got this feeling that there's more to this place."
The two ponies then poked and prodded at every object they could find in the rooms of the strange apartment. Big Macintosh observed the waste basket full of bones with disgust while Daring Do flipped through the books in the case. It was when she pulled a magazine out of the case that a small photograph fell out of it and onto the floor. The image on the photograph in question was enough to make the explorer pony gasp and double take.
"Mac! Get over here!" Daring Do said.
"What, what's wrong?" Big Macintosh asked as Daring Do pointed at the photo. "What'n the fuck!? Is that...?"
Daring Do then proceeded to pick up the picture to get a closer look. Their eyes had not deceived them as stared at a photo of a familiar white alicorn with an eighties mane style posing next to a gray unicorn stallion with a red mane and thick glasses. The two beings in the picture both had big smiles on their faces and the two ponies who had just found it felt that they had never seen a cuter couple but they had some serious work to do.
"Hey, everypony, this is Daring Do." Daring said through the microphone on her radio. "Mac and I just found something big. Look for my flare."
Catching a whiff of something she knew she smelled before, Celestia trotted to the bathroom where it seemed to be coming from. Upon entering, she glanced around for a moment until her gaze landed on the large stack of soap boxes. Taking a moment to focus as she was slightly buzzed from the drink she and Twilight shared earlier, her pupils dilated as she realized what she was looking at.
"Mane and tail!" Celestia gasped. "That was Radius's favorite soap! And that's exactly the way he stacked the boxes!"
"Did he always have so much of it?" Daring Do asked.
"He was a very clean, hygienic stallion...Another thing I liked so much about him..."
"So without a doubt, he was here." Shining Armor said. "Nice. Who would have thought we'd find a lead like this on the first day?"
"Be that as it may, it's still a cold one." Daring Do reminded. "Trust me, I know a place that hasn't been touched in a while when I see one. That and I doubt a clean, Hygienic guy like Radius would sleep on a pile of dust like the one covering the bed and sofa."
"Hmm...you have a point there."
"Oh, I almost forgot. Your Majesty, I thought you'd like to see this."
Daring do then pulled the photograph she found back out of her hat and held it out for Celestia to see. As the Princess stared at the photo, her knees went weak and tears started flowing down her cheeks. This photo in particular meant a lot to Celestia and she had no other copies of it so this was the first time in thirty years that she had seen it.
"You okay?" Twilight asked.
"I'll be f-fine." Celestia said. "It's just...that picture was taken after our first real date. We had spent a lot of time together before that but he didn't know that I liked him as more than a friend until I pretty much threw it in his face."
"Wow. So, what now? Just keep looking until we find him, right?"
Celestia was unsure how to answer that so to get an idea of how much daylight was left, she glanced out the window in the back of the room to see that the bottom of the sun was just resting itself on the horizon. Since the sun was setting meaning that it would be dark soon, Celestia knew that the team had only one option. For safety's sake, she would suspend the search until the next morning.
"We all need to head back to the camp, everypony." Celestia said. "You've all done a wonderful job so far so let's go back and rest. We found a clue so we can all go to sleep tonight knowing that today was a success."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Rainbow Dash agreed. "He's as good as found tomorrow."
Everypony was tired after flying and trotting around all day so they were in no mood to disagree with Celestia's idea. One by one, everypony filed out of the room with Twilight last in line. Just as the studious alicorn trotted past the sofa, something out of the ordinary caught her eye in the form of a single long, coarse red hair sticking out of the thick layer of dust. She paused for a moment to pick the hair up with her aura but when she did, she was taken by surprise by the loud, repetitive beeping sound of her personal Geiger counter.
"Yikes, this thing's hot!" Twilight gasped as she dropped the tail hair on the floor.
Not only did Twilight come prepared with plastic bags and the like to take samples with, she also packed a special, larger sample bag with a lead lining in order to keep items that were contaminated. Taking care not to breath any particles in, Twilight held her breath and she very cautiously used a pair of tweezers to pick the hair back up and place it in the largest pocket of the bag while she placed the now radioactive tweezers in a smaller one. Upon their return to the base building, she would need to wash the tool in iodine before using it again as to prevent herself from absorbing radiation while she carried it around the next day.
"Twilight, are you coming?" Celestia called over.
"Yeah, what's the holdup?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Coming!" Twilight called out to them as she galloped out of the room to rejoin the others.
The sun had just disappeared over the horizon by the time everypony made it to their base. Upon arrival, the team took some time to review their findings. In regards to their search for Radius and the three missing men, the supposedly inhabited apartment flat was really all they had to go on. Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor had not come across anything vital, nor did Spitfire and Soarin but Twilight showed the group the plant and insect samples she took along with blood and fur from the suicidal mouse. Seeing it do what it did was difficult for the princesses to watch but Twilight felt that if its tissues could make contributions to science, its death would not be in vain.
Still, Celestia could not help but think about what the mouse had said about there being a carnivorous pony on the loose. Perhaps it had witnessed a mutated deer eat its family and mistook it for a pony. Surely he was not talking about the sweet, mild mannered Radius Hoofenschtov who sooner would drink a terrible Faygo soda before causing harm to another living thing. Perhaps the radioactive contamination had simply driven the unfortunate rodent to madness. Regardless, Celestia constantly reminded herself and the others that they need to stay alert.
Being that they all covered a lot of ground and got a decent workout from bolting to Daring Do's flare signal, nopony found it difficult to fall asleep; nopony except Shining Armor that is. Since Rainbow Dash made it clear that she hated the smell of his smoking and the fact that second hoof smoke would impair her athletic abilities, Shining agreed not to smoke in her presence. He also did not want to disappoint his Aunt Celestia and the others so he had gone far too long without a cigarette and could not get himself to fall asleep.
Of course it was dark outside and of course he knew that meant no going out and straying from the group but he had gone all day without an opportunity to light up. As far as he was concerned, now was as good a time as any to get just one smoke break without the others knowing. If there was one thing Shining Armor was good at it was being stealthy as he flawlessly stepped over everypony else who was sound asleep. Once he was out of the room, he could trot down the stairs all the way to the bottom and out the front door where he would finally get his nicotine fix.
"Aaahhh, that's the stuff." Shining Armor sighed as he exhaled a cloud of cigarette smoke.
As the stressed out unicorn puffed on his lung dart, he glanced around at the city streets that the bright, nearly full moon lit up from the clear, starry night sky. Though he had his flashlight with him, Shining Armor felt that the moon was so bright that he would hardly need it. He had never seen anything quite like a full sized city with not a single window nor street lamp aglow. It was actually quite beautiful and the lush, overgrown foliage just added to it.
Seeming that the base was so close by and the ground so well illuminated by the moon, surely it would not hurt to trot around a bit and take in the beauty of this night as long as Shining refrained from straying too far away. just trotting a few blocks away should not cause any harm and he decided to do just that. It seemed like the stress from life back at home seemed to just melt away as the cool, Spring night breeze blew through his mane. It was not that he did not deeply care for his wife and foal. He did. They meant everything to him but sill, taking care of both of them and the Crystal Empire to boot meant he had no time to himself. As he sat his rump on the ground and paused for another smoke, he was about to be reminded that he had others who needed him in their lives.
"You lost, comrade?" A gruff, raspy male voice said a few feet behind Shining Armor.
Shining Armor was greatly startled as he had not expected someone or something to come up right behind him and especially so quietly that he failed to notice until the being addressed him. Having not the slightest idea what to expect, the nervous unicorn slowly turned his head around to the direction the voice came from and dropped the cigarette from his mouth as he looked in horror at whom or what was speaking to him. Towering over him just a few steps away was a massive, gray wolf with a smug, toothy grin on his face.
The wolf that stared Shining Armor down was like nothing he had ever seen in his life nor would he ever wish to see again. The large creature that was easily twice his size had glowing red eyes, a long, forked tongue hanging from his slightly glowing mouth, large bony spikes jutting out of his back going in a row down his spine and three tails. A real monster if he ever saw one.
"Ha! You should see the look on your face!" The wolf chuckled as it walked closer. "Oh man, that's rich!"
Shining Armor had seen a great many perils in his time serving in the Royal Guard but to have such a grotesque, monstrous creature staring him down and walking towards him and toying with his emotions made his heart pound so hard he felt that it would jump right out of his chest. As the horrified pony slowly stood back up on all fours and the wolf continued to walk towards him, his Geiger counter started to beep as it was sensing radioactivity. This was a wild animal that had spent its entire life in a contaminated zone so naturally it would end up horribly mutated and emit harmful particles.
"So, you just gonna stand there gawking, tough guy?" The wolf asked in a sharp tone.
"I uh, I-I w-was just..." Shining Armor stuttered.
"You were just what? Huh? Come one, spit it out."
"Um, l-look, comrade, I-I don't want any trouble."
"That so?" Another voice said from another direction. "Well, it looks like you've got some headed your way."
Since wolves travel in packs, naturally, there would be another nearby and he too was walking towards Shining Armor with the same smug grin as the other one had. If the former guard Captain was in trouble before, he was in dire need of help now. He could do nothing but try to peacefully talk himself out of the situation as the two disgusting creatures slowly walked circles around him.
"Hey, fellas, please..."Shining Armor began. "My friends and I are here on matters that don't involve you. All we wanna do is find a lost pony and some missing guys. After that, we're outta here, I swear."
"We know why you're here." The first wolf said.
"And, maybe that pony doesn't wanna be found." The second wolf said. "He's been here so damn long he'd rather leave in a body bag."
"So if you ponies know what's good for ya, you'll turn tail and head outta here the second your precious sun pokes over that horizon."
"Why tell this guy off when we could use him to send a message to the other namby pamby pansy ponies? What better warning than a mangled carcass, am I right?"
After hearing the last comment, Shining Armor's heart sank to a low he never thought it could possibly sink to. At this point there was no denying that these wolves were contemplating killing him as a message to everypony else to leave the exclusion zone and never return. Shining Armor had his fair share of well deserved pride but at a time such as this, he felt that if it meant preserving his life, he was not above begging for it.
"Wait, guys, please don't hurt me." Shining Armor begged. "I swear to whatever deity exists in this world, I'll tell the others to get out of here as soon as I get back to them. If you just let me go, you'll never see me again."
"Where's the fun in that?" The second wolf asked. "It's been too long since I got to tear something apart so I guess you're it."
"If you have any kind of heart beating in your chest, you'll give me a chance! Please, I have a wife and a baby who need me!"
"You should have thought of that before you decided to walk around here at night!" The first wolf laughed as he wrapped a foreleg around Shining Armor's neck ans began to drag him. "They don't call me the widowmaker for nothing!"
"Gaaahh!! Wait!! No!! No, please don't do this!!"
With a strong, muscular foreleg attached to a massive wolf dragging him to the ground, Shining Armor's natural fight or flight instinct kicked in. Since flight was not currently an option, his only chance at getting to see his daughter grow up was to fight tooth and nail. Though he had no gun or knife with him to use he did have a hard, blunt implement on the end of each leg that he could use to defend himself that he happened to have been born with. Not only that but he was fortunate enough to also possess a long, sharp, bony appendage jutting out of his forehead. In this dimension, magic could only be used to levitate objects so he started kicking and thrashing around in attempt to land a blow on those who were trying to kill him.
As the wolf who did not have him in a choke hold attempted to grab and subdue his back legs, Shining Armor kicked with all the strength he could muster and was able to lay a good smack right on its muzzle sending it tumbling back a few feet. Now that one of the attackers was stunned for a moment, he could use his small window of opportunity to focus on the one who had him in its clutch. As Shining Armor continued to struggle, the wolf began to have difficulty keeping his grip on him causing him to slip out of his grasp and allow his rear hooves to touch the ground. If the panicking pony was to live to fight another day, it was now or never as the proud husband and father simply had too much to lose.
The very moment his hooves touched the ground, Shining Armor put his plan into action by lining his horn up with the wolf's eye and bucking his back legs as hard as he could sending his bony appendage deep into the eye socket of the foul creature. Now blinded in one eye, the sadistic being dropped Shining Armor and proceeded to apply pressure to his wounded face, all the while the other monster was just beginning to regain his footing. With his two adversaries stunned for just enough time for him to make an escape, Shining Armor booked it towards the base building.
"Get that asshole!" The wolf with the gouged eye shouted as he and the other began to give chase.
The chase was on indeed with Shining Armor getting a decent head start and he knew that his only chance at getting out of this situation alive was to run as fast as he could and not look back. The first city block was down with two more to go and the base camp was in plain sight at the end of the street. Sanctuary was so close yet so far away and Shining Armor was well aware that he was not out of the woods yet as the tapping sound of claws sprinting on the asphalt behind him was quickly coming closer.
The second city block was passed with just one more until he reached the building. It seemed as if he would make it after all and to make matters better, he could see that the rest of the team must have been woken up by the ruckus outside as they he could see them shining their flashlights out the window. Just another fifty yards to go and he would be home free. The entrance was literally right in front of him and once he entered he could slam the door and lock the killing machines out. It had been a very long time since Shining Armor had felt so blessed just to have it all ripped away. Just before he could run through the front door, three more of the menacing mutants came out of nowhere and slid to a stop blocking his only escape.
"End of the line, you little bastard!" The wolf blocking the door shouted.
If the rest of the team did not figure out what was going on within the next few seconds, the monstrous wolves would have their jaws around Shining Armor's throat. Being the Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor had seen many dangers but never before did he see his entire life flash before his eyes. The husband and father had not quite made it to be thirty years old. He was too young to go, especially like this. At this point, the only thing he could ever wish for was that his friends and his precious little sister would not have to bear watching him be ripped apart and turned into a heap of guts right in front of their door. It seemed that all was lost as Shining Armor could already see the bright white light rushing towards him accompanied by the sound of a blaring truck horn.
"It's those crazy army guys!" One of the wolves shouted as two sets of round headlights came barreling towards them.
"They're not stopping!" Another wolf yelled. "Everybody bai-"
Slam!
Shining Armor's saviors in the form of a dark green Jeep and a gray Land Rover both shrieked to a stop as the former plowed one of the wolves over sending it tumbling down the street until it was little more than a mangled pile of flesh. The other four wolves just stood there frozen in the headlights as they stared at their dead pack member laying there in a large puddle of his own blood. As they all continued to stand there shaking, a mysterious figure jumped out the driver's side doors of each of the two off road vehicles that had come to the rescue. One of them was a familiar sight to Shining Armor as his unmistakable bright red hair could be seen as a flashlight from above illuminated him. The man who had jumped out of the Land Rover truck must have been the second soldier the team had been told about.
The unfamiliar man was of average height and was a bit more burly than the taller, lanky Fredrick Schultz and appeared to be in his early forties. Finally, the rest of the wolves seemed to take the hint and started to run away but to make sure they really got the message across, Fredrick and his partner both grabbed an AK-47 and a combat shotgun respectively and proceeded to mow down the mutated monsters as they tried to flee all the while Shining Armor lay on his belly with his hooves covering his head.
After at least thirty seconds of solid gunfire, the shots stopped and all the attacking wolves lay with dozens of new holes put into their lifeless bodies. Finally, there was silence except from the sound of a heavy pair of combat boots power walking over to the trembling Shining Armor before coming to a stop directly in front of him. Knowing that it was now safe to move, an incredibly grateful but embarrassed Shining Armor, uncovered his head and looked up to see Fredrick Schultz staring down at him, his face a similar shade as his hair.
"You fucking eediot!" Fredrick shouted as Shining Armor returned to his hooves. "What was the number one rule!?"
"D-don't g-go out at ni-?"
"Don't go out at fucking night!"
"Come on, Fred, cut him some slack." The other man said. "Poor bastard almost just got killed."
"Which is exactly why I'm pissed, Dmitry! I got some damn good money on the line if this eediot does himself in!"
"The fuck's going on out there!?" Spitfire shouted out the window as she shined her flashlight at the insane scene below.
No sooner that Spitfire finished her sentence did a furious Fredrick Schultz kick the door to their room open while carrying an immensely embarrassed Shining Armor under his arm. After the door swung open, Fredrick tossed the unicorn into the room where he landed on his face and returned to his hooves to see everypony giving him a quizzical look.
"Moron!" Fredrick shouted. "I'll slap you stupider if you pull a stunt like that again!"
With that, Fredrick stormed off down the stairs, got back into his Jeep and tore off. As his taillights faded away into the distance, the other man whom he addressed as Dmitry walked in offer his own two bits. Dmitry's attitude was much more calm than that of his partner which put Shining Armor and the rest of the team at ease.
"Don't take it personally, comrades." Dmitry sighed. "I know he can be a dick at times but when you're the only friend he's got, you learn to understand him. I know he may not come off as a likable guy but if you knew some of the shit he's been through, you'd get him."
"Hey, I'm just grateful that he saved me weather he wanted to or not." Shining Armor said.
"Alright, alright, what's done is done. Just stay inside after dark from now on, okay?"
"Will do."
With that, Dmitry walked out of the room and towards the staircase where he would then exit the building and get back into his SUV to resume his duties. Before he made it to the stairs however, he glanced down at the front pocket of his jacket and realized he had forgotten to return something he found on the ground outside.
"What the hell were you even doing out there?" Clestia asked as she leered at Shining Armor.
"I just wanted to admire the sights, that's all." Shining Armor replied. "You know, get some fresh air, let the night breeze cool me off."
"Hey, shield dude." Dmitry said as he returned to the doorway of the room. "You dropped these."
Dmitry then tossed an opened pack of Manehattan Reds into the room which landed directly in front of Shining Armor. Dmitry was unaware that he had just gotten the pony he and his friend just rescued into some serious trouble as he walked back out to his vehicle and drove away. Everypony in the room shook their heads in disappointment at what Shining Armor was caught doing as he hung his head in shame.
"Wow, I never thought this is how everypony would start hating me." Shining Armor sighed as the team prepared to split up for the day.
"BBBFF, don't you ever think anypony hates you!" Twilight snapped in response. "We're upset about your smoking because we love you! Think of it this way. If you don't quit, then you might not live to see Flurry Heart have her own foals."
"I, uh...well, I guess that would suck."
"See? And that's why you need to quit."
"On his own accord." Princess Celestia finished.
"Huh?"
"Twilight, he smokes as a way to relieve stress. As sad as I am to see him do it, getting on his case about it will just add to his stress and make him want more. We need to treat him like the grown stallion he is and let him make the decision when he's ready. Trust me, I didn't quit until...uh, 1992, I think."
"You smoked?"
"Literally every pony and human alike went about their day with a lit cigarette in their mouths at one point in time. Back in the fifties, you were weird if you didn't."
"I...I guess if he needs the space, then that's what we'll give him. I just hope he does the right thing sooner than later."
"I promise I will, Twiley." Shining Armor said. "I just need a little more time, that's all."
As much as Twilight wanted to continue the conversation in hopes that her brother would quit smoking right then and there, everypony had a job to do and they were burning daylight. Due to the events of the previous night, the team had stayed up later than anticipated and ended up getting a late start the following morning. Now that everypony was aware of precisely what kinds of dangers existed in the exclusion zone, they made it a point to be extra diligent and even started to carry some of the firearms that were provided for them.
"Hmm...okay, 'press side button forward'..." Soarin mumbled as he read an instruction book with one hoof and held a thirty-eight caliber revolver in the other. "...'Cylinder should open, revealing six chambers'...okay, got it. 'Unit is now ready to load'."
Soarin was one of the best when it comes to multitasking while flying at the same time. He had never used a firearm before but ever since the United States Of America began importing them into Equestria by the barge loads, he had always been curious about them. Most Equestrian law enforcement agencies including the Royal Guard had adopted the use of them by now and Soarin was eager to learn more about them. Once he had deposited six cartridges into the cylinder of his own piece, he proceeded to read the instruction booklet on what to do from there.
"Okay, 'This unit is double action which means it can be fired weather hammer is fully cocked or un-cocked'." Soarin read. "'For safety, gently pull hammer back until it clicks once. This is half cock position in which unit can not be discharged. When ready to fire, fully cock hammer and line up the sights with target. Caution: Unit has enlarged trigger guard which allows it to be operated by those with non-cloven hooves. Take care while carrying loaded as to avoid accidental discharge'. Alright, sounds simple enough."
"So, you think you got the gist of it?" Spitfire asked as she flew beside Soarin.
"I think so. It's always cool to learn something new. Kinda freaks me out a little bit though. I mean, did you see those things? They look creepy enough dead, imagine how Shining Armor felt when he was being attacked by them. Oh, and this morning, I saw some guys wearing lab coats loading them into a pick-up truck."
"Well, as long as we stay in the building at night, we should be fine. That and I doubt those mutants can fly."
"Ooohh, don't jinx it. With my luck, they might do just that."
The Wonderbolt proceeded to focus on the ground below in hopes that they would find a sign of Dr. Hoofenschtov, the missing workers, or both. Both felt content with their sidearms that they were carrying and that they would know how to use them in the event that they needed to. The only thing left for them to do was to continue the search and hope for the best.
Meanwhile, with Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor...
"Hey, don't let it get you down, big guy." Rainbow Dash said. "Sure everypony was a bit disappointed but it's not the worst somepony's ever done."
"I know, Rainbow." Shining Armor replied. "I just feel bad that I disappointed them to begin with though."
"Hey, at least you're not on crack or something. Then everypony would be really bummed."
"Well, yeah I guess it could be worse."
"Honestly, I think everypony was mostly upset because going out to smoke almost got you killed last night. Twilight kinda started freaking out when she got woke up by the noise outside and realized you weren't in the room."
"Jeez, now that you mention it, I guess I do owe her an apology for that."
"Hey, what's this?"
While Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor were trotting along, the former spotted something peculiar on the ground just a few steps away. It was a small, brown, flat object just poking out of a clump of grass that appeared to be folded in half. Before picking up however, the two ponied placed their Geiger counters near it as a precautionary measure and then proceeded to investigate it once they found that it was cold.
"Looks like somebody lost their wallet." Shining Armor said as he opened the bi-fold to find out whom it belonged to. "Let's see...Ivan...Melnyk? Whoa."
"Isn't that one of the missing guys?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Yeah and finding one of their belongings without the person isn't a good sign. I've got a bad feeling about this."
"I hope we're wrong, dude. I really fucking hope we're wrong."
As the hours ticked by, Spitfire and Soarin remained diligent in their search as did the rest of the teams. Still, there was a decent amount of daylight left but Spitfire was growing slightly impatient at the lack of anything new to speak of and began thinking of an idea to cover more ground faster and more efficiently.
"Hey, Soarin, I don't think we're covering a lot of area with us flying so close together like this." Spitfire said. "Let's keep each other in sight but maybe just split up a bit."
"Sure, we can do more damage that way." Soarin chuckled. "Alright, I'm game. You can head towards the center of the city and I'll look around the outskirts."
"Alright, lemme know if you see anything."
With that, the two partners veered off their straight course and split up in effort to expand their search horizon. For another hour, the two continued to sweep through the city while yielding no new findings. Fortunately for Soarin, he would not remain empty hoofed for much longer as he spotted a round, bright orange object lying on the ground in the backyard of a kindergarten building. As the wonderbolt swooped down and got closer, he could tell that the object in question was a hardhat. Since there were three construction workers missing in the area, it seemed quite obvious who the owner must have been.
"Man, this can't be a good thing." Soarin said as he tapped the hardhat with a hoof. "I should probably get spitfire over he-gah!"
Soarin was taken by surprise by what he saw when he flipped the hat over. The wonderbolt inspecting the hat was indeed a brave one as he needed to be in his line of work but nothing could have prepared him for the dried up red stains that he saw on the inside. With a shaky hoof, Soarin fumbled through his bag for his radio that he would use to alert Spitfire but found himself unable to get a good grip on his device. After taking a moment to try and calm himself, he attempted to remove his saddlebag but soon found difficulty in that as well. With his hoof and wings stuck under one of the straps that held his bag on, the clumsy stallion stumbled about and soon failed to notice that he was coming dangerously close to a steep incline until it was too late.
"Ahh!" Soarin gasped as he tumbled down a steep hill. "Oof! Ohh! Ow! Damn! Ouch! Awww!"
After what seemed like an eternity of tumbling down the incline and seeming to hit every rock and stick on the way down, Soarin finally came to a rest in what appeared to be an irrigation ditch. Being that he was in a slight daze, he took a moment to gather himself and lay there for a moment to wait for the mild pain to subside. Fortunately, he did not feel as if any bones were broken and shrugged off any injuries he may have sustained as minor bruises. It was when he preparing to return to his hooves that he was about be be scarred in a way that could never be repaired by years of the best therapy his bits could pay for.
"Jeez, what's with all the flies?" Soarin said as he swatted the air and rolled over to his side.
It was at that moment, that the brave pegasus came face to face with something that he would truly never wish on a worst enemy. A grizzly sight that would haunt him in his dreams for the remainder of his days. As his pupils fully dilated and every hair on his body stand on end, Soarin's mouth went dry as he began to hyperventilate until finally, he let out a loud, feminine scream.
"Did you hear that?" Rainbow Dash ask as she perked her ears up."
"Yeah, it sounded like somepony screaming." Shining Armor replied as he too went on the alert. "I think it's coming from tha-"
"Spi-Spi-Spiffire! Gaahuhuhuh! Th-th-the intes-intestines are allovertheplahahahace!" Soarin's voice frantically trembled over the radio. "Sh-Sh-Shining! Anypohohonayyy!"
"Soarin!?" Shining Armor answered. "Dude, where are you! What happened!?"
"It's horribleee! Gaaahuhuhuhuh! Oh gahahawd!"
"Soarin!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Just hang in there, buddy! We can hear where you are, we're on our way!"
Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash could hear the faint sound of Soarin bawling in the distance as he was not very far away from where the two were searching. After stuffing the wallet into her bag, Rainbow Dash flew into the direction of Soarin's cries as fast as she could with her unicorn partner close behind. As the two got even closer and the screaming get louder, the two could see spitfire flying in that direction as well until finally, a flare signal shot up into the air right from where Soarin could be heard.
Soon after the flare burst in the air, Soarin's crying stopped much to the dismay of everypony else who was rushing over to his aid. Nopony had a clue what to expect to see once they reached him but all of them feared the worst. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire were especially worried sick and wanted nothing more than closure as the suspense of not knowing what could be happening to their friend was simply agonizing.
Finally, Rainbow Dash, Shining Armor along with Spitfire made it to the edge of the incline and slid and flew down to see a trembling Soarin curled up in the fetal position laying next to the very answer to many questions they would have had. As the three worried but at the same time somewhat relieved ponies approached their sobbing friend, they could make out the facial features of the bloody, mangled body of a man laying behind him. While Spitfire and Shining Armor trotted over to comfort the emotionally troubled wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash pulled the wallet out of her saddlebag and opened it to compare the photo on the driver's license to that of the face of the decaying corpse. The photograph was a direct match with the only difference being the deep, wide open slashes and small, round puncture wounds on the deceased man's throat.
As more ponies from the split up teams came to investigate the flare, the first ones on the scene started to investigate the body and search the nearby area for more clues. Even to the toughest, most hardened of individuals, the sight that lay before them was enough to make them physically sick. They were sickened by the odor of the decaying body, sickened by the blood, the gashes, the gouges, the exposed intestines and organs, and the mere fact that there exists a being vile and heartless enough to commit such a despicable and disgusting act. Still, as horrible as the remains of the unfortunate man who met his demise were to look at, the fact that his eyes were still open along the expression of fear and agony frozen onto his face was ultimately what made everypony's stomachs turn.
"Oh my god..." Twilight gasped as she and Celestia slid down the incline to the scene. "I think I'm gonna *urp*. I think I'm gonna be sick."
"In all my years of exploring abandoned cities..." Daring Do began as she removed her hat. "I never thought I'd see something as sick as this."
"It literally hurts to think about what this poor man was put through before it all ended." Celestia said as she trotted over to the body where she proceeded to reach down and close his eyes. "Please show some respect, everypony. Fredrick or Dymitri should be here any minute. Soon, he'll get the proper burial he deserves..."
Even though none of the ponies had ever met or knew the murdered man personally, to see the mangled pile of flesh and broken bones he had been reduced to was a sad sight to say the very least. Until Fredrick or Dymitri arrived, there was nothing the team could do but just stand there in silence. After comforting Soarin, Spitfire and Rainbow Dash were finally able to get him to calm down. Galloping onto the scene to see the corpse was one thing but to roll down a hill and nearly land on top of it was understandably traumatizing.
Finally, the sound of an inline-six engine could be heard coming ever closer followed by a car door closing and a pair of heavy combat boots sliding through the gravel and dirt down to where the flare had come from. Fredrick Schultz had arrived to take the matter from there and alert the Prime Minister that one of the missing workers was now accounted for but sadly not in the best circumstances.
"Damn, what a way to go." Fredrick sighed as he knelt down to examine the body.
Fredrick had a reaction much different than that of the ponies and was oddly more calm despite the gory scene that lay before him. He was a hardened man whom had been through unimaginable things during his time in the Ukrainian Army and it seemed that dealing with the lifeless body of his own kind was nothing more than another day at the office. Nothing new or out of the ordinary for the emotionally numbed soldier.
"Uh, here's his wallet." Rainbow Dash said as she hoofed the deceased's identification over.
"Ah, okay this is, uh...Ivan Melnyk." Fredrick said as he brought his radio to his face. "Dymitri, it's Fred. Get a hold of the nearest coroner and the guys at the checkpoint. Tell them to bring a hearse into the zone over to the Western outskirts of the city."
"A hearse?" Dymitri repeated over the radio. "Oh, man, I was afraid you were gonna say that. Alright, they'll be there in next hour."
There was nothing anyone or anypony could do but wait for the authorities to come collect the body. The wait was mostly silent with the exception of the sound of everypony's breathing and Fredrick lighting up one cigarette right after the other and taking the occasional swig from a bottle of bols. The silence was incredibly awkward as Fredrick was not much of a talker so after a while of being crowded around a corpse, most of the ponies started getting antsy until finally, Fredrick of all people broke the silence.
"Looks like I gotta step up my game." Fredrick said.
"Beg your pardon?" Celestia asked.
"I was the one getting paid to find these guys and you ponies got to him first. I'm not one to normally admit this..."
"Admit what?" Daring Do asked.
"I guess you candy colored pansies are smarter than I thought. Just a little bit though."
"Um, thanks? I guess?" Celestia replied.
"Hey, down there!" Dymitri hollered down to the group. "Think you can catch this stretcher if we roll it down!?"
"Yeah, go ahead!" Shining armor shouted up to Dymitri.
A few seconds later, Dymitri and a man in a black suit who came with him pushed a stretcher complete with a body bag down the incline where at first it began tumbling uncontrollably until Shining Armor grabbed with his aura and slowed its decent down the hill. At first, Fredrick was certain that he may have to push the stretcher with a body on it all the way up but once Shining Armor used what limited magic he had in this world, the hardened soldier just stood watched with his mouth agape and a lit cigarette hanging from his lower lip. The unicorn failed to make a good first impression with him but at this point, seeing how easy some simple levitation magic could make an otherwise strenuous job, Fredrick could not help but be impressed this time. Being the stubborn man he was though, of course he would not admit it as he had already given his fair share of one compliment for the next few months.
Once the stretcher made it down to the ditch where the team was waiting, Twilight held it still with her aura while Celestia gently lifted the body up onto it. To finish, Shining Armor unfolded the white sheet that lay on the foot of the stretcher and laid it over top of the deceased man. Finally, the pegasi proceeded to carry the stretcher back up to the top of the steep hill while the wingless ponies made their way up on hoof.
The man in the black suit who came with the hearse was the coroner that Dymitri called for. Now that everypony had made it to the top of the slope, the job could be finished and the remains sent to receive a proper burial. When the coroner took hold of the stretcher and pushed it towards the back of the hearse, Spitfire stood next to the opened back door with a salute. Soarin, then stood across from Spitfire and did the same until everypony followed suit and was standing in a row across from each other, offering a salute to the murdered man as he was pushed past them and loaded into the back of the Mercedes hearse.
With the body placed into the back of the car as the coroner headed back to Kiev, Fredrick getting back to his search and the sun beginning to set over the horizon, everypony liked to think that they day was a productive one. Even though the circumstances were rather unfortunate, Celestia and the others refused to give up hope or believe that the day was wasted. Another section of the city was searched and one of the workers was now accounted for and his remains were on their way to the custody of his family. Everypony could only hope that Radius and the other two missing men would be found in better shape than the first as the team hastily made their way back to the base where they would retire for the night once again.
"Wow, poor Soarin." Spitfire sighed as she observed her traumatized partner laying down in the corner of the room. "I never thought I'd see him like this."
Soarin appeared to be asleep as he was laying on his side on top of his sleeping bag and was facing the wall. He was still awake however and unbeknownst to the rest of the team, he could hear every word they were saying though he simply did not have it in him to reply. He had rolled down a hill and landed right next to a mangled corpse so Celestia was more than willing to allow him to take the day off tomorrow though he insisted that he would be alright in the morning. Soarin was a brave, long time member of the Wonderbolts but he was more soft and sensitive than he would usually let on. At this point, only time would tell as the emotionally scarred pegasus proceeded to quietly cry himself to sleep.
"So, what do y'all think killed that guy?" Big Macintosh asked.
"Those wolves that tried to kill me, I bet." Shining Armor replied.
"I wouldn't doubt that too much." Daring Do said. "The only thing that I thought was off were those bit marks on his neck though. Those holes were a hell of a lot wider than those wolves' fangs."
"Whatever it was, we need to figure out what we're up against." Celestia said. "That mouse that Twilight and I met mentioned seeing an equine-like monster too. We can't afford to let our guard down, even for a second."
"If we end up finding Radius, he's got to let us in on his secret to surviving all theses years." Rainbow Dash said.
"Hmm...that just might make for some good reading material." Daring Do said. "Now, I dunno about the rest of you but I'm gonna turn in for the night."
Once again, everypony worked incredibly hard and covered a great deal of area so not long after Daring Do went to sleep, the rest of the team soon followed suit. Just like every other morning before, everypony woke up at the crack of dawn, teamed up with their respective partner and set out to cover whatever parts of the city have not been searched yet. At this point, they had reached the halfway mark and if Radius was to be found, surely he could not be much further away. Not only had they made progress in the area they have covered but their discovery of an apartment that appeared to have been lived in somewhat recently was a good clue.
Just as Soarin promised, he awoke bright and early in the morning with the rest of the team and once again partnered with Spitfire before heading back out to their last checkpoint they had crossed out on the map. The first several minutes of their flight was completely silent as Spitfire decided it would be best to allow Soarin some space and speak to him only if he asked her to. Finally, the silence was broken and the two wonderbolts could get some things of their chests.
"Don't worry about me." Soarin quietly said.
"Whadda ya mean?" Spitfire asked.
"I'm not the one who got his guts ripped out. Yeah, it was a hard thing to come crashing in on but I'm not the one anypony should feel sorry for."
"Well...yeah, I guess."
"We should really be aching for that guy we found yesterday. It just...whatever happened to him wasn't quick and sure as hell wasn't painless. That guy was probably a son, a brother, a father...I bet he had family and friends who are in agony over finding out what was done to him. Kinda makes you think..."
"About what?"
"About our own mortality. We all know that we're never promised tomorrow. We never know when we could die or how for that matter. My heart could stop and I drop outta the sky, I could bust a wing in mid flight and plummet to my death or I could get torn apart by a monster. You just never know."
"Soarin, you're scaring me. This isn't like you."
"We all like to think that we'll peacefully go in our sleep when we're a hundred years old but that's not always the case. Just reminds us of how things just happen when we least expect it. Anytime, anywhere, anypony, any age."
"Soarin, buddy, let's talk about it, okay? I'm here for you."
"O-okay."
Spitfire and Soarin continued their areal search while the two friends talked and pondered life and death. Soarin was not normally one to behave like an emo so Spitfire was concerned for him. As the two wonderbolts took their conversation to an area they had yet to cover, they passed by team Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor who were preparing to go through an office building that they had not yet gone through.
"Okay, another one down..." Shining Armor mumbled as he crossed out another building on his map. "And the next closest one would be...that store over there."
"Jeez, I almost forgot there are things other than apartment buildings around here." Rainbow Dash said. "It's a breath of fresh air to see something new for a change."
"And I don't have to climb any stairs this time. Alright, let's go."
The building that Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor were trotting towards was a fairly large grocery store. Though the store and its parking lot were rather sizable, it was a single story building which Rainbow Dash appreciated because she needed to rest her tired wings for a while. Once the duo approached the front glass door, Shining Armor fumbled with the handle for a moment before finally getting his hoof behind it and prying it open. Due to the hasty nature of the evacuation once it was known the city had a problem, the store's staff forgot to lock up.
"Aww man." Shining Armor chuckled. "I wanted to break something for once."
"Hey, if it'd help you relieve some stress and take your mind off smoking, I say have at it."
Without any warning, Shining Armor turned around and bucked his back hooves into the metal frame of the glass door and sent it flying through the air until the beams of twisted aluminum and shards of glass came crashing to the floor. Rainbow Dash did not expect her partner to actually do it as he only sounded half serious when he expressed his slight disappointment at the unlocked door.
"You, uh...feel better?" Rainbow Dash asked as the two stepped inside.
"Much." Shining Armor replied. "But if anypony asks, it was locked and it was the only way in."
"Got it. Oh hey, I don't recall you having smoked any cigarettes today. Trying to quit?"
"I'm all out. I guess I don't really have much of a choice."
"Well, you'll look back on this and be glad you ran out. Now come on. Let's check this place out."
Just like the rest of the many buildings the team has searched, the grocery store they had found was similar in that it was dark, dusty, dull, lifeless, and depressing. The only difference was that it was a single story building and used for commercial purposes rather than residential. Unsurprisingly, all the isles were completely empty and not even so much as a dusty, cobweb covered box of crackers remained on the shelves. As Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash continued to trot down the isles in search of any possible leads, it was when the irritated unicorn saw behind something that caught his attention by the cashier counter that peaked his interest.
"That display!" Shining Armor gasped before galloping over to the counter.
"What display?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Wait, is that...oh come on, dude! Really?"
Much to Rainbow Dash's disappointment and annoyance, Shining Armor's undivided attention was on the cigarette display behind the counter where the store staff would have worked the cash tills. Once he reached the glass display case covered in marketing signage and advertisements, he opened the door in hopes of finding a source of nicotine which he was lacking. His eyes lit up like those of a foal on Hearts Warming Morning when he discovered his prize in the form of a single pack of an unfamiliar European brand of menthol cigarettes. The pack was of course slightly dusty, menthols were not normally his choice in smokes, and they were sitting in that case for three decades but Shining Armor was not about to be picky at this point. As far as he was concerned, they were all his.
"Sweet!" Shining Armor squealed as he grabbed the pack and peeled off the plastic seal.
"You sure you wanna smoke those?" Rainbow Dash asked. "They're old as shit."
"Beggars can't be choosers."
"I really hope you don't have to learn the hard way, bud. I really do."
With a lit cigarette in his teeth, Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash continued to poke around the sales counter and were preparing to scratch yet another building off their list as they felt they had searched it in its entirety. As the duo neared the front door where they first entered, they passed by another door with Ukrainian text on it. Since they had yet to check that room which must appeared to have been the store manager's office, Shining Armor pointed it out and suggested they take a peak before leaving.
"Oh, hold on." Shining Armor said as he trotted towards the door. "Let's just take a quick look in here before we move on."
"Alright, let's do it." Rainbow Dash agreed.
"After you."
"Uh, hang on. I think it's...yup. The one door they actually decided to lock."
"Alright, I got this."
"Oh, no you don't!"
"What?"
"You kicked the last one open to vent some stress. Now that you've got your precious lung darts, I say it's my turn...unless you think you can go some more time without them."
"Is that a challenge?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, it looks to me like you're too much of a pussy to actually toss your little crutch aside and tackle life head on."
Shining Armor had never once been called such a thing before and as much as he despised being called it, he knew that Rainbow Dash had no malicious intent but was merely showing "tough love". In his days in the Royal Guard, he was never one to back down from a challenge but since he became a husband and father, he softened up and in more ways than one, let himself go. He was embarrassed by what he had become the more he had actually thought about it and the ultimatum that Rainbow Dash was giving him seemed like an opportunity to try and redeem himself.
"Alright, punk." Shining Armor said before spitting out his cigarette. "I'll show you who the wuss is around here. Hold on to these."
Shining Armor then hoofed his pack of cigarettes over to Rainbow Dash whom then proceeded to place the pack in her saddle bag. She at first contemplated throwing them away but she had seen disastrous examples of ponies attempting to quit something cold turkey so she decided to hold onto them and try to get Shining Armor to very strictly ration them should the craving arise.
"That's the spirit, dude." Rainbow Dash said. "Alright, you just go as long as you can without these and you can kick down all the doors you want."
"With pleasure." Shining Armor replied as he readied his back hooves for a firm kick to the locked door.
With one buck with his back legs, Shining Armor sent the door flying off its hinges and it sailed through the air, not coming to a stop until it hit the wall on the other side of the office. The two search partners needed to wait a moment for the dust to clear as there was a great deal of it but as the thick cloud slowly dispersed, the duo was all the more glad they had not missed this room as it could offer another vital clue.
Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor slowly stepped into the office which appeared to have been used as living quarters and even a study. The two ponies looked around in awe at the fully functioning makeshift home complete with a bed, a metal drum used for fire, a chalkboard on wheels, a large book case, and a desk. The desk in the back of the room just next to yet another door had various objects sitting on it including a small television, a radio, a microscope, and a clipboard with a small stack of papers clipped to it. Behind the other door in question was the bathroom for whom or whatever made this area their home as it contained a toilet, a metal tub, and a sink. Much like the other camp they had found before, the mirror above the sink was not without some form of damage as it appeared to have been ripped off the wall altogether. Over all, the rooms had not been used in a very long time just as the previous one as the dust was simply much too thick for it to have had a recent inhabitant, especially if said individual was known to have tidy living habits.
"Whoa." Rainbow Dash said. "We've gotta get everypony else in on this."
"I'm on it." Shining Armor agreed. "I'll go radio everypony in and fire a flare outside."
In just over ten minutes, everypony arrived and met Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor outside the building where the latter fired a flare signal. Since well over half the city had been covered, everypony stared at the two who made the discovery with anxious anticipation. Surely their target was not terribly far away at this point in the search.
"Hey, what'd you two find?" Daring Do asked as she swooped down and landed.
"Now, Ah'm usually a mighty patient fella..." Big Macintosh began. "...but Ah ain't fixin' to wait too long to hear about whatcha got."
"Follow us, everypony!" Shining Armor beamed.
The entire search team then hastily filed into the abandoned grocery store behind the two who found it and proceeded to follow them into the office that had been converted into a small base. Upon entry, everypony's pupils dilated at the astonishing lead that stood before them in the form of the small office that had been used as a home.
"Uh huh." Celestia said as she trotted in. "This is how Radius lived, alright. Other than the dust, not a spot nor clutter in sight."
"What'n the hell's all this on the blackboard here?" Big Macintosh asked as he stared in confusion at the numbers and letters that made no sense.
"Radius enjoyed doing all kinds of equations in his spare time. Even I could never fully understand much of this. Hmm...well, I do recognize some of these symbols here. Give me a moment, I'll try to figure it out."
"Good god!" Soarin gasped. "Another trash can of animal bones!?"
"Does that sound like him, Your Majesty?" Spitfire asked. "Either he had some kinda sicko for a roommate or living here changed him."
"No..." Celestia replied. "That's not like him at all. He was always kind to animals. At times he nearly reminded me of Twilight's friend Fluttershy."
"Then why would he have these here?" Twilight asked.
"I honestly don't want to know, Twilight. By the way, what are your thoughts on this equation? I'm not so sure about most of it but I think it's some kind of...uh, pattern."
"Yeah, that's the universal radiation symbol...and that right there would suggest...absorption by the equine body and...effects lasting less and less time with each time it gets absorbed? That's like what a junkie would go through but with radiation instead of drugs. That, I don't think I'll be able to understand unless I could actually ask him."
"I don't know weather to be proud of you for figuring that out or terrified at your conclusion."
Princess Celestia continued to carefully examine the writing on the chalk board as the others searched every nook and cranny for more possible leads. Shining Armor had a difficult time trying to figure out how Radius could have used a radio and a television as there was no power running through the city. Not only that but the cords were also cut and frayed at the ends, exposing the smaller copper wires inside. Daring Do and Big Macintosh hoofed through the bookcase with the latter occasionally getting distracted by books that he appeared to find interesting. Being that he was a farm pony who mostly stuck to his work, Daring Do was impressed by his unexpected interests in literature. Twilight Sparkle sifted through the bathroom which aside from the sink, bathtub, and a small stack of soap boxes was nearly empty and as such, she expected to find nothing of importance. Her outlook on the current room she was in however changed very quickly when she stood on her back hooves to get a closer look at where the mirror used to be. As she placed her fore hooves on the sink, her Geiger counter went off indicating that Radiation was nearby.
"Whoa, what the...?" Twilight gasped as she fell back to all fours.
Curious as to what may have set off her device, Twilight then carefully stood back up, used her wings for balance and looked down into the sink to see a rather peculiar object that she never would have expected to see. In the bottom of the dusty bathroom sink that Twilight peered into lay a frighteningly large, white, pointed, bony object. Upon closer inspection, she could see that it was a large, sharp, curved canine tooth. Very carefully, Twilight let levitated her Geiger counter in her aura and slowly lowered it down closer to the fang-like tooth to find out that sure enough it was hot and indeed the culprit of setting her device off before.
Just as she did with the tail hair she found at the last camp the team found, Twilight took the lead lined bag out from her saddle bag then used a pair of tweezers to very gently grasp the tooth and place it into the bag. The tooth was dry and brittle as it must have been there for quite some time so she made certain to use cation while handling it not only to avoid absorbing its harmful emissions but to avoid damaging the delicate sample as well.
Meanwhile, in the part of the office that was used as the living room, Princess Celestia and Shining Armor continued to stare at the strange writing on the chalkboard. As odd as the formula that was drawn on the board was, Celestia was especially intrigued by the equal sign to the right of the massive equation and the drawing of what resembled a pony just to the right of that. The somewhat crude drawing was that of a unicorn stallion with no eyes or mouth but on its flank was the circular radiation symbol which was Radius's cutie mark.
"I can't make head or tails of this, Auntie." Shining Armor sighed.
"I'd like to think I have it figured out..." Celestia began. "...but I just can't be entirely sure. That was the mystery behind his brilliant mind. Damn, I just wish I knew!"
Out of slight frustration, Celestia firmly smacked the bottom of the blackboard with her hoof, sending it spiraling around on the stand that supported it until it came to rest revealing the other side. Everypony's jaw dropped at the text that was showing on the board and it just may end up being that big break they were all looking for.
I don't have much time. Moved closer to the reactor. Need the foot.
"I don't get it!" Rainbow Dash snapped as she read the text on the chalkboard. "Why would he move closer to the power plant!?"
"And what the hell is this 'foot' he wrote about!?" Daring Do asked.
It was all indeed a very peculiar dilemma and the chalkboard that stood before the team was surely the most confusing lead they could have come across but still a lead nonetheless. The only real solid clue they could understand was that Radius would have abandoned this settlement that he put together ten years prior. Other than that bit of information, the whole thing was baffling to say the least.
Though it was quite odd that a pony stuck in the city for so long would move his home closer to the nearby source of deadly radiation, according to everypony's map, just over sixty percent of the city had been covered meaning that If Radius was still alive, he could not be much further away. Unfortunately, at this point in the day, the group had little choice but to properly prepare for their trek towards the infamous reactor number four which would have to take place the following day.
"Everypony, this is the point where we can be optimistic!" Celestia announced. "I'm about as sure as to why he would go towards the danger as you are but...we're so close! I can feel it, we could find him at any moment! We'll have to continue tomorrow and bring our hazmat suits but we can sleep tonight knowing that we all put in a noble effort!"
"I second that!" Rainbow Dash cheered.
"I'm getting excited to meet the guy who survived here for so long!" Spitfire said. "He'd be the toughest, gutsiest guy I've ever met!"
There were still a few hours left until sunset but the team agreed that it would prove wise to make the proper preparations before tackling the rest of the city. Still though, there was no need to be in a massive hurry to get back to the base as of yet so in order to allow the wingless ponies keep up, Celestia and the other winged teammates decided to take a leisurely stroll back on hoof. Everypony was pumped over the vital clue they had discovered and felt very confident that within the next few days, their objective will have been completed. As they continued to trot back to their camp however, they were about to be reminded that not everything was going to be easy to handle. They would soon learn of a new problem in the form of the same black hearse they saw the day before driving quite fast down a bumpy street heading Northwest.
"Oh, no." Daring Do sighed. "I hope he's not headed to find what I think he is."
"Christ, I think I've seen enough guts for one lifetime." Soarin whimpered.
"Hey, there goes a flare!" Twilight shouted as she pointed in the directed where the hearse was heading.
Wasting no time, everypony flew and galloped with much haste towards the flare signal which must have been fired by either Fredrick or Dymitri to find out what really was going on though in the back of their minds, they in a way already knew. Nopony wanted to believe that another one of the missing workers met the same horrible fate as the first they found but a unlike an ambulance, a hearse's only job is to carry the deceased.
As everypony drew even closer to the scene, they could make out the sight of a green Jeep and a black Rangerover parked next to each other. Once the hearse arrived and parked next to the other two trucks, they saw Fredrick and Dymitri standing side by side both of them looking down at the ground. When everypony slowed their pace down to a trot and approached the two soldiers, their fears were confirmed as the blood stained leg of a man could be seen poking up from the side of a log. Soarin did not dare get much closer as he was simply in no mood to have a repeat of yesterday.
While the coroner who drove the hearse prepared the stretcher, the team very slowly trotted forward to see the extent of the damage. On the other side of the log lay the rest of the man's body and it appeared that he had tripped over it while trying to escape before being killed. Just like the man they found the day prior, what ever it was that murdered him had no sense of neatness as he too had countless gashes and bite marks all over his body and throat. Not only that but his internal organs were not spared as his intestines were exposed and what appeared to be a liver was on the ground just a few feet away. Another sickening display of the pure evil in the monster who was responsible that lurked the in the shadows of the abandoned city.
"Oh, hey, it's the ponies." Fredrick said after he turned around and faced the Equestrians.
As always, Fredrick had a lit cigarette in his mouth but seemed to be somewhat more laid back than usual, possibly because the team of equines had gained a small amount of his respect for finding the first body before he did. Still though, as badly as Shining Armor's cravings were bothering him, he did not dare ask to bum a smoke off of Fredrick seeming how he simply comes across as the type of person you just don't ask that. He also felt that it may be too soon to ask Rainbow Dash for one from his newly acquired pack so he would just have to wait until she felt that it was the right time to allow him one.
"Hello, Mr. Schultz." Celestia greeted. "I see that another one of the missing men has met the same demise as the other."
"Doesn't look like he went quick either." Fredrick replied as he finished his cigarette and immediately lit up another. "I like to think I've seen it all but Christ, this shit's making my stomach turn."
"Likewise." Daring Do added." "It's sickening."
"I'll say. Trust me, I've done my fair share of killing in Ukrainian Army but I always try to make it quick. This...there's just no honor here."
"Hey, comrades, did you find any sign of your own?" Dymitri asked.
"As a matter of fact..." Celestia began. "We did. We found what looked like an encampment at the old grocery store just Southeast of here. There was a chalkboard with a message from Radius too. It said something about him needing some 'foot'. Any idea what that means?"
"A foot? Uhh, the only thing I can think of is this big blob called the 'elephant's foot'."
"'Elephant's foot'? What's that?"
"Back in eighty-six when the reactor went, molten uranium ran through the water pipes and melted through some of the floors. There's a corridor on the bottom level where this one particular gray blob settled and hardened into what kinda looks like...well, an elephant's foot."
"But why in the fuck would anybody need that damn thing?" Fredrick asked, puzzled. "Just being inside the room with it will kill anything in minutes."
While Celestia, Fredrick, and Dymitri continued their conversation, Twilight took it upon herself to more closely examine the body while everypony was distracted with coming up with theories of their own. She recalled seeing the fangs on the dead wolves the morning after Fredrick and Dymitri gunned them down and from what she remembered they were much smaller than the puncture wounds she was looking at. She felt that now would be as good a time as any to compare a particular sample she took and try to put this inconsistency to rest.
Very slowly and carefully Twilight took the lead lined sample bag from her saddle bag, levitated her pair of tweezers out of the smaller pocket and the slowly unzipped the larger pocket. Once the pocket was open, Twilight then lowered the tweezers into the bag where she kept the tail hair and the large tooth she found and retrieved the latter. Now that she had the tweezers with the pointed tooth in its grasp, she could compare it to the depth and diameter of the bite marks on several different areas on the corpse that lay before her. The fang fit into one of the deepest wounds like a perfect puzzle.
Though the tooth being a match did not confirm that it was for certain that of the culprit, it did mean that the wolves were not the killers and the actual killer was still out there. Still, there were so many questions that Twilight so badly wanted answers for. Who or what did the tooth come from? Where was the creature now? Why was it found in the bathroom sink of Radius's makeshift home?
"Miss, what are you doing?" An unfamiliar voice asked, startling Twilight.
Twilight looked up to see the man in the black suit who brought the hearse staring at her with a quizzical expression on his face. The man was the Kiev City Coroner and he had the stretcher with the body bag fully prepared and was ready to hoist the body up onto it to be bagged and tagged. He never expected to have a small equine attempt to try her hoof at crime scene investigations and understandably preferred to have the proper space so he could do his job.
"Oh! Uh, sorry, I was just..." Twilight fumbled as she put the tooth back into the bag "...uh, trying to take a close look at the, um...bite marks."
"Well, that's all well and good, I suppose." The coroner said as he put on a pair of rubber gloves. "As far as I know, nobody has any clue what could have done this so we're at a dead end for now. Would you mind helping me lift him up, please?"
"Ah, of course, sir."
Within seconds, the body was hoisted up onto the stretcher, closed inside the body bag, and loaded into the hearse. The coroner then bid Twilight good day, got back into the long car and headed back to Kiev where he would have the remains of the deceased man released to his family. Now that she had a moment to think, Twilight could take a moment to ponder some theories that she had regarding the tooth being such a close match to the bite wounds on the body she just examined. Still, she felt that at this point it was too early to form a hypothesis and would need to investigate much, much further to get to the bottom of it.
"Twiley, are you coming?" Shining Armor asked. "We're heading back to the camp now."
"Ah, great." Twilight sarcastically replied. "I can't wait to sink my teeth into some more of that packaged cardboard with little colored bits of gel they call fruit."
"Ha! And I thought I was the whiny one lately."
Celestia and Fredrick were finished with their conversation which went much better than others before and now that the body was bagged and tagged, they were to part ways until next time. The only thing for the team to do was to determine what teams would search which areas and go from there. There was not much more of the actual city to search and each day, their starting points got further and further away from their camp. According to all the crossed out buildings and areas on everypony's maps, nearly three quarters of the actual urban parts of Pripyat have been covered.
With everypony back at their base camp, they could all enjoy their dinner that closely resembled hardtack that American Civil War soldiers would have eaten and what was left of the vodka to wash it down. With the new discovery of Radius's old home he made out of a store manager's office, the group knew that they were getting so close. Celestia especially was nearly ready to giggle like a school filly and she had spent a great deal of time thinking of how finding her long lost flame would play out.
Since discovering that there may be a chance that Radius Hoofenschtov could still be alive, she had often thought about if she would still have the same feelings for him as before. After his alleged death, she had never moved on and started dating anypony else, nor had she had any more sexual partners ever since. She simply could not get herself to find another stallion despite several attempts by nobles to coax her into settling down with a member of royalty from another nation. Celestia did not want what would have been a completely loveless relationship just for the sake of having one. She wanted a shy, geeky, super intelligent stallion that she only saw in Radius and it was safe to say that if she ever found him, she would likely fall in love with him all over again.
"Alright, everypony!" Celestia spoke up as the team prepared to head out just as the sun rose. "Just like always, we'll fan out and start where we left off yesterday. "Now that we're getting close to the power plant, pay close attention to your Geiger counters! If you enter any contaminated areas, put your hazmat suits on! If you start to feel sick, head back to the base! I refuse to let any harm come to any of you so take care of yourselves!"
The second the sun poked up over the horizon, the team sprang out the door towards the part of the city where they had left off the day before. Everypony was confident that they would soon finally learn what really became of Radius Hoofenschtov and if he was truly still alive, they would be bringing him back home to his family. Since Celestia had promised his aging parents that if he was to be found they would see him again before they passed, she was more determined to make good on that promise more than anything she had her mind set on.
Once the whole group approached the rendezvous point, each team of two fanned out into their own direction. Big Macintosh and Daring do headed Southeast in the direction of the massive cooling pond that fed the nuclear reactor, Spitfire and Soarin went due South towards the more commercial side, and Rainbow Dash along with Shining Armor kept to a more residential end. Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia directed their search towards an area where they could continue scouting about for their lost pony and collect samples at the same time. An area on Southwestern most point of Pripyat that is mostly fenced off as it is considered the most dangerous and received the brunt of the radioactive vapors that billowed out of reactor number four the day that it exploded. An area where a great deal of contaminated soils and irradiated timber was buried in order to mitigate its harmful affects on the environment. The area that the two brave and valiant princesses were coming within dangerous proximities of was none other than what was infamously dubbed the Red Forest.
Though the actual appearance of the Red Forrest no longer lived up to its name, it was still dangerous and anyone or anypony near there would need to constantly keep an eye on their Geiger counter and heed its warning should the device make any sound. The wooded area was green and the leaves coming in nicely but looks can be quite deceiving. Celestia had seen photographs of the forest back when the explosion happened and the way the leaves on the trees just turned this ugly shade of rusty brown to bright red was a blood curdling sight and to actually be there sent chills down the two ponies' spines. Still though, they pressed on.
Though brave, Celestia and Twilight Sparkle were also very intelligent and knew very well that certain parts of the Red Forest were fenced off and deemed off limits for a very good reason and as such, they had no intentions of encroaching upon them. The fact that anyone caught on the wrong side of the fence by authorities being at risk of facing heavy fines or even arrest was also a good indication on the importance of avoiding it. Celestia however knew Radius all too well and remembered that when he took his vacations from work, he would often take a camping trip to wooded areas as he greatly enjoyed the outdoors and getting close to nature. Why he may go so far as to spend time in a highly contaminated area and put himself in grave danger though was beyond her.
"Uh, Princess?" Twilight said as she nervously observed the beeps and flashing lights on her Geiger counter. "We may want to put our suits on before we go any further."
"I agree." Celestia replied. "If it gets much worse, we would be wise to turn back. Even a genius like Radius couldn't find a way to survive out there for long."
Twilight and Celestia both levitated their own lead lined hazmat suits out of their saddlebags with their auras and within seconds, they were on their bodies and their gas masks on their faces. The suits would be ample protection for light to moderate radiation but only for so long and could not be used again once their limit was reached. To play it safe, the two princesses both agreed that if their devices flashed and beeped much faster, they would quickly head back in the direction they came from.
"Oh, what have we here?" Twilight said as she observed a turtle crawling on the ground. "Wow, look at this weird orange pattern on this little guys shell."
"It's shaped kind of funny too." Celestia said. "Take some pictures. This could shed some light on radiation's affect on reptilian bone development."
"I'll bet. Well, other than the shell, I'd say this guy looks to be pretty nor-gahhh!"
Just as Twilight snapped her third photograph of the small reptile that crawled before them, something happened that startled the two so much that the lavender Princess dropped her camera. right next to the turtle's head, a second one poked out of the front of the shell to join it's conjoined sibling and soak up some warmth from the rising sun.
"Twilight, let's go." Celestia said as she began to trot back into the direction from which they came.
"Right behind you." Twilight agreed as she picked up her camera and followed suit.
"Hey, Big Mac!" Daring Do called down to her grounded search partner. "I think I can see the power plant from here! There's not much more area to go!"
"Ya'd think we woulda found 'im by now!" Big Macintosh called up. "It's almost like he's hidin' from us!"
So the two ponies did not have to shout in order to communicate anymore, Daring Do swooped back down and landed next to the big, red stallion.
"Kinda defeats the purpose of calling for help if you ask me." Daring do said. "Hmm...well, whatcha think about getting a closer look by the power plant, big guy?"
"Ah think we can handle it just fine." Big Macintosh replied. "In yer line of work, Ah'm sure you've seen everything a place could throw at ya."
"Oh, stop it, you. You're making me blush."
"Heh. Lucky fer me, nopony can tell when Ah am. Alright then, Miss Yearling, let's head on over yonder and Ah'll check ya out."
"What was that?"
"Er, uh...Ah said let's head on over yonder and check it out."
"Heheheh. You're alright, you know that?"
Daring Do and Big Macintosh had never met before until they volunteered to take part in their mission but the two were beginning to become good friends and even started to feel comfortable joking around with each other. As the two trotted onward, the buildings became more and more sparse and they could see that they had no need to search them as the other teams of two were seen exiting and moving on to their next target. At this point, it seemed that every single building had been searched quite literally from top to bottom and vise versa but for some reason, Radius Hoofenschtov was still unaccounted for.
Still, the two teammates pressed onward and once they reached the Southeastern outskirts of Pripyat, it became official. The ponies had searched the entire city. From every apartment building to every store and school, every street to alleyway, they had just finished covering the abandoned city in its entirety. Most would lose hope at a time like this but after coming so far, they were not about to simply give up. The fact that there was still the power plant and the massive industrial yard to go through meant that there was still hope.
The wind was blowing towards the South throughout the day so Big Macintosh and Daring Do both agreed that it would be wise to keep North of the reactor. After trotting a bit further, they could now just see a large body of water that was much too wide to have been the Pripyat River. After checking her map, Daring Do and Big Macintosh realized that what they were looking at was the massive cooling pond that acted as the reactor's water supply. After taking a moment to ponder their next move, Daring Do suddenly came up with an idea in which she would put into play to get a better view.
"Hey, Mac, I think I got an idea." Daring Do said. "I'm gonna try hovering around above that cooling reservoir to see if I can spot anypony around the bank. Sound good?"
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh replied.
After trotting another hundred or so yards, the pair of explorers approached the shore of the pond that appeared to be more of a lake due to its size. Daring Do and her big red companion proceeded to get a good look at the body of water to get a better idea of how large it actually was and after another brief glance at the map to learn their exact location, the brave pegasus put her plan into action.
"Just be careful out there, Miss Yearling." Big Macintosh said as his winged partner spread her wings.
"You big softy." Daring Do chuckled she she gave the farm pony a playful punch on the shoulder. "You get attached to ponies too quick, you know that?"
"Well, Ah'd just rather ya didn't end up like them other folks we found is all."
"Heheh, I know, buddy, I know. I'll be fine. Remember all that stuff I go through in my books?"
"Eeyup."
"So just park that flank of yours right here and I'll be back before you can come up with one of those 'countryisms' you're so good at."
Daring do then bolted up into the air and flew out over the cooling pond where she would hover above the water and use her binoculars in attempt to spot any movement along the shorelines. Big Macintosh made it a point to keep a close eye on her for safety the entire time while watching his own back as well. As Daring Do continued to fly further out over the water, little did the two friends know that while they watched out for each other, they too were being watched.
Several hundred yards to the East of where Big Macintosh and Daring Do had decided to scope out, a dark figure on an upper floor of the power plant was eyeing them through a scope of his own. This strange being had seen the ponies arrive in the exclusion zone by bus several days ago and since the first thing he chose to do was hide, it was quite clear that he did not want to be found. The creature that lurked about in the dark abandoned buildings did not fear that the ponies that arrived would harm him or any such thing but he truly had his reasons though precisely what was unclear.
"Shit." The dimly glowing creature muttered under his breath with a raspy voice. "They're just not giving up. For their sake, I can't let them find me. If they catch me when I'm low on my rads...oh god, I don't even wanna think about what I'd end up doing to them."
As the mysterious figure continued to shift his makeshift telescope back and forth between Big Macintosh on the bank and Daring Do over the water, he attempted to think, really logically think of the proper course of action to take in the event that anypony should get too close. As hard as he tried to ponder a solution to his conundrum, he would soon find that there was yet another issue below the surface of the water that would force him to make the most difficult decision he had ever had to make.
Meanwhile, on the bottom of the cooling pond...
Even though the duo least expected it, it seemed that they were being watched from every angle as another hungrier creature spied up at the hovering pegasus with its tiny yellow eyes spaced very far apart on its massive, wide head. Most of its body was submerged in the toxic mud that coated the floor of the lake with only its eyes poking up. The massive creature continued to watch from its hiding spot twenty feet below the surface of the water in hopes that the bite sized pony would stop darting around and hover in place. The long, slimy monster did not have to wait long and soon saw its chance to ambush and ultimately make a meal out of the unsuspecting pegasus that dangled above like the tempting piece of meat that it saw in her.
Once the large aquatic creature could see that Daring Do had herself preoccupied with her binoculars and made herself a stationary target, the long, dark creature with a fat head and body but tapered down much thinner towards the tail slowly rose from the radioactive muck. As it sluggishly made its way out of its hiding spot and slithered towards the surface, it revealed just how massive of a behemoth it truly was and the grave danger its unwary prey was in. Much to its fortune, Daring Do continued to busy herself and was still unaware of the deadly adversary that stalked her below as it finally reached the surface at a slug's pace.
The underwater monster that sought to make the unwary pegasus its next meal stopped and sat just beneath the surface motionlessly and silently and stared up at its target as if it were taking aim. Ever so slowly and quietly, the creature then proceeded to open its huge, wide mouth full of thousands of tiny teeth comparable in size to the tips of a ball point pen. With its mouth wide open and a sizable gulp of water having filled its gullet, the massive monster locked on to the hovering pony and slammed its mouth shut fast enough to send out a jet stream of water powerful enough to knock a car off the road.
"Guhh!" Daring Do yelped as she was knocked out of the air by what seemed like a liquid cannonball.
The pulse of water that somehow gushed out of the surface of the pond was so intense that it knocked the wind out of Daring Do before she tumbled through the air and fell into the contaminated water. The Geiger counter that hung around her neck on a cord immediately began to beep and flash as it sensed a dangerous amount of radiation from its new wet surroundings. Big Macintosh and the mysterious creature that observed the scene from the nearby tower were now on high alert as they had just witnessed an attack on the pegasus who just fell in. The difference however was that the red farm stallion had no idea what really just happened wheres the figure in the dark building was fully aware of what was about to unfold.
"What!?" the being in the tower gasped as it observed the pond monster slithering towards the stunned pony. "Oh shit, its a wels catfish! That thing's at least a fifteen footer!"
Daring Do was a good hundred or so yards out in the pond so Big Macintosh quickly grabbed his own pair of binoculars out of his saddlebag and brought them up to his eyes. What he saw though the glass swimming towards his partner and quickly picking up speed made his heart pound and every hair on his body stand on end. If there was any danger he had ever faced before in his life, having a friend out in a lake far away from him with a giant fish trying to swallow them topped everything.
"Wha-what the fuck was that!?" Daring do asked herself as she shook out of her daze.
"Miss Yearling!!" Big Macintosh screamed from the shoreline. "Behind you! Ya gotta get outta there!"
"What? What did you sa-aaahhhhhh!!"
Before Big Macintosh could even think to repeat himself, the strong jaws of the massive catfish tightly latched onto Daring Do's leg and sunk its many small teeth into her skin. Big Macintosh and the strange being in the tower watched in horror as the overgrown fish pulled the frantically screaming mare around the surface. As helpless as the farm pony felt, he refused to sit idly by as his new friend got dragged around and eaten by this monster. The first thing he knew he had to do was to alert the others so he hastily pulled his flare gun out of his saddlebag and fired it into the air. As soon as the projectile left the short barrel of the gun and hurled itself towards the sky, Big Macintosh grabbed a large knife from his bag, placed it between his teeth, threw his saddle bag off and jumped into the water.
With a weapon in his mouth and the rest of the team hopefully on their way to help, Big Macintosh put his muscles and swimming experience to work as he frantically swam over towards the fish that carried his friend in its jaws in a desperate attempt to save her. The huge fish continued to swim at a sluggish pace which allowed Big Macintosh to close a lot of distance but what occurred next made his heart sink lower than it ever had before in his life. While Daring Do continued to scream in both pain and fear, the monster fish that had her in its death grip pulled her under, seeming to disappear into the pitch black abyss that was the dark depths of reactor four's cooling pond.
The dark figure that watched the events unfold from the tower felt a pain in his heart as he saw a now panicking Big Macintosh flailing around and starting to lose what little composure he had left. Though he felt that being found was something he needed to avoid at all costs, he knew in his heart that he had a choice to make and he had to make it now or never. He was to either do nothing and allow one or both of those ponies to die or save their lives and risk giving away his location. Sweat poured down the creature's face and onto his telescope as the two options he had rushed though his mind until he finally made his choice. He knew he had to do the right thing.
With much haste, the creature darted back in the dark room he was in and fumbled around with an arrangement of various tools and retrieved what appeared to be another telescope. Unlike the scope he used to observe from the tower however, this particular device had a few various strange attachments on it and the glass had cross hairs like a scope that would be used with a rifle. As he placed the scope up to his big, glowing, catlike eye, he flipped up a small metal strap with a ring on the end of it from the side of his device and placed the ring around a long, gnarled up horn that jutted out of his head.
The mysterious being was now fully prepared to put his plan into action but there was still a great chance that it may not work as it was now completely dependent on the monstrous catfish breaking the surface. Unless the fish resurfaced leaving itself exposed, the creature that wished to help could not carry out his attack and Daring Do would soon be forever lost in the pit of the fifteen foot fish's stomach. The mere thought alone was more than enough to put the distraught farm stallion over the edge as he began wailing in pure anguish.
Unbeknownst to Big Macintosh whom was now frantically looking around for any sign of his friend, a fierce battle was occurring under water just ten feet directly beneath him. Though Daring Do was at a grave size and strength disadvantage against the behemoth fish, she was a feisty and tenacious pony and as long as she had her lungs full of air and three free hooves, she was going to put up the fight of her life before she went down to her grave. With the strong jaws of the catfish tightly clamped onto her left back leg, Daring Do kicked and bucked with her right leg with all her strength. Doing so, she was not able to get quite enough leverage in order to land any hard enough blows so she used her front hooves to savagely punch at the fish. As hard as she tried however, she could not quite get a good hit onto the catfish's tiny, beady little eyes which would have been of great help if she could.
With her attempts at getting the stubborn giant fish to budge falling flat and the air in her lungs quickly growing stale, Daring Do spotted her last and only chance in the form of one of the long, thin, fleshy barbels that jutted from the sides of the fish's mouth. If there was anything useful that she knew about aquatic creatures was that the whiskers of a catfish were the most sensitive part of its body. With nothing else to lose and everything to gain, Daring Do grabbed the long, fleshy appendage, brought it between her teeth and sank them into it as far as the strength of her own jaws would physically allow. Unlike the kicks and punches that seemingly had no affect on the catfish, having its sensitive barbel bitten nearly to the point of being severed was enough to send it into a flailing frenzy as it promptly bolted back towards the surface.
With Daring Do's leg still firmly within the fish's clutch and its whisker still in the pony's teeth, the two foes broke the surface and continued their fight. Now that they were at the surface, this gave Daring Do a chance to gasp for a breath of fresh air and the strange being in the building his chance to save the lives of the two ponies he spied on. As soon as he saw his first opportunity for a clean shot, his gnarled up horn began to glow with a bright green aura and emitted a loud, high pitched squeal that sounded much like a radio signal being tampered with. As the fish continued to thrash about on the surface and breached like a whale, the creature aimed the cross hairs of his scope directly under its gills and took his shot.
Big Macintosh was both relieved that his friend was still alive but at the same time horrified as he helplessly watched the catfish mercilessly thrash her about. As it violently swung its head around with Daring Do still in its grasp, the catfish leaped out of the water and as it sailed through the air, the loud, high pitched metallic screech could be heard coming from the East. Still, the desperate Big Macintosh felt that he had more important things to worry about than a strange noise coming from far away but he would soon find out that it would have more significance to his goal than he originally thought.
With his adrenaline pumping through his blood at full bore, the scene that played out before Big Macintosh seemed to do so in slow motion as a thin, bright green beam of light shot out from the direction the odd squeal was coming from and sizzled as it hit the water. The strange beam appeared to be extremely hot as it caused the water around it to boil and steam to burst from the pond as it danced along the surface. Seeming to have a mind of its own, the beam of energy quickly made its way over to the air born catfish and just as the monster came crashing back down into the water, the beam could be seen in the path of the fish's fall.
Big Macintosh experienced a great deal of mixed emotions as he watched the intense battle disappear into a newly forming cloud of steam. As he heard the massive fish crash back into the water, he watched in shock, confusion, and awe in the direction of the beam as it crackled for a moment and disappeared as quickly as it appeared. For several seconds, the red stallion just floated there with his mouth hanging wide open as the massive cloud of steam began to thin out until it finally dissipated revealing the final outcome of the deadly encounter. Floating on the surface just ten yards in front of Big Macintosh was a gasping and wheezing Daring Do with the giant fish floating motionlessly a mere few feet away from her. Just in front of the wels catfish that nearly claimed the life of the brave explorer and possibly that of her valiant teammate was its big, fat severed head floating in a pool of blood that stained the water around it.
As shocked as Big Macintosh was at the sudden decapitation of the massive fish that almost swallowed his friend, he knew that he would have to worry about it later as his first priority was to get himself and the injured mare back to shore and out of the water post haste. Each and every second the two ponies were in the pond was more radiation their bodies would absorb from it so Big Macintosh knew he would need to put his years of farm labor to work as he wrapped a big, muscular arm around Daring Do's chest and used the rest of his legs to swim them both back to dry land.
"There they are!" A familiar voice cried out from the shore of the pond.
Upon hearing that somepony he knew had found them, Big Macintosh paused for a moment and lifted his head up to see Shining Armor pointing out towards them from the bank of the lake. Looking up just a bit further, he could see four familiar winged ponies descending down towards him and the injured mare in his grasp. The mere sight of the two Princesses and their wonderbolt comrades coming to pull them out of the water was enough to shed tears of joy as he had never been so happy to see somepony in all his life.
Princess Celestia wrapped her arms around Big Macintosh as he was the heaviest of the two while Soarin and Spitfire quickly grabbed Daring Do and hoisted her up together. Within seconds, the two distressed ponies were placed back onto dry land where they could finally catch their breath and explain to their friends what happened. With a massive floating fish with its severed head in the water next to it however, it was quite plain to see the general premise of what just took place. As Twilight finished up snapping several photographs of the remains of the giant fish, Daring Do tightly hugged her savior after slowly coming out of her daze.
"Big Mac!" Daring Do exclaimed. "I'd fucking be dead if it wasn't you!"
"B-but, Miss Yearling..." Big Macintosh stuttered. "Ah ain't the pony wh-"
"Dude, you're a hero!" Rainbow Dash cheered."
"You saved her life, bro!" Soarin cheered.
"Man, if you had a set of wings, you'd take my job as wonderbolt captain any day!" Spitfire complimented.
"Can everypony just shut up fer a minute and listen to me!?" Big Macintosh yelled.
"What? What's the problem?" Shining Armor asked.
"Look, all ah did was swim out there to try to git her back. Y'all ain't seen what Ah saw."
"And what exactly did you see?" Celestia asked.
"When that big 'ol fish jumped, Ah saw some kinda...light beam er somethin'! It came from over by the power plant over yonder and sliced that thing's head clean off!"
Meanwhile, in the upper floor of the power plant...
"Oh, come on, just take the credit already!" The creature that saved the two ponies in distress said as he observed Big Macintosh pointing almost directly at him through his telescope. "They already think you saved her, just go along with it! Fuck, I'm as good as found...and they're as good as dead if they do. If I end up hurting them, I'll never forgive myself."
Once again, the strange being that spied on the search team withdrew his telescope and retreated into the dark abandoned building. As he ran through the pitch black hallways and and down the stairwells towards the basement floor, he though a lot about what he had just done could lead to. He refused to let two complete strangers he had never met before die and because of his act of kindness, there was now a chance that he could soon be discovered much to his dismay. As important that he felt keeping himself hidden was, still he did not regret the choice he made and he could make his way down to the lowest corridor knowing that he had done the right thing.
Meanwhile, at the shoreline of the cooling pond...
"Ah'm tellin' yas, Ah couldn't have cut that thing's head off with this knife!" Big Macintosh hollered as he tried to convince everypony of what he saw. "Ah saw some plum crazy lookin' green laser beam shoot down and burn through the water and then right through that catfish!"
"You said it came from one of those buildings over there?" Twilight asked.
"Eeyup, that's right! Ah ain't goin' crazy! Everypony, we ain't alone 'round here...somepony er something is watching us."
"Well either way, guys, we've got something more important to worry about right now." Shining Armor said as he held his Geiger counter up to Daring Do before switching it over to Big Macintosh. "Everypony, we need to get these two decontaminated...NOW!!"
"It all just happened so fast." Daring Do sighed as Celestia carefully wrapped bandages around her wounded leg. "That fish was shaking me around like crazy, I didn't see how it lost its head."
"Twilight examined the catfish." Celestia said. "She said it looked like it was cut by some intense thermal energy."
"All I remember is being dropped back into the water when it was done with me." Daring Do then looked over at Big Macintosh who was tending to his own minor cuts and scrapes. "That's when I felt a big, strong arm wrap around me before you and the Wonderbolts carried us out."
"W-well, Ah just didn't want ya to drown, Miss Yearling." Big Macintosh chuckled.
"Hmm...I think I've found some fresh material here." Daring Do said as she began jotting down notes on a small notepad. "Brave main protagonist encounters trouble but can't escape on her own. Then, in comes her heroic partner to save the day. Man, this is gold!"
"Then you'll have plenty of time to think about your material and how to put in into writing, Miss Yearling." Princess Celestia said. "You and Big Macintosh will be staying here and sitting it out tomorrow."
Nopony expected the Princess to make such a call and since they were so close to finding Radius, nopony understood why she would tell them they had to stay at the base camp. Big Macintosh, being the more reasonable one who did more listening than talking could understand but she would have to explain her decision to the more feisty pegasus who never said no when it came to facing danger.
"What?" Why?" Daring Do asked. "With all due respect, your highness, I can handle whatever this city can throw at me! I just survived an attack from a fifteen foot radioactive catfish!"
"Which is why I refuse to put you in any more danger in your battered state. Miss Yearling, you almost died today. Your leg and wings are sprained and if something else where to happen and you couldn't escape or defend yourself, I'd have to live with that for the rest of my life."
"But your life never ends." Twilight Pointed out.
"Exactly, which means I'd be carrying the guilt of causing the death of one of my subjects forever."
"Ah, I see what you did there." Rainbow Dash said.
As much as she did not want to admit it, Daring Do knew that the Princess was right. The brave explorer was never one to shy away from peril but this time, she had little choice but to do so as her leg was sore and covered in a great many tiny punctures from the teeth of the great fish. Not only that but her wings had ended up sprained when the fish breached and shook her about. On a more positive note however, she knew that she would at least have her friend Big Macintosh stay behind to keep her company.
"Erm, now that I think about it, that might not be so bad after all." Daring Do said.
"So you two just rest up and we'll take it from here." Celestia replied. "Tomorrow, we'll be checking the industrial side of the town and around the power plant."
After their much needed decontamination from the spell that Celestia had cast on the building, Daring Do and Big Macintosh were the first to go to sleep for the night. A few hours later, everypony else did the same and woke up at the crack of dawn like every other morning before and headed out to where they had last left off. The only difference was that they all left Daring Do and Big Macintosh alone where they continued to sleep and recover from their near deadly encounter yesterday. Celestia was now more determined than ever to get the results she came for and finally draw their nuclear adventure to a close and hopefully find out where the mysterious beam of energy that saved Daring Do came from.
Everypony was wide awake and long gone by the time the two whom Celestsia had given the day off woke up. Neither Daring Do nor Big Macintosh were used to sleeping in as late as half past nine in the morning but to get a chance to do so was incredibly refreshing. They would have the whole day to themselves with nothing for them to do but write down material for a novel in the making or simply chat and better get to know each other.
"And that's how I tricked Ahuizotl into thinking he...Gahahahah! Into th-thinking he actually had a fan!" Daring Do laughed out loud as she told Big Macintosh about one of her many adventures. "You sh-ahahah! Shoulda seen the look on his face when he saw that it was an actual desk fan!"
Daring Do and Big Macintosh were both thoroughly enjoying each other's company as the latter clapped his hooves together as he and the former shared a hearty laugh. When their laughter died down to a slight chuckle, the two friends seemed to have suddenly ran out of things to talk about and soon found themselves sitting about in awkward silence. Even the normally silent farm pony tried his best to contribute to their hours of conversation but after so long of being cooped up in the base camp with nothing to do, they were simply out of ideas.
"So, uh..." Daring Do nervously began. "I think I'm gonna just write down some more notes. I plan on putting the part where you saved my flank in the book by the way. I don't care if you say you're not a hero, you jumped into that water and pulled me out so I say you are."
"Ah like that about you." Big Macintosh said. "That feisty 'take no crap' attitude of yours."
"Thanks. Sooo, I'm just gonna...go ahead and jot a few things down here...you know, for my book."
"Lemme know if ya need anything. Ah'll just sit over here and...uh, watch birds out the winder."
Daring Do and Big Macintosh then went about their own business after ending their nervous conversation. The brave explorer was busy jotting notes down on her pad while the red farm pony observed what appeared to be a four-winged European swallow through his binoculars. After a while of pondering her next paragraph, Daring Do decided to take a break and get a good, long look at what she had came up with so far.
Soon, it would be all over. After all her years experiencing the many dangers perils of the ancient temples and the nefarious villains she dealt with, Daring Do was about to about to be swallowed into her grave in the form of the stomach of a fifteen twenty foot wels catfish. After all she had been through, this is how she was to die?
"Okay, not bad." Daring Do Mumbled as she read further down her page.
Suddenly, just before her last breath of air fizzled out, she saw him. Daring Do's last hope in the form of her loyal sidekick, Big Macintosh! With a large knife in his teeth, he ever so quickly swam down towards the monster fish that had her in its jaws, his big, hard muscles flexing with every stroke his long blonde mane and tail waving in the water as he
"Oookay, getting a little carried away there!" Daring Do said as she tore the page out of her note pad and crumpled it up.
"Ya alright, Miss Yearling?" Big Macintosh asked as he trotted over with a bottle of water in his hoof. "Yer sweatin' like a...like a..."
"Like a pig?"
"Well nah, pigs don't sweat anywhere else but the ends of their snouts. Mah sister raises 'em fer some reason so Ah'd know. This guy from the States comes and buys 'em every so often and he says he sells 'em as pets. Calls it 'bringin' home the bacon' er somethin'. Here, ya might wanna have a drink. So, what's eatin' ya?"
"N-nothing!"
Big Macintosh knew that his pegasus friend was not being entirely truthful but still, he decided not to press it any further. He felt that if she wanted him to know, she would have told him and as her eyes nervously darted around the room, the calm, quiet farm stallion trotted back over to the window to give his friend some space.
"Wow, smooth one, A.K." Daring Do though to herself. "Real fucking smooth."
Daring Do was mentally kicking herself as she observed her companion resume his bird watching in silence but on the other hoof, there was yet another issue that she needed to figure out and some questions she needed to ask herself. Why was she behaving this way? Why was she writing such things about Big Macintosh, and why could she not stop looking at him let alone thinking about him? Being as tenacious as she was, Daring Do was not one to run away from her problems so attacking them head on was more her way of dealing with things.
"Mac?" Daring Do said.
"Eeyup?" Big Macintosh replied.
"Sorry I snapped at you like that."
"Don't sweat it. We've all been through a lot and it's startin' to git to us."
"I'll say. So uh, lemme ask you something."
"Shoot."
"Well...what do you think of my books? Like, do you ever feel like the one I'll be writing about this wacky adventure could use something that maybe...the other ones don't have?"
"Uhh...well, Ah really enjoy readin' 'em. Kinda what got me all excited about coming out here. Ah spend most of mah time at the orchard and Ah read 'em as a kinda escape from everyday life fer a while. When Ah got a letter from the Princess saying she needed mah help...well, Ah could only think of the adventures you had in yer books."
"Wow, I'm honored. Thanks."
"Don't mention it. Hell, Ah oughtta be thankin' you fer wantin' to partner up with me. Y'all got any idear how Ah felt when ya came through that door back in Canterlot?"
"Heheheh, I could only imagine. Now, I'm really glad to have you as a fan but what I was trying to ask was...well, what would you feel about, uhh...man, how do I put this?"
"S'alright, take yer time."
"God, I love that about you. All my life, I've always lived life in the fast lane and then I meet you, a guy who likes to just slow down and chill the fuck out, and...just...gahh, I can't even think straight!"
"Hang on there, Ah think Ah git it. Stop me if ya think Ah'm wrong."
"Sure."
"Y'all asked me if Ah thought there was something yer books could have that none of 'em had before, right? They're full of adventure, drama, action, mystery...only thing Ah can think that they ain't got is rom...mance..."
It was at that very moment that Big Macintosh realized exactly what Daring Do was trying to tell him all along. Everything that had happened before was all coming together. Everything from the two ponies instantly hitting it off when they met to their frequent compliments they gave each other and everything in between all leading up to the conversation they were having now.
"Miss Yearling?" Big Macintosh asked.
"Y-yeah, Mac?" Daring Do replied.
"Am Ah right? Is that what yer try'na tell me? Ya like me er somethin'?"
"Well, can you blame me? You're awesome! Just flying and trotting around the city and getting to know you has been an adventure in itself! Dude, I can't wait to put all we've been through in my latest book!"
"Ah don't even...wow..."
"What's wrong?"
"Okay, first Ah get asked to go to an some fancy universe then get partnered up with mah favorite author...then my favorite author..."
"Yeah, I get it. Probably a lot to take in huh?"
"Eeyup."
"Well...looks like I got my point across then..."
"Eeyup."
"Wow, this conversation was pretty awkward."
"Eeyup."
Once again, a silence as awkward as the conversation the two just had filled the room as they sat across from each other trying their best to avoid eye contact. Both Daring Do and Big Macintosh were adult ponies in their late twenties but all their life experience and mature composure was thrown out the window and they could not help but just sit their and blush like a couple of love struck foals. The several minutes of silence just made everything even more agonizingly awkward so one of them would have to say something, anything to just get it over with.
"If'n it makes ya feel better..." Big Macintosh began. "Ah think yer a purdy awesome gal yerself...and Ah'll be honest, Ah've seen ya checkin' me out a couple times."
"Aw, shit." Daring Do groaned as she hid her blushing face behind a hoof.
"Well, Ah ain't all that innocent mahself. Ya ain't seen me lookin' up when yer...flyin'?..."
"I didn't think you were actually checking me out but I'm not complaining. Look, I've been writing books for years now and I've read my fair share of similar ones from other authors and...this is just too good. I mean what's the harm in this, huh? So we've gone on some crazy adventure together, seen some crazy shit, became close friends...if you'd wanna...I dunno."
It was at that very moment that Big Macintosh was beginning to get an even better idea of what Daring Do wanted to ask him and possibly what she wanted to do with him. Though he had an idea, still he was not entirely sure and since his parents and later his granny raised him to be a gentlecolt, he needed to be blatantly sure before he was to make any moves. In order to find out for sure, he needed to simply ask but the mare he was talking to was about to beat him to it.
"I'm just gonna go on a limb and say it." Daring Do began. "Do you wanna like...fool around or something?"
Big Macintosh could not believe what he just heard and he just stared at the mare who sat a few feet away from him and he just sat there with his mouth hanging wide open. Surely this must all be a dream. There is simply no possible way that his favorite author whom he had developed a friendship with was now all of a sudden asking him if he wanted to engage in intimate activities. It would take him some time to really process what he was hearing and come to his senses.
"I-I mean, it's cool if you don't want to." Daring Do stuttered. "But if you do, there wouldn't be anything wrong with it, I mean we're two consenting adults who trust each other and we got the place to ourselves for a while so...yeah."
"Miss Yearling, Ah wanna make somethin' perfectly clear." Big Macintosh said firmly as he began to sweat. "Don't think fer a second ya owe me somethin' 'cause ya don't owe me a damned thing."
"Yeah, I'm aware of tha-gah, hearing that from you just makes me want you more! There aren't enough guys like you!"
"Ya mean that? Ya really like me and ya wanna...git with me?"
"Not if you don't want to. No pressure. If you wanna just kiss and cuddle a bit and see where that goes, I'm game. If not, we don't have to and we can just hang out here for the rest of the day like we never had this conversation."
"Ah-Ah just...wow, Ah dunno, Ah'm still having a hell of a time try'na believe this is actually happenin'."
"Look, I'm sorry to put you on the spot like that. I just didn't know how else to say it so I just got really up front about it. Like I said, if you don't wanna do anything, I swear I'll understand and I won't put any pressure on you. I just hope this talk we had doesn't change what you think about me."
"Nope."
"Nope you don't wanna do me or nope you won't think differently of me?"
"Nah, it don't change what Ah think about ya. Sorry, it's just been a while since Ah...fooled around with a mare but..."
"Yeah?"
"Well, yer right. Ain't nothin' wrong with it if we both feel okay with doin' it. An' Ah'll be honest, it'd be mighty cool to be put in yer book like this. The big, tough romantic interest of Daring Do? Well, Ah'd have to be plum crazy to turn that down."
"So you're saying...?"
Just as Daring Do Paused for a moment to allow Big Macintosh finish her sentence for her, he instead placed his lips against hers and they proceeded to share a long but slightly awkward kiss. Though the two were clumsy at the start, they quickly put their past experiences to good use and were soon much more passionate with their lips locked together. After a few more seconds into their affair, their tongues got involved and once they started sliding around in each other's mouths, things started getting so intense that a hot blush could even be seen on the farm pony's already red face. Just as the two started to hold one another in their hooves however, Big Macintosh suddenly broke the kiss much to his partner's confusion.
"Aw jeez, Ah saw that comin'." Big Macintosh said.
Without any warning, the new thoughts that were running through Big Macintosh's mind were beginning to cause a new challenge for the nervous and sweating stallion. As if attempting to hide something, he hastily proceeded to cross his back legs as his familiar and very personal issue gave him little choice but to do so. He was brought up and raised on the etiquette of keeping his hooves to himself unless given permission by a mare to do otherwise but no stallion alive can control blood flow to what defines their gender.
"You alright there, big guy?" Daring Do asked.
"Never fails." Big Macintosh said. "Mah mouth can say one thing but mah body never lies bout what it likes to hear."
"Oh?"
"Heheheh, well ya done got me all worked up and...well, we do trust each other. Ah'll have ya know Ah think mighty highly of ya."
"Hey, it's totally mutual. So hey, why don't you quit crushing your dick and let it out, huh?"
"Ah reckon Ah can let ya have a look."
Very slowly, the aroused Big Macintosh uncrossed his legs and allowed his swelling stallionhood to hang free causing Daring Do to bite her lower lip at the very sight. As his penis continued to throb at the thoughts of Daring Do laying before him with her legs spread, she began breathing quite heavily until finally it reached its peak. At this point, both ponies were sweating profusely and ready to do whatever it was their bodies drove them to.
So there they were, Big Macintosh and Daring Do sitting just over a foot away from each other trying to decide who would make the next move. Daring Do simply could not take her eyes off the farm pony's impressive member which was an indication to him of what she wanted to do. The only thing to do now was to break the silence and get their little secret fun time started.
"Like what ya see?" Big Macintosh asked.
"Y-yeah, v-very much." Daring Do stuttered as she licked her lips. "I swear, you will not regret this."
"Ah know Ah won't. Just keep in mind that I respect yo-OOOOOOH!"
Unable to control herself any longer, Daring Do lunged forward and threw herself at Big Macintosh, firmly wrapping her lips around the tip of his erect member. They were finally getting intimately involved with each other and were surely going to immensely enjoy their day off that they had to spend in each other's company. Both of them could have a fun and pleasurable experience together without any interruptions and afterwards could sleep together to their hearts' content. Not only that but Daring Do could add something new to the next book depicting her latest adventure. For the two search partners whom found an amazing friendship with each other, today was going to be a great day with many hours to enjoy it.
Meanwhile, at the Southeastern side of Pripyat...
Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor decided to head towards the industrial yard where the power plant was where they would make another attempt to find Radius Hoofenschtov. Suddenly, seeming to come out of nowhere, Rainbow Dash experienced this strange feeling she just could not explain. Rainbow Dash was never a pony who liked to sit out of any type of action so she just could not help but feel that somehow, somewhere, something was going on that she would have liked to be involved in. But what?
"Uh, you alright, Rainbow?" Shining Armor asked as he noticed his search partner's eyes twitching.
"Yeah, I'm good." Rainbow Dash replied. "I just...got this weird feeling. Like, I'm missing out on something cool. It happens once in a while."
"Heheheh. Well, whatever it is, I'm sure I'd rather stick right here in the peace and quiet. Any action we've been seeing lately has the potential to get somepony killed."
"I guess you're right. Alright, let's get a closer look by the power plant. We're almost there."
Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor continued their trot around the large open area of land in between several massive buildings that was once an industrial lot at the Chernobyl Nuclear Facility. Until the unfortunate events that took place thirty years ago, the huge concrete yard that was now overgrown with weeds would have been brimming with activity. Buses would be carrying workers to and from their shifts while vans and trucks would delivering loads of cargo to meet the everyday needs of the residents of Pripyat. Hundreds of people just going about their day to day lives being brought to an abrupt halt in April of 1986. Just like the rest of the city the ponies were unfortunate enough to see, it was yet another depressing sight.
The two ponies pressed on further for another several minutes until the two had forgotten where they were. Shining Armor then used his aura to pull his map out of his saddlebag where the two then paused for a moment to try to find their location.
"I think we're right about..." Rainbow Dash began as she pointed at an area on the map. "Here."
"Well, that's..." Shining Armor began. "...not good. If this is right where we are then that means we're only about...one, two, three...five hundred yards from the reactor."
Just that simple seven letter word that began with an "r" was enough to send chills down the spines of the two brave explorers. If the very idea of being so close to a destroyed building with a crumbling concrete shell housing seventeen tons of exposed nuclear waste was eerie, to see it right in front of them as they lowered the map was nightmare fuel. Fortunately, the two ponies were currently standing upwind from it as a slight breeze was blowing away from them and towards the building.
"Okay, this is fucking spooky." Rainbow Dash said.
"Wow. To think we're staring right at the power plant where the smartest pony in Equestria was though to have been lost."
As eerie as the sight of reactor building number four was, it was also incredibly humbling to look at. It was a big reminder of the limitations of man and pony and that a seemingly safe operation can turn deadly for so many in the blink of an eye. In the minds of the two Valiant ponies, it was truly the most astonishing spectacle they had ever laid eyes on. Just as Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor kept staring however, the wind suddenly shifted, putting the duo downwind of the reactor and the exposed nuclear waste within. Within seconds, the two were about to find out just how much trouble they were about to be in.
"Dude, we better move." Rainbow Dash said. "My Geiger counter's not liking where we're at."
"Same here." Shining Armor replied. "Alright let's get outta here."
For their safety, well being, and the health of Shining Armor's reproductive system, both ponies made the wise decision of turning directly away from the building that held reactor number four and gallop away until their devices indicated it was safe. With the wind shifting directions several times within less than a minute, they knew that they just could not take any chances by getting any closer or staying in the area for any longer. As the distance between the team of two and the reactor continued to increase, the frequency and intensity of the beeps and chirps of the Geiger counters decreased until finally, it stopped completely.
"Shit." Shining Armor cursed under his breath. "We should have brought those lead lined suits. There's no way we're getting any closer without those."
"No kidding." Rainbow Dash agreed. "But hey, we haven't looked around this part of the yard much. Before we call it a day, why don't we just take a look around the west side of the lot."
"Sounds good to me."
"Oh hey, I've noticed something."
"Hm?"
"You've gone all day without a cigarette. Good job."
"Ugh! Now I want one!"
"I just had to open my mouth, didn't I?"
With the two rescuers out of the wind that made their devices go berserk, they decided to further ensure their safety by ducking behind the nearest building. Just as Rainbow Dash reluctantly hoofed one of Shining Armor's cigarettes over to the craving unicorn however, they would quickly find that their plan to leave the reactor out of sight was about to backfire. The moment they turned the corner, they were greeted with a sight familiar to Shining Armor that Rainbow Dash would soon get acquainted with.
Almost seeming to have been waiting there for the two brave explorers was three local mutated wolves much like the others that attacked Shining Armor before. These grotesque creatures were leaning up against an old, rusty van all smoking a cigarette of their own and turned their attention over to their new found guests as they skidded to a halt before them.
"Bad timing." One of the monstrous wolves said as he flicked his cigarette butt.
"I'll say." Another said as he cracked the knuckles on his paws.
"Rainbow..." Shining Armor whispered to his friend. "Get yourself out of here and get the others..."
"I'm not leaving you here, man." Rainbow replied. "A wonderbolt doesn't fly away from danger and leave a friend to get killed. That's an official code and I'm not about to break it."
"You know..." The third wolf said as they all stepped towards the two ponies. "The boss doesn't like it when he tells somebody to get the fuck out of town and they not listen. He also doesn't like it when that gets a bunch of our pack members gunned down."
"And neither do we." A fourth wolf said as he came up behind the two ponies seemingly out of nowhere. "Get 'em!"
Before either of the two ponies could so much a twitch a muscle, two of the wolves each grabbed themselves a pony and held them up by their forelegs while the other two stood in front of them and balled their paws up into fists. Like a group of vicious gangsters who caught someone lost in their part of town, the two wolves that stood in front of ponies began punching their victims in their stomachs as hard as they could.
Just like the ones Shining Armor encountered before, these wolves were easily twice the size of the ponies and had the sheer strength in their blows to match. For mere moments that seemed like hours, the wolves relentlessly knocked every last bit of air out of their victims' lungs and still continued to send their clenched paws sailing into their stomachs at a break neck speed. Just when it seemed that the wolves were going to slow down and allow them to catch their breaths, they began to direct their blows to their faces. Over and over, the ruthless monsters punched the ponies, leaving cuts and bruises on their lips, muzzles, and under their eyes.
With one final blow to his jaw from the largest of the four wolves, Shining Armor was knocked out stone cold and was dropped to the ground where he would soon be finished off. Soon, Rainbow Dash received a paw being slammed across her face as well and was also pushed to the crumbling pavement where she too would surely be either torn to pieces or kicked and punched even more until she was turned to liquid. The young father and proud husband that was Shining Armor and his rookie wonderbolt companion would soon become yet another statistic of Chernobly.
"Get away from them!!" An unfamiliar male voice shouted from several yards away.
"Who said that!?" The largest wolf asked. "Nobody tells me what to do!"
"Aw Christ, it's that nerd again!" Another wolf groaned.
The voice of the male being that had seemingly stepped in to intervene was a gruff and raspy one and sounded as if it came from a very battle hardened individual. Try as she might, Rainbow Dash could not see anything as her own blood covered her eyes and as such, could not identify the source of the voice. The only thing she could think to do was to try crawling away now that her attackers' attention was drawn to something else. Other than that, she was completely helpless in her badly battered state.
"Didn't you hear me!?" Said the mysterious voice. "I said get the fuck away from those ponies!"
"Oh fuck off, Comrade, this doesn't involve you!" One of the wolves retorted. "Mind your own business!"
"I'm making it my business!"
"Uh, I don't think he's fucking around, Oleg." The smallest wolf said. "This is the guy who kicked Bolnoyvolk's ass."
"What, this fucking geek?" The larger wolf chuckled, getting a laugh from the other two. "Ooohh, better not piss off mister bow tie over here! Don't wanna make him fog up his glasses! Bahahaha!"
"Typical of a simple minded brute such as yourself." The voice said. "You're judging my ability to inflict bodily harm on an opponent based on my wardrobe choice and the thickness of these lenses meant for enhancing my optical capabilities? In the time it took you to just blink your eyes there, I've already calculated your exact distance from me and in precisely what order I'm going to kill you all if you don't turn around and abscond the vicinity."
"What the...? What the fuck are you trying to say!?"
"Oleg, I'm telling you!" The smaller but seeming smarter wolf spoke up. "That's the guy! He's gonna fucking slaughter us if we don't do what he says! I don't know about you guys but I'm outta here!"
Without another word and much to the frustration of the other three, the smaller wolf of the group turned around and bolted away and disappeared into a cluster of overgrown foliage on the edge of the lot.
"Your comrade just made a wise decision." The mysterious voice said. "Now I've been more than generous with you. You'll either follow suit and get out of here unharmed...or die."
"Boys?" The larger wolf named Oleg said as he cracked the knuckles of his paws. "Let's make this punk suffer!"
"Shame...I gave you more than enough chances."
At this point, Rainbow Dash had lost the last bit of strength she had left and as she lay on the cold, hard ground facing away from the commotion, she could soon hear the blood curdling sounds of a brutal attack unfolding behind her. Though her eyes were too bloody to see, Rainbow Dash could still make out the bright green flashes of light followed by the sounds of gasping from the wolves, ultimately followed by the solid thud of something hitting the ground. The fight seemed to end as quickly as it began as the sound of someone or something seeming to regurgitate a large amount of liquid leading up to the blood curdling shrieks of another one of the wolves.
"Gaaaaahhhhh!!! He spits acid! Fucking acid!!!" The wolf screamed as the sizzling sound of his flesh being melted away could be plainly heard.
After two more intense green flashes and one last loud thud on the ground, it all seemed to be over. The wolves apparently having been dealt with brought an unnerving silence. As Rainbow Dash shuffled her hooves around, she poked what felt like large, furry object but still she could not see what she was crawling into. With one last attempt to make sense of what just happened, she wiped the blood from her eyes to see that the fuzzy object she had come across was the severed head of one of the wolves. The sight of the wolf's head was the final nudge she needed that pushed her over the edge where she finally lost all consciousness and passed out just like Shining Armor.
Two hours later...
One by one, each team of two entered the room of the apartment building that acted as their base came as the sun slowly disappeared over the horizon. The first two to arrive were Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle and much to their awkward surprise, the first thing they saw was Big Macintosh and Daring Do spooning on top of a sleeping bag as they slept soundly together. Soon, Soarin and Spitfire joined the rest of them and as the sleeping couple woke up to the noise of everypony shuffling about in the room, Princess Celestia had to really take a good look at what she and her subjects were doing there. They had searched the entire city once and were about to make yet another pass with still no results and the stressed out alicorn was becoming worried. If that was not enough, she now had a new problem as she made a head count and noticed that there were two more ponies unaccounted for.
"Um, what...where...?" Celestia fumbled with her words as she frantically looked around the room. "Where are Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash!?"
"Ugh...what the...?" Rainbow Dash groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. "Where...where am I?"
It would take several minutes for Rainbow Dash to make sense of the recent ordeal as she would fade in and out of consciousness several times until at long last, her daze began to subside and she arose from where she lay. As she sat up, an ice pack fell off her head and landed in front of her hooves and upon further observation, she found that was covered in bandages and her larger wounds neatly wrapped in gauze with utmost care. Looking around further, she noticed that she had was sitting on a mattress in a dusty room that appeared to be flat in one of the many apartment buildings. This room in particular looked especially familiar as she knew that she had recently seen it before. But where?
A sudden realization had struck Rainbow Dash as she could not help but notice the lack of her partner but her worries were soon put to rest as she noticed Shining Armor fast asleep on a sofa on the other side of the room. Just like her, his wounds were also carefully dressed and an ice pack of his own sat upon his head. Now that it seemed that the two were safe, Rainbow Dash Felt compelled to find out where they were, how they got there and who the kind hearted mysterious being who had so selflessly stepped in to save them was. The voice that shouted at the wolves before Rainbow Dash passed out was not one that she had heard before so at this point, she simply had no clue.
As she proceeded to look around the room more, Rainbow Dash could see the familiar sofa that Shining Armor lay upon along with an oil drum containing smoldering embers that heated the room to a comfortable warmth. The next object that caught her attention was the book case that she knew she had seen before and lastly, the small wastebasket filled with rodent bones in the very corner. After another moment of thought, the realization finally hit her like her recent blunt force trauma.
"Radius's old home?" Rainbow Dash asked herself. "How did I...the fuck's going on?"
Taking care not to strain herself, Rainbow Dash then slowly returned to her hooves and limped over to her unconscious friend to attempt to wake him up. Once she reached the sofa where he lay, she gently poked him with her hoof a few times while she tried to speak to him but he was still out cold. In this case, Rainbow Dash knew that the only sensible thing to do was to wait for her comrade to wake up so they could then attempt to find out what happened and reunite with the others whom were most likely worried sick by now.
There was no telling how long it would be before Shining Armor woke up but judging by the extent of his injuries, Rainbow Dash decided it would be best to simply let him sleep as much as he needed. Weather she liked it or not, she knew that she too could use the rest as her entire body, especially her wings which were set and wrapped with some sort of splint ached terribly. As she hobbled back over to the mattress she had been sleeping on, she noticed their saddlebags in another corner of the room so she decided to try sending a radio signal to the others and give them her location. When she pulled her two-way unit out of her bag however, she saw nothing but a useless piece of plastic with broken wires jutting out of it as it had apparently been smashed during the attack prior. The radio that came from Shining Armor's bag had fared just as badly so it seemed that they would be stuck there until they regained the strength to travel or somepony found them.
Rainbow Dash truly still felt exhausted and and very sore all over so finally she slowly limped her way back over to where she had woken up where she would try to get some more sleep in order to expedite her recovery. Once she made it back to her mattress, she very slowly and carefully laid herself back down, found a comfortable position and shut her eyes. Much to the battered pegasus's annoyance however, it seemed that someone was interested in listening to music while she tried to sleep as the faint sound of a radio playing could be heard outside the room and was coming closer.
"Ugh! Could you keep it dow-" Rainbow Dash groaned before realizing what she was actually saying. "Wait, is that...eighties music?"
As the music slowly came closer, Rainbow Dash could hear it more clearly and could identify the song as "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake. Soon, she could even hear what sounded like a male voice singing along with it that reminded her of that of the mysterious being that must have saved her and her partner and even patched them up. Though it sounded much like the male figure, it was not as raspy as it sounded before and actually sounded quite passionate as it sang along with whatever device it was carrying. As badly as Rainbow Dash wanted to get her share of sleep, she could not and would not pass up the nearest opportunity to identify the one who saved her and express her gratitude.
The sound of the music was getting closer still so with all of her strength, Rainbow Dash lifted herself off the mattress and painfully limped over towards the closed door. Finally, she reached the door and just as the music seemed to be just on the other side, it suddenly stopped. Curious as to what was about to happen next, she placed her ear up to the door where she then heard what confirmed her suspicions.
"Okay, get a grip on yourself." The familiar voice said, sounding as if he was giving himself a pep talk. "You haven't talked to anypony in a very long time but you can do this. Just act as nonthreatening as you can and they'll be just fine. Okay, okay, here it goes."
Just after finishing his sentence, the handle on the door slowly turned and once it reached its opening position it made a soft click and the door was pushed open just a crack. Rainbow Dash took a couple steps away from the door and stood in front of it as she waited to greet her and Shining Armor's hero with a wide smile and find out who exactly he was. After a moment's pause, the door finally slowly pushed open the rest of the way revealing a creature that Rainbow Dash would not wish to be in the nightmares of her worst enemy.
Standing before Rainbow Dash was a green, glowing four legged creature that resembled a devolved form of an equine. The monster was nearly, if not as tall as Princess Celestia and had a jagged, gnarled horn atop its head much like a changeling, had large, sharp fangs jutting out of its top jaw and thick glasses over glowing green eyes with slit-like pupils. There was also a wire attached to the creature's horn leading to an old, worn out radio that stuck out of a saddlebag of its own which explained where the music was coming from. If the wolves were frightening enough, the creature that gasped at the sight of Rainbow Dash and took a few steps back was enough to make hear heart jump up into her throat.
"Holy fucking Christ!!" Rainbow Dash screamed as she took a few steps back.
"W-wait! I'm not gonna hurt you!" The creature gasped as he took a step back to appear less threatening. "I won't hurt you, I swear!"
"Shining Armor! Get up! For fucks sake, wake the hell uuup!!"
"Wait! Miss! J-just hear me out! Please! I'm not *sniff* I won't...*hic*...please don't...I just wanna talk...I j-just wanna talk, that's all..."
Seeing such a strange creature was odd enough but what Rainbow Dash never expected to see was said being to start sobbing as it folded its ears back and looked away from her. This huge monster with the means to kill those with weak hearts with the sight of it alone was proving to be quite the emotional creature which helped Rainbow Dash calm down slightly. After a minute or two, the hairs on the back of her neck began to lay flat again and the creature wiped its tears away before finally speaking again.
"It's been...thirty years..." The creature sobbed. "Thirty long...agonizing years...since I've talked to one of my own kind."
"Wha-what are you even..." Rainbow Dash stuttered. "What do you mean? Thirty years of...w-wait, what do you mean your own kind? Are you a p-pony?"
"Yes I...I used to be..."
Things were starting to make more sense now while other things made no sense at all. Now that she was calm enough to think rationally and the creature that stood at the door day quivering was now looking her in the eye again, Rainbow Dash could take a moment to observe more of the creature's features and try to make sense of what he was saying. The first thing that she took into account was that he too was a pony and he stated that he has had no contact with others for thirty years. Next was the large pair of glasses that sat upon the bridge of his muzzle which reminded her of the ones her primary search target wore in all the photographs she saw. Lastly was the symbol on his flank. The creature had a cutie mark of the circular black and yellow universal radiation caution symbol. As crazy as everything that was happening was, the signs all pointed to one simple conclusion.
"Uh hey, guy?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Y-yes?" The creature asked as he again wiped his tears away.
"I got a couple questions for ya. Okay?"
"O-okay."
"Did you...a-are you the one who saved me and my friend here?"
Instead of giving a verbal answer, the strange being simply nodded in response.
"Alright. Uh, thank you. Are you also the one who saved that other mare and the red stallion from the giant fish the other day?"
Again, the creature nodded as his entire body trembled, failing miserably to stifle more oncoming waterworks.
"Wow, you're...really awesome. Uh, one more question."
"Oh my god, I can't believe it!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she flapped her wings with joy. "So it's true! You're actually alive!"
"And I'm a genetic clusterfuck!" Radius replied.
"This is so great! We actually found you!"
"That wasn't supposed to happen! Hey, careful with those! I wrapped them up for a reason!"
"Yow! Ahh, now you tell me!"
Failing to pay attention to the poor state of her wings, Rainbow Dash let her excitement get the better of her and quickly found herself in terrible pain and unable to fold them back to her side again. Try as she might, she could barely even left them off from the floor and the splint that helped to hold them in place had come undone. With uncloven hooves and lack of unicorn magic, she would have to rely on the irradiated Radius whom she had met mere moments ago to put it back together. Though Rainbow Dash was very well aware that it is what is on the inside of a pony that truly counts, she simply could not help but be quite nervous about allowing such a strange creature near her. In her heart however, for the sake of her wings and the seemingly sensitive feelings of the one who saved her, she needed to trust him.
"Your wings need to be re-wrapped." Radius said as he slowly took a step forward. "Please I...I swear I just want to help you."
"O-okay, I trust you." Rainbow Dash said.
After pausing for a moment, Radius then slowly and carefully took another step forward and paused again. A few seconds later, he took another, paused for a few seconds and then took another. Finally, after a whole minute, Radius made the ten foot journey over to Rainbow Dash where he was now close enough to readjust her bandages. Very carefully, as if he were holding a newborn foal, he then gently lifted Rainbow Dash's right wing with his hooves as he sat on his rump. Once he sat down however, he revealed two previously hidden appendages that did not originally belong on his body greatly startling the wounded pegesus. Folded away under Radius's stomach just beneath his forelegs were two smaller, thinner legs with cloven hooves much like those of a deer.
With the utmost care and seemingly surgical precision, Radius proceeded to affix the splints and re-wrap the bandages with the small, split hooves on his mutated legs while he used his original forelegs to gently hold onto the wing as he worked. Rainbow Dash watched him very closely as he attended to her injuries and with each passing second, she could feel her heart rate decrease as she became more calm and more comfortable with the one who had come to her aid. With the first wing done, he moved on to the next and once again affixed the splint and wrapped the gauze around it before finishing it by taping the end in place like the one he did before it. Once the second wing was finished, Radius took another few steps back and looked away avoiding eye contact revealing that he was more afraid of being judged than Rainbow Dash was of him.
"Thank you so much." Rainbow Dash said. "Wow. I just...I can't believe we actually found you alive here. It's a miracle."
"More of a curse than anything." Radius mumbled.
"Wait, so what did you mean? You said we weren't supposed to find you. Why did you send out that distress signal then?"
"You really wanna know why?"
"Well, yeah."
"Look at me. Look at what I've become. I'm in constant pain and discomfort, I'm constantly at war with other creatures here...I...I sent that signal because I was hoping they would send soldiers in to investigate. My plan was to...get them to shoot and kill me."
"Why!? That's horrible!"
"If you saw some of the shit I've seen, you'd understand. I'll never be the same guy I was before."
"But you have a heart! You have a soul! You saved the lives of four complete strangers and even went out of your way to patch us up! You should be proud of yourself! You're...just what Princess Celestia said you are."
Now that she was finally over the shock over the fact that she was actually talking to Radius Hoofenschtov in the flesh, she was saddened by the depressing attitude of the mutated pony that sat before her. He was the one who saved Daring Do and Big Macintosh the day prior and then Shining Armor and herself several hours before. Though going thirty years without contact with one's own species would understandably cause depression in any social creature, Rainbow Dash felt that it may help to stay and talk with him for a while.
"Hey look, I think we kinda got off on the wrong hoof there." Rainbow Dash said. "Let's just chill out here and talk, alright?"
"Talk?" Radius replied as his ears perked up at the idea of a pony wanting to engage in conversation with him. "You...want to stay and talk to me?"
"You sound like you nee-"
"S-sorry, sorry. I-I just, It's been a long time since I..."
"It's okay, I get it, dude. But hey, I'm Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash then extended her hoof for a hoof bump but much to her confusion, Radius refused the greeting and took another step back.
"I, Uh...th-the less physical contact we have the better, Rainbow Dash." Radius said. "I soaked the splints and gauze in iodine so it shouldn't be affected by me touching it."
"Huh?"
"My body emits radiation. Though not enough to cause immediate danger within a substantially short period of time but for your own health and safety, it's best that we don't come in contact more than we have to."
"See, there you go again thinking about others. I don't get it. You're so kind. Why are you so hard on yourself?"
"I just...it's not just what I look like that's changed about me."
"So let's talk about it. You've been here for thirty years and I've got a shit ton of questions for you."
"Okay, shoot."
"Why did you stay here? Couldn't you have just trotted out of here?"
"Sadly no. Go ahead and have a seat on the mattress and I'll...tell you everything."
Anxious to hear as much as she could about how Radius survived in Pripyat for so long and why he was unable to leave and get back to civilization, Rainbow Dash hobbled back over to the mattress and sat her rump back down. Radius then stepped forward and sat himself down a few feet in front of her and proceeded to clear his throat before finally beginning his story.
"I'll start from the beginning." Radius said. "Just before the reactor went, I was right on top of it with a couple friends of mine. At the last moment, I somehow cast a shield spell that enveloped all of us. See, unicorn magic is weakened on Earth but it just...happened."
"Wow." Rainbow Dash said. "The only thing Shining Armor over there can do is is levitate a few little things here."
"Over time, my magic skills actually improved tenfold in the years I've been here. Anyway, when the lid of the reactor blew up and crashed back down, my friends and I went with it. When the bubble I conjured up hit the ground, a few smaller explosions knocked us around and another couple of minutes later, I just couldn't hold that shield anymore. After that we just...we...I'm s-sorry, I can't..."
It was then that Radius hung his head and started weeping again. Rainbow Dash made it a point to be patient with him and allow him to let it out. Perhaps it would be good for him to vent and get it off his chest. It may also prove helpful to him be be hugged by somepony if it were not for his hazardous emissions so verbal support was all she had at her disposal.
"I couldn't save them." Radius whimpered. "My friends...I held them in my arms while their...their fucking flesh melted off their bones right in my arms!"
"You've got a friend right in front of you, buddy." Rainbow Dash reassured. "I'm all ears, just let it all out, okay?"
"My *sniff* my leg was broken so I crawled into a maintenance closet and hid there for days to get away from the fire. I was hoping the rescue crews would find me but they never did. Though I got away from the heat of the fire, I knew the whole time, I was soaking up enough radiation to kill a thousand humans. So, I ended up passing out for what I think was a couple days and when I finally woke up, my coat had completely fallen off and my skin was blistered and bleeding all over."
"Uh huh. So then what happened?"
"My entire body felt like it was on fire. It was agony. I even forgot about the pain in my broken leg, it was so bad. So there I was, just limping around looking for any sign of life. The fire was out but the reactor was still busted wide open so I knew I had to get out of the building and get help...but nobody was there. Everyone had all gone and left the city."
"So is that when you...started changing?"
"It took a few weeks for that to start. My leg was still in rough shape so I limped my way into a gas station to wait it out. I was certain that I would die soon but I didn't. My fur even started to grow back. I knew I shouldn't have been alive after all that and heaven knows I didn't wanna be. Anyway, I was so hungry and thirsty so I took advantage of the food and drinks in that store which kept me going while I waited for my leg to heal. That's when I noticed something really fucking wrong."
"What? What happened?"
"My leg actually healed very quickly which I think was one of the results of a mutation. So my body started hurting all over again and the pain got even worse than it was before, I'd say it hurt twice as much. I was sweating like crazy. I couldn't even think straight so I stumbled out the door into the street one night and...that's when it started happening. I've never wanted to die as much as I had that night. First it started with the glow and then my horn changed. A few minutes later, all my teeth fell out and soon these pointed canines grew in their place. Lastly, and what I can easily say was the worst part were these two extra legs."
"How did that happen? Like, how did they start growing on you?"
"Turns out they started growing under my skin and they burst through when they got big enough."
"And after all that...all that suffering and all the pain and loneliness you've been through for so long, you still think of the good of others. If I've ever met a saint before, I'm talking to one right now."
"You mean that?"
"Every word I said. None of this was ever your fault. You didn't deserve any of those things that happened to you but soon it'll finally be over. We've come to take you home, Radius."
Upon hearing what Rainbow Dash had just said, Radius's pupils fully dilated as he got back up onto his hooves and stepped back. Suddenly the hair of his back stood on end and he tightly shut his eyes as he shook his head. For some reason, he was set on not returning to Equestria and Rainbow Dash was determined to find out why.
"No!" Radius yelled before calming down again to avoid frightening the only pony he had talked to in thirty years. "I mean...no, you can't. I can never go back."
"But why!?" Rainbow Dash asked. "You have family and friends who miss you and want you back!"
"I have my reasons, Rainbow Dash. For one, I can't move away from a source of radiation. My body has become dependent on it and I need to soak some up every day or so. Also, there's no way I'll ever be able to reintegrate into society after being here for this long. It's just not possi-wha? Ohmigod!"
"What, what is it?"
Right in the middle of their conversation, Rainbow Dash noticed that Radius had trailed off as he had suddenly found a distraction. She followed his gaze over to the open door that lead to the kitchen of the apartment where a fairly large rat was moseying about. When she looked back to Radius, she noticed that his pupils were fully dilated and he had begun licking his long, pointed teeth. Like a starving predator, Radius had his undivided attention on the furry little meat bag that almost seemed to have hand delivered itself for the picking.
Without a single word, Radius leaped over to the doorway and pounced on the unsuspecting rodent. As Rainbow Dash watched in horror, Radius then grabbed the rat with both of his front hooves and shoved it into his mouth. After chewing a few times, he suddenly remembered the mare he was just talking to whom was still in the room with him and looked back to see her staring at the scene with her mouth hanging wide open. It was at that point that he had a choice to make to hopefully frighten his guest the least. He could either tear the rat to pieces and devour the bloody mess or take a somewhat cleaner approach.
Radius had chosen the latter and proceeded to hold the rodent in his closed mouth for a moment while he allowed his corrosive saliva to take affect. After a few seconds, he spat out a complete skeleton onto the floor and swallowed the melting flesh and guts he had in his mouth. With his cheeks beginning to glow a shade of red out of embarrassment, he then proceeded to slightly lift up the sofa that Shining Armor was still sleeping on and kicked the rodent's skeleton underneath it before putting it back down.
"S-sorry you had to see that." Radius said as he gave Rainbow Dash an apologetic look. "I was just so hungry and my body can't digest plants anymore."
"I, uh...I've seen worse problems being fixed." Rainbow Dash said as she stifled a gag. "I'm sure we can work with that. Just because you eat meat doesn't mean you can't live in Equestria again. Hell, any griffons I know eat meat so it's not a problem."
"I appreciate you trying to spare my feelings, I really do. Like I said though, my body needs radiation so I can't leave here."
"Wow, that's just sad. There's got to be a way. Look, suppose you don't end up going back with us, don't you at least wanna see Celestia again?"
"Ahh, Celestia. I was the luckiest guy in the world to get to be with her. Then she hears my signal and comes right in here to get me out thirty years later...she's always had a huge heart, she hasn't changed a bit."
For the first time in their conversation, Radius cracked a smile as he spaced out and reminisced about his memories with Celestia. That is when the sudden realization occurred to Rainbow Dash and she knew just what she needed to do to lighten his mood. She needed to bring up memories of life before Chernobyl.
"Hey, what's your family like?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Got any brothers or sisters?"
"Yeah, I have two sisters." Radius replied. "One older and one younger. I was the middle one and the only colt in the family so my parents expected a lot from me. They were...a bit old fashioned but I still loved them to no end."
"You know they're still alive, right?"
"They are!? Oh my god, that means they're going on ninety!"
"Yeah, they're getting up there. So what were your favorite things to do as a colt?"
"Oh man, I used to love building internal combustion engines! I made my first one when I was six! I had a ton of them laying around when I got older so when my sisters started having foals, I built some go-carts to put them in for my nieces and nephews...to see their eyes light up like that just melted my heart."
"Radius, this is great! Keep talking, okay? Tell me about your relationship with Celestia."
"Heh, where do I even begin? To put it plainly, she changed my life. Before I met her, I never had a marefriend and I was a virgin all the way up into my mid thirties. My parents were starting to get a bit pissed because I wasn't bringing them a daughter in law or grandfoals. Erm, like I said, they were tough on me but I know they always loved me. Though sometimes I felt like nothing I did was good enough. Hell, my job as a physicist had me pulling in a million bits a year."
"Getting a liiiitle off topic there, bud. Happy thoughts, man, keep it up. Let's hear more about Celestia."
"To think that the fucking Princess of Equestria, the one who raises the sun actually wanted to be with me. All my adult life, I wondered why I was always single but when she and I started seeing each other, I realized that I had to wait so long for a good reason. It was so worth it. She loved me for who I was and my personality. Did she ever find out about..."
"About what?"
"Before the explosion, I was planning on asking her to marry me. I never got to tell her."
Finally, the conversation that Radius and Rainbow Dash were having was taking a more positive turn and the former could not help but smile at the wonderful memories he looked back on. As time went on, the mutated unicorn even slowly gained more confidence while he talked to Rainbow Dash as his stuttering had stopped and he even maintained eye contact. As the conversation continued to flow so naturally, for the first time in thirty lonely years, Radius felt the joy of social interaction and the simple pleasures of having somepony to talk to.
For two whole hours, Ranbow Dash and Radius Hoofenschtov talked about anything they could think of that they enjoy in life which helped to lighten their moods tremendously. Both of them asked each other about the friends they had, what their hometowns were like, their hopes and aspirations and much more. Radius even explained his ability to power electronic devices including his radio with his horn, and that if not for the music he loved so much, he would have given up hope a much longer time ago. As they continued to spend time getting to know each other, Rainbow Dash began thinking of wrapping up for now and getting back in touch with the others as by this time, they were probably frantically searching for them. It was especially important to her that she let them all know that she and Shining were alright because through their conversation, Rainbow Dash found that they had been out all night and it was now the next day.
"Hey look, I think I lost track of time." Rainbow Dash said. "I think I might wanna send out a flare and let everypony else know where we are. Can you at least tell me you'll really think about coming back with us?"
"I'll...yeah, I'll think about it." Radius lied, knowing there was no way he could go back. "Hey I, uh...Thank you so much for talking to me. It really made me feel better than I have in years."
"It's no trouble at all. Thanks for saving us. "So, I'm just gonna go find a window to shoot this out of and we'll come back to get my friend here. Man, I can't believe he's still out."
"I'm sure he'll wake up soon. Again, thanks so much."
Feeling slightly less sore now that some time had passed, Rainbow Dash placed her saddlebag onto her back and left Radius in the room with Shining Armor still sleeping on the sofa. Her plan was to reveal her location to the rest of the team so she could discuss her findings with them and find a way to convince Radius to come home with them to be with his family again. As Rainbow Dash slowly trotted towards the side of the building that faced the street, Radius sat with a warm feeling inside him that he had long forgotten. To simply talk to somepony truly improved his mood but as his depression seemed to melt away, the feeling of warmth was replaced by a much more familiar and much darker feeling that he needed to deal with accordingly post haste.
"Hurp...Oh fuck, I don't feel so good." Radius said as his stomach began to ache, soon followed by a migraine. "What!? Oh, no no no no no, I forgot about my dose! It's been too long since I had my rads!"
Realizing that something was about to go very, very wrong, Radius tried gently shaking Shining Armor in attempt to wake him up and warn him of the impending danger. Failing to wake the slumbering unicorn, Radius was desperate to warn Rainbow Dash that she needed to leave as quickly as possible as he was all too familiar with the events that would soon take place otherwise.
"Rainbow Dash!!" Radius hollered out in attempt to save his new friend. "You've gotta get out of he-GAAAHHHH!!"
In mid sentence, Radius's migraine suddenly became so unbearable that it sent him falling to the floor before going into a convulsion of sorts. As the distressed mutated unicorn clutched his head his hooves with his eyes tightly shut, he continued to experience an incredibly painful episode until finally, the pain subsided as quickly as it came. After he stopped twisting and squirming, Radius then slowly returned to his hooves and once he arose his eyes shot open revealing an intense, red glow.
"Now that's better!" Radius chuckled as a sadistic grin replaced the sweet smile he wore only moments ago. "Heheheh...now where'd that sexy little thing run off to?"
Most of the changes that Radius had undergone over the years just affected his outer physical appearance but the one biggest problem he had involved his body's need to absorb radiation. Unfortunately, the time he spent talking with Rainbow Dash sidetracked him to the point where he completely forgot the risks involved with his prolonged lack of radiation absorption. As he slowly trotted out the door of the apartment that he used as a home some twenty years ago, he was in a completely different state of mind than before. This was simply not the Radius Hoofenschtov that many ponies and people had come to know and love in the past.
Something was happening to Radius that he nopony had ever seen before and as he menacingly trotted to where Rainbow Dash had gone off to, he could only think of one thing. Before, he paid no attention to the firm, curvaceous flank of the attractive young mare that he had engaged in friendly conversation with but in his now altered and mentally compromised state, he so badly wanted a piece of it. The more he thought about the idea of pinning down and having his way with the vulnerable pegasus he was searching for before tearing her apart, the heavier his breathing became and the more he started to drool.
After a few minutes of trotting down the hallways and peeking into a few rooms, Radius found Rainbow Dash in one of the abandoned flats as she was just about to fire a flare out the window. As he stood in the doorway staring at her, her ears perked up as she had picked up his presence. Rainbow Dash was about to learn the real reason why Radius could not go home with them and she would learn it the hardest way possible.
"Oh hey, Radius, did you change your mi-guh!" Rainbow yelped asked as she turned around dropping her flare gun out the window. "Dude! Your schlong's hanging out! What gives!?"
Sure enough, protruding from Radius's undercarriage was his throbbing member that looked just like any other equine penis except it was quite massive and glowed a dim green with every beat of his heart. It was easily as long as one of Rainbow Dash's legs and was an intimidating sight to say the least. Further observation revealed the thin strands of highly corrosive drool dripping from his psychotic toothy grin and burning holes into the floor as they came in contact with it. Out of all of these frightening things that sent shivers down Rainbow Dash's spine, the worst part was the sheer look of evil in his half lidded eyes with fully dilated pupils that glowed a bright red resembling the fires of Hell. To call such a thing nightmare fuel would be a massive understatement.
"R-Radius?" Rainbow Dash asked with her ears folded back in fear. "W-what are...what happened to you? You're not acting like yourself...please don't look at me like that, you're creeping me out."
Instead of verbally replying, Radius just licked his teeth and took a step towards the mortified pegasus.
"Whoa, whoa hey man, I'm grateful that you saved me and all but that doesn't mean I gotta fuck you, okay!? You put that thing away and back off!!"
Again, Radius took another step towards Rainbow Dash who then proceeded to put up her front hooves as a warning that she would defend herself should the need arise.
"Okay look, I get it. You've gone thirty years without getting any action, that'd drive anypony crazy...but you need to back the fuck off 'cause I won't hesitate to bury those glasses right in your eye sockets."
"Guhuhuhuhuh..." Radius laughed as he licked his teeth again. "Quit acting like you don't want thisssssahahahahaha!"
Out of nowhere, Radius began laughing maniacally and lunged himself forward and onto Rainbow Dash, knocking her to the floor. Now that he had her right where he wanted her, he used his forelegs to pin hers down while he tried to use his two extra limbs to spread her back legs apart. As Rainbow Dash fought tooth and nail to thwart Radius's unwanted advances, the maniac repeatedly thrust his fully erect member in effort to penetrate her marehood, coming closer to hitting its mark each time.
"No!! Get off me!!" Rainbow Dash screamed. "Please, don't do this! Heeelllp!! Somepony help meee!!"
"Quit fucking squirming!" Radius huffed as he tired to hold Rainbow Dash still. "The more you draw this out, the slower I'm gonna kil-ahh!"
Before Radius could finish his sentence, he suddenly shut his eyes tightly as if he were straining or in some sort of pain. A few seconds later, his eyes opened and the red glow was gone, having been replaced by the glossy, green eyes the kinder, gentler Radius had before. For a moment, he wore the look of confusion as he looked down at his sobbing friend who lay on the floor beneath him but he soon let out a horrified gasp as he suddenly realized what he had just tried to do to her.
"Oh my god!! Rainbow Dash!!" Radius screamed as he stepped back, his ears folded back and tears flowing down his face at full bore. "I'm sorry!! I'm so Sorr-hhhnnggg!"
Again, Radius strained with his eyes shut for a few seconds before opening them again, the horrifying red glow returning. As Rainbow Dash continued to struggle and put up a valiant effort to free herself from the monster's clutch, the more physically exhausted she became until she simply could fight no more. With her efforts growing weaker, the monster that Radius had become finally spread his victim's legs as he prepared to penetrate. With this new, evil side of Radius taking over, Rainbow Dash would momentarily be sexually violated before being brutally murdered.
"Radius, please don't!" Rainbow Dash sobbed. "You're gonna split me in half with that thing! Don't do this to me! I was good to you, Radius! You're hurting meee!"
"Guhh!" Radius grunted as his glasses suddenly flew off his face and landed in the corner of the room.
As suddenly as Radius had attacked, he stopped for some reason and for several seconds he stared blankly down at his victim. Much to Rainbow Dash's confusion, her would-be rapist's eyes went crossed leading up to him tipping over, falling to his side and hitting the floor with a loud thud. With him no longer standing over her, Rainbow Dash was greeted by the sight of Shining Armor standing a few feet away, a large, heavy metal pipe floating in his magic aura.
"Rainbow!" Shining Armor screamed he helped his distressed friend to her hooves. "Oh my god, are you alright!?"
"I will be once we get the fuck out of here!" Rainbow Dash replied as she hugged her savior.
Rainbow Dash simply could not understand why everything that just happened did. In what seemed like an instant, Radius had gone from being a kindhearted, thoughtful, and caring gentlecolt to an attempted rapist and killer. Shining Armor had just awoke from his extended sleep to find an unfamiliar creature trying to take advantage of his friend so he did not even know that creature happened to be their primary search target all along. Nevertheless, their main objective was now escaping the building they were in to rejoin up with the rest of the group so Rainbow Dash would have to do her share of explaining later.
The duo quickly made their way to their first stairwell which lead to the fifth floor and began their journey back down to the ground level as quickly as their tired bodies would allow. As they reached floor number five however, they encountered a new problem that would greatly slow them down and require them to trot a longer distance with their sore legs. For convenience for the residents and to reduce foot traffic on each stairwell, the building had two of them on opposite sides and much to the misfortune of the two escaping ponies, every other floor was missing most of the stairs and were blocked off by construction barriers. This would require Rainbow Dash and shining Armor to instead of taking one set of stairs straight down, to go down one floor, trot all the way over to the other side of the building to use the other set of stairs and repeat.
"Aw, Christ..." Rainbow Dash groaned. "Why'd this building of all the ones we could have had to get out of have to be getting repaired?"
"I don't know, Rainbow." Shining Armor replied. "But as much as we're hurting, we can't afford to slow down. We can do this! You and I both know how to push ourselves further!"
Meanwhile, on the sixth floor...
The monster that attacked Rainbow Dash that was Radius Hoofenschtov lay on his side in an abandoned room after being bashed on the head by Shining Armor. The two determined ponies had only made it one floor down with six more to go before they would be out of the building and without their saddlebags each containing a nine millimeter pistol, they were utterly defenseless. Their only hope was that they could somehow summon the rest of the team before Radius came to. Unfortunately, it would prove too little too late as glowing red his eyes suddenly shot open and he sprang to his hooves.
After looking around for a moment, Radius found his glasses and bolted towards the stairwell in search for the two ponies who's lives he had saved before but this time with malicious intentions. The normally peaceful and kind Radius had worked himself into a blind rage over being smacked on the head with a lead pipe just as he was about to have his way with a mare and was on a new mission. Much to the misfortune of Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor whom of which were about to find out, Radius Hoofenschtov was out for blood.
On the fifth floor...
Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash were hastily making their way to the stairwell and ultimately to the fourth floor and had no idea that their latest adversary was hot on their trail. They would however find out momentarily that the pony they were searching for from the beginning was about to turn the tables in order to kill them. They may even find out sooner than momentarily as the thunderous thumps of a set of hooves could be plainly heard galloping on the floor above towards the stairs.
"He's coming..." Rainbow Dash said quietly as her pupils shrunk to the size of pin pricks. "He's coming!!"
"Then let's pick up the pace!" Shining Armor shouted. "Mooove iiiittt!!"
The time to push their bodies to their absolute limits and beyond was now or never and since their lives as they knew the depended on it, the choice was a simple one to make. If Shining Armor was to watch her daughter grow up and Rainbow Dash go anywhere in her career as a wonderbolt, they would have to endure the excruciating pain all over their entire bodies. As the duo galloped to the next stairwell, Radius stomped his way down the other until finally, he caught sight of them just as they disappeared down the flight.
Seeing the two ponies he sought after heading down the stairs in front of him seemed to act as a trigger of sorts as he galloped to catch up to them in a murderous frenzy the second his hooves hit level floor. His targets had made it to the fourth floor but sadly, that would not amount to much as his speed was more than a match for that of the two ponies who frantically tried to escape. For every step Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash took, Radius took three and just as his hooves hit the fourth floor he could see his victims a mere half way down the main hallway.
"Gahahahahahahaaa! I'm gonna tear out your guts while your alive!!" Radius roared before going into a fit of sickening, blood curdling maniacal laughter. "I'll bust your horn off and fuck you with it!!"
"The fuck is this guy's damage!?" Shining Armor screamed.
"No! Leave them alone!" Radius screamed much to the immense confusion of the two who sought to escape from him. It was clear that he was not emotionally well as he seemed to be having an argument with himself as he relentlessly chased his victims down. "Hey! Who let you back out!?"
They still had three more floors but Radius was quickly closing the distance between himself and his two victims as his long legs and lack of injuries gave him a massive advantage. Thirty feet, turned into twenty and twenty turned into ten. Still though, the two young twenty-somethings with their entire lives ahead of them were determined to fight hoof and nail all the way to the end even if they were to die in which case, they put in an honorable and valiant effort. Just when it seemed that Radius could not get any closer, Shining Armor looked back to see their attacker begin to slow down before opening his mouth wide and lifting his neon green tongue followed by a jet stream of a black, tar-like substance being shot at them.
"Get down!" Shining Armor shouted.
Rainbow Dash was unaware of the precise situation behind them other than the psychotic mutant pony chasing after them but she trusted Shining Armor's judgement and took his word for it. As the two dove to the floor and skidded to a stop, what seemed like several quarts of the strange black liquid came splatting to the floor where it proceeded to melt a sizable hole through it in an instant. A thick cloud of greenish smoke filled the air as the acid spit continued to burn through the floorboards. Radius also decided to stop and wait for the smoke to clear expecting to see nothing but the skeletons of his victims left over. What he did not expect was for both of them to take one look at the hole just in front of them before looking at each other and jumping in proving that great minds tend to think alike.
After approximately thirty seconds, the toxic smoke finally dispersed but instead of being the downfall of the two brave ponies, the latter two had decided to jump down through the hole gaining a substantial lead much to his frustration. After galloping over to the hole he had produced, Radius became even more infuriated as he observed his targets galloping away on the floor below where they could then get to the next set of stairs and have a better chance of slipping away. It seemed like they were so close to freedom as they had reached the second floor and best of all, Radius was much too large to fit through the hold he had created and his salivary glands had run dry. If he wanted to catch up with his victims and have himself some bloody and gutsy fun with them, he would have little choice but to take the next set of stairs and fall behind.
Unfortunately, though psychotic, incredibly unstable, and unpredictable, Radius was still incredibly intelligent which would prove to be a deadly mix for the Prince and the wonderbolt if they let their guard down for even a second. Instead of galloping all the way to the the next stairwell, he decided to put another trick he had into action. His horn glowed brightly as he furrowed his brow while his devious toothy grin returned before suddenly disappearing in a bright green light with a loud snap.
"We're almost there!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "We can do this! Just a little further!"
CRACK!
"Holy fuuuuck!!" Shining Armor screamed as he and Rainbow Dash screeched to a halt.
The two horrified ponies scrambled to change direction as their nightmare in the form of the irradiated unicorn suddenly appeared right in front of them in a burst of green light. By the time they had regained their footing, Radius had already made up lost distance and was quickly closing in. Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash were now forced to head back towards the stairwell they had just came down where they would have to climb back up. The situation was looking extremely grim as there was now little to nothing either of them could do. The building had no places to hide, their pace was dramatically slowing down as their broken and exhausted bodies were ready to give up and surely they would have no chance in a fight against him in their badly weakened state. Soon, their savior turned killer would catch and make quick work of them at best hopefully having the slightest shred of mercy and decide not to torture them. It was all over.
"It's not over!!" Shining Armor shouted as he put his final plan of escape into action. "Rainbow! Hard left!"
Once again putting her trust in Shining Armor and confidence that he had a plan, Rainbow Dash followed suit as the combat experienced former guard captain skidded on his hooves and took a left into one of the apartments. Radius had thirty long years to hone his magic skills so that they would work well in a universe where they normally weakened and Shining Armor had one last roll of the dice and he was about to take the gamble. If the monster that was relentlessly trying to kill them both could teleport, then his fellow unicorn victim was going to try come Hell or high water. It was do or die. With their bodies feeling as if they were on fire, they sprinted towards an open window where Shining Armor grabbed Rainbow Dash, holding onto her with all his might and jumped.
Though they were merely on the second floor, the fall would have been at the very least thirty five feet which was still more than enough to kill a pony once they hit the ground. Shining Armor however had other plans. With everything to lose and even more to gain, the former guard set his horn aglow and held his grounded pegasus friend tightly as they plummeted to the ground. Just as Radius had done to catch his victims off guard, Shining Armor decided that two could play at that game and disappeared with the pink flash of his aura and a loud pop. This was a massive risk as he was not entirely sure his magic was strong enough for something more than basic levitation but within a fraction of a second, they would find out.
As soon as they disappeared, the two friends reappeared mere inches from the ground which helped tremendously to mitigate the impact which ended up being little more than a small jolt to their bodies. Still though, they were not ready to celebrate yet for when they let go of each other, they looked up to the window they had jumped out of to see the monstrous Radius attempting to jump out. Much to his frustration and the advantage of his two would-be victims, he was again too large to fit through so he retreated back into the building with a furious roar where he would have to take the stairs.
If Radius was already furious, being smacked in the head with a pipe seemed to interfere with the functions of his horn as with every attempt to teleport again only gained him a mere few feet of distance. After several bursts forward however, his horn flickered and crackled with sparks as sparks flew from it until finally whatever magic he had seemed to run out. From this point all the way to the door, he would have to rely on his speed if he wanted the blood he so ruthlessly sought after.
With their tired and soar legs ready to give out at any moment, Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor used the last bit of strength they had left to run nearly fifty feet away from where they landed where they finally stumbled into a bush. The two friends who shivered as they held each other close were exhausted, in a great deal of pain, and afraid for their lives which now depended on their new hiding spot. They would have to keep perfectly still and quiet as that was their only means of avoiding detection within the small clump of foliage that would either save their lives or end them.
Within seconds, the double doors on the front of the apartment building flew off their hinges and landed on the on the opposite side of the street followed by Radius skidding to a stop in the middle of the road. As he paced about looking around for any signs of movement with his muzzle in the air, he put his keen sense of smell to work. Weather it be the odor of sweat, blood, or fear he was trying to pick up, the slight breeze that churned around in the air was what would ultimately determine the fate of the two ponies who hid from him. While they sat they in the cover of the bush hugging each other tight, they watched Radius's every move and prayed that this time the direction of the wind would be in their favor.
The indecisive wind which seemed to have a mind of its own finally ended the tension by picking a direction to blow and stuck with it. It could not have been blowing a more accurately towards Radius than it was and even began to pick up speed. Soon, the formerly gentle scientist turned monster would pick up their scent and it would be all over.
"D-Dashie?" Shining Armor whispered as tears rolled down his cheeks. "C-can I...can I call you that?"
"Of course you can, buddy." Rainbow Dash whispered as she too began to weep.
"I just want you to know that...it's been a pleasure getting to know you better and...thanks for being a friend to the end."
"You too, Shining. I can't think of anypony else I'd rather die next to. S-see y-*sniff* see you on the other side."
As Radius continued to sniff at the air, the breeze carried his victims' scent towards him where he would then proceed to follow right to them once he caught wind of it. What he would do once he had them in his clutch was too sickening to so much as think about and all they could hope for was that he would end them relatively quickly and painlessly. As the wind resumed on its way over to Radius however, he proceeded to snort from his nostrils as his eyes went wide. After a few seconds of standing there motionlessly, he turned directly away from the bush that the two ponies were using as cover and began facing directly Southwest. The sky was very clear as was the path to the power plant which could be seen right from where Radius was standing just over a mile away.
For nearly two minutes, Radius stared mindlessly at the building that housed the reactor off in the distance with a numb, zombie-like expression on his face. As the two ponies he searched for observed him from the cover of the foliage, Rainbow Dash remembered that he once mentioned that his body needed to soak up radiation for some reason. She figured that must have been why he was staring so intently until at long last, he suddenly began to gallop into the direction of the infamous Chernobyl nuclear reactor that ruined what was once a good and decent pony thirty years ago.
"The fuck do you think you're doing!?" Radius huffed as he stopped in his tracks. "Getting rid of you! I've held you off before, I can do it again!"
"Is he arguing with...himself?" Shining Armor whispered as he stared at the monster trotting around in circles.
"You can't keep me in here forever!" Again, Radius shouted as his eyes flickered back and forth from blood red to his gentle green. "Maybe not, but I'll be damned if I ever let you hurt anypony again! Ha! That's what you said last time, loser! I'll be back!"
Within minutes that seemed like years, the psychotic killer was out of sight which changed the tears of his victims from fear and agony into those of joy and gratitude. Rainbow Dash would expand her career as a wonderbolt and Shining Armor would watch his daughter grow up while he grew old with his beloved wife.
"Dashie, we did it!" Shining Armor squeaked. "We got away from that freak!"
"Shining, I wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for you!" Rainbow Dash squealed.
"I swear I will never whine and bitch about my life! I almost lost everything I had and I'll never take it for granted again!"
"I concur...so what now?"
"Rainbow, I don't think I can go any further. We'll just have to rest here until we can move or until somepony fi-"
"Psst! hey!" A familiar voice whispered from above. "Rainbow! BBBFF! Oh my god, are you guys okay?"
"Twiley!" Shining Armor squealed with joy at the sight of his little sister up in a tree.
"Pardon my Prench but what the fuck was that thing!?"
"That was Radius!" Rainbow Dash replied, earning a gasp and a perplexed stare from both Shining Armor and Twilight. "I'm not fucking around here, that was Radius fucking Hoofenschtov! He's...changed."
"L-lemme get this straight, Rainbow." Shining Armor said. "You're telling us that...that thing that tried to rape you and kill both of us was...Celestia's lost coltfriend?"
"Oh my god!" Twilight gasped as she joined her brother and friend on the ground to check their wounds. "It all makes sense! Those glasses! That cutie mark! That is...was him."
"Well...Aunt Tia sure has a weird taste in guys doesn't she?"
"Be that as it may, we need to get you two out of here." Twilight then reached into her saddlebag and retrieved her two way radio. "Everypony, I found Rainbow and Shining Amor! They're okay!"
"Oh, praise Faust!" Celestia beamed over the radio. "Send a flare, Twilight! We'll be right there!"
"I'm on it. Oh, and Princess?"
"Yes, Twilight?"
"When we get back to the base camp, we need to talk."
Meanwhile, at the Chernobyl Nuclear Facility...
Radius Hoofenschtov mindlessly trotted down the dark, damp corridors directly underneath the exposed reactor that ruined every feature of his being one fateful night. He had given up his relentless search for the two ponies he saved before trying to murder as he had become distracted by something that drew him towards it like a magnet. His eyes were still glowing that horrifying bright red, lighting the way down the hallways as he continued to make his way towards his new target of interest.
This journey down these pitch black hallways was nothing new to Radius as it had become one he had to take every single day for nearly thirty years. Finally, the long corridors came to an end in the form of a room filled with massive pipes that were once used to channel water through the reactor's cooling system. Many of these said pipes had since burst open, the water having been replaced by molten uranium that eventually cooled and hardened in their places. Simply being in the presence of these deadly objects would be enough to kill the average living thing within minutes but to Radius it felt like a feast after being starved.
Though the high volume of radiation in the room Radius was in helped tremendously to help calm his previously aggressive mind that sent him on a murderous rampage, it was still not enough. He needed more. Much more. The amount of Radiation needed to fully satisfy his addiction-like craving could only come from one particular blob of uranium that Radius sought after. As Radius made his way to the far end of the room, he saw his prize in the form of a massive, hardened, gray blob of uranium that was the most deadly object known to human and ponykind. His source of radiation that could keep his evil alter ego at bay was none other than the infamous elephant's foot.
Wasting no time, Radius quickly made his way over to the mass of toxic stone and proceeded to place his horn on it so his self treatment could commence. With his eyes shut tight and his horn aglow, the precious gamma that entered his body felt like the best painkiller anypony could ever dream of taking. For several minutes, Radius held his horn in place, every muscle in his body becoming more and more relaxed by the second. Finally, Radius removed his horn and rose back up to his hooves and reopened his glossy green eyes with no red glow to speak of. His evil side was now locked away as it belonged and he could finally make sense of what happened.
"R-rainbow Dash?" Radius asked as he could finally think straight. "Oh right, of course she wouldn't be here...what the fuck happened?"
Radius could not remember much for it was not his true self that did the horrible, despicable things earlier so he had to take a moment to ponder the events prior to make sense of it all.
"Okay, okay let's see...I remember talking with Rainbow Dash...then I..."
"No!! Get off me!!" Rainbow Dash's voice echoed through Radius's mind followed by the image of his new friend on the floor beneath him as he pinned her down. "Somepony help me!!"
"NO! No no no no no no, this is what I was trying to prevent!! Oh God, I'm a...I'm a fucking rapist!!"
"The fuck is this guy's damage!?" Shining Armor's voice echoed through Radius's mind as he envisioned himself chasing after them, both looking back at him with fear in their eyes.
"Nooo!!" Radius screamed as tears rolled down his face. "What have I done!? WHAT HAVE I DOOONE!?"
Unable to keep on his hooves, Radius fell to the cold concrete floor where he proceeded to weep harder than ever before. In his sixty-five years of being, he had truly never felt so ashamed in his entire life than he did now. The past thirty years seemed to be filled with endless misery and this moment topped anything else he had ever had to go through or in this case, put somepony else through.
"W-wait, I don't even..." Celestia fumbled as she tried to make sense of what she was just told. "I'm sorry but I just can't...can you go over that again?"
"Okay, again from the top." Shining Armor said as he prepared to explain what happened, his patience running rather thin. "Rainbow Dash and I got jumped. With me so far?"
"Uh huh."
"Okay, great! So we got knocked out and when I woke up, I caught this...this disgusting fucking monster trying to get it on with Rainbow Dash! And that thing was your precious coltfriend that we've been looking for!!"
"Shining, for crying out loud, you don't need to scream at her like that!" Twilight scolded. "This isn't her fault! I saw what was chasing after you and there's no way she could have seen this coming! So just get off he-"
"Rainbow Dash?" Celestia asked in a tone not far from a whimper. "Is that true? Did you really find Radius and he attacked you? Rainbow?"
Rainbow Dash did not answer as she was sitting in the corner of the room with her back turned at the group. Out of anpony that had recently dealt with a traumatic experience, she had obviously seen the worst as she was nearly raped by a monster twice her size a mere hour ago. Concerned that the events would prove to emotionally damaging to the usually tough pegasus, Soarin trotted up behind her and gently placed a hoof on her shoulder to show support.
"He wasn't himself..." Rainbow Dash said quietly. "Something happened to him."
"It's nobody's fault but his, Rainbow." Shining Armor said.
"You don't understand! He saved Daring Do and Big Mac the day before and then both of us the next! I talked to him for hours and he was nothing like that!"
"You're defending him?" Daring Do asked. "Seriously?"
"No! I mean...Ugh, you guys didn't see what I saw! Everything about him changed! I know it sounds crazy seeming how I'm the one he attacked but...but...there's more to this. I know it."
"Everypony, Ah know what he done to Rainbow ain't right..." Big Macintosh began. "...and heaven know's there ain't no excuse fer forcin' yerself on a mare but Rainbow here's a lot smarter than ya'll giver 'er credit for sometimes. And from what she told us, Ah reckon there's four of us here who'd be in body bags if'n it weren't fer him."
"But what would make him go ballistic and try to kill somepony after saving them?" Spitfire asked.
"Look, he's spent thirty years suffering in this god forsaken city!" Rainbow snapped. "You try doing that and see how normal you'd be. The guy's obviously sick and...he feels like shit about what he did."
"How do you know?" Shining Armor asked.
"When he threw himself at me, the look in his blood red eyes was just...ugh, sickening. A few seconds into the struggle though he kinda...Uh, I guess kinda jumped back and forth between that vicious monster and his old self. His eyes went back to norm-er, whatever his normal eyes look like and he started looking down at me in a different way. Like he just suddenly knew what he was doing and he started crying for a few seconds before his eyes turned red again."
"I think I get it." Twilight said. "I've read a lot of books on psychology and psychiatric disorders. Maybe he's developed like a second personality. I've never heard of such a thing being induced by chronic radiation intake but a unicorn with magic capabilities has never been exposed to so much before either."
"I don't know what to think, Twiley." Shining Armor groaned. "I just...I gotta step outside for a bit okay?"
Not knowing what to think and in desperate need of a moment alone to recoup his thoughts over a cigarette, Shining Armor stepped out of the room where he then headed for the stairs. A few minutes of some painful hobbling around later, he reached the bottom floor and stepped out the front door of the building. It was still daylight out so he could be plainly seen out the window by the others whom of which still felt compelled to get as much information as they could.
"So what do you think we should do now, your majesty?" Spitfire asked.
"I...I don't know." Princess Celestia replied. "I don't know what shocks me more. The fact that they found Radius of the fact that he attacked Rainbow Dash and tried to kill them. I just...I'm sorry about all this, everypony."
"This wasn't your fault." Daring do said.
"I'm starting to wonder. Shining Armor has never raised his voice to me like that before. This whole thing has been hard on all of us and being the one who got us all here, I have a hard time thinking I'm not responsible for the things that happened."
"You couldn't have known." Twilight said. "Don't blame yourself."
The upper tip of the sun was just visible just over the skyline to the west as Shining Armor puffed on a cigarette as he pondered the events that occurred earlier. For starters, they actually found Radius and that in itself was certainly hard to believe but be that as it may, it was indeed him with that signature black and yellow cutie mark and the dorky glasses. Next was what Shining Armor woke up to find happening. It seemed to be true that Radius saved them from the wolves but then why would he do so, clean and dress their wounds and then proceed to violently assault them?
Shining Armor truly wanted to believe Rainbow Dash when she said that what happened may not be entirely his fault but the more he thought about that monster getting ready to violently rape his friend, the more he wondered if she had sustained a head injury. She was not the type to try to understand something or somepony that tried to inflict harm on her unless it involved understanding how to bring them down and give them whatever they deserved. So why was she seemingly compassionate towards Radius? Surely she would have to have her skull examined again however, no matter which angle he looked at it, he had to admit that he had not talked to or gotten to know Radius like Rainbow Dash had.
Still though, in polite and civilized society, it is unacceptable and inexcusable to behave the way Radius did just a few hours ago and as far as Shining Armor was concerned, he may have saved them to simply toy with them once they woke up. The very thought of what could have happened if Shining Armor had not woken up in time sent chills down his spine. His only regret at this point was not outright bashing Radius's skull in with the pipe, putting him out of his own misery.
"I should have busted his skull when I had the chance." Shining Armor mumbled to himself. "It'd be doing him a favor."
"How about you tell me more about this monster, comrade?" A familiar voice said with a thick Slavic accent.
A slightly startled Shining Armor turned to his right to see a familiar sight in the form of a man in Eastern European army attire with bright red hair being covered by an urban camo cap atop his head. Leaning up against the building just a few feet away was none other than Fredrick Schultz and as always, he too had a smoldering cancer stick in his teeth.
"Oh! Uh, hey, Fredrick." Shining Armor said. "Hey uh, thanks again for driving us back here."
"Eh, you two looked worse for wear." Fredrick replied.
"We were pretty beat. So what do you wanna know?"
"What'd this thing look like? How big?"
"I'd say not much shorter than Princess Celestia and it looked like Clark Kent and the Hulk had a nerdy, psycho mutant baby."
"The fuck did you just...damn, I'd hate to picture that."
"If you think that's weird, it turns out that it's the pony we've been looking for all this time. We came in to get him out of here but he's beyond help. It'd be better for him to just drop him and end his madness."
"And I thought you ponies were supposed to be the more compassionate ones. Not much different from us humans after all."
"Hey, I feel bad that I gotta say that and I know that wouldn't be easy for Celestia to hear but there's now way somepony can recover from spending three decades soaking up radiation."
"Look, why don't you and I go for a little drive and talk about this thing?"
"Uh, okay. Sure."
After taking a moment to finish his cigarette, Fredrick flicked the remaining butt and began walking towards some foliage as he signaled for Shining Armor to follow. Once he reached the patch of bushes, he began pulling branches and pieces of brush from a pile, revealing his well hidden Jeep underneath. Once the four by four vehicle was uncovered, Fredrick opened the driver's side door and climbed in while Shining Armor opened the opposite door and followed suit.
With both doors of the Jeep Wrangler shut, its two occupants seated and the engine running, it slowly made its way back onto the crumbling roads and continued down what used to be a street. Shining Armor had not gotten along particularly well with Fredrick and the continuing silence made for an awkward several minutes until the latter decided to restart the conversation.
"Now jokes aside, really, what did thing thing look like?" Fredrick asked.
"The first thing I noticed was that his body glowed." Shining Armor began. "He had a red mane and tail, big, pointed teeth, thick, dorky glasses and...for Christ sake, he wore a collar and a bow tie."
Instead of saying anything, Fredrick simply stared at Shining Armor in his passenger seat with a cocked eyebrow before reaching in the backseat and grabbing a bottle. This particular bottle was half filled with Bols and Fredrick wasted no time unscrewing the cap before taking a hearty swig.
"You uh...sure you should be doing that when you're driving?" Shining Armor asked.
"Heheh. Would you rather me lighten up with a drink or smack that horn off your head?" Fredrick chuckled.
"Uh, good point. So why do you wanna know about this guy anyway?"
"Trying to find out what's been killing these workers, comrade."
Shining Armor had no idea why Fredrick wished to speak with him until now. It just suddenly clicked together in his mind. Two men were found dead and dismembered and there was still another missing man unaccounted for. The vicious manner in which Radius behaved did nothing for him but make him seem like a likely suspect. Though the wolf packs that have plagued the city for decades were certainly subjects of interest, the beast that was once Radius Hoofenschtov could also very well have been guilty of the recent despicable and brutal slayings of innocent people.
"Whoa..." Shining Armor said. "Now that you mention that, it makes sense. When we got jumped by a bunch of those wolves the other day, I was already out cold by the time...well, Rainbow Dash told me that Radius came and sliced those wolves up the same way he apparently did to that catfish that attacked A.K. Yearling at the cooling pond."
"So he saved you?"
"I...guess so."
Again, Fredrick threw his head back and took another gulp from his bottle as he continued to drive around the city streets. After setting the bottle down, he reached into the front pocket of his army jacket and pulled out a cigarette before placing it in his teeth and setting the other end ablaze.
"Now, that part doesn't make sense." Fredrick said as he exhaled a cloud of smoke. "He saves you and then up and tries to kill you? Eh, I'm no doctor but he sounds pretty fucking crazy. And trust me, I'm a fucking psycho when I need to be so that's saying a lot."
"Other than that, you got me." Shining Armor replied. "I don't know what to think, man. I just...at this point, I just wanna get out of here. You know, go from being miserable here and back to being miserable with my wife and daughter we have no control over."
"What did you just say?"
"Uh, I said...Um..."
While Shining Armor stumbled with his words in fear that he had somehow struck a nerve with a man who's anger he wanted to avoid, said man picked up his bottle and polished off the last of the burning liquor within. After driving around for another minute or so, Fredrick then pulled his Jeep over and backed up onto a grassy patch on the side of the road where he then proceeded to engage the parking brake and shut the engine down.
"What was your name again?" Fredrick asked.
"Shining Armor, sir." Shining Armor replied.
"Okay first off, don't call me sir. Now, let me tell you something about me, alright?"
"Alright, sure."
"Yeah I get it, I'm an asshole but that doesn't mean that I'm completely unapproachable."
"Okay."
"So let me ask you this. Do you love your family?"
"With every fiber of my being!"
"Okay, good. So why the hell do they make you miserable?"
"Where do I even begin? See, Cadence and I are both incredibly busy all the time running the Crystal Empire. Whenever we see each other lately, we're just about to go to sleep."
"Okay, not much time for each other. Go on."
"I feel like whenever she and I actually do talk, an argument always ends our conversations. Lately, I've just been avoiding talking to her for too long because it just...tears me apart, you know?"
"Uh huh. So what's the problem with your daughter?"
"Oh man, Fredrick, she's just the sweetest thing I've ever known and I've never created anything I've been more proud of but...her magic just get's so out of control. And she just flies all over the place and I'm so afraid she's gonna hurt herself. Not only that but...I still can't get over it and I don't think I ever will. I fathered a fucking alicorn!"
"Okay, so lemme ask you this. What do your wife and daughter have in common?"
"Uhh..."
"They're both alive aren't they?"
"Well, yeah but what do-"
"See, you talk like they're a burden on you. Me? I'd give anything to be able to say mine were still alive."
"Wait...you don't mean..."
"Da...I do. It's a long story and I don't like to talk about it but it just kinda irks me when I hear somebody complaining about having a family when my own are dead and gone."
"I...I don't know what to say."
Fredrick then reached into the back seat again and fished out another full bottle of Bols before unscrewing the cap and taking a sizable gulp. As he wiped off the booze that ended up on his chin, he held the bottle out in front of him as if he were offering Shining Armor a drink.
"Oh, uh no thanks, I don't think I..." Shining Armor said before trailing off and thinking about it for a moment. "Fuck it, gimme a hit of that."
"Plenty more where that came from." Fredrick said as Shining downed a third of the bottle. "Alright, so where were we?"
After hours of conversing about their families and other such parts of their backgrounds, the late afternoon had become evening and finally the sun set over the horizon giving way to another clear night. Still, Fredrick and Shining Armor sat in the jeep and talked about their pasts and how they ended up where they were today. With both of them getting buzzed from the liquor, Fredrick seemed almost immune to it as he had polished off at least two bottles on his own with very little effect. As their conversation continued, Fredrick made it a point to inform his equine passenger that no matter how bad things may look or how rough a day someone may be having, somewhere, there is will always be someone else who has it much worse.
It was true and Shining Armor knew very well that he actually had a great many things to be eternally thankful for. He had made it to Guard Captain, married the love of his life whom also happened to be a princess, had many friends and family who would not hesitate to stick out their neck for him and now, a beautiful daughter to raise and watch grow up. Though overindulgence with alcohol has many negative effects, consuming just the right amount can really make one think and shed light on what is truly important and even make someone or somepony think about their mistakes. For Prince Shining Armor, it was the real wake up call and kick in the rear he needed and he surely felt silly, embarrassed, and even downright ashamed for the amount of complaining he had done as of late.
"Hey y-you know what, Fred?" Shining Armor said with a slight slur in his speech.
"Hm?" Fredrick asked.
"I've been a real fucking pussy lately."
"Heheheh. Yeah you have, comrade."
"Wow, man, I just...I couldn't even...no, I don't ever even want to imagine my family just getting taken away like that. Just...wow, I guess sometimes you don't know how well off you've got *burp* until it's gone. Fuck, dude, I'm really sorry about that."
"Shit happens."
"Yeah shit really does happen. Ha, you know, my sister once said something about fecal matter hitting a rotating blade' or something. I think that was her way of saying 'shit was hitting the fan'. Dammit, I love that little nerd. How could somepony complain when they have a sister like her?"
"Uh, funny you should bring that up, comrade. Look."
"Huh?"
Being that his motor skills were numbed by the drink he and Fredrick shared, it took a few extra seconds for Shining Armor to visually follow the direction his human comrade was pointing. Sure enough, flying in the bright, moonlit sky was Twilight Sparkle approximately forty feet off the ground. Being Shining Armor's very flesh and blood, he always knew his little sister was never one to keep her composure while doing something she knew she was not supposed to as by being out at night in the exclusion zone she was breaking Ukrainian law. Despite being nearly legally intoxicated, he could see right through her nervousness as her gaze darted around as if to make sure she was not being followed as she flew due South.
"The hell's she up to?" Fredrick asked as he quietly opened his door.
"There are some things I'll never figure out about that girl." Shining Armor said as he followed suit. "Hey, you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Hmm...I've done some snooping and sneaking around in my time. Here, take this in case we come across any of those mutants."
"It's dangerous to go alone, am I right?"
"What the?...You're alright, comrade."
Fredrick then handed a loaded M-1911 pistol over to Shining Armor who then used his aura to place it in his saddlebag as to not alert his sister with the pink glow of which Fredrick tried to stifle his laughter at. Fortunately, Twilight was flying fairly slowly which allowed the two tailing her to keep up in a stealthy manner. They did not have much of a choice but to take it slow and keep a decent amount of distance from their target as heavy combat boots and a set of hooves with iron shoes where not exactly quiet without great care being taken.
The two rescuers turned spies kept a very close watch on the lavender alicorn that floated above them and were even able to get close enough where they could see her ears change direction as she listened closely to her own surroundings. It was when she suddenly stopped in mid flight that her brother and his new friend began to seek cover as to avoid being caught. Fortunately for them, there was a row of half a dozen rusty steel trash cans with their waste contents that have since become mere soil inside and were close enough to hide behind. Just as they ducked behind the old waste barrels that held the city's last trash pick-ups thirty years ago, Twilight turned around and looked in every direction as her sixths sense alerted her that she was being watched.
After glancing around to find that the coast was clear, Twilight nervously went on her way. Shining Armor and Fredrick decided to allow Twilight to gain a little more distance as to keep from spooking her and blowing their cover. For several minutes, they continued to follow her down the streets of the forsaken city until finally, she once again stopped in mid air and hovered for a moment. The two who spied on her continued to watch as they took cover behind an old, rusted out car with its rotting, flattened tires seeming to have become part of the ground it sat on. After a minute or so or hovering, Twilight then slowly drifted down to the crumbling pavement and quietly landed on her hooves before pulling a her favorite pocket watch that her brother gave her as a Hearths Warming gift out of her saddlebag. After glancing at her watch for a moment she placed it back into her bag and took another moment to observe her surroundings.
If it was strange enough that Twilight Sparkle was breaking the strictly enforced law by going out at night into the treacherous abyss that was the city of Priyat, what happened next was a complete surprise to both who spied on her. Previously thinking that they had seen it all until now, Shining Armor and Fredrick nervously watched as the suspiciously behaving pony they followed set her horn aglow and allowed her bright, lavender aura light up the intersection she stood in.
"I thought your sister was the smart one!" Fredrick whispered. "Is she trying to get herself killed? She's doing nothing but drawing attention to herself!"
"She...she is the smart one." Shining Armor replied. "I don't know, Fred. My sister's seen and done a lot and even saved Equestria more times than I can remember. I know what she's doing looks stupid but...I just got this gut feeling that she's on to something. I don't know about you but I think we need to trust her."
"*Sigh* Alright, I'll wait and she what she's doing. Don't make me regret this, Shining."
For approximately ten seconds, Twilight allowed the bright light that her horn emitted blink on and off until it stopped as suddenly as it started. Once her horn quit glowing, she stood there motionlessly for another thirty seconds before Shining Armor's gut feeling was in a way, proven right. The proof he was looking for came in the form of two square shaped lights next to each other suddenly turned on in a dark alley directly in front of where Twilight was standing. The two lights that appeared to be the high beam lights on a vehicle then turned off and then blinked on and off twice more before staying illuminated. It was then that Shining Armor and his fellow military companion that realized that Twilight was about to have a pre-organized meeting with someone.
As Twilight stood in front of the lights, the sound of an engine being cranked over could be heard and within seconds, the light's source in the form of a white Mercedes Sprinter Van slowly pulled out from the alley. Once it was free of the narrow side street, then van turned broadside to Twilight and stopped a few feet away from her. The driver of the mysterious van then shut the engine down before opening the door and stepping out with a flashlight in hand and revealing himself along with another figure who exited from the passenger's side.
The two figures who exited the van and walked towards Twilight were both men, one of average height with dark hair and glasses and the other, a shorter man with the top of his head balding with some hair on the sides and back. Both of them were wearing lab coats and Fredrick even recognized them as scientists from Kiev that come into the zone to conduct research from time to time. Both he and Shining even remembered them as the ones who peeled what was left of the wolves that attacked the latter several nights before off the ground before loading them onto a truck.
"Gentlemen, thank you both so much for coming on such short notice." Twilight said with genuine sincerity.
"Anything to help a fellow scientist." The short man said with a matching tone and a thick Slavic accent.
"So, we trust you have the specimens?" The taller man asked.
"Yes, here they are." Twilight said as she hoofed over the lead-lined bag that she used to store tissue samples. "So you really think you can get this done within a few days?"
"We have to work quickly." The shorter man said. "But yes, with the subject's DNA in this prime condition, we should have it done before the week's end...provided that everything goes according to plan."
"This will put a lot of pressure on our staff but this scientific breakthrough we are about to uncover will be well worth it." The taller man said. "Just imagine. The very key to the cure for radiation damage and mutations could be right here...right here in this little bag you have. Do you have any idea how massive of an impact this could have? Thousands of sick people and animals could have their suffering ended and get their very lives back!"
"Think of all the lives that could be saved and improved...all thanks to us three standing here right now."
"Saving lives? That's what I live for." Twilight said. "Just remember this though. Here in this city, we have somepony who needs our help now more than ever. The very life and well being of another brilliant mind like ours is in our hands and hooves. From now on, I'll try my best to locate and keep track of our subject."
"Excellent." The taller man said. "We'll come back when the drug is ready and from there we need to find a way to administer it."
"Until then, take great care." The short man said.
"Of course." Twilight replied as the two men re-entered the van. "We'll keep in touch."
Just as the Van driven by one of the mysterious scientists slowly made its way down the bumpy asphalt, Twilight then spread her wings and took back to the air. Shining Armor again followed behind and observed her as she headed due North back towards the base camp. Now, with their target gaining speed and slowly disappearing off in the distance, they changed their course and headed back to Fredrick's Jeep where they would determine their next plan of action.
"Any idea what that was all about?" Fredrick asked as he and Shining Armor quickly entered the former's SUV.
"Beats me, but we're about to find out." Shining Armor replied. "Think we can head her off and beat her there?"
"Oh, hell yeah, a reason to drive fast and chase someone. I'm game."
"Alright then...my little sister and I are gonna have a little talk."
"I thought you said you trust her."
"I do! But as her big brother, It's always been and always will be my job to find out what she's up to."
Twilight Sparkle took great care and closely observed her surroundings as she hastily flew back to the base camp where she expected everypony else to be sound asleep. Though she was flying through the air, one would be foolish to throw caution to the wind as predators capable of flying exist as well as those that could knock her out of the air with projectiles. As proven several times on their trip, there were many good reasons for the curfew set by Ukrainian law and Twilight was well aware that she was taking a substantial risk by having her meeting with the scientists.
After her brisk, late night flight, she made it to the double doors on the ground level of the apartment building that the team used as a safehouse and used her aura to turn the handle. She planned to quietly trot up the stairs to avoid alerting any of the others as entering through the upper floor window she thought would be a bit more obvious. As she fully opened the door however, she would find out that she had already long been discovered by somepony near and dear to her yet at the moment, very frustrating.
"Gah! Shining!" Twilight yelped as the door swung open revealing her brother seeming to have been waiting for her.
"Twiliey! You're just in time!" Shining Armor said with a smirk. "Why don't you go ahead and tell me what that was all about?"
Just as she was about to play dumb and innocent, Twilight knew at that very moment that she had been caught and there was no point in trying to cover it up. What she could not understand however, was how her newly out of shape chain smoker of a brother could have followed her the whole way and then beat her back to the safehouse. Being the crafty little sister she was, she decided that two could play at their little game as she put on a smug look of her own.
"And just how did your fat, smoke puffing rump get all the way there and back so quick?" Twilight teased.
"What the...you little...grrr..." Shining Armor growled before calming back down. "Okay look, Fredrick drove me back here in his truck but never mind that. All I wanna know is what you've been up to and what all that shit was about."
"You mad, bro?"
"Twilight!"
"Okay, I'll tell you but...listen, Shining, you have to trust me on this. Have I ever given you a reason not to?"
Shining Armor opened his mouth to reply but before he could get a word out, he realized that his sister was right. After all, she was the one who had Princess Cadence's impostor figured out just to have everypony outright accuse her of jealousy when she tried to expose her. On several occasions, Twilight had saved all of Equestria with the help of her friends and had even become a Princess herself. One simply does not achieve such a feat by being deceitful and untrustworthy. Shining Armor knew that he had every reason to trust his own flesh and blood that was his beloved little sister and absolutely no reason not to.
"No...you haven't." Shining Armor admitted.
"Thank you." Twilight sighed. "Okay, I know how you feel about Radius and I get it but please just try to understand where I'm going with this."
"Okay."
"Those guy you saw me talking with were two of Russia's most brilliant scientists. For years, they've been working on a cure for bodily damage and mutations caused by radiation. With me so far?"
"Yeah, I think i get it."
"In order to finally put this drug they're creating into affect, they need the DNA of who it's to be given to in order for it to work on said individual."
"Uh huh. Go on."
"I did some snooping around at those two places, that Radius apparently used as a home and I found a tail hair and a tooth. I hoofed those over to those scientists to use for their cure."
"Wow, Twiliey you...heheheh. you sneaky little filly you. Okay, I guess it's worth a shot."
"Hey, I've done my fair share of sneaking around for the greater good. So um...look, I know you think Radius is a piece of Equine garbage but even Rainbow Dash doesn't see it that way. She actually talked to him and try to remember that he saved your life and three others. He's clearly good but he's developed a multi personality disorder of sorts. He's sick and as such, I think he deserves a chance to be healed."
"Well I...I didn't actually get to see him when he was...uh, in his sane state I guess. Okay, so If we end up seeing him again, I won't blow his head off on sight."
"Yeah, try to have some restraint. But...there is yet another issue that looks pretty bad but I haven't gotten it completely figured out so don't jump to conclusions."
"Okay, what is it?"
"Shining, I need you to promise me that you'll trust me and try to see my side of things right to the end of this whole thing. I also need your word that you won't tell anypony about what I'm about to tell you otherwise everything I'm trying to do with be blown right up with no way for me to fix it. Please...don't do that to me."
"Okay, I promise, Twiley. So, what's the problem?"
"I may have found...some slight, inconclusive signs that Radius may have possibly killed those missing workers."
Shining Armor's heart sank upon hearing what his sister had just told him and he wanted so badly to try to understand Radius's issues but he could not help but remember the state the two bodies they found were in. To think that Radius may have been responsible for tearing the entrails out of three innocent people simply trying to do their jobs just him feel sick to his stomach. Only two bodies were found at this point but after all this time, the odds that the third was still alive were not looking good. Also, If Radius had indeed killed these men, surely there would be little to no chance for him to ever lead a normal life again as he would only go back to Equestria to be locked away in a psychiatric facility for the rest of his days.
"Oh, Twiley..." Shining Armor said as he tried to stifle his tears that were quickly forming. "Aw fuck, Twiliey, this is bad. I mean really bad."
"Like I said, we don't know for sure that it was him."
"Well, it was either him or one of those wolves somewhere out there and it's still not looking good for him. Look, suppose he didn't do it. Great. Then we can try to heal him with what ever those scientists have cooking up but if he did...Oh my god, Twiliey, we're not doing him any good by taking him home. Instead of being trapped here, he'll spend the rest of his life in a maximum security asylum."
"When you think of it this way, the odds aren't too terrible. There are dozens of other dangerous creatures in this city and only one Radius. And there's got to be at least one other creature with similar sized teeth."
"Twilight, the more you tell me, the worse it's looking for the poor bastard."
"I know it looks bad but after all these years of all this suffering...all alone, despising what he's become...we can't give up on him!"
"Twilight, you know I'd trust you with my life...Okay. I'll do what ever I can to help."
"Thank you so much, BBBFF. Okay, listen. Celestia told me she plans on having us all vote on our next move tomorrow. We need to stall our team from leaving at least until those guys are done with the medicine. I need you to vote on staying here and holding out for just a little longer."
"Okay, Twiley. I'll do it. Look, sis, I'm sorry I doubted you and..."
"Yes? Go on."
"I had this talk with Fredrick and it really opened my eyes. I'm...*sniff* I've been so selfish lately, whining and bitching about my life and I'm so sorry for that. I had no reason to be such a crybaby and I wouldn't want my life to be any different than *hic* than it is now and I just...I...I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Sh-Shining? Come here."
It had been a very long time since the two siblings had a heart to heart talk such as this and even longer since they shared a warm hug. It was true that Shining Armor had been feeling ungrateful for all the wonderful things he had and he was now very well aware of that. This entire trip that the team had taken to the city of Pripyat had been very hard on all of them in many ways but on the contrary, just what some of them needed in other ways. For Shining Armor, it proved to be a real wake up call.
"Shining, are you drunk?" Twilight asked as she caught a whiff of booze off her brother's breath as they hugged.
"Yeah." Shining replied. "Fredrick can be kind of a jerk at times but when you get on his good side, he shares some good shit."
The next morning, Princess Celestia waited until a few hours after sunrise to wake up the rest of the group as to allow them all more time to sleep and hopefully wake up more refreshed. She knew very well that this whole excursion was taking a lot out of and putting a lot of pressure on them and at this point they were all tired, sore, dirty, injured and not in very high spirits. Even though they had all volunteered to accompany their Princess in order to help her locate a lost Equestrian citizen, she could not help but feel responsible for the newly forming bags under their eyes and a few new gray hairs scattered about Soarin's mane.
Before she could even think to start waking everypony, Princess Celestia watched as they all began to stir in their sleeping bags as the light from the sun beamed through the window. Instead of making them hasten their awakening, she instead decided to allow them to do so at their own pace and make sure that they were all wide awake before she would then call their next plan of action up for discussion. Finally, everypony was awake and each was enjoying their own tin mug of coffee that Celestia heated up over a can of gel-like camp fuel. As the warmth of the drink and the affects of the caffeine touched their souls, Celestia gazed out the window for a moment before turning to her subjects, the look on her face clearly one of a pony in low spirits.
"Everypony, I have some things I'd like to say." Celestia said, grabbing everypony's attention. "I'd just like you all to know that in the...um, week or so that we've been out here, the hard work and effort you've all put into this whole search has truly touched my heart."
Twilight Sparkle then placed a comforting hoof on Celestia's shoulder. The previous night, the two Princesses had talked about having the rest of the team decide weather to call an end to the search and return home or ride it out for just a little longer.
"However..." Celestia continued. "I can see that searching this city all day, every day is starting to take its toll on everypony both physically and emotionally so I just want to remind you that you all have a choice on weather you want to be here or not. I myself will be staying here until I can locate Radius and find out exactly what's become of him. Anypony who wants to go home is free to do so and will be rewarded for their efforts just the same. Just say the word and I'll get Denys pick you up on the bus. Anypony who wants to stay a little longer and help me locate our lost one...bless you. Those in favor of staying, raise a hoof."
Remembering the talk he and his sister had the night before and the promise he made to her, Shining Armor kept his end of their agreement and raised his hoof in the air alongside her. Despite their injuries and tired, sore bodies, Rainbow Dash and Daring Do proved that they were not ones to give up as a hoof from each of them shot up into the air. Big Macintosh followed suit as he too was the type of pony to see a job through to the end once it was started. For the past few days, Spitfire and Soarin had been discouraged by the lack of results but soon found their own hooves in the air along with those of the others. Much to Celestia's surprise, everypony in the room had a hoof raised up in the air. She was so surprised in fact that she ultimately forgot that she would not have to ask her next question which she proceeded to do anyway.
In response to her question, every hoof that was in the air was brought back down to the side of their respective pony they were attached to. Not a single pony in the group was ready to call it quits and to for Celestia to realize this was enough to push her normally calm and stable emotions over the edge. As she looked into the tired, drooping eyes of her subjects and at Shining Armor's shrinking stomach, she could not help but crack a small smile while the tears streamed down her face.
"We're gonna get this job done." Daring do said firmly.
"Ah dunno about y'all but Ah ain't fixin' to git outta here til we do." Big Macintosh added.
"Thank you all so much." Celestia said. "Rainbow Dash? Shining Armor? We'll need you two to trace your steps and take us right back to where Radius, uh...allegedly found you."
"We might wanna bring our hazmat suits for this one." Rainbow Dash said with a salute.
A few hours later, the group neared the area of interest with the young Prince and rookie wonderbolt in the lead. Everypony agreed to stay together this time as they the amount of area that needed searching was quickly dwindling and they knew fairly well where they needed to look. Rainbow Dash told them that Radius had mentioned making his current home within one of the buildings of the actual power plant so if they could just find out where the wolves had attacked them, they could go from there. they were certain that they were getting rather close and just to get a better view, Spitfire and Soarin decided to hover around at fifty or so feet in the air. It would turn out however that they would not have to go very far to find what they were looking for as the rest of the team spotted the two wonderbolts waving their forelegs about and pointing down to the ground just beneath them.
Within minutes, everypony closed in on the area just beneath where Spitfire and Soarin hovered and the closer they got, the more familiar the surroundings appeared to the two who nearly died there. Soon, the rusted out old van that the monstrous wolves were lounging around came into view and with the new unmistakable odor of rotting flesh filling the air, they knew for sure that this was the place. As the two Pegasi who found the scene floated back down, everypony else stared with their mouths agape at the massacre that took place just the other day.
The three wolves who unwisely decided to go against Radius's warning and stay to fight with him all lay in either separate pieces, as skeletal remains in puddles of acid or both. Rainbow Dash could even point out the small pile of her feathers in the exact spot where she passed out mere inches from one of the creatures' severed heads. Until now, Princess Celestia did not have any idea what they were truly up against and the things the sweet, nerdy stallion she once knew was now capable of. As she looked around at the disemboweled and dismembered wolves with absolute disgust, she could finally begin to understand the true magnitude of the damage Radius was able to cause. When intact and in one piece, these wolves were easily the size of Celestia herself or possibly even slightly larger but one thing was absolutely certain; the quirky physics geek that Radius once was had truly turned what started out as a scuffle into an all out blood bath.
"Um R-Rainbow Dash?" Celestia asked nervously. "So you mean to...did Radius do this?"
"Yeah." Rainbow Dash replied. "I know it looks bad but he only did it to save me and Shining Armor."
"Oh, I don't doubt at all that he had good intentions but...I'm just...I mean, when I knew him, he was a...for Tartarus sake, he was a creampuff! I'll admit though, that's one of the things I liked about him."
"Yeah, just wait until you actually see him."
Instead of splitting into four teams of two, the group split into two teams of four and proceeded to choose a building to go through. there were a total of six massive buildings that made up the nuclear facility, each housing a reactor of it's own. The clue found on a chalkboard in one of Radius's old homes lead them all to believe that he would be somewhere in one of these buildings. With their hazmat suits and gas masks put on, Celestia along with Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash took building number one. Spitfire, Soarin, Big Macintosh and Daring Do took building number two. These buildings were absolutely massive and ended up taking the rest of the day to finish searching but nonetheless, the day was a productive one with two buildings down and four to go. The entire team could knew for a fact that Radius was close to a point where they could almost feel it.
Once again, the sun began to set which meant that yet again, the team would have no choice but to retire for the night in accordance to the local law. Everypony met in the middle of the yard and after a brief headcount to verify that the entire team was present, they all made their way back towards their home away from home. All the while, they were being watched from a tower in building number four by a very nervous and confused individual.
"I don't get it." Radius Said to himself as he spied on the leaving group of ponies with his hoof made telescope. "Am I really worth it? After what I did, they still want to risk their lives to find me?"
Radius then withdrew his spyglass and trotted back into the dimly lit room that he illuminated with a few candles, his head hung low in shame. This was Radius's current home as it was within close proximity to the source of radiation that his body needed to have. The room that he chose was dark and dreary yet very clean and neatly organized to his liking and complete with the basic amenities of a comfortable home. It was a fairly large room with a neatly made bed in the very back, various tool chests and boxes all categorized and labeled by their contents, a large bookcase, a steel barrel used for fire, and a table with a small television on it. Despite the lack of actual grid provided power in the facility, Radius would often improvise by attaching the cord to his horn which provided enough power for what ever appliance he wished to use. He had tried to make his life in Chernobyl as comfortable as he possibly could and did what ever he needed to do to make it feel like a true home he could call his own.
From Televisions to washing machines and dryers, to microwave ovens all the way to toasters, there was that one type of device that Radius would have lost his mind long ago if he had to go without. Radius had always loved music so he would almost always go about his day to day life in the exclusion zone with a radio strapped to his side. Weather he was hunting for food or just out to enjoy the sun, he would be listening to and singing along with his favorite tunes which ultimately kept him going all these years. Still, the thirty lonely years had begun to take their toll on the unfortunate and undeserving unicorn and it was when he felt he would need to take drastic measures in attempt to set himself free.
Not only did Radius collect his fair share of am/fm radios, he also found and repaired a the very ham radio that sat upon his nightstand that he used to intercept what ever outside signal it could find. Though his distress signal was a cry for help, it was quite an unorthodox type of assistance he had hoped for. What he had told Rainbow Dash was absolutely true as he so desperately wanted to be released from his constant torment and the body of the monster that was a mere shadow of his former self. Radius intended to end his life by means of being gunned down by militia.
"I've tried everything..." Radius whimpered as he remembered his countless attempts at setting himself free. "I've jumped off buidings...I've blown up tanker trucks while I sat in the cab...I've tried to hang myself...jumped into the cooling pond with weights tied to my neck. All I ever wanted was for this to end. Can't so much as break a bone but I can hold my breath for...fuck, I don't even know how long."
With the sun disappearing over the horizon and the ponies who's lives hear feared for out of sight, Radius grabbed a pack of cigarettes from the drawer of his nightstand and trotted down the stairs. Every night, he would take an evening stroll to enjoy the beautiful night sky and find an unlucky rat or rabbit while he was at it. Radius was at least fortunate enough to have a decent supply of cigarettes that he used as a small supplement to his radiation supply as all the stores in town had gotten a massive shipment in before the meltdown. Though the radiation from tobacco smoke was such a minute amount, it was better than nothing and would prolong his time between having to get his dosage from the elephant's foot.
It was now half past eleven and everypony was fast asleep, trying to get a full night's rest in before the next morning where they would head out to search the power station until Radius was found. Everypony except Princess Celestia that is who simply could not get herself to shut her eyes and doze off. No matter how hard she tried, there was just something eating at her, this strange feeling that compelled her to stay awake. Being several thousands of years old, she had experienced this odd feeling many times before while trying to sleep which she knew that her gut and her heart were both trying to tell her something.
After hours of tossing and turning, Celestia had finally decided to go with her gut feeling and quietly rose to her hooves before trotting out the door to the room and down the flights of stairs. When she reached the double doors of the building, she then spread her wings and took to the air. Even Celestia herself was unsure of why she felt the need to fly out this late at night but at the very least she could enjoy the cool Spring air and clear her mind. Being as wide awake as she was however, she decided to fly all the way back to the power plant just to take one last look from where they left off before as she knew that she simply would not be able to sleep tonight.
Meanwhile, on the banks of the cooling pond...
As always, Radius's nightly stroll had lead him to the banks of the cooling pond where he would often stare at the beautiful moon while he waited for his next meal to take the bait at the end of a line he had cast out. Like a lot of these nights, he would also spend that time thinking but this night was different as he had a lot more than usual to think about. Aside from the occasional fight with a fellow mutant, or all out turf war with one of the local wolf packs, the past thirty years had be rather uneventful. The last week and a half however had proved to have more going on than any other week as this was the first time having seen one of his own kind during that time.
At first, when he met Rainbow Dash and learned that she wished to talk with him for a while, Radius's heart skipped with joy at the thought of socializing and making a friend but what happened afterwards was on his mind the whole time. It was true, he was in a different state of mind and most likely had a second personality that he developed over time take his body over but he refused to make an excuse for what he had done. Though his demeanor took a complete one-eighty due to his prolonged lack of radiation, he was convinced that he could truly never forgive himself for attempting to rape and murder a kind pony who tried to befriend him.
"You...evil fucking monster!" Radius yelled as he slapped at his reflection on the water, unable to look at himself for a moment longer. "That poor Rainbow Dash...oh god, how could I? Oh fuck, I hope that stallion knocked me out before I ended up defiling her..."
After a half hour of flying to the Southeast, Princess Celestia gently landed back down on what remained of the asphalt in the middle of the massive bus lot in front of the large buildings of the power station. The sky was clear and the moon was bright so she could clearly see her surroundings and spot any threat in the event one should present itself. After taking a moment to look around, the moon's reflection on the massive cooling pond caught her attention and after a thousand years of gazing longingly at a moon weather it was her sister's or not, it always helped her clear her mind. Still keeping alert and her ears perked up out of caution's sake, she slowly trotted towards the body of water where she though she might stand at the banks and stare at the moon to her heart's content.
As Celestia very slowly neared the edge of the pond, the thought of the possibility of being so close to finding her long lost flame began to tug at her heart more than ever before. Finally, she stopped and stood in place for a few minutes while her ears scanned for any kind of noise of movement until soon, she found herself unable to keep her own mouth shut for even a moment longer.
"Radius?" Celestia called out as she continued to look around. "Radius, if you're...if you're out there, please...just say something..."
Celestia then paused for a moment to listen for a response that she was starting to wonder if she would even get before calling out again.
"Radius?" Celestia called out a little louder. "Are you out there?"
Again, Celestia listened for a response. She found herself standing there listening for what she was beginning to think was nothing but a pipe dream. Her ears drooped as she slowly turned around where she would then spread her wings and make her way back to the safe house. She even started to think the very fact that she had even flew all this way out there was nothing but a waste of time and energy until it finally happened.
"Celestia?" A faint voice called out from the distance.
After hearing the raspy, depressed sounding voice call out her name from a short distance away, Celestia pupils shrank to the size of pin pricks despite it being the dead of night. Quickly, her heart started to pound so hard that she could feel it beating in her ears. It was that voice. After hours of listening to the recording that started the whole mission and the very reason she was there in the first place, she had the exact sound of it burned into her mind and she was now hearing it right from the source's mouth. The creature even knew her name. There was no possible way that it could have been anypony else but that of the long lost Doctor Radius Circumfrancis Hoofenschtov.
"R-Radius?" Celestia called out as her heart began to beat faster. "Is that...is that you?"
The voice did not answer right away and the longer it took, the more agonizing the wait became for the Princess. Finally, after pausing for nearly an entire minute, Radius answered, bringing true closure to his former lover and at long last putting an end to her wondering.
"Yes..." Radius whimpered, revealing his location. "Yes it's...it's me."
Just when she thought her pulse could go no higher, Celestia heart reached a point to where it nearly sounded like it was humming much like the engine of Denys's bus. Judging by the direction of which his voice came from, she could tell that he was just around the corner of a small maintenance shed to her left near the bank of the cooling pond. To think that after thirty years of believing he was dead, later finding out that he could still be alive was certainly a lot to take in but now, he was standing behind a small brick building a mere fifty feet away from her.
For nearly two minutes, Celestia just stood there wide eyed with her pin-sized pupils as the very concept of what was happening was almost enough to make her faint. Finally, she slowly started taking steps towards the direction of Radius's voice. As she very slowly made her way closer and closer, her mind started to race, she began to sweat and she simply could not get a word out of her mouth. Finally, Radius spoke again and what he said was the last thing he expected or ever wanted to hear from him.
"Wait! Don't come any closer!" Radius called over as he heard Celestia's hoofsteps approaching, a mere twenty five feet away from the shed he hid behind.
"What? Why?" Celestia asked, her voice trembling. "Radius, please come out. I just...please, I want to see you."
"Trust me, you don't! I've changed, Celestia. I'm not the same guy I was before."
"I know, but I don't care what you look like! Nopony does! It's not your fault! Please, just let me see you!"
There was a pause for several seconds and just before Celestia could open her mouth to speak again, she could hear the first tap of one hoof being put in front of the other. Between each tap, there was a few seconds pause as Radius was putting forth all the courage he could muster to bring himself forward and face the one he planned on proposing to all those years ago. The closer he came to the corner of the small structure, the brighter the glow appeared to Celestia as he was now so close to revealing himself until he stopped. With her heart still racing and her eyes wide with anticipation, the mere few seconds she stood there waiting for Radius to show himself seemed like ages. She had done her fair share of waiting for long periods of time for a loved one to return but this nearly proved to be too much for the Princess to handle until finally, a large, glowing hoof attached to a long and powerful leg stepped out.
First came his hoof and then his face soon after. Slowly, Radius stepped out from the cover of the other side of the small supply shed with his head hung low and his ears folded back. The look on his face was the one of the saddest things the Princess had ever laid eyes on, much resembling that of a tired, old, suffering dog begging his master for a bullet to the back of his head. The sudden realization was finally hitting Celestia and her heart skipped a beat at the very fact that she was now face to face with what was once the Stallion she fell in love with before his alleged death.
Princess Celestia knew that he would look much different than how she remembered him but what she saw was like nothing she could have ever imagined before. The charming gentlecolt who once stood just over half her height was now at eye level with her and the two smaller legs that could be seen folded behind his front legs were simply painful to so much as look at. Even the eyes of the creature she looked into had changed into something a nocturnal predator would have and the large, sharp fangs glistening in the light of his glow made it clear that he could no longer be sustained by a herbivorous diet. The only things that had not changed about him were his glasses, his cutie mark, and his appreciation for collars and bow ties.
"Radius..." Celestia whimpered as she became weak in the knees. "It's you...it's really you."
"It's...been a while hasn't it?" Radius asked casually as he lifted his head up to look Celestia in the eyes. "Hey...you haven't aged a bit. I've thought about you from time to time."
Celestia had often wondered what her reunion with Radius would be like or if she would even have the same feelings she had for him before. As she looked into the cold, lifeless eyes of the creature she once fell in love with, she wondered no more. Celestia did not care what he looked like as she was never superficial and though she still cared for him as one of her subjects in need of help, the love she had for him before was simply not there. Though she was ecstatic that he was still alive, she no longer felt the same pull when she started courting him over thirty years ago.
The very same could be said for Radius as he too no longer felt as he once did towards the Princess that stood before him. It would have been quite difficult for either of them to explain but there was simply no sign of that spark that started their flame that had long fizzled out. Be it because of his numbness brought by his constant torment and misery or the fact that they were apart for so long, the love the two ponies once had for each other was just no longer there. Regardless however, Celestia was still determined to do what she came to do and bring an end to Radius's thirty year nightmare. What weighed on her most heavily however was the fact that he had needlessly spent the last three decades living in chernobyl to begin with when he could have otherwise gone home to be with his loving family.
"Oh, Radius..." Celestia whimpered as tears began to run down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry you had to *hic* I didn't..."
"For what?" Radius asked, perplexed.
"If only I'd have known you were still alive all this time! I could have brought you home sooner and you wouldn't have had to go through all of this! Oh, fuck, I can't believe we just...left you here like this, I'm so *sniff* so sorry!"
Celestia then took a couple steps towards Radius, causing the latter to step back.
"You were such a sweet guy!" Celestia sobbed. "You didn't deserve any of this!"
"Celestia don't...you can't come any closer."
"R-Radius, we're here to bring you back home! We can fix this and give you your life back!"
"I only sent that signal so soldiers would come in and look for me. My plan was to run after them and have them shoot me! I'm sorry you have to hear this but death is my only way out of this!"
"But we're all here now! I don't want to see you have to live here any longer! Please, just come home with us!"
"I know you'd never understand but I can't! And you gotta back away from me, don't take another step!"
"But why!? Radius we can hel-"
"BECAUSE I'M DANGEROUS!!!"
The words that Radius shouted echoed through the paved lot he and Celestia stood in. The Princess's heart sank at Radius's all out lack of any kind of hope for himself but knew she had to stand her ground if she was to give him the help he needed and life back home that he so badly deserved. What he did not deserve was to be left here to suffer from his painful mutations all alone and the need to constantly poison his body in order to keep what little sanity he had left and a deadly entity at bay. Celestia refused to back down and take no for an answer as the fact repeated through her mind over and over again. Radius Hoofenshtov did not deserve what had happened to him.
"Radius." Celestia said more calmly as she knew she had to keep herself together. "I understand that you feel terrible about what you...tried to do to Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor but-"
"Rainbow Dash!" Radius gasped. "Oh my god, is she okay!? Did I end up...d-did i actually...rape her?"
"No, you didn't and yes, she's doing fine."
Upon hearing some of the best news in years, Radius had a huge sigh of relief after finding out that Shining Armor had laid the metal pipe across his head before it was too late. As glad that he was that the first pony he had talked to in so long had not suffered extensive injury or trauma, still it did nothing to make him feel any better about himself. He knew that whatever it was that took his mind and body over would have gladly taken its opportunity to have very violent sex with Rainbow Dash before tearing off her limbs off and entrails out if it weren't for the brave act of the previously unconscious stallion.
"Celestia, if you have time to hear me out..." Radius began. "You'll understand why I can't come back."
"O-okay. Celestia whimpered.
"This...isn't the first time this has happened. I've done so many sick, fucked up things to innocent creatures in my time here. I've ripped the limbs off rabbits and frogs just to save them as a snack for later...I've massacred entire families of rodents...Celestia, I'm nothing but a killer now."
"I-I just...Radius, I never knew it was this bad...I don't...I don't know what to say."
"There's nothing else to say. The sweet, lovable geek I was is gone and he's never coming back."
"Wait a minute! You saved Big Mac and A.K. Yearling at the cooling pond, then you saved Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor from more of those wolves...and you think you're the monster here?! I don't get it! There's got to be something else going on that we're missing or you're just not telling us something!"
Celestia then took another few steps towards Radius weather he wanted her to or not.
"Well...a few good deeds don't erase a million bad ones." Radius answered.
"And that right there! You told me not to come near you! Why?" Celestia asked
"I already told you, because any second, I could go crazy and try to kill y-"
"Because you care, Radius! That's also the reason you hid from us all this time, isn't it!? Because you wanted to protect everypony from your own self!"
Again, Celestia took a few more steps towards Radius who was now seriously pondering the point that the former was trying to make. After a brief pause, she took a few more until she was now standing just a mere ten feet away from him. For several seconds, the two stood face to face and as Celestia noticed the mutated pony calming down and the hairs on his coat laying back down she finally took the last few steps towards him until they were now four feet apart.
"Radius?" Celestia said as she looked into the eyes of the ailing stallion who so badly doubted himself.
"Yeah?" Radius asked.
"Let me tell you something. Alright?"
"Sure."
"You...are not...evil. You are now, always have been, and always will be good."
"But I think I might hav-"
"Radius, goddamnit listen to me! Even Rainbow Dash understands!"
"She...she does?"
"She knows that it wasn't really, actually you that attacked her. Like, she said that your personality took a one-eighty and you became a whole different pony."
Radius took a moment to ponder what Celestia had just told him and he was indeed quite surprised by the information she shared with him. He was incredibly relieved that Rainbow Dash was for the most part unharmed and that he failed to penetrate her which he felt would have topped the worst thing he had ever done before. Still, there existed a bigger problem and being uncertain of what actually occurred pertaining to the issue only made Radius more sure that there would never be a home or life for him outside the exclusion zone for the rest of his days. As much as it pained him to do so, he felt that he just had to tell somepony and Celestia was the nearest one to talk to.
"Well, that's a bit...odd that she doesn't want me lynched..." Radius began. "But since you're here, I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you about the biggest problem we have here."
"And what's that?" Celestia asked.
"So, look, I don't really remember exactly what happens when I go all bat shit but...I...I'm not sure I did it or not but...I might be the one who...killed those construction workers."
"What? No, that can't be tr-...you wouldn't do such a thing."
"Goddamnit, Celestia, just let it go! I've torn all kinds of creatures apart, tried to rape and kill two fellow ponies and it's starting to look like I desecrated three humans! Look, I've got this...I-I don't what to call it, like some kind of alternate mindset that split off from my own!"
"Wow, that...that's a problem, Radius."
"No shit. Wow, I don't really like the idea of these being my last words to you but I thought I remembered you being a lot smarter than that."
Though she was no longer in love with him as before and she was well aware that the lack thereof was mutual on Radius's part, Celestia was emotionally crushed by what he had just said to her. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that he really had truly changed and not for the better. On the other hoof, the very idea of leaving this brave, selfless hero behind to suffer in solitude began to make her physically sick to her stomach, regardless of any misdeeds while undergoing his radiation withdrawal. Still though, neither of them were absolutely sure that Radius was responsible for the deaths of the missing workers but nevertheless, it was not looking good.
After pausing for a moment and regretting having just insulted the now sobbing Celestia, Radius slowly turned around and began trotting away. He knew he could not take back what he said which he felt would be the last thing he ever said to her but it was too early yet too late at the same time. Though the bitter words he had uttered left a matching taste in his mouth, he said what he said to convince Celestia that he was beyond help and coming to the exclusion zone with any intention other than ending his life was a waste of time. Just before he disappeared into the brush, he turned around and faced Celestia one last time to offer his very last words to her before they would part ways.
"Go home, Celestia." Radius said as a single tear rolled down his cheek. "Go home and just live your life. Just...be happy...and try to forget about me, okay?"
With that, Radius turned back around and trotted off into the night leaving Celestia behind to choke on her tears. Though he seemed to have had no trouble basically telling Celestia to forget everything they ever had in the past or the mere fact that he ever existed, Radius too began to weep as his trot turned into a gallop. He had been through many hard fights over the years and faced countless difficult decisions but telling his former flame that she needed to just let him go and leave him to die weighed more heavily on his heart than anything ever before.
Celestia just stood there with her head hung low and she truly had not felt so depressed in centuries. She felt regret over the fact that such a wonderful pony's life was ruined and wasted. She felt that awful pain in her heart over how worthless he thought he was as a living being even after several good deeds. Worst of all, her heart ached so badly over the fact that there seemed to be no way of helping him and that Radius had mentioned his only way to be set free was to die. If she ever needed moral support before, she needed it now more than ever. Fortunately for her however, a couple pairs of helping hands would end up being closer than she would have previously thought.
"Princess?" A familiar male voice called over followed by the bright shine of a flashlight.
"We heard the whole thing." Said another as two bipedal figures slowly walked towards the weeping alicorn.
"Why!? Why won't he just let us help him!?" Celestia sobbed as she rode in the passenger seat of Fredrick's Jeep. "He doesn't deserve to live out here all alone like this! He deserves to come home and see his friends and family again!"
"Uh, Princess, I hate being the bearer of bad news but..." Fredrick began as he drove Celestia back to the base camp. "...Dymitri and I found the last missing worker. He was in the same state as the other two."
"Do you really think...?"
"After what we just overheard, what am I supposed to think? If that thing you were talking to is the one responsible for disemboweling three innocent people, it needs to be dealt with...and if that's what that Radius guy has become, then putting him out of his misery would be the best thing anyone's ever done for him."
"He doesn't even know for sure if he did it! You don't know him like I d...did."
"It's not looking good either way. Look, we're here. Go get some sleep, alright? I'm gonna go contact Prime Minister and find out what we need to do from here."
"F-Fredrick, I know we don't know each other well and heaven knows you don't really like us that much but...I'm asking you, please try to see this from my perspective. He's spent thirty miserable years here and he was so good and decent and kind and...he *hic* he deserves so much better than thiiihihiisss!"
Fredrick was a very battle hardened man with not much of a heart left over from the hell he had been through in his past but as he looked into the tear soaked eyes of the tired, bruised, and dirty Princess that sat next to him, he felt actual pain. The proud, majestic, and regal royal alicorn had been reduced to a sobbing mess who was desperate to save and better the life of a terribly ailing subject and for Fredrick, she was truly painful to look at. For the first time in many years, he would agree to make an attempt to pull some strings in her favor.
"I'll be talking to Groysman tomorrow." Frederick sighed. "I'll tell him your side of story but I can't make promises, okay?"
"That's all I ask." Celestia said as she opened the door and stepped out of Fredrick's Jeep. "Thank you so much."
"Okay, okay, just don't tell anybody I said I'd do that for you, alright? That'd ruin my rep around here. Now just go and get some sleep and I'll let you know what we gotta do from there."
With that, Fredrick shut the door of his Jeep, shifted into gear and headed South towards the checkpoint and entrance to the exclusion zone. Celestia stood and watched as the bulky, square taillights faded away in the distance and once they were gone, she made her way back into the building that the team used as a safe house where she would then make her trek up the stairs. Once she reached the top floor where everypony was sound asleep, she quietly entered the room and laid down on her sleeping bag.
It would turn out however, that a certain somepony was still awake as Twilight Sparkle lay on her own sleeping bag and painfully listened to her mentor whom she greatly admired and respected cry herself to sleep. To the young Princess, it was difficult enough to listen to the sobbing of her elder let alone see her in such a state as she did not dare turn over to look. With her eyes wide open, Twilight continued to listen to Celestia try with all the will she could muster to muffle her emotional breakdown with her pillow as to not disturb everypony else. If Twilight was determined before, she was now more than ever to see her own mission through to the end. She simply could not; would not stand to see Equestria's kind and caring ruler go through such pain and even possibly months if not, years of depression like before.
The next morning came and everypony slowly awoke upon the rise of Earth's sun of which their Princess had no control over. Said Princess however was still sound asleep as she had gone out around the city and stayed up much later than the rest. To add to all of that, the amount of weeping she had done would also make one all the more exhausted as her pillow was soaked with her tears and Twilight Sparkle was the only one aware of Celestia's pain. She knew she would need to bring it to everypony else's attention once the time was right but alas she would have to wait for now as the familiar thumping sound of a pair of combat boots coming up the stairs came closer and closer still.
Once the source of the sound reached the top of the stairs, the door to the room everypony was occupying slowly opened revealing Fredrick who said he would indeed be back to share whatever news he had. After glancing at the still sleeping Celestia, he shrugged his shoulders as he looked over at Twilight making it clear that he was not in the mood to be the one to wake her.
"I'll get her up." Twilight sighed as she trotted over to gently wake her mentor.
Within moments, the weary Princess slowly rose to her hooves and opened her tired eyes. She remembered Fredrick telling her that he would be back in the morning to discuss the Prime Minister's decision on the next course of action. Though she was desperate to simply get it over with and hear the news good or bad, she would find that she would have to wait longer still. The suspense actually felt like someone squeezing her heart but Fredrick was about to unwittingly prolong that feeling.
"I talked to Prime Minister." Fredrick said. "I told him what Dymitri and I heard and I told him about what you had to say."
"Yes?" Celestia asked. "What did he say?"
"He wants to talk to you before he makes decision. I have to bring you back to checkpoint where we call him."
"He wants to...? O-okay, I guess we'd better get going then."
"What are your orders for us, Your Majesty?" Spitfire asked.
"I think...you should all just stay here for now. Just wait until I get back and then we can go from there."
Without another word, Celestia followed Fredrick out of the room and down the stairs. Everypony watched from the window of the upper floor of the building as their Princess hopped into the passenger seat of Fredrick's Jeep before taking off and heading South back to the zone entrance. All but Twilight Sparkle were aware of the dire severity of the situation and what could happen to Radius if she and the team did not do something about it. She would soon make it well known that she would rather surrender her wings and crown before allowing Celestia to be dealt another blow to her happiness and even her sanity.
"You all know that we're not just gonna sit on our rumps all day, right?" Twilight Sparkle asked out loud.
"Huh?" Everypony else said in unison.
"You heard me! You're all going to tell me you didn't hear Celestia sobbing last night?"
Everypony else then looked down at their hooves on the floor in shame as they had all completely forgotten how much pain and stress their Princess had been through as of late.
"Look, I don't know about the rest of you but I don't plan on staying here when there's a pony out there somewhere who needs our help!" Twilight continued. "Try to imagine spending thirty years here all alone! Always in pain from your body being constantly poisoned! Always battling two different states of mind! That would make anypony crazy!"
"Good to see that somepony understands!" Rainbow Dash agreed.
"Right! Now look, I haven't exactly been filling you guys in on quite everything I've been up to but since there's not much more time before they send soldiers in here to take him out...I guess now it can't be helped."
"Twiley are you...?" Shining Armor began. "Are you sure you wanna give it away now?"
"Yes, Shining. I can't keep it under wraps anymore. Everypony, I've got some scientists from Russia working on what we think is a cure for Radius's problem. A drug that's supposed to purge all radiation from his body and restore his DNA back to normal."
"I found out later but I promised I would keep it a secret. I trust my sister and her judgment, everypony."
"So what do you guys think we should do about this?" Soarin asked.
"Only thing Ah can think of is goin' by what we know and where he hangs around and go find 'im like any other day." Big Macintosh suggested. "Hey, that big buildin' where that plum crazy beam came from! The one that Ah saw chop that catfish's head off!"
"That just might be it!" Daring Do agreed. "From what we've found before, it looks like over time, he's moved closer and closer to the reactor!"
"So if his body has become dependent on absorbing radiation..." Spitfire began. "...and that beam came from that tower by the cooling pond, then...his home must be..."
"Directly above reactor number four..." Twilight finished. "So listen, anypony who wants to join me in finding Radius, speak up now. We need to stall our departure as long as possible until those guys I talked to are finished with the drug."
"You really think something like that will work?" Soarin asked. "After thirty years of soaking up radiation, I'd think he'd be too far gone."
"There's...there's no guarantee so it's more like that I'm hoping it will work. Nonetheless, we've got to at least try. Anyway, whoever wants to count out and stay here, tuck your tail between your legs and puss out now."
"I like this new tude of your's, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Anypony who wants to do what we came here to do and go home knowing you had the balls to do it..."
"Whoa!" Shining Armor gasped as he was not used to the idea of his little sister cursing.
"...raise a hoof in the air and say you'll be there for the Princess who's always been there for us."
Before Twilight was quite finished with her sentence, her elder brother did not so much as hesitate to raise his a fore hoof as he had previously promised that he would stand by his sister and trust her judgement to the end. Immediately after, Rainbow Dash's hoof shot up in the air quickly followed by Daring Do and Big Macintosh. Though Rainbow Dash was quite new to the Wonderbolts, she had earned the trust and respect of Spitfire and Soarin whom both promptly raised their hooves as they too were determined to see their operation through to the end.
"Alright, looks like we all still have some fight left in us." Twilight said. "Everypony...pack your hazmat suits. We're gonna jump into something dangerous."
Meanwhile, on a crumbling road headed South...
The entire ride back to the checkpoint had been completely silent thus far as Celestia nor Fredrick were in the mood to say much if anything. As the latter's offroad Jeep drove and bounced around at a fairly slow pace on the trail that used to be a road, still the two were silent. The checkpoint however was a mere few miles away from the city of Pripyat so there would not be much further to go. As they came even closer still, Celestia observed a much larger offroad vehicle coming towards the two in what would have been the opposite lane until it passed them by. The vehicle in question was clearly one belonging to the Ukrainian Military so Celestia was now worried more than before.
"Uh, Fredrick?" Celestia asked.
"Da?" Fredrick said.
"What um...what's the army doing here?"
"I tried to tell Prime Minister your side of things, I really did."
"What!? What did you do!?"
"Just, calm yourself okay? You don't even know what's happening. Look, as far as I know, he's pulling you all out and getting the army in there to uh..."
"Tell me! Why are they here!?"
"Ugh, this is why I usually keep my fucking mouth shut! They need to make sure it's safe for the rest of the workers who are building the containment arch to return! That's all he told me so we find out details when we get there!"
The silence once again returned but not without serious tension for both Celestia and Fredrick whom was torn between doing his job and helping the ponies achieve the results that would be best for them. As the two continued on and passed by a cluster of thick foliage that skirted the side of the road, unbeknownst to them, someone else had plans of their own that were about to be put in place. As soon as the back of Fredrick's Jeep was out of sight, two mutated wolves poked their heads of from their hiding place and looked both ways ensuring that they had the all clear to put their plan into action.
"Shit!" The slightly smaller wolf cursed as he noticed the lone army truck that had gotten past them heading North. "One of those trucks is heading right into the city! Bolnoyvolk's gonna be pissed!"
"Then just start digging you eediot!" The larger wolf with a thicker accent barked as he slapped his comrade. "Come on, we can't let any more humans get in! They'll just get in our way!"
Fredrick and Celestia finally made it back to the gate of the South checkpoint and stopped at the exit. Once the security guard who stood in the phone booth sized guard post lifted the gate and allowed them through, Fredrick drove over to the small office where she and the team filled out obscene amounts of paperwork a week before. Finally, the short trip that seemed as though it took days was over and Fredrick parked his Jeep, hopped out and escorted Celestia into the small building.
After entering the tiny office that was not much larger than a camping trailer, Celestia took a seat at a table in the middle of the room while she waited for Fredrick to retrieve a telephone. In no time, he had returned with a cordless handset, sat down at the opposite side of the table and began punching in the number to Ukraine's capital. After a brief moment of pausing, Fredrick uttered a short sentence in his native tongue which Celestia was able to translate to him identifying himself and asking for the Prime Minister. Finally, after another moment of awkward silence, Fredrick spoke again.
"Mister Groysman." Fredrick said. "I have Equestrian Princess here with m-huh? No, she's not hurt she's fine, I assure you...Da all the other ponies are alright too...okay, she's ready to talk to you."
Fredrick then handed the phone over to the anxious Princess who eagerly grasped it with her aura and held it up to her ear. At last, her fears would be put to rest and the anxiety of not knowing what was to happen would end. Celestia would have appreciated such a thing but sadly, it may not have ended up being the case.
"Please tell me you have some good news, sir." Celestia said to the politician on the other line.
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid I may not have such news." Volodymyr Groysman regretfully replied. "First things first though. I absolutely have to pull you and your subjects out post haste. You've all already spent too much time there as it is and I will not allow citizens and a leader from one of our closest allies to endanger their health any longer."
"Is there any way at all we could just get...any more time? Any at all? We even managed to find Radius!"
I know...and I wish it could have been under more pleasant circumstances. Your Majesty, now that we have all the missing workers accounted for and their bodies being released back to their families, we must eliminate whatever is responsible. I can't let the construction crew back in until I know that it's safe for them."
"Yes, I understand that but it just couldn't have been Radius!"
"I wish we could be completely sure but judging by what Fredrick and Dmitry told me, it's not looking good for him. Yes, there are many other creatures out there that are certainly capable of such killings but to hear something of a...it was pretty much a confession!"
"He doesn't even know for sure if he did it!"
"And in my opinion, that's the saddest part. He's clearly not mentally well. No one would be after living there as long as he has. Look, Your Majesty you must understand, what's left of the concrete sarcophagus is crumbling fast and that containment arch has to be finished before that happens!"
"With all due respect, Mister Prime Minister, I wish I would have known that before."
"I know. I wish I would have told you that and I'm sorry."
"Alright, so what about those soldiers I saw heading into the exclusion zone?"
"Those men are going in there to neutralize anything that could be dangerous to the workers. If all the concrete collapses back into the reactor, it could expose more radioactive waste and endanger people from Kiev all the way up to Belarus!"
"So that's it huh? You're sending in those guys to wipe out a sick and frightened Equestrian citizen just based on nothing more than a half assed confession while in a mentally compromised state!?"
"No. I sent them in to await orders from me. I haven't given them the orders yet. That's why I needed to talk to you."
"Mister Groysman, what are you getting at?"
After a pause on the other line, Celestia began to get even more anxious as Groysman continued to stall. Celestia would soon find out that a mutual understanding would result from their conversation as Groysman was easily as stressed as she was.
"Your Majesty, I'm sorry it's just that..." Groysman finally spoke up. "I've always admired you as a leader and I've only been in this office for three weeks! I just started this job! I have a massive decision to make that could impact our nations' diplomatic relationships forever!"
"Well I...you don't need to worry about us not being allies. That, and I had no idea that you felt that way."
"Your Majesty, as a man just starting a job running a large country...I ask for your advice. I don't know what I should do. What would you do?"
"I uh...well, when you say 'neutralize' what do you mean by that?"
"I mean simply make sure a threat is no longer such. I haven't told the exactly how yet but I...wait, maybe..."
"If you want to enact a plan that works for everyone, I say they shouldn't have to kill Radius. That way, he's out of there and we can get to the bottom of what really happened."
"Of course! It's settled then! I'll send in the army on a mission to capture and not kill him!"
"See? That's perfect!"
"Excellent! And if he's willing to cooperate, we can hopefully send him back to Equestria for medical treatment and-"
"Cooperate? Oh...I didn't think about that."
"Well, of course. If he stands down and shows that he's willing to go quietly, everything should work out fine. The soldiers are trained and authorized to open fire upon anything that shows aggression or charges after them."
The search team was more determined than ever to accomplish what they had come to in the first place and now they at least had a good idea of where to go about looking for their subject. Big Macintosh had remembered that the strange energy beam allegedly emitted by Radius had come from a tower just to the West of the bank of the fourth reactor's cooling pond and he was now leading everypony right to it. This time however, the group was ready as they were all fitted with their hazmat suits since their destination was nearly directly on top of the nuclear reactor that ruined the life of a brilliant scientist thirty years ago. With time running out and no authority figures present to tell them otherwise, everypony had their minds set on leaving Chernobyl with Radius weather anyone approved or not.
Everypony had packed what they needed and left the base with much haste so they had made it to Chernobyl's industrial yard in good time and the tower they sought after was coming up close. With only a few hundred yards to go, the team pressed on and searched for the nearest entrance to the building. Not long after, they found their way into the facility in the form of a set of double door that were unlocked much to the groups fortune. As they all filed into the building, Big Macintosh took one final glance up at the tower where he could see the very window where the strange shot came that saved his and Daring Do's lives just a few days prior.
"Okay, everypony." Twilight said over the hum of her suit's breathing system. "I have a map of the entire facility here. Sooo...according to Big Mac, we need to get to the East tower...which is, um...that way!"
"Yeah, that looks about right." Big Macintosh said. "It ain't far from here."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Daring Do asked. "Let's head up there find our guy!"
"I'll second that!" Spitfire added.
After a few minutes of following the map of the building, the stairs to the tower were found and the climb had begun. Since there was not a single working elevator within the facility, the several flights of stairs would have to suffice. The team had been searching the city for over a week so their sore bodies were extremely tired but their collective will and fiery determination was keeping them all going strong. There was no telling who or what they would find once they reached the top but there was only one way to find out.
Meanwhile, Northbound on the road from the checkpoint...
Slowly and steadily, a bulky but short, gray bus sluggishly made it's way towards Pripyat with half a dozen Ukrainian Army trucks in tow, Fredrick's Jeep and Dmytry's Land Rover in the very back of the line. A short, chubby man nearing his retirement known as the cheerful and friendly security guard Denys was once again behind the wheel of the old bus that he called the slate buster. Though normally being in an upbeat mood for simply being alive, Denys was not as happy go lucky as usual as he felt saddened by the news of the lack of positive results of the search that everypony had worked so hard on. Still though, he had a job to do as his destination was right where he had dropped the group off over a week earlier and he drove over the bumpy, crumbling remains of a road as he sipped his coffee and wiped the leftovers out of his thick mustache.
Celestia now had something else to worry about as she explicitly remembered radius informing her of his original plans to take his own life by means of threatening armed soldiers. Now, the Ukrainian government had actually begun sending in armed militia and the worst part was that they were going in with permission to use deadly force on anything deemed a threat. After more than a week of hard work searching for him and he spending thirty miserable and lonely years in the exclusion zone, Radius's plan could very easily be carried out should he decide to put it into action and pretend to attack the soldiers.
To say that the Princess was a nervous wreck would be a massive understatement and if tension were radiation, she would have enough emitting from her to split a Geiger counter in half. As she sat in the passenger seat of Fredrick's Jeep once more, her mind raced with the horrors of every possible unwanted outcome and her options that she must take advantage of in order to avoid them. Much to her dismay, she merely had one option and that was to find Radius before anyone else could and convince him that there is hope. The latter part she know would be easier said than done but much to the misfortune of her, Radius, Denys, and the entire search and rescue team, a new obstacle was about open up and nearly swallow the operation whole.
Honk! Honk!
Without any warning whatsoever, Denys laid his hand on the horn button of the bus with all his might as the big, gray machine seemingly disappeared in a thick cloud of dust on the road in front of the rest of the convoy. Naturally, every other driver slammed on the brakes and skidded to a halt just before the next truck in line could make it to where Denys had disappeared. The drivers and other occupants of all the vehicles could do nothing but watch in shock as the cloud slowly dissipated revealing the aftermath in the form of Danys's bus with its back end up in the air and the front stuck deep in a ditch that formed when the road collapsed.
"Jesum Crow, somebody get me out of here!" The shocked and dazed Denys shouted over the radio.
Denys was not a fan of profanity and preferred to refrain from using it but he was now closer to going against his usual nature than ever as he was strapped to his seat with seemingly no way to escape. The rear end of the bus being high up in the air rendered it completely stuck as its driving wheels were nowhere near close enough to solid ground to grip onto. As the soldiers along with Fredrick, Celestia and Dmytry jumped out of the vehicles they occupied to assess the situation, the true seriousness of what had happened was as plain as the enormous hole in the road. Not only were the rear wheels of the bus high off the ground, the large steel shaft that connected the rear axle to the transmission up front was supporting it which would make it much more difficult to be pulled out.
"Everyone, I just got word that all other roads that lead into Pripyat have also caved in!" One of the soldiers announced.
"Well, then let's call in some gravel trucks!" another hollered. "We've gotta get into Pripyat!"
"That could take hours! Maybe even a day or two!"
"If you've got a better idea, let's hear it!"
While the soldiers quickly got to work and began rigging a chain to the back bumper of the bus and the other end to one of the army trucks, Fredrick and Celestia stared in awe into the large hole in the road before them. Both the Princess with millenniums of experience and the hardened soldier that Fredrick was knew very well that these were no sinkholes but rather precisely laid traps to prevent anyone else from gaining access to Pripyat. Now, what needed to be figured out was why they were not wanted there and whom it was who so badly wanted to keep them away. Though a convoy of vehicles was unable to cross the remainder of the road until the hold was filled in, a set of feet and hooves could very easily proceed down the path. According to Celestia, for the sake of Radius and her subjects, she was about to plunge into the fight weather the nation of Ukraine approved or not.
"I'm going in!" Celestia said firmly as she spread her wings.
"What!? Wait, you can't!" Fredrick worriedly shouted. "You're the ruler of a close ally! If you get hurt on my watch-"
"Well that's just too damn bad, Fredrick! If you're that worried about it, why don't you jump in there with me and we can both kick some ass?! Until you make your decision, you'll have to excuse me."
With that, Princess Celestia with her saddlebags full of her supplied flapped her large wings jumped high off the ground and sped off. As Fredrick watched the alicorn fade off into the distance at a frightening pace, he for once actually put serious thought into what she had just said to him. Fredrick was never one to run away from danger but rather barrel his way into it with guns blazing and judging by the trap that was left for the now stuck convoy, he knew that soon something serious was about to blow up in the faces of everyone involved. Upon making his decision, he ran back to his Jeep, grabbed an AK-47, a .45 pistol, several extra fully loaded magazines, a pack of cigarettes, and a full bottle of Bols.
"Alright, Princess!" Fredrick hollered as he sprinted up to the hole in the road and leaped across, landing on the other side with space to spare. "You had me at the ass kicking part!"
"Yup, this is his place, alright." Rainbow Dash said as she and the others reached the zenith of the tower and stared in awe at Radius's home away from home.
Much like the other two now vacant locations Radius used as a dwelling, the large room everypony found themselves in was absolutely spotless and so well organized, it made Twilight Sparkle well up with tears. This room in particular had a few more amenities as well including a bed with perfectly folded blankets on it, a stand with a television across from it. Just like the last, this television's cord was cut and the copper wires that frayed out from it appeared to have previously wrapped around a horn as Radius used his own as a power source. On the other side of the room were several tool boxes and chests, all of them labeled according to their contents and what appeared to be some sort of work bench to the right of them.
Aside from his sleeping and working areas, there was a large office desk in the far corner for the more white collar activities Radius enjoyed. Every type conceivable type of piece of office supplies sat atop the desk including staplers, paperclips, rulers, pencils, pens, and a typewriter, every single one of them perfectly organised. Not even the smallest of items were out of place as even the paperclips were all arranged in a line according to size. Lastly, on the window side of the room sat a table with a heavily modified ham radio, its cord in the same cut and frayed state as the television. This room that the search team had just discovered was much like the others before but different in that every existing surface appeared to have been freshly dusted moments ago. Truly not what most would expect to see in the home of the psychotic killing machine Radius makes himself out to be.
"He's not here." Rainbow Dash said in disappointment. "We've gotta find him, guys."
"Where ya reckon we oughtta look?" Big Macintosh asked.
"He could be anywhere." Spitfire said. "I don't know about you guys, but I think splitting up like we have been would be best."
"Yeah, it'd help our chances of finding him quite a bit." Soarin agreed.
"I dunno, guys, at this point, splitting up is the last thing we should do." Daring Do interjected.
Twilight and Shining Armor stood next to each other and watched nervously as everypony bickered among themselves about the next proper course of action. Being as resourceful as they both were, the two siblings were usually able to find a solution to any problem they had ever encountered however this particular conundrum would require serious critical thinking. Unfortunately for Shining Armor, he would have to be the one to take over the role of decision maker as his sister would soon have her own task at hoof that she would need to attend to.
"Uh, BBBFF?" Twilight said quietly. "It's time..."
"Time for what?" Shining Armor asked confused.
To answer her brother's question, Twilight levitated what appeared to be a small electronic device with a tiny screen on it resembling a calculator. The device in question was a small, pocket sized pager and its screen was lighting up as it had a message for the Princess that she was about to share with her sibling.
The drug is ready... Meet us at checkpoint...
"Good luck, Twiley." Shining Armor said as he hugged his sister. "Stay safe out there."
"I'll be back soon, Shining." Twilight replied. "Whatever you do, make sure you stall Radius and keep him from going far if you find him."
After letting go of her brother, Twilight then used her magic to remove her protective suit, quickly spread her wings, and took off out the open window from where the cooling pond and the infamous catfish incident could be seen. Though everypony was still busy bickering and disagreeing about what they should do next, Spitfire and Soarin noticed that Twilight Sparkle had flown away for some reason unbeknownst to them.
"Hey, where's Princess Twilight going?" Spitfire asked as she watched the lavender alicorn fade away in the distance.
"She's got some business to take care of." Shining Armor replied. "Remember what she said earlier about that drug she was having made?"
"It's ready?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Wow, that was fast."
"Look, these guys seem to be the real deal." Shining Armor replied. "Now, let's just leave her to it and keep looking for Radius. We've gotta find him before something happens. The guy's suicidal after all."
"Hey, you're the boss." Spitfire said as she shrugged her shoulders.
"Huh?"
"Well, Princess Celestia isn't here and now Princess Twilight is heading out somewhere so the way I see it, you're next in the chain of command."
"Oh, right. Uh, wow it's been a while since I've lead a squadron but it does feel pretty good to be back in the saddle again."
"Alright, Captain." Daring Do said with a salute. "So what's our next move?"
The following course of action was something that would indeed require a great deal of careful consideration as the costs of the wrong move would surely be too great. Not only that but the team was running short on time so the next decision would need to be the correct one and made rather quickly. It had been a fairly long time since Shining Armor was making administrative decisions as Captain of the Royal Guard but as he tapped his chin while slowly pacing back and fourth, he would find that it would seem to come back to him.
"Okay, everypony..." Shining Armor began. "...here's the plan. Big Mac and A.K. Yearling, you two stay here and wait for him in case he comes back. He can't be too far away."
"You got it!" Daring Do said with another salute.
"Soarin and Spitfire, I want you two to keep your focus on the industrial yard but don't go too much further out than that."
"Can do!" Soarin replied as he and Spitfire headed for the staircase. In order to fly, they would need to remove their hazmat suits so they would need to get a safe distance away from the reactor in order to do so.
"Rainbow Dash, you and I will head West, take the main road, head Southeast and circle back. After that, we'll all just meet back here and wait for him."
"Alright, let's go!"
With much haste, everypony did as instructed and put their interim leader's carefully constructed plan into action and headed out to their destinations while Big Macintosh and Daring Do waited for their target to return. Once they were a safe distance away from reactor number four, Spitfire and Soarin quickly removed their hazmat suits, placed them in their saddlebags and took to the skies once again. Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor headed to the nearest street to the West where they would the patrol their way to the Southeast until they found Radius or nightfall, whatever came first.
Rainbow Dash's wings were still sore due to the events a few days prior so she and Shining Armor trotted side by side while still wearing their hazmat suits. Both search partners were nearly fully convinced that they would indeed need to regroup once the sun began to set which would not occur until several hours as it was merely eleven in the morning. Though there was no wind and the journey on the road the duo trotted upon was as quiet as ever, the faint rumbling of an engine could be heard on a parallel road on the other side of a heavily wooded area. Though heavily overgrown with foliage, the other road could be quite easily seen approximately one hundred yards away along with what appeared to be a Ukrainian Army truck much to the duo's confusion.
"Hey, who sent those guys in here?" Rainbow Dash asked as she observed the truck slowly coast down the other street.
"Oh no." Shining Armor said. "Rainbow, it's true. They were gonna pull us out and take over the op. We better get over there and let them know they can't just shoot first and ask questions later.
The occupants of the army truck were quite obviously on a patrol of sorts rather than headed somewhere in particular as they had to have been going no faster than ten miles per hour. Fortunately for Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash, that would make it all the more easy for the the two to catch up in the hopes to talk to these soldiers and inform them of their target's suicidal intentions. On the other hoof, it would seem that said target in question may have already beaten them to it and if the two search ponies were not able to reach these men in time, the entire operation would be rendered a failure.
Meanwhile, one hundred yards away...
Unbeknownst to Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash, and the soldiers in the truck, the latter were being watched by a dimly glowing figure hiding in the thick foliage. Peeking out from the bushes with his catlike eyes was their primary target himself. Radius watched in anticipation as the army truck inched closer to where he was hiding waiting to confront them and do what he planned to for so long. The realization that his thirty years of suffering could finally come to an end right there and then rushed through his mind to the point where he began to salivate. As his corrosive spit leaked from his lips and burned the ground beneath him, he waited until just the right moment, calculating their speed versus the exact distance they were away from him before he finally went for it and jumped into their path.
"Whoa, stop, stop, stop!" The soldier in the passenger seat gasped at the sight of a large, glowing horse-like creature with two under developed legs jutting out of his chest.
"Ohh boy, that's him, alright." The soldier driving the truck said as he and his comrades slowly and cautiously stepped out. "Wow, that poor bastard. Thirty years living here and now look at him."
"What a waste, guys." A third soldier sighed. "A brilliant scientist being reduced to that. Makes you think about how radiation can just ruin everything."
"Now, hold on, we don't know if he's too far gone yet." The driving soldier said as he readied a megaphone. "Still, can't let our guard down."
As the uniformed men in the truck prepared to communicate with Radius who was standing fifty yards away from them, the trembling creature continued to really comprehend the events that were about to transpire and the outcome of such events. These men were armed and though their rifles and pistols were on their backs and in their holsters respectively, they would only need a small amount of simple persuasion to draw and use them. The more Radius thought about it, the more his heart began to race. His constant bodily pain, his mental and emotional agony, the fact that he can not trust himself to be around others without the risk of him murdering them. All of that could at long last come to an end and all he had to do was to frighten these men enough to put him out of his misery.
"Mr. Radius!" The soldier hollered over the megaphone. "Just stay right where you are! We're here to help! Just sit on the ground and we'll get some more guys in here to get you out of here!"
"All over..." Radius whispered to himself, ignoring the soldier's instructions. "Just...shoot me."
Knowing for absolute certain what he wanted these men to do, Radius put his plan into action and snorted as he pawed at the ground with his hoof and lowered his head like a bull ready to charge. In response to this, the soldiers quickly placed their hands on their guns and they were ready to defend themselves should the need arise.
"I said don't move!" The soldier shouted, giving radius plenty of warning. "If you resist, we'll be forced to open fire!"
"Shoot...me..." Radius huffed between breaths.
Again, Radius ignored the demands of the soldier with the megaphone and continued to snort while pawing at the ground but this time while barring his large, sharp teeth. For good measure he even began putting his salivary glands to work and allowed his spit to splatter to the ground and burn holes into what remained of the paved road. By this point, the soldiers' weapons were now drawn, cocked with the safeties off and aimed directly at Radius's face. The mad creature did not appear interested in cooperating and due to his aggressive behavior, the soldiers were genuinely fearful for their own safety. To make matters worse, they had also been informed of the road collapse which meant that any help from their fellow soldiers was hours or even a whole day or two away.
The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife as Radius just stood there snarling and drooling while the soldiers aimed their rifles and pistols right between his eyes. For the mere seconds that felt like an eternity Radius and the armed soldiers continued to stare each other down while the former made his usually kind and gentle self seem as vicious as he possibly could until finally, he made a run for it. With his head lowered, and his horn ready to impale, Radius charged after the men with the intentions of ending his own life.
"Stop or we'll shoot!" The soldier shouted with the megaphone in one hand and a high caliber pistol in the other. "I SAID STOOOOOOP!!!"
Radius was so close to freedom in the form of hot lead piercing his skull he could almost taste the the sulfur from the gunpowder that would propel the bullets into him. After thirty painful, lonely years of hating himself and what he had become, he would finally be free. His body's dependency on radiation, his waking up every day not knowing what kinds of horrific things he may have done the night before, all finally brought to a well deserved end. All he had to do was frighten a group of men armed with rifles.
"Fire!" The leading soldier yelled, causing the others to pull their triggers in response.
Within a fraction of a second which seemed to go by in slow motion, Radius would get his wish that he longed for all along and his nightmare would come to and end. His adrenaline was pumping to a point where he could actually see the bullets flying through the air as he galloped towards the barrage of blistering hot lead. As the distance between his skull and the ballistic projectiles quickly dwindled, Radius closed his eyes for what he hoped was the last time and waited for the serenity that only death could offer. It would all be over and this time, nothing could get in his way.
"Nooooooooo!" A unicorn in a hazmat suit screamed as he bolted out of the bushes and tackled Radius with every last ounce of his strength.
Much to Radius's dismay, somepony had managed to get in his way and hit him like a brick wall before the two tumbled out of the path of the barrage of bullets. With his horn aglow with his pink aura, Shining Armor then did the same thing he did when he and Rainbow Dash had to jump out a window a few days prior and teleported himself along with Radius in a bright flash. Much to the soldiers' confusion, the bloodthirsty creature that was attacking them had suddenly disappeared and the most frightening thing for them was the fear that he could strike anywhere at anytime.
"Where the fuck did he go!?" One of the soldiers asked as he and his comrades frantically looked around for any sign of their attacker.
"Calling all units, this is truck twenty-five!" Another soldier said as he dispatched for help over his radio. "We've got a hostile mutant at large and it is to be considered an immediate threat! You guys better fix that road and get in here! Now goddammit, now!"
Big Macintosh and Daring Do decided to take the time to look around Radius's home as the wait for him, the others or both to return could take a while longer than most would like to spend sitting still. The two started out by pawing through the desk and learn more about the one who saved them a few days prior. They would find that during his spare time, Radius seemed to enjoy doing equations as they failed to make heads of tails of all the jumbled up numbers and letters that made little to no sense. When he was not working on math, he was keeping his mind sharp by examining all types of tissue samples under a microscope that sat atop the desk next to a desk mat that doubled as the periodic table of elements.
After going through the genius's papers, the two then examined several tools, hoofmade or otherwise that he stored inside a large chest next to the work bench that had what appeared to be an unfinished two cylinder engine block sitting on it. Inside the chest were items including a makeshift telescope, a small, cheap portable radio meant for only listening to music, various wrenches, ratchets and sockets. One particular item that caught their eyes was a frame of what apparently was supposed to be a foal sized go-cart of sorts. After taking a moment to examine the item, the sudden realization as to the sad reason such a thing would be here hit the two ponies where it hurt.
"Didn't Rainbow Dash mention that he said something about building things like this for his sisters' foals?" Daring Do asked.
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh replied as he stifled oncoming tears.
"My god...I bet that poor guy was making this to re-create the memories of *sniff* Oh man, that's just sad."
"Ee- *hic* yup."
Neither Big Macintosh nor Daring Do knew what to say to such a sad attempt to relive the fond memories of bring smiles of joy to the faces of his nephews and nieces. It only served as a reminder of why they were there and that no matter what, they would stop at nothing until Radius's life was restored. As beautiful as the thought of rehabilitating him and reuniting him with his family was, still nothing could give him back the thirty years lost in the Chernobyl meltdown of 1986. The bittersweet thoughts of the two ponies who awaited Radius's return would soon however be abruptly shifted to a new task at hoof.
Crack!
A loud crack and a bright flash of white light suddenly occurred just behind the brave explorer and the big farm pony that startled them so greatly they felt as if their hearts jumped into their throats. The light was nearly blinding at first as the two quickly turned around to see what all the ruckus was and as the light began to fade, they could make out the silhouettes of an average sized pony standing on top of a much larger pony as he lay on his back. Finally, the bright flash subsided revealing Shining Armor still in his hazmat suit as he stood on top of a large, green, glowing monstrosity of a pony with large glasses and a red bow tie neatly tied around a white collar.
The two whom awaited his return just stood there with their mouths agape as they had yet to lay eyes on what became of Radius until now. As Shining Armor stood on Radius's chest, panting and trying to catch his breath, the mutated creature looked up at his savior with a heavily bemused expression. Upon gathering himself and realizing the disapproval of the pony whose suicide attempt he had foiled, the same lump in his throat that he had when he caught this very creature assaulting his friend before returned. As he stared into the half lidded eyes above a serious looking frown, Shining Armor gulped as he felt as if he was frozen to the spot.
"You shouldn't have done that." Radius deadpanned with his ears folded back.
If he felt worried now, Shining Armor was now much more so after the mutant's latest comment. Not sure weather or not he should take it as a threat, he finally found it in him to hop off of Radius's chest and take several steps back and rejoin his other two comrades. Unexpectedly, instead of getting back up to his hooves to retaliate like they feared, Radius simply laid there motionless with the same annoyed look on his face. Nearly two minutes went by with his still lying on the ground until finally out of nowhere, the desperate Radius began sobbing profusely.
"I was so close!" Radius sobbed. "It could have all been over! Why did you do that!?"
Radius then slowly got back off the floor and returned to his hooves.
"Fucking look at me! My body always hurts all over! I even tried to kill you a couple days ago! Why didn't you just let me die!?"
"Because you didn't!" Shining Armor shouted much to Radius's confusion. "You could have done the same but you didn't! Twice, you had the chance to just look the other way and let four different ponies die! Twice, you could have decided it wasn't your problem and just went on your way! No! You saved four lives in two fucking days!"
"We wouldn't be here if it weren't for you!" Daring Do shouted after finally gathering her bearings.
"Ya'll got a bigger heart than ya think, mister!" Big Macintosh added.
"You didn't stop there either!" Shining Armor continued. "You even went out of your way to nurse me and Rainbow Dash back to health! Is that what some heartless monster would do!? Is it!?"
"No, but trying to rape somepony before gutting them is!" Radius countered. "Relentlessly chasing my victims to the point of giving them heart attacks is! And especially, chewing on the throats and tearing out the guts of three humans is! I just...I don't even..."
"Guys!" Spitfire exclaimed as she and Soarin ran into the room. "We saw this flash and we-Sombra's cock!!"
Spitfire and Soarin had now seen Radius for the first time and being the louder and less subtle pony she was, Spitfire had somewhat of a more vocal reaction to finally meeting the pony whom was the very reason they were all there. After a moment, they just stood there and gawked like Big Macintosh and Daring Do did before but at this point, Radius was becoming even more annoyed.
"The fuck are you looking at!?" Radius snapped at the two wonderbolts.
"The toughest, bravest, most selfless son of a bitch I've ever met." Said a new female voice behind Spitfire and Soarin, making Radius's blood run cold.
Radius looked behind the two more seasoned wonderbolts to see Rainbow Dash walking through the door to the room and like the everypony else, she was in a hazmat suit of her own as their location was too close to the reactor to do otherwise. Instantly, Radius's expression of annoyance turned into that of shock and disbelief as he stared back at the very first pony to befriend him in thirty lonely years just to be violated and murdered afterwards. Seeming to ignore her commenting on his toughness and bravery however, Radius could no longer stay on his hooves and collapsed onto the floor and continued to sob while hyperventilating.
"Oh my gawhahawd, Rai-Rainbow Dash!" Radius sobbed as he crawled over to the mare he assaulted before. "I'm so sorryyyy! I don't *gasp* I can't ev- *gasp* I'm sor-"
"Dude! Get a grip!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she grabbed Radius by the head and firmly held him in front of her face. "Calm...the fuck...down. Okay?"
"O-okay. I-I-I'm c-calm."
"No you're not, just chill. Breath a little...no, a lot slower than that."
"*sniff* Okay..."
"Okay now I'm gonna let go of you. I need to to just stay calm for us and tell us what we need to know. Can you do that for us?"
"Yes..."
Rainbow Dash then released her firm grip around Radius's face and helped him lift himself up off the floor up to a sitting position. Being the only one who had talked to Radius enough to know how to calm him, Rainbow Dash did an excellent job and now that he was pacified, everypony else was now much more calm. As the last tufts of hair on the backs of everypony's necks laid back down and their heart rates decreased. Finally, Rainbow Dash and the others could get to the bottom of what happened before.
"Radius..." Rainbow Dash began. "Something happened to you when you attacked me the other day. Before that, you mentioned that your body is kinda...addicted to radiation?"
"R-right. Oh um, on that note...sorry but I'll need a few of these."
Suddenly, without any other warning, Shining Armor's pack of cigarettes that he had stashed in a zipped pocket on his hazmat suit began levitating out of it. To avoid any unwanted confrontation with an emotionally unstable pony turned mutant, Shining Armor would not have minded to spare a cigarette or two but once a fourth followed by a fifth was yanked from his pack, he spoke up.
"Hey, those are mine!" Shining Armor barked.
"I'm sorry, but I use these as a small supplement to my radiation intake." Radius replied before lighting up a smoke. Much to everypony's amazement, he placed the cigarette between his lips and after a single powerful suck, he completely finished it on one drag. As soon as he was done with the first, he immediately lit up another. "I'll show you a stash I have later on and then you can have all you want but if you guys want my help, I'll need to chill out like Rainbow Dash sai-"
"Cigarettes have...radiation in them?"
"Minute traces, yeah. They really help me focus. Really though, you didn't know that? Huh. I thought it was pretty common knowledge."
"Uh...here, you can have the rest of them."
"Oh...uh, thanks."
"Hey, come on, stay with me, Radius." Rainbow Dash spoke up. "We need to get to the bottom of this."
"Why is that anyway? What are we trying to get out of this?"
"Because we're getting you out of here weather you think we can or not. You're coming home with us and you're going to see your friends and family again. Now c'mon, talk to me."
"*Sigh* If it'll make you guys feel better, fine. I first found out that my body needed radiation about a month after the explosion. That's the first time I tried to leave. It took like three days for me to spazz out but I was so weak and moving so slow that I didn't get very far anyway. I couldn't keep any food down so I wasn't getting any nourishment and that's about when I found that only meat could sustain me. After like twenty more times trying, I just accepted that I was stuck here and that...was a really bad fucking day."
"So is that what made you attack Rainbow and Shining Armor?" Soarin asked. "Like a withdrawal or somwthing?"
"Part of the aggressive behavior could be attributed to it, yes but there's a lot more to it than that. For a little while after the meltdown, there wasn't much wildlife around but once more animals started appearing is when I started...eating them. Rabbits, mice, rats, foxes, birds, reptiles, you name it. Anyway, whenever I ran low on my radiation, this...other side of me would come out. I've been able to keep it under control for the most part but it got a lot worse over the years and my doses would last me less and less time before it ran out. Once it happened and there were any animals unlucky enough to be nearby..."
"You'd tear 'em limb from limb?" Big Macintosh asked.
"I'd black out and wake up with blood and guts all over the place. I even massacred a bunch of deer that got too close to me when I was withdrawing. This other side of me, this...completely different personality tried to take my body over. Anything that moved and breathed would end up mangled and destroyed. I'd remember next to nothing of what exactly happened but I knew for a fact that I was the one who did it."
A nervous gulp could be heard from everypony's throats as Radius calmly told the disturbing tale of how he came to be and things he had done to other creatures. Radius paused for a minute or two while he nervously fidgeted with his main forehooves and soon his smaller, mutated hooves followed suit. The awkward tension in the air could not possibly have gotten any thicker and Rainbow Dash being the one who had most of the questions to ask made sure to get the important conversation back on track.
"I'm not...I'm not proud of any of that." Radius said as he continued to fidget.
"I know you're not. It's not your fault either." Rainbow Dash reassured.
"Surely you're joking!"
"Hey, was it your fault when you got caught in a nuclear explosion?"
"Well, no."
"Was it your fault when your body got fried and caused you to change?"
"No..."
"Was it your fault when your body could no longer be sustained by plants?"
"Well, I...uh..."
"You have no control over that, Radius! That was just another mutation and it's not your fault!"
"I just...you really think I can integrate back into society after being here for so long?"
"Try spending a thousand years on the moon." Spitfire chuckled.
"The moon? Oh man, Celestia told me about that sister of hers and how she was...uh, she told me she would return around the year twenty-ten. I would have loved to meet her..."
"And you will." Soarin said. "That's why we've come all this way. To bring you home where you belong."
"Even if I killed those men?"
"Well, did you?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"That's the worst part. I don't know. See, when I get low on my radiation and spazz out like I did and there's someone around, later I find their blood all over me. But I just...found these construction workers. I-I mean, They've been out there working on that big arch for years but I've made it a point to stay away from them to avoid this. That's also why I didn't go and look for you all when you came here on that bus. I wanted to protect you all from...myself."
Another pause ended the conversation for the time being however this time, the tension and nervousness from everypony had gone. To really take the time to listen to the pony they had spent all week searching for helped them better get to know him and understand more about his background. Not only that but to hear him say that he wished to keep everyone safe by staying away from them just made that much more determined to see their objective through and bring him back to Equestria. Even if he refused to see the very many examples of the good in him, everypony knew that he deserved to go back home and live his life again.
"There's just gotta be something we can do." Shining Armor said. "If there's some kind of spell where I could get inside your head an-"
"Get inside my head..." Radius repeated, sounding interested. "Hang on. How long have you guys been here now? A little over a week, right?"
"Sounds about right." Rainbow Dash replied.
"What's your name again?"
"My name's Shining Armor." Shining Armor answered.
"Well Shining Armor, it's a long shot but based on your magical prowess, we might be able to do something with it. See, when a unicorn first comes to Earth, their magic is severely weakened and usually limited to the bare basics like levitation."
"Okay?"
"However, the more time you spend here, it slowly gets stronger. You've been able to teleport already so maybe you have something we can work with. I've been here for thirty years so of course mine has long gotten used to this universe. Still though, if we combine ours, we may be able to crack this. There's a spell we can use to give you access to my memories weather I myself actually remember them or not. They're still in there, I just don't have access to them. You don't have to know the spell, I've got that covered. Your magic just has to be strong enough to allow mine to...grab hold of it if you will."
"Then let's try it. What have we got to lose?"
"Well...I'd like to find out if I'm actually guilty myself. Oh man, to find out I'm not the one who killed those men would be the best news I've heard in thirty years...Yes! this should work! Okay, everypony else needs to stand back a bit."
Everypony was indeed anxious to find the truth and hopefully clear Radius of wrongdoing and with much haste, they all took several steps back and left Shining Armor in the center of the room. Radius was just a few feet away from the former guard captain and as he trotted up to him, the latter nervously eyed the mutated unicorn up and down, truly comprehending the sheer size of him. It was much like looking up at his sweet Aunt Celestia towering over him but rather than seeing a pair of bright, life filled eyes and a warm smile, he saw the polar opposite. Shining Armor gulped as he looked up at a set of dull, lifeless, drooping eyes and a stone cold stare seeming to show no emotion whatsoever. Still, he had a job to do and the mutant pony whom towered over him needed and deserved his help.
"Shining Armor?" Radius asked.
"Yeah, Radius?" Shining Armor replied.
"You...you trust me, right?"
"Yeah."
"Just a heads up, some of the stuff you're about to see is probably gonna make you sick to your stomach."
Without another word or moment's hesitation, Radius quickly reached out with his forehooves, grabbing Shining Armor by the shoulders and pulling him towards him. To begin the process, he then lowered his head down to the startled unicorn's level and then placed the tip of his horn onto that of Shining Armor's. Immediately, the eyes of both ponies glowed in a bright white flash until nothing but white was all either of them could see.
There was absolutely nothing but bright white in the empty abyss. For a few minutes, it stayed that way. Not only was the lack of anything but white and any tangible objects to be seen but Shining Armor's complete lack of the ability to move, speak, or even look down at his own hooves was rather concerning. He had never seen nor been a part of a memory sharing spell before but he had read about them so he at least had a vague idea of what to expect which kept him from panicking.
Finally, the white light very slowly began to fade. It took nearly a minute but at last Shining Armor felt as if he was standing on solid ground much to his relief. Later still, he could make out the walls of the inside of a room and before long, he could finally move his head around to get a look at his newly forming surroundings. At long last, the colors and textures had fully come into focus as Shining Armor found himself in what seemed to be a small office of sorts.
Now that Shining Armor could move, he turned around to the back of the office to see two ponies, a tan mare and a gray colt with a red mane and tail, both of them sitting in a chair of their own facing a large desk. Upon further observation, he could tell that they were both unicorns and the mare appeared to be in her late thirties and the colt must have been approximately eleven years old, wore large, thick framed glasses and had a cutie mark of the universal black and yellow radiation caution symbol.
"No way!" Shining Armor gasped as he double took. "Is that...Radius!?"
"Heheh, yeah that's me, alright" Said Radius's voice seemingly coming from nowhere. "This was one of my first life changing events in nineteen sixty-two and that's my...m-my mother sitting next to me...god I miss her."
"What the...why are we here? Why did we go back so far?"
"The spell works wonders but it doesn't allow us to pick and choose where we start out. Basically, it let's us see the very important events in my life. Events that changed a lot for me. If we looked at everything including the less significant ones, we'd be here forever. Oh, by the way. Prepare to get a bit freaked out in five, four, three, two..."
Suddenly, as if on cue, the faint click of a door opening and then closing could be heard directly behind Shining Armor followed by a truly startling spectacle in the form of a stallion in a lab coat trotting right through him as if he were made of smoke. Shining Armor then sat on his rump, lifted his forehooves up in front of him and stared through them in amazement as he realized he was completely transparent.
"Keep in mind, you're not actually there." Radius spoke again. "You're just observing my memories just as they happened and nopony here can see or hear you."
Quickly, Shining Armor was able to get over the shock of having somepony else trot right through him and better understood what was happening before him and what to expect. Now that he could calmly observe the events about to unfold, he waited patiently as the stallion in the lab coat took a seat at the opposite side of the desk with a clipboard in his unicorn aura.
"Well, doctor?" The mare asked as she hugged her colt tightly. "What's wrong with my son?"
"Mrs. Hoofenschtov, there's nothing really wrong with him." The doctor assured. "My colleagues and I have come up with a diagnosis and it's nothing we need to worry too much about."
"So, what is it?"
"Radius here has a mild form of autism called Asperger's syndrome."
"My colt is Autistic!?"
"Miss, relax. Like I said, it's extremely mild but after analyzing him, we've discovered something...quite amazing really."
"What good could possibly come out of this!?"
"Ma'am, your son's IQ is like nothing we've ever seen! There is nopony currently alive in the world today with his brilliance!"
"Is that why he can't make any friends?" Radius's mother seemed to completely ignore what the doctor had said regarding her son's incredible intelligence. "All the other fillies and colts tell me they get headaches after talking with him."
"What the...Mrs. Hoofenschtov!" The doctor simply could not believe what he had just heard the mare say and was clearly offended by her taking the brilliant young colt she had for granted. "You should be proud! Your son is a genius! So later on he may have some difficulties with social interactions and forming relationships but with practice and patience, he can easily overcome! You should embrace what makes him unique!"
"I think I've relived that day enough." Radius's voice sighed. "I loved them to no end but my parents were not really all that receptive of my...uniqueness. All they heard was 'autism' and brought me up thinking I was broken or something. Come on, let's get out of here and on to the next one. Try going through that door."
Shining Armor was well aware of the proper social etiquette that made speaking ill of somepony's mother something one just does not do but he could not help but trot away to the door angered by the way she was handling the news. He badly wished that he was actually there to give her a piece of his mind but alas, there was no time to waste as he would need to travel to the Radius's next life changing event. As Shining Armor opened the door before him, the blinding white flash returned but not for as long as before as it faded much more quickly.
This time, Shining Armor found himself in the middle of a busy hallway with ponies trotting about everywhere he looked and some even trotted straight through him again. Everypony around was either wearing a white lab coat or a set of green scrubs indicating that he must be at a hospital. Upon closer observation at the bell-bottomed sleeves, mane styles, and sideburns on the stallions, he guessed that this memory must have been around the mid nineteen seventies. As he continued to look around, he became quite confused and wondered what kind of life changing event would involve such a facility. A death in the family or perhaps an injury or near death experience were all Shining Armor could think of but he would soon find that this particular event would be a most positive one.
Suddenly, a light gray unicorn stallion with a reddish mane with sideburns and matching tail wearing thick aviator style glasses, a white collar and a blue neck tie came trotting towards Shining Armor. As this stallion in question repeatedly glanced to his left and right with each room he trotted past, it was quite clear that he was on a mission. This was Radius is his mid twenties and he was on the move anxiously in search of a particular room and nothing was going to slow him down. Shining Armor quickly followed suit as the young adult Radius had become trotted through his ghostly form once again. After a few more yards down the hallway, Radius suddenly stopped in front of a doctor to ask for directions.
"Uh, pardon me, sir?" Radius asked. "Where's the maternity ward?"
"Just through those double doors." The doctor replied as he pointed down the hall with his hoof.
"Thanks!"
Once again, Radius quickly made his way down the hallway to where the doctor told him to go. Shining Armor breathed a sigh of relief as it was the hospital's maternity ward he desperately sought after as it could only mean there would be a new addition to his family. After following Radius for another several yards, he suddenly stopped in front of a door labeled with the number one hundred twenty-nine and slowly reached his hoof forward before gently knocking. Within seconds, a tired looking stallion with his mane in an absolute mess which complimented his facial stubble opened the door and his eyes lit up at the sight of a familiar face.
"Raddy, buddy!" The stallion exclaimed as he promptly brought radius in for a hug. "Oh man, I can't believe it! I'm a dad!"
"Congratulations, Copper!" Radius beamed. "How are they doing?"
"Come see for yourself."
Without any hesitation, the stallion who was obviously Radius's brother in law stepped aside and allowed him in to see his sister and the new foal. Before Shining Armor could get to the door however, it shut in front of him but since ponies could walk through him, he effortlessly passed through the door to see something incredibly beautiful. In the dimly lit room was a bed with a mare laying in it and judging by the tired look in her eyes and her disheveled mane, she had recently finished giving birth to the adorable filly that Radius was gently cradling in his hooves.
"Ooohhh, she's so precious!" Radius squealed as he held his newborn niece. "How're you holding up, sis?"
"I'm just fine, little brother." The mare on the bed sighed with a smile. "Don't you worry about me."
"Raddy, look!" Radius's brother in law beamed. "She likes you!"
Radius looked back down at the foal he held and sure enough, the newborn filly had opened her eyes and was reaching her tiny little hooves up at her loving uncle with a huge smile on her face. Tears of pure joy began streaming down his face as he looked into the eyes of the precious new foal and it was from then on he promised himself that he would be heavily involved in raising her and any other foals either of his sisters may have later on.
If Shining Armor's outlook on Radius as a pony had not completely changed before, it was totally different now. To see that the now miserable, mentally unstable, mutated monster he had become was once an incredibly kind, gentle, family oriented stallion brought tears to his own eyes. Just the simple fact that he completely went out of his way to meet his niece as soon as she was born and even ended up being the first relative to come visit his sister and the baby heavily tugged at Shining Armor's heart.
"Now that..." Radius's voice began. "That was one of the five best days of my life.
"What were the other four?" Shining Armor asked.
"The days my other two nieces and my two nephews were born. I made sure to be there at the hospital for every one of them."
"Wow that's...I never knew you were so family oriented."
"I try. Now come on. Head out that door to the next one."
With his eyes still wet with tears, Shining Armor turned around and jumped through the door to the hospital room. This time, he was more prepared and knew what to expect as he braced himself for the blinding, white light once again. This time however, the flash faded even more quickly than before and revealed a Radius in his early thirties standing in front of a mirror in a large bedroom. This bedroom in particular was much like any other home of Radius's Shining Armor and the team discovered, was so spotless and well organized that he could have sworn his sister Twilight had been there. Not only was it neat and tidy but it was lavishly decorated and furnished and since Radius was an Equestrian renowned physicist with a PHD in physics and quantum chemistry, he could easily afford not only a room but a rather large house full of premium household items.
At the very back of the room next to the neatly made bed with perfectly folded sheets was dresser with a mirror on top that a very well dressed Radius was standing in front of. The gray unicorn was busy tying a red bow tie which complimented the black tuxedo he was wearing rather well. After he was done with the bow tie, he then used his aura to pick up a comb from on top of the dresser and began styling his mane. As Shining Armor glanced around the room, the door to the bedroom slowly opened revealing a tan mare approximately in her early sixties who then proceeded to trot towards Radius as she smiled at him warmly.
"Aww son, you're such a handsome guy, you know that?" The mare who was Radius's mother complimented.
"Thanks, Mom." Radius replied with a smile.
"Dear, I'm glad you decided to accept that invitation to the gala. It'll be just what you need."
"And maybe you'll finally meet our future daughter in law while your at it." A darker gray stallion around the same age as the mare chuckled as he trotted into the room.
"Whatever happens happens, Dad." Radius deadpanned. "Look, I don't get why you guys put so much pressure on me to just go out and find some mare just because."
"Son, lemme ask you something. Now, don't take this the wrong way but...are you gay?"
"No, I'm not gay, Dad!"
"We'll still love you if you are, son." Radius's mother assured as she placed a hoof on his shoulder. "It makes no difference to us and we'd never think any less of you."
"That's right." Mr. Hoofenschtov said with a nod. "So if you ever meet a nice guy who makes you happy, he's just as welcome into the family as any of your sisters' husbands are."
"But I'm not! I just...jeez, guys, it's not like I haven't tried to find a girl!"
"Well, Radius, you're thirty-three now and still have yet to even so much as kiss a mare." Radius's father said with a shrug. "What are we supposed to think?"
"Oh I dunno, maybe just accept the grandfoals you have now and get the hell off my case!? Now if you two will excuse me, my ride is here to take me to the gala. Help yourself to anything in my fridge and don't forget to lock my door when you leave."
Radius then proceeded to trot towards the door to his bedroom and turned around to offer his last choice words to his parents before leaving for the night.
"I love you both." Radius said with a sigh. "See you guys tomorrow."
"We love you too, son." Mr. and Mrs. Hoofenschtov replied in unison.
Upon finishing the awkward conversation with his parents, Radius trotted out the room and to the stairs of his impressively sized three story home. Though Radius's parents got on his nerves at times, they meant well and they never parted for any amount of time without saying "I love you". The Hoofenschtov family was a very tight knit clan and uttering those three uplifting words in that order as frequently as possible was just simply force of habit for them.
Knowing that it was imperative for him to keep up, Shining Armor was close behind and followed Radius all the way down to the first floor before he trotted out the front door to a yellow taxi waiting for him at the curb. With much haste, Radius hopped into the pony drawn carriage followed by Shining Armor quickly taking a seat next to him and they were now off.
Judging by the clues Shining Armor picked up by listening to conversations such as Radius being thirty-three years old at this time and the fact that he was going to the Grand Galloping Gala, he put them together and came to the only possible conclusion. He was about to witness the night that Radius met his Aunt Celestia who would then spend the next few months courting him.
"Oh man, you're in for a real surprise now!" Shining Armor said to the Radius he sat next to whom could neither hear nor see him.
"I sure was." Radius's voice confirmed. "This here is the night I met Celestia. We started talking quite a bit and...well, just wait and see for yourself."
" Ha! I called it! Do you think we have time for that though?"
"The half hour that it feels like we've been here is literally zero point zero, zero, zero, zero, six-two seconds that we've had our horns together...So yes, we've got time. I'm having a nice time reliving some of these memories. Please just...let me have this."
"Okay, okay."
For several more minutes, the Taxi brought Radius from the suburban side of Canterlot where Radius lived to the more busy side near where the palace and ultimately the Grand Galloping Gala was always held. Finally, the ride neared its end as they approached a long line of limousines both pony pulled and engine driven from Earth as the two universes were linked together in the nineteen twenties. Radius then asked the cabby to pull to the back of the line where he then paid his fare with a generous tip as he always did and hopped out, Shining Armor's ghostly form following close behind.
The closer they trotted to the entrance to the palace, the thicker the crowd of ponies and people became and many were slowly going through a line at the door to show their tickets for admittance. Radius paused for a moment to get good look at the size of the crowd and attempt to find the end of the line with Shining Armor still close by as dozens of ponies and humans walked and trotted straight through him. As he stood next to Radius while they both glanced about in awe at the familiar faces with big names everywhere they looked when suddenly, a well dressed man appearing to be in his seventies walked through him. This man with dark hair was walking arm in arm with a woman around the same age as him. Accompanying them were two tall, beefy men in black suits, dark sunglasses, and small wires coming from earpieces that went into their suits, apparently body guards for the couple. After squinting at them for a moment, Shining Armor realized who it was who just walked through him.
"No way!" Shining Armor gasped. "Was that?...Did I just?..."
"United states President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy in the Flesh, my friend!" Radius's voice chuckled. "Well, not actually in the flesh but you get the idea. Oh! Britain's Queen Elizabeth the second was here somewhere too!"
"Wowww..."
"You can just go ahead and skip the line and find hi-er, me in a few minutes."
"Well I...I think I'm alright where I am. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't having fun just getting to know my aunt's old flame."
"Oh, you're too kind."
"No really, I mean it."
"Heheheh, surrre you do."
Instead of trotting through everyone and everypony and skipping the line into the ballroom, Shining Armor chose to stick close to Radius as he was curious how he and his Aunt Celestia hit it off. Fortunately, the line moved quickly as everypony and everyone going through had their proof that they were invited and was promptly allowed in by the guards. Finally, came Radius's turn to flash his ticket and just like those before him, the guard at the entrance nodded and waved him through. Still, Shining Armor in his invisible form remained close by as Radius trotted in much to his surprise, he saw a Grand Galloping Gala like none other before.
The Grand Galloping Gala had always been a formal event but unlike the stuffy, uptight, and boring ones that Shining Armor was used to, this one was full of so much energy that he began to wonder if it actually was the Gala. Not only where their classical musicians with instruments such violins, cellos, and the like but on the opposite side of the stage, there was premium, top quality sound equipment with a team of two disc jockeys attending to it. The very center of the stage appeared to be reserved for live band performances as there was a drum set, a piano, and a three microphones. Currently, it appeared as if the classical musicians were taking a break while the man and the stallion behind the equipment played pop music from the era. Above the dance floor right in front of the stage was type of light system that was very commonplace in night clubs in the eighties and dozens of ponies and humans alike were having a wonderful time dancing to Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."
Much like the music the Gala attendees were dancing to, the hairstyles and the way the people and ponies wore their suits and dresses was a very clear reminder to Shining Armor that he was witnessing events from the Fall of nineteen eighty-four. As he looked around in amazement at the big name people and ponies of the decade who walked and trotted about respectively, Shining Armor noticed that he had lost track of where Radius had gone off to. Though there were many amazing people and ponies to see, he still did not want to miss seeing Radius's first interaction with Celestia so he hastily set out to find him again. Fortunately for him, Shining Armor did not have to push and shove past any of the gala attendees and was able to find Radius shaking the hand of Sir Elton John a few minutes later.
An hour went by and Radius along with the invisible Shining Armor hit the dance floor during a live performance by Prince and the Revolution, but still it was early and the event had several hours to go before closing. After the band finished and passed the baton back to the classical musicians for the time being, Shining Armor watched as Radius trotted off to mingle with the crowd once more. For a normally shy pony, it was very clear that Radius was especially making an effort to socialize and make friends tonight as those with Asperger's tend to have difficulty with. Shining Armor could tell that his efforts were really paying off as Radius appeared to be genuinely enjoying himself. If he was having a wonderful time now, Radius was about to have his life changed forever from that moment on as a very tall mare with a magnificent white coat accidentally bumped into him, knocking his glasses off.
"Oh! I'm sorry, sir, I didn't see you there." The mare apologized as Radius pawed at the floor in search of his glasses.
"Oh, uh, it's fine." Radius replied as he continued to blindly paw around. "Uh...oh, jeez I really need those."
"Here they are. I've got them."
With Radius now standing still and squinting, the mare then used her golden Aura to gently slide the spectacles back onto his face. This was the exact moment Shining Armor was waiting for and he proceeded to squeal with delight as he could finally learn how his Aunt and the Stallion who could have been his uncle came to know each other. Radius's eyes resembled saucers as he realized just who it was who gave his glasses back to him and for the first time tonight, he truly did not know what to say.
"Uh...Th-thanks..." Radius stuttered.
"Of course." Princess Celestia replied with a warm smile. "Welcome to the Gala. I don't recall having met you before."
"Th-th-thanks..."
"Teeheehee. A shy one are you? Well, we can fix that. How about we hit the dance floor when they start playing some halfway decent tunes?"
"Haaaaa!?"
"Yes, you heard me right. Oh, aren't you Doctor Hoofenschtov the physicist?"
"..."
"You know, I actually find physics very interesting. You have to know a lot about it when it comes to moving the sun."
"Oh, uh, absolutely."
Shining Armor anxiously watched as their very first conversation unfolded and right from the start, it was clear that Celestia was trying to make Radius more comfortable by shifting the topic to something she knew they both had an interest in. Celestia's plan seemed to be working as in seemingly no time at all, Radius quit stuttering, began to maintain eye contact and even cracked a smile as the conversation went on. Very quickly, the two really started to hit it off and the conversation simply flowed as naturally as it possibly could have and to be able to witness the beginning of something that made his Aunt Celestia so happy made Shining Armor's heart melt as he continued to watch. Momentarily however, Celestia was about to make good on her offer to dance with Radius weather he felt he was ready or not.
"Dearly beloved..." None other than Prince himself began as he and his band took back to the stage. "We're gathered here today to get through this thing called...life."
"Oh! This is my jam!" Princess Celestia beamed as she excitedly galloped to the dance floor.
She had taken Radius by the hoof and seemed oblivious that he had nervously tensed up until she turned around to see that she had be dragging him the whole time. Though he seemed to have no trouble with dancing before, to do so with the Princess of Equestria was entirely different. Celestia on the other hoof was not about to take no for an answer and knew just the right way to coax somepony out of their comfort zone.
"Oh trust me, Doctor, there is no way you dance worse than I do." Celestia assured as she started swaying her flanks to the beat.
"And if the elevator tries to bring you down..." Prince continued to sing. "Go crazy! Punch a higher floor! Woooh!"
Without any warning whatsoever, Princess Celestia again took Radius's hoof and pulled him in a circular motion as hard as she could, sending him spinning rapidly. Shining Armor enjoyed a hearty laugh as he watched the Princess spin Radius like a top and watched in awe as he came to a flawless stop and began dancing just the same with his eyes shut tight. It was obvious that the nerdy introvert was still rather nervous but when he opened his eyes, he realized that he had become the very light of the Gala.
"If you don't like..." Prince sang. "The world you're livin' in, take a look around! At least you got friends! See, I called my old lady for a friendly word! She picked up the phone, dropped it on the floor, *ahh, ahh* was all I heard!"
Shining Armor and many of the Gala attendees who knew anything about Radius stared in shock as he and Celestia danced their hearts out in the very center of the floor. Even Radius himself never knew that he had such moves in him and many nearby mares blushed and swooned as they watched him cut the rug like a professional, not that he noticed. As the two continued to tap their hooves and get themselves loosened up, Radius looked up at Celestia's smiling face with an ear to ear grin of his own as she had done the shy introvert a massive favor by encouraging him the way she did. With just that little push he needed, Radius was having the most fun he had in years and it seemed that every ounce of stress from his job and every day life simply melted away.
"Are we gonna let that elevator bring us down? Whoa no, let's go!" Prince continued to sing. "Let's go crazy! Let's get nuts! Let's look for the purple banana 'til they put us in the truck! Let's go!"
Go crazy they indeed did and before long all eyes were on the Princess and the physicist as their dance moves were making everyone else look like amateurs. Radius was fully aware that he and the mare he danced with were the centers of attention which normally would be a trigger for his stage fright but tonight, he did not care. He just simply could not possibly care less. Even as every pony and human alike erupted in cheer, he kept going and going. Even as he started to sweat and the fatigue brought about by his intense moves started to set in, the only thing that could get him to stop was for the song to end. Once it did however, he and Celestia still could not find any reason to separate and continued to have the time of their lives together.
"All I can manage to push from my lips is a stream of absurdities!" The pointer sisters sang on stage as Celestia and Radius again took to the dance floor. "Every word I continue to speak winds up locked in the circuitry! No way to control it! It's totally automatic, whenever you're around! I'm walking blind folded! Completely automatic! All of my systems are dowwwn, down down down! Auuutomaaatic! Auuutomaaatic! Auuutomaaatic!"
The hours went by and still Radius and Celestia were not only conversing about topics of similar interest to them but unbeknownst to the former, they were developing a full fledged friendship. After more hours still, nearly a dozen times on the dance floor together, and several more hands and hooves of celebrities shaken, still they continued to spend time together. Radius was of course completely oblivious but Shining Armor could see in Celestia's eyes that she was taking quite the interest in the nerdy stallion whose side she had still not left. Finally, the end of the closing onstage singing performance by Wilford Brimley meant the end of the Grand Galloping Gala and that Radius could go back home eternally grateful to have been invited.
"Thank you, everypony, I'm glad I could be here tonight!" The chubby, middle aged, mustached man on stage beamed as he took a bow. "You ponies are so sweet, you give me diabeetus, you know that?"
"Your Majesty, I had an amazing time talking and dancing with with you!" Radius beamed as he prepared to find a taxi to take him home. "Thanks so much for everything!"
"Of course, Radius! Anytime!" Celestia replied as she pulled a pen and small notepad from her pocket and proceeded to jot down her personal phone number. "So, um...call me sometime, okay? I'd like to get to know you more."
"Woohoo! I never knew the Gala was so much fun back then!" Shining Armor cheered as he followed the thirty-three year old Radius out of the palace.
"Was? Back then?" The raspy voice of the modern day Radius asked in confusion. "What happened to it?"
"Nowadays, it's the most boring thing going on in Canterlot. A lot of ponies still go but I've never seen this many humans before. Especially ones as famous as the ones we just saw."
"I guess they figured it wasn't worth it to travel through portals for something so boring. Anyway, brace your eyes. We're about to cross into another one of my memories. Oh, and Shining Armor?"
"Yeah?"
"Try not to laugh at me."
Once again, a bright flash of white ended the memory and marked the beginning of the next and again, Shining Armor found himself in another familiar place though decorated differently than he remembered. Once the light fully faded away, revealing the dining hall of the palace with a fifty foot long dining table in the center where he and the search team were treated to dinner before departing, he noticed two familiar figures sitting together at the opposite end. Upon trotting over for a closer look, sure enough, the two ponies enjoying a nice candle lit dinner were none other than Radius and Princess Celestia, the latter with her muzzle scrunched up out of frustration.
Though Radius was maintaining eye contact with no problem, still he seemed to be completely oblivious to the bemused look on the Princess's face. Shining Armor knew however, that it was not as if she was not enjoying Radius's company but the fact that his Aunt had told him before that she had a difficult time getting the stallion she was interested in to notice her hints. As Radius proceeded to talk about the half lives of different types of elements, the Princess then looked down at the table and noticed that he had his hoof resting on it. Seeing this as another chance to get her point across, she then looked Radius directly in the eyes as he continued to talk and slowly slid her hoof across the table towards his. Once her hoof reached its destination, she then gently placed it on top of Radius's which as far as Shining Armor was concerned, it could not have been more obvious as he tried to stifle his laughter at how clueless Radius seemed to be.
The oblivious unicorn did not so much as even glance down at the Princess's attempt to take him by the hoof and still rambled on about the dangers of handling uranium without proper protective equipment. Again, the frustrated look on Celestia's made an abrupt return and she then withdrew her hoof and started to rub her temples as if she was experiencing some sort of head discomfort. Finally, Radius took notice of the social cue and looked up at the taller Princess in concern as she did not appear to be the slightest bit pleased.
"Is there something wrong, Your Majesty?" Radius asked.
"Uh, well gee, I dunno, I do recall offering that you simply call me Celestia." Celestia sighed.
"Oh right, sorry, Celest-"
"Radius, if you're not interested, you can just tell me. I won't be upset with you, okay?"
"Huh?"
"Pretending you had no idea was cute at first but now it's just getting old."
"With all due respect, Celestia, what are you talking about?"
"Wait...you mean you really didn't know? All these hints I've been giving you?"
"What hints?"
"Oh...Wow, I've got some explaining to do then."
While Shining Armor snickered as he watched the incredibly awkward and admittedly comical conversation come to a pause, Celestia tapped her chin as she put serious thought into her next choice of words. Surely saying something to imply her intentions with any amount of subtlety would not work as she had tried it too many times to count over the past few weeks. After putting what little she had left to work with together, Celestia would have no other alternative but to be up front about her feelings.
"Radius, can I be quite frank with you?" Celestia asked as she began to blush.
"Of course." Radius replied, not knowing what to expect.
"I like you."
"Oh, is that all? Well, that's entirely mutual."
"No no, that's not what I meant. I mean I really like you."
"Uhh..."
"And when I say I really like you, by that I mean I...I..."
"You...?"
"...want you to be my special somepony...there, I said it."
Shining Armor's long anticipated wait for the exact moment where Celestia awkwardly confessed her feelings to Radius and just the look on the latter's face as his lower jaw hit the table was priceless to the observing invisible unicorn. Though the modern day Radius had asked him to refrain from excessive laughter at his ignorance to the Princess's feelings, Shining Armor could no longer hold it and was soon rolling on the floor as the two at the table continued to silently stare at each other. Finally, Shining Armor's hysterical laughter subsided and as he returned to his hooves and proceeded to dry his tears, still Radius and Celestia stared at each other. Shining Armor used the silence as a chance to rub his sore sides until finally, the newly formed layer of ice was broken by Radius.
"So...you were serious about that?" Radius asked, his eyes wide open out of shock.
"Very." Celestia replied firmly.
"B-but...but...y-you're royalty."
"So?"
"I'm not."
"And?"
"Wow...I-I don't know what to say but...that...you actually want to...date me?"
"If you want to date me, then yes, I do. Otherwise, I'd never pressure you into something you don't want to do."
Even though Shining Armor knew that later the two ponies that sat at a table before him would end up in a serious relationship, still he anxiously watched very closely for what would happen next. Throughout most of the years that Princess Luna was away, Celestia had been unbearably lonely and so badly wished for somepony to talk with and get close to. She had found that certain somepony she genuinely enjoyed spending time with but her hopes were seemingly crushed as Radius still gave her every indication that he was not interested in pursuing something more.
"I...I understand, Radius." Celestia said with her head hung low and her lips quivering. "I need to...I need to go lie down for a while. I bid you good night, my friend."
With that, Celestia then arose from her chair and began trotting to the nearest door with her bedroom as her next destination in mind. The princess was not only disappointed but immensely embarrassed and felt that by being so upfront with Radius, she may have just risked making him uncomfortable and possibly losing him as a friend. Celestia reached for the door handle with her aura and she was nearly to the point of tears when from that moment on, the lives of both she and Radius would be changed forever.
"Wait!" Radius called out as he leaped from his chair. "Celestia, I...I..."
"Huh?" Celestia asked as she turned around to see Radius trotting over to her.
"I admit it, my social skills are...pretty much nonexistent. I swear, I had no idea that you...I honestly can't believe I'm saying this but I can't believe you actually have these feelings for me. Why me? I'm a total geek. Not only that but I'm no Prince or a Noble or anything like that. What do you see in me? Wait, is this conversation actually hap-"
"You wanna know what I see in you, Radius? I happen to like geeks. You're incredibly smart, down to Earth, fun to talk to, you're kind, you care about others and you're undying loyalty to your family is just...it's beautiful! And you know how much you not being royal really means?"
"What?"
"Fuck all, that's what. At least to me anyway."
"Whoa! I've never known you to swear!"
"I...I know, I usually don't but I'm just so anxious right now! Nonetheless, didn't you hear anything I said before that?"
"Of course, but...Celestia, I'm so sorry but you've got to understand that this is a bit hard to believe right now. Part of my social skills training I had when I was a colt was how to try seeing things from others' perspectives. Please, try to see it from my point of view, I'll need a few minutes for this to sink in. I've just been told by the ruler of Equestria, the one who raises the sun that she's been courting me. That's a lot to take in."
"Radius, I...you're right, I'm sorry. Look, maybe we both have had some issues with this. You can't help that you have social difficulties and it's been...oh my god, Radius, it's been so long since I've dated I don't even know what I'm doing."
"Well, I've never dated before so...I guess that's something we've got in common. So hey, you don't have to go. Why don't we just have a seat at the table and we can talk about this, okay?"
"O-okay."
Still partially in shock over what Celestia had just told him, he and the love struck Princess sat back down at the table where they expected things to get even more awkward. To their pleasant surprise, the rest of the conversations they had flowed rather naturally as the hours ticked by. Shining Armor even managed to grow bored and became incredibly frustrated when he attempted to sift through a large bookcase just to have his hooves glide right through them. The only thing he could do as the candle on the table melted down further and further was anxiously pace the floors, hoping and waiting for something interesting to happen. Fortunately at this point, he would not have to wait much longer.
"Oh my!" Celestia gasped as she glanced at the grandfather clock on the opposite side of the room. "I had no idea it was two o'clock in the morning!"
"Time goes by fast when you're having such a great time." Radius said as he smiled up at the taller Princess. "I am getting really tired though so I should get going home. Trot to the front door with me?"
"Of course."
At long last, this memory would soon give way to the next and Shining Armor promptly followed as Radius and Celestia trotted towards the front entrance to the palace where the former proceeded to put on his winter coat. Before they parted ways for the night, they trotted out to the front steps where they made it a frequent routine to wish each other a good night and plan for their next time together. There they stood in front of each other as Shining Armor anxiously waited for what he expected would be another one of Radius's life changing moments. There they stood, gazing into each other's eyes, the royal and regal Princess Celestia and the brilliant genius of a scientist Radius Circumfrancis Hoofenschtov. After a long week of searching for the lost unicorn and hearing his heartbreaking stories once he was found, Shining Armor was in the mood to see something more light hearted for a change and he was about to get his wish.
The several seconds that seemed like hours ticked by as the two heavily blushing ponies stared into each other's eyes as the snow began to fall on the clear, moonlit winter night. Finally, Celestia made her first move and slowly began to inch her face towards Radius's. Now that he fully understood both of their feelings, the nervous and trembling nerd that Radius was followed suit. Finally, with both of their eyes closed, Celestia lowered her face down to the level of the shorter stallion whom she longed for and the distance between their muzzles came to a close as they pressed their lips against each other's. To Celestia, to have her lips locked with Radius's seemed to have right then and there, filled an empty void that the lonely Princess had been holding onto for centuries. To the shaking and border-line convulsing Radius, it was the sudden realization that he at long last at age thirty-three was now experiencing his very first kiss and because of who it was that his lips were attached to, he understood why he had waited so long. The wait was so well worth it and for a magnificent, loving marefriend like Celestia, he would do it again without hesitation. To Both ponies, it just simply felt right.
Shining Armor was very open regarding his emotions, especially at that moment as tears soaked his cheeks while he watched the two lovers before him break their kiss. Being a happily married pony himself, Shining Armor could not help but fondly look back at his first kiss with his loving wife Cadence as he then felt the shame that came along with it of having taken her for granted as of late. To see the beautiful scene play out before him was the last he needed to see to be fully prepared to stop at nothing until this wonderful, and beloved pony that Radius once was ended up back into the hooves of his loving family. As the two lovers stood there to gaze into each other's eyes as the falling snow sparkled in the moonlight, they would finally part ways for the evening and sleep soundly with the warm feeling of their kiss setting their hearts ablaze.
"Same time tomorrow?" Radius asked, his voice trembling and his blush intensifying.
"Same time tomorrow." Princess Celestia repeated, faring no better.
"Good night, Celestia."
"Tia. Call me Tia from now on."
"Good night, Tia."
"Good night, Radius."
As wonderful as it was to see something that changed Radius's and Celestia's life in such a positive way was, Shining Armor knew it would finally soon be time to see what happened next. With the front door of the castle now closed, Radius had difficulty keeping solid hoofing on the ground and could barely trot in a straight line. Most would find themselves behaving in such a manner after consumption of too much alcohol but Radius was drunk on love and enjoyed every moment of it. As he proceeded to trot back home for the night, the cool, crisp winter wind that blew had no affect on him as the warmth of his first kiss would linger with him the whole time. Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, inside the castle, Celestia clumsily stumbled up the stairs to her bedroom like a love struck school filly with her eyes half lidded and a goofy, silly grin before laying down on her bed and falling asleep nearly instantly. Finally, the further Shining Armor followed Radius down the sidewalk, the brighter the returning flash of light became as he prepared to cross into the next memory.
Just like before, the light faded and Shining Armor found himself in a different place and this time he recognized it as his Aunt Celestia's personal bedroom. Aside from the various posters of eighties bands and singers from both Equestria and Earth alike, it looked much the same as he had remembered it from when his guard duty would lead him there. Though he was confused as to what kind of memory Radius had that would bring him to such a place, still he was curious. It would not be much longer however as any and all questions he would have were about to be answered.
"Hey, why are we in Celestia's bedroom?" Shining Armor asked.
"Oh, you'll see." Radius's voice chuckled. "In fact, I think the real action starts right about...now."
Suddenly, as if on cue, the door behind Shining Armor burst open and before he could turn around as a reflex to the startling slam, Celestia and Radius both tumbled through him, their lips locked and their tongues down each other's throats. Unlike the soft, gentle kiss that touched his heart to have been witness to, Shining Armor blushed as he watched his Aunt and her flame engage in a full fledged sloppy make out. For the life of him, he had not a clue what to make of the scene that played out before him but finally when the two sweaty lovers tumbled down onto the bed is when the sudden realization hit the observing and slightly disturbed unicorn.
"Ahh, yes..." Radius's voice sighed as the sweet memory came back to him. "The day I lost my virginity to Celestia. Man, she really rocked my world if you know what I mean."
"Aaand that's my cue to get out of here." The blushing Shining Armor said as he tugged at the now locked door hoping to escape. "Hey! What gives!?"
"Oh Radius, Darling, take me!" Celestia gasped behind Shining Armor as the couple prepared to engage in intercourse.
"Dude!" Shining Armor snapped. "Let me out of here! I don't wanna watch you rut my Aunt!"
"How is she your Aunt, anyway?" Radius's voice asked.
"I married her niece Cadence! Now open the damn door!"
"Actually, I had some other plans. See, you're not able to leave until I'm ready to do the same. Plus, you shouldn't have laughed at me, buddy."
"Are you getting off to this!?"
"Don't you judge me, that's myself I'm watching get lucky there! Cut me some slack, I haven't been laid in thirty years!"
"T-Tia!" The eighties Radius gasped as he penetrated, prompting Shining Armor to cover his ears. "Oh my g-Ahhhhhh yeeeeesss! Ah! *huff* Ohhh! *puff* Tia, I love youuu!"
"I swear, I'm gonna kick your fucking ass when we're done with this!" Shining Armor cursed as he found that covering his ears did nothing.
"Try it and see what happens, tough guy!" Radius's voice countered.
"Ahh! Yes! Harder!" Celestia screamed as the speed of her lover's thrusting picked up. "I lo-ahh! I love you, Rad-hnnngggg! Oh my god, yes! Right there!"
"Winter wrap up, winter wrap uuup!" Shining Armor sang loudly hoping to drown out the sound of the passionate love making session occurring behind him. "Cause tomorrow spring is here, 'cause tomorrow spring is heeeerrrreee!"
After several long and admittedly impressive minutes of Radius rutting Celestia silly, finally they could no longer be heard over Shining Armor's singing much to his relief. Unfortunately for the unicorn who felt as if he had seen and heard enough for several lifetimes, the relief of silence from the two seemingly finished lovers would be short lived. As Shining Armor listened for any more signs of suggestive movements or moaning, he would find himself immensely disappointed as instead of being finished, the two sweaty lovers behind him were simply changing positions. Despite his ghostly form as an invisible observer in Radius's memories, Shining Armor could feel his face turning beet red as he listened to the slapping sound of Radius's thighs hitting Celestia's rump as he rutted her from behind.
"Holy fuck, how are you still going at it!?" Shining Armor yelled with his hooves over his ears again. "My first time was super awkward and hardly lasted ten minutes!"
"Naturally gifted?" Radius's voice said with a shrug. "Hey, if you think this is impressive, I was abl-"
"Lalalalalalalalalaaa, I don't wanna hear it!"
Saying that the situation that Shining Armor was in was awkward would have been a massive understatement and the modern Radius proved that his sense of humor, though slightly dirtier than before was still well intact. Princess Celestia was not a blood relative of Shining Armor's nor of Cadence's for that matter but despite that, he considered her to be close family and would rather have not endured sitting in the same room in which she was currently being plowed. Not only were all the sounds of passionate love making ever present but much to Shining Armor's dismay, he still had his sense of smell within Radius's memories as the room began to reek of sex from the sweat and ejaculatory fluids that rendered the bed sheets soaked.
Finally, Radius seemed to have finished rutting Celestia but once again, the two aroused ponies only paused for a moment to change positions and by the sound of things, Celestia was now on top. Shining Armor had to sing unreasonably loudly to drown out the sounds of vigorous riding by the Princess and the constant moaning and gasping by both of them. By this point, Celestia had spent centuries without sex and Radius had been a virgin until age thirty-four so it seemed as if they were making up for lost time. It almost seemed like there would be no end to their love making as badly as Shining Armor wanted but it would appear that he was finally about to get his wish.
"Hahhhh, Tia, I can't hold it anymore!" Eighties Radius screamed as he neared his peak. "I'm gonna...I'm gonna...Guhhuhuhhh!"
"Ahhh yes!" Celestia screamed as she too, reached her own orgasm. "Yes! Oh yehehehesss!"
Shining Armor was close to running out of songs he knew but at last, the sounds of the hormone crazed couple stopped. After he stopped singing, he decided to keep his back turned to the couple in bed and listen for a little while longer just in case they were simply changing their spots again. The complete silence was enough to put his mind at peace and much to his fortune, the silence remained with nothing but the soft breathing of two ponies laying still in bed together. Finally, Shining Armor could turn around to face them without the fear of seeing something he would so badly want out of his mind but would be burnt into it forever. Instead, what he saw reminded him more of the last memory and of the soft, loving kiss the couple shared.
The two lovers whom had just finished engaging in passionate intercourse with each other for their first time had given it their all to the point where they both passed out. They both lay on the bed holding each other tightly in their hooves as they slept soundly together with warm smiles. Though they slept in their own sweat and ejaculatory fluids of which Shining Armor chose to ignore, the way they held each other made it seem as if their very heartbeats were in sync with each other's. Overall, it was clear to Shining Armor that the couple that lay before him were most certainly not after a fling or simply a quick intimate encounter but instead were madly in love with each other.
"I loved her so much..." Radius's voice said with a sniffle. "We both loved each other."
"Okay, that's sweet..." Shining Armor began. "...but did you have to make me listen to you two getting it on?"
"Ahahahah...Yes."
"Asshole."
"Well, we're about to head to my next memory."
"Finally!"
"You're going to wish we were back at this one. It all goes downhill from here. Consider yourself warned."
Since having experienced the crossing from one memory to another several times by this point, Shining Armor partially knew what to expect as he braced his eyes for yet another blinding flash. What he did not expect however, was instead of fading and revealing the next memory right away, the flash of white light slowly began to dim until the empty abyss was pitch black. This had not happened before so it was rightfully unsettling to Shining Armor and with Radius's clear warning to boot, the observing unicorn developed a strange sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
For a while still, there was nothing. No sounds, or movements, or any new lights to speak of as Shining Armor anxiously waited for what Radius had to show him. Finally, the silence was broken in the form of a high pitched wailing which sounded like an emergency alarm sounding off as it echoed through a large facility. At last, the darkness slowly gave way to the sight of a massive, dimly lit room with the ceiling at least fifty feet above where Shining Armor was standing. Now that he could properly see, Shining Armor noticed that he was standing on a steel deck with railings approximately twenty feet from the solid concrete floor below. To his right, jutting off the ground level was a gigantic, round, cylindrical shaped object and After a moment of observing the strange rods shaking out from the top he realized exactly what it was that he was staring down at making his blood run cold.
"We've gotta get outta here!" An unfamiliar male voice shouted from the direction Shining Armor was facing.
Directly in front of Shining Armor, on the opposite end of the steel deck were two men wearing white lab coats and hard hats bolting up the stairs as fast as their legs could carry them. A moment later, a shorter, four legged figure galloped up the stairs and joined the two men in a run for their lives. Vladimir Shashenok, Valeriy Khodemchuk, and Radius were sprinting down the steel deck in search of the nearest exit to the building as Shining Armor realized that he was about to relive that fateful night on the twenty-sixth of April in the year 1986. Though he knew in the back of his mind that it was merely a memory he was seeing and that he was not actually standing above an unstable nuclear reactor the hairs on the back of Shining Armor's neck stood on end at the thought of what he knew was about to happen.
"Raddy, Look out!" One of the men shouted as he grabbed Radius by the collar, pulling him out of the path of a pipe that had burst.
The man who grabbed Radius had ended up saving the terrified pony from a bolt that shot out from the burst pipe that certainly would have meant his death otherwise as it would have hit him directly in his temple. All three colleagues tumbled to the floor of the steel deck as a result but if they could just get back to their feet and hooves, surely there was still time to escape. Sadly, that would not be the case and Shining Armor was about to see with his own eyes the true horror of what happened to Radius and his two friends whom all had friends and families who loved them dearly. As the two men and the pony attempted to get back off the floor to resume their run for their very lives, another much larger pipe burst, causing them to all fall off the deck and plummet to the reactor below.
Shining Armor quickly galloped over to the side of the deck and stared in horror at the injured men and pony whom allegedly had mere moments to live as they tightly embraced each other as friends one last time. The observing unicorn's heart rate began to rise and his adrenaline began to run through his veins as he clutched the side railing and awaited the inevitable. The tremors brought on my the imminent destruction of reactor number four shook the building down to each bolt and steel girder that held it together. Shining Armor's grip on the railing was so tight that his front hooves started going numb as he began to hyperventilate until finally, it happened.
With his adrenaline pumping through his blood stream at full bore, the horrific scene seemed to play out in slow motion as the gargantuan lid on top of the reactor shot up into the air with a massive flames bursting from underneath. The jolt of the sudden motion of the concrete lid knocked Radius and his two friends onto their backs as they waited for the massive object to crush them against the ceiling before smashing through. According to the reports after the event, because Radius's body was never found, he was thought to have fallen back directly into the reactor where he was allegedly vaporized by what resembled the fires of Hell. Shining Armor however was about to witness the truth of what happened as it appeared that Radius had other plans.
Before the top could get more than five feet off the reactor, Radius surrounded himself and the two men in a large bubble as his horn glowed the color of his own bright green aura. Since he had been to Earth several time before, his magic there was strong enough to perform a shield spell and make a last ditch effort to save himself and his two friends. Shining Armor held on to the railing with all his might and watched as the massive flames and what appeared to be a bright red, glowing molten metal erupted from the reactor until finally, the concrete lid crashed through the ceiling. It was a blood curdling sight to the horrified observing Shining Armor. The entire building shook with the force of a massive earthquake once the huge concrete disc crashed through the roof but what goes up must come down and once it does, the true damage is done.
A tsunami of shrapnel, chunks of concrete, molten metals, and highly radioactive materials hit all side of the inside of the building like a shock wave and went directly through Shining Armor's ghostly form. Though he was unharmed, still it was a horrifyingly frightening experience, especially having molten lava being splattered everywhere and much of it even being shot through him. If this alone was not terrifying enough, the reactor's top soon came crashing back down and once it hit the gigantic cauldron of uranium, the affects were devastating beyond imagination. The blast that came along with the collision was enough to render Shining Armor blinded and deafened as for a whole agonizing minute, he stumbled about seeing nothing but bright red and white flashes and hearing nothing but a painful ringing.
Not long after, Shining Armor's vision and hearing slowly returned to reveal that the steel deck he stood on was seconds from giving out and crashing to the floor below. Remembering that he was inside Radius's mind and could not be harmed, he leaped from the deck and down onto the lower level in search of Radius and his friends. He did not have to go very far to find the terrified and crippled trio holding onto each other for dear life while they tried to ride out the storm inside the shield bubble that Radius was struggling to keep around them. Shining Armor galloped over to get a closer look as broken pipes and girders came crashing down all over the room and the fire from the reactor raged on. In the far corner of the room, a few feet away from a door that lead to a maintenance closet, Shining Armor could plainly see the strained look on Radius's face that both unicorns could understand.
"I can't..." Radius whimpered as his shield spell was repeatedly pelted by falling debris. "No...n-not like this...guys, I can't hold it anymore...I-I can't...I'm sorry."
After blinking on and off several times as if he was running out of power, Radius's bubble that he tried to use to save his friends fizzled out leaving them all at the mercy of the fire and the radiation that filled the air. The two men that Radius held onto with what little strength he had left hugged their pony friend for their last moments until they quickly went unconscious. Radius took notice as he felt their grip on him loosening due to the lethal radiation levels they were all being directly exposed to. With the men's bodies going limp and their breathing becoming faint, Shining Armor wept as he watched a genius lose every last bit of his composure and wail in anguish as his two friends died in his hooves.
"I'm sooorrryyyy!!" Radius shrieked as he held the two men while their skin began melting from their flesh. "I'm so sorryyyy! I couldn't do it! I couldn't save you! WAAAHAAHAAAA!!"
The sight that Shining Armor witnessed before him was absolutely sickening. Everything from the blood oozing out of the bodies of the men, to the emotional and physical trauma that a wonderful, family oriented pony whom was loved by so many had to endure, all the way to the fact that no one could hear him scream. Finally accepting that his two friends were gone, Radius made the hardest decision of his life and gently laid the two bodies down, closed their eyes with a trembling hoof and crawled over to the nearest door. With his leg badly broken and his body quickly growing weaker by the second, Radius reached up to the door handle and pushed it open. Once he had the door to the supply closet open, he dragged himself into the tiny room and having made it just a few feet inside, he simply could go no further and collapsed onto the floor. With the very last bit of strength he had left, Radius used his unbroken back leg to push the door shut just in time before his vision blurred and he passed out and awaited whatever fate was in store for him.
The bright white light that flashed before Shining Armor in previous memories was replaced by the pitch black abyss that he saw at the beginning of the last one involving the explosion of Chernobyl's reactor. Once his vision returned, Shining Armor could see that he was seemingly in the very same spot that he found himself in when he watched Radius crawl into a closet. This time however, instead of a raging fire, falling girders, and alarms going off in every direction there was dead silence. The fire that consumed what remained of the reactor had been reduced to nothing more than a smolder and the sun shined through the massive gaping hole that the explosion had created in the ceiling of the building. Upon further observation, Shining Armor even noticed that the bodies of Radius's friends were gone and whoever it was from the rescue crews that removed them was mere feet away from Radius as he took shelter in the supply room. To think that all it would have taken for so much of Radius's suffering to be prevented was for a firefighter or EMT to simply open that one door and peak inside made Shining Armor feel physically ill. The saddened unicorn would soon find however, that what he would see next would truly be fuel for nightmares for years to come.
"Help me..." A trembling voice whimpered from behind the door to the supply closet.
Shining Armor turned his attention back to the door he saw Radius crawl into as it slowly swung open revealing something that immediately brought him to tears. On his three good legs with his broken one slightly lifted off the floor stood Radius in a state in which Shining Armor nearly felt his pain by just looking at him. His coat had completely fallen off and his pink exposed skin was completely covered in blisters, open soars and blood. His eyes were tightly shut as it was quite clear to the observing Shining Armor that just by existing, he was in a tremendous deal of pain.
"H-hello?" Radius whimpered as he opened his eyes and looked around. "Is anyone there? Can anyon-oh my god..."
Radius looked down at his forehooves and saw the truly devastating effects the radiation had on him. What was even more terrifying was that by being mere yards away from the still exposed nuclear reactor, he was still absorbing massive amounts of rem with each passing second. Though he was in unbearable pain and still getting sicker, he felt that one of the more important questions was why the radiation had not killed him as it had his friends a week ago before he passed out.
"Why am I alive?..." Radius asked as the pain all over his body became all too real. "I shouldn't be alive after this!"
Ever since the search team first found Radius living in Pripyat thirty years after the tragic day, they often wondered the same thing. How could he have survived not only the explosion but the lethal levels of radiation? Any human without certain genetic advantages would have quickly succumbed to radiation poisoning and died so perhaps Radius may have had those factors in his favor. Then again, even with those genes, any living being with the most possible resistance would surely not survive. Also, Radius was the first Equestrian pony and unicorn in history to have been exposed to such levels of gamma.
Shining Armor's mouth went dry as he stared with his mouth agape at the hairless and crippled Radius hobbling towards the nearest exit of the destroyed building. As the irradiated unicorn winced in pain with each and every step he took out into the warm, sunny outside of the facility, Shining Armor began to understand why Radius often wished to end his life. The former guard captain was brought up on and was a firm believer in the principles of life being a gift which must be appreciated but to see the horrible, heart wrenching trauma that this kind, caring, selfless family stallion was enduring made him see things differently.
"Oh my god..." Shining Armor sniffled as he followed the badly burned Radius as he slowly hobbled towards the town in search of help. "You poor, poor guy..."
"Relax, this is in the past." Radius's voice said. "We're just digging up a memory, remember? This isn't really happening right now"
"But it did happen! You had to go through this! You...Rainbow Dash was right. You're tougher than anypony I've ever met. To survive this shit and still care for others..."
"Thank you. That...that means a lot to me. There's a bit of a problem though."
"W-what's that?"
"This isn't even the worst part. I've gotta say though, you're pretty tough to be able to watch all this. Nonetheless, if we want to find out if I'm guilty of murdering three men, we need to press on. Shining? C-can I call you that?"
"Of course!"
"Shining, I apologize in advance for this but we need to keep going. I need to warn you...the next one might scar you for a long time to come."
Shining Armor braced himself once more as everything went dark yet again as the image of Radius crawling into a small convenience store slowly faded away. This time however, it stayed dark for several seconds longer than before or rather appeared that way as Shining Armor's eyes finally adjusted to the dark of the night that Radius's body and his life would change forever. The moon was shining bright and full in the warm night near the end of May as it had been a few weeks since the meltdown. With no one around to help and in his injured and badly burned state, Radius had no way of getting help so he took shelter in the gas station where there was still plenty of food, drinks and protection from the elements as he took time to attend to his wounds.
Shining Armor was beginning to grow quite fond of Radius as he was getting to know a great deal about him and his background so to see in grave detail the things he had to endure sent chills down his spine. Still though, Shining Armor wished so badly to help Radius to the best of his abilities so for him, he would go through his memories no matter how difficult or downright painful they would be to watch. With nothing but doing it for Radius in mind, Shining Armor trotted up to the door of the gas station and slowly stepped through. With the bright moonlight shining through the windows, everything inside the small building was illuminated rather well as the empty food wrappers and drink bottles that Radius used for sustenance could be seen neatly organized by brand in small heaps. Behind the counter with the cash register still sitting on top was Radius laying on sofa cushions trying very hard to get his much needed rest.
As he stepped closer, Shining Armor noticed that Radius's fur had grown back but was more of an unhealthy grayish yellow instead of his natural light gray. Not only was his coat discolored but it was also heavily drenched in sweat and with each passing second, his breathing became heavier until he stood back up to a sitting position with his hooves over his eyes. After a moment, Radius removed his hooves from his bloodshot eyes revealing the look of terror and confusion as he began to hyperventilate. Shining Armor had already seen a sickening amount of pain that this poor pony had to endure but it could hardly compare to what he was about to see within the next minute.
Suddenly, Radius stood up on all fours as his leg had healed rather quickly. Not able to trot in a straight line, he clumsily staggered out the door as he hallucinated from the effects of his poisoning. After taking a few steps, Radius paused before vomiting on the ground. After finishing ejecting the contents of his stomach, he staggered a few more feet before sitting back down on his rump. Within moments, the very event that Shining Armor dreaded was about take place as the invisible observer wept for the pony whom he watched suffer.
"What's happening to meee?" Radius whimpered as he crossed his forelegs as he felt a great deal of pain in his sides.
Without any forewarning, Radius's breathing picked up the pace and became heavier and with each breath, several of his teeth fell from his gums. As the sweat poured down his face and body and his breathing became faster and heavier, the weaker his legs would get until finally they could no longer even hold him in his sitting position. Radius's legs gave out causing him to collapse onto his side and as he lay there on the cold, hard ground his pain became worse and worse still until finally, he could no longer keep himself silent. While Shining Armor continued to weep heavily for him, Radius let out a series of blood curdling screams as his body began to grow larger right before his eyes. As he continued to scream and squeal in agony, more of his teeth flew out of his mouth with sharper canine-like teeth taking their places.
"KILL MEEE!!" Radius screamed as he squirmed on the ground. "Somepony please kill meeeee!!"
For several agonizing minutes, Radius writhed and convulsed on the ground as he screamed, squeaked, yelped in high pitches that few if any grown male ponies were even capable of. First began the rapid growth of his body along with his herbivore teeth being replaced by those of a savage killing machine and then his horn began to change into the most gnarled up, jagged appendage to have protruded from any living being's head. What came next was enough to send Shining Armor into a hysterical sobbing fit as two bulges began forming on Radius's sides just below his forelegs. Within moments, these bulges burst open revealing the two devolved limbs with deer-like cloven hooves at the ends. It was as this moment Radius had stopped screaming as the pain was so severe that it sent him into shock. After a few more seconds of twitching, Radius's eyes rolled back into his head as he passed out in a puddle of his own blood.
"Oh my gaahahaaawwd!" Shining Armor sobbed. "I'm so sorry! I'm sooo sorrryyy! You went through all of this and you still care so much about others! Radius, you're a fucking saint!!"
"W-well, I..." Radius began. "I-I didn't mean to make you feel b-"
"You're so *hic* Radius, you're so brave! You've suff-*sniff* suffered so much in ways that would kill anyone else! You are without any doubt the toughest, strongest, bravest, most amazing pony I have ever met and...goddamnit, we're getting you home when we get out of here!"
"I...I...*sniff* you know, I...I dunno, it's weird but...I'm feeling some kind of a...like a connection with you."
"You could have been my uncle, you know. Even if you don't love Celestia like you used to, will you still come home with us? I'd like to...offer you my friendship and I got a feeling everypony else would too."
"F-f-f-frie...f-f-friendsh...f-friednship...oh my god. I almost forgot what having friends was like...I'd like that."
"So hey, um...I'm sorry you had to see that." Radius apologized as the next memory began.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that." Shining Armor replied. "Nopony deserves to suffer like that."
"Thanks. I gotta hoof it to you though, you're pretty tough yourself to be able to see all this and still want to move further on."
"This is proving you not guilty of murder and clearing your name we're talking about."
"In that case, we've gotta be getting close by now. Look over there."
Sitting on his rump in a grassy yard in a small park in the now empty city of Priyat was the fully mutated Radius approximately thirty yards away from where Shining Armor was standing. Upon further observation as he trotted over to get a closer look, he could tell that Radius was holding a hoof over his stomach as if he were in pain. As he trotted even closer still, he noticed that the distressed mutant was badly malnourished and border line emaciated as his ribs cheek bones were quite prominent and his eyes were sunken in. By this point, Shining Armor had seen Radius endure so many horrific things that he was not sure if he could stand to watch any more. Still though, he watched with watery eyes as the starving pony hung his head over the ground and threw up what looked like grass, daisies, and other such vegetation that ponies commonly consumed.
After finishing painfully ejecting the contents of his stomach for what would have been one of his dozens of times in the past several weeks, Radius stood there to heave for a moment. Once he knew that his stomach was completely empty, he sat back down on his rear and wept as he held his aching belly. Never before had Radius starved like this and since he was fairly wealthy in his life back at home, he always made it a point to be grateful that he always had food on his table. Every December near Hearthswarming Day, he made it an annual ritual to make substantial donations to charities that helped those less fortunate than him and now, he was reduced to not much more than bones with skin over them.
After a minute or two of hunger and pain induced weeping, a rustling in a nearby bush a few yards away from Radius caught his attention. He had not seen a single sign of life since the meltdown just over a month ago so the thought of having any type of creature to talk to weather sentient or not made his eyes light up. He would momentarily find however that once the animal in the form of a fairly large, fully grown wild rabbit emerged from the foliage, that conversing with it would be the last thing on his mind.
This rabbit that seemed to have been affected by Chernobyl's radiation just like radius and all of the foliage in the area as it had patches of its fur missing. Nonetheless, Radius could not help but stare at the easily seven pound creature as his pupils fully dilated and his newly mutated salivary glands forced his corrosive drool from under his tongue. For a moment, the rabbit seemed unaware of Radius's presence but soon, the mangy creature perked up its ears and stared at the monstrous mutated equine that stood before it. Radius was still lost in his trance and he began pawing at the ground as if preparing to charge all the while having no clue why he was behaving this way. The two irradiated creatures continued to stare each other down and the starving pony that Radius was easily had the advantage as the rabbit was tired and sick from its body being poisoned by the gamma.
Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, Radius lunged at the vulnerable rabbit with all his strength. Much like radius, the rabbit was dealing with its fair share of pain as well and as the giant pony with its large pointed teeth barred charged, it made no effort to escape as it seemed to have simply given up. Instead of making a run for it, the rabbit just stood in its place as it waited for what it knew was the inevitable and with a pair of un-cloven hooves now firmly gripping it's body, it closed its eyes as Radius lifted it off the ground and began to devour it. Shining Armor watched in horror as Radius started by biting the small animal's head clean off followed by a few chews and a gulp. Once Radius's acidic saliva helped to wash the rabbit's head down his throat, he repeated the process and took bite after bloody bite until all that remained was the blood that stained his hooves.
He simply could not help it. Radius was starving and the vegetation that he once loved to eat could no longer provide his body with the nourishment needed to keep him alive. All he could think of while ripping chunks of meat from the rabbit he had just devoured was having something to fill his stomach and nothing else. Never before in his entire life had he ever tried meat of any sort as his herbivorous body would never have allowed him to get away with it and that it was simply not normal for ponies to have a desire for. Still, it almost seemed right to him. It seemed as if it was something he had done many times before and the taste of the blood and flesh only seemed right. Finally, with some food in his stomach however, Radius could finally think straight and as he stared down at his blood stained hooves, he knew all too well that it was indeed wrong.
Radius was not only kind and gentle towards other ponies but he was such towards animals as well and the fact that he had just viciously tore one apart made him feel as if he had hit the lowest point of his life. Not only that but he noticed that shockingly enough, the meat he had just scarfed up seemed to be sitting well in his stomach which he knew was not supposed to happen. He had spent his entire life before Chernobyl enjoying eggplant burgers, hayfries, daisies, and his personal favorite, pizza with onions and sliced tomatoes, but now, he knew that he could never have those wonderful things again. The mutated unicorn stared wistfully at his bloody hooves and proceeded to weep heavily as the cold reality began to sink in. Radius's body had devolved into that of a carnivore.
"So how exactly do you expect me to fit in back home with this type of diet?" Radius's voice asked.
"Have faith." Shining Armor said as he wiped a tear away. "We can fix this. And...okay, suppose we can't. Griffins eat meat and are allowed to do it wherever they want. It's not a huge deal."
"Well...if you say so. Anyway, let's keep going. None of the memories ahead are ones I want to relive so I just wanna get this over with."
At this point, Shining Armor had come to expect the transition from memory to memory and once again, everything slowly went dark for a minute or two before gradually giving way to daylight. This time, Shining Armor noticed that he was standing in an empty street more towards the business side of Pripyat. Stores of all kinds lined each side of the road from grocery stores to hardware and auto parts outlets. One retail facility in particular in the form of a small liquor store caught Shining Armor's attention as he noticed two four legged figures trotting out of the front door. The fully mutated and more well nourished Radius trotted alongside a deer as the two both hauled saddlebags full of all kinds of liquor much to Shining Armor's confusion.
"The one time I was able to make some friends here..." Radius's voice sighed.
"What happened?" Shining Armor asked as he started to follow Radius and his antlered friend.
"This was soon after I found out that I couldn't leave the exclusion zone. This was also the time when most of the wildlife started to come back and I befriended a herd of deer. I was really depressed so they'd help me find some fun things to do, you know, like raid the liquor stores, loot some smokes from the cigar shops, things like that. By this time, I'd hung out with them a few other times before and we'd get together and play poker and board games and stuff."
"So then what happened? Why haven't I and the others seen any of these deer?"
"Remember what I told you before?"
"Uh, I don't think s...oh...right."
"Pass whatever judgment on me you want but this is the day I committed my first atrocity that I'll live with for the rest of my days."
Shining Armor braced himself for whatever he would end up seeing next but at the same time decided to ignore radius's comment about judging him as he understood that it was not actually Radius who was about to cause damage. After ten to fifteen minutes of following Radius and the buck whom he heard Radius address as Mikhail during their conversations, Shining Armor could see five more deer up ahead waiting for the duo around a table they had set up. As he followed them even closer, the startled unicorn then could not tell if he should could five or six deer as one of them had two heads on the same body. Once Radius and Mikhail reached the table and took the bottles of booze out of their bags as another shuffled a deck of cards, Shining Armor could tell that they too had fared no better when it came to the affects of the radiation.
Aside from one of the deer having two heads, every one of them had some sort of deformity in their antlers. One of these mutated creatures had a severe under-bite and seemed to have little control over his drooling while the one next to him had an abnormally large skull. As he eyed the rest of them up and down, Shining Armor noticed more mutations ranging from extra limbs in places they most certainly did not belong and one of them even had an extra eye right in between the two originals. What caught Shining Armor by surprise the most was when a small bird landed on one of the deer's antlers, it was promptly snapped up by its long, frog-like tongue and quickly swallowed whole.
"Ehhh, whappssup guyyyths?" The deer with the under bite greeted with spit flying everywhere with every word he uttered.
"Hey, comrades." Mikhail greeted. "Check it out. That liquor store in the town center is still packed. Vodka, anyone?"
"Right here!" The two heads on the one deer beamed in unison, their expressions of enthusiasm quickly replaced by an irritated, bemused look. "Will you just shut up?" The right head said to the left.
"Me?" The left head asked, sounding offended. "You're the one who can't keep your fucking trap shut around here! Don't gimme that crap!"
"Hey, why don't you both cram it so we can play this damn game!?" The three eyed deer scolded as the two conjoined heads started arguing in their native Ukrainian tongue.
"Hey, my mom's your mom too, you moron!" The right head shouted in English.
"TOM! TREVOR! SHUT...THE FUCK...UP!" Mikhail shouted, finally bringing the conjoined deer's argument to a halt.
"So hey, thanks for inviting me to your poker night, guys." Radius said in attempt to sway the conversation into less of a confrontation.
"Ehhh, ippths no probbem bubby." The buck with the under-bite assured. "Youms preddy musch ome of uths."
"I uh...sorry, Ron, I didn't get that last part."
"He said you're one of us." The deer that ate the bird answered. "I agree."
"you...you really mean that, Clyde?"
"It's starting to come back to me." Radius's voice said, wistfully. "These guys tried to be my friends during my difficult time...I can't...I can't even talk about it, you'll just have to watch and see what I'm getting at."
After a few minutes of casual conversation, Radius and his antlered friends began their friendly game of poker at the table they had set up in a small park. Shining Armor watched as every one of them seemed to get along very well aside from the brief argument between the conjoined brothers but still, the observing unicorn was anxious as he knew that the fun would not last. Nearly two hours went by and several bottles of vodka and premium cigars were polished off by the comrades as they all played cards together to forget their troubles for a while. It was then when Radius asked to be excused for a moment that Shining Armor knew that the sad truth of what happened that day would soon be taking place.
"I'll be right back, guys." Radius said as he stood up and began to trot towards a small building several yards away. "I've got a headache an-urp! I-I think I'm gonna throw up...I think I hit the vodka a bit too hard."
"Da, let us know if you need anything, comrade." Mikhail called over.
Shining Armor followed as Radius trotted over towards the building in question that upon closer observation was labeled with the universal men and women symbol on their doors respectively. Judging by Radius's comment about the vodka and the symbols on the doors, it was clear to Shining Armor that the mutant unicorn was heading over to throw up. Curious to see exactly where and how the problems arose, Shining Armor followed Radius into the restroom and waited outside the stall he was using. Approximately three minutes later, the sound of Radius's heaving came to an end and he emerged from the stall before trotting over to the sink to wash his hooves and face. Being a pony who held cleanliness to such a high standard, Shining Armor expected no less.
Radius had finished lathering up the soap his hooves and he then proceeded to use his unicorn magic to draw water out of the sink's faucet as the entire city had long lost its power since the meltdown. It was when Shining Armor and his host glanced at the mirror in front of the latter that they realized that something was about to go very wrong. The hairs on the back of Shining stood up as he saw a familiar red glow from Radius's eyes as he looked at himself in the mirror.
"Gah!" Radius yelped as he double took. "What the hell?"
The startled Radius continued to stare at himself in the mirror wondering if his eyes had perhaps deceived him. With no red glow in sight, he then took of his glasses and splashed some cold water from the sink in his face. After wiping the excess water from his face with a wad of paper towels, he placed his glasses back on and took one more look at himself. Much to his relief, his eyes were the normal emerald green that he was used to; but only for a moment.
"Okay, I've definitely had enough vodka." Radius said as he blinked several times before suddenly his eyes glowed red again.
"Hardly." A cold, raspy, almost satanic voice snickered as it came out of Radius's mouth. "How about you take a little nap and let me take over, eh?"
"What the fuck!? Wha...what is this!?"
"Aw come on, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one here."
Radius then violently shook his head with his eyes shut tightly. Once he opened them again, his eyes were green again but not for very long.
"Who are you!?" Radius squeaked. "Get out of my head!"
"That's what I've been trying to do, dipshit." The mean, raspy voice said as the red glow in Radius's eyes returned. "Anyway, you can call me Spazz. I'm here to talk some sense into you."
Radius's eyes then returned to his natural color.
"What are you...W-whatever you're selling, I'm not interested!"
Again, the red glow in Radius's eyes returned.
"Ohhoho, you poor naive bastard. Alright, lemme ask you this. Doesn't it piss you off that you're stuck here? You've been abandoned by everypony back home. If they gave a shit about you, they would have came back for you a loooong time ago."
Radius's eyes returned to green.
"What are you talking about!? They don't even know I'm alive! My friends, family, and my marefriend would never leave me for dead!"
Radius's eyes turned red again
"Look at all this shit you've been through. All the pain and agony. Meanwhile, everypony's sitting cozy at home while you're stuck here to suffer. Wouldn't it make you feel so much better to put them through the same pain you're in? To get even with the world for what happened to you?"
Radius's eyes went back to green.
"That's terrible! Th-that's no way to think and I'm not that kind of pony! I would never wish this on anypony, not even the man who caused this whole thing!"
The red glow in Radius's eyes returned.
"You'll see. I'll show you how good this'll feel. Now step aside, I'm taking over."
Radius's eyes went back to green.
"The hell you are! You're not hurting anyone! I won't let you!"
The red glow returned.
"Shame. Guess we gotta do this the hard way."
Without warning, Radius collapsed to the floor with his eyes shut tight and writhed in pain as if his head was ready to explode. Soon, the distressed mutant began to hyperventilate. Whoever or whatever it was that was causing Radius's pain must have been the alter ego that Rainbow Dash saw first hoof and manipulated his host's body into violating the injured pegasus. Shining Armor's blood ran cold as Radius stood up off the floor and opened his brightly glowing red eyes. This separate personality that Radius had developed whom called himself 'Spazz' was now in control of his innocent host and there was no telling what he was going to make him do.
"Ha! That's better!" Spazz said as he admired his reflection in the mirror. "It's about damn time, I got out! Like it or not, Radius, I'm the stronger one of us and I'm making the rules from n-"
"Raddy!?" Mikhail gasped as he burst through the door of the restroom and right through Shining Armor's ghostly form. "You alright? What's with all the yelling?"
"Cute nickname." Spazz teased as he turned to Mikhail.
"R-Radius? What the...what happened to your eyes, man?"
"Radius isn't here anymore. He needs to sit back and learn a lesson while I teach everybody else one..."
With full control over Radius's body, Spazz grabbed Mikhail by the throat and shoved him up against the wall with a loud thump. Mikhail did not know what to make of the whole scene he was involved in. Out of concern, he had entered the restroom to check on his friend just to have him deny who he was and pin him against the wall. The memories that played out before Shining Armor were all too real but both he and Radius were finally about to find a vital clue and get what they had come for in the first place.
"I don't remember this!" Radius's voice said "Do you know what this means!?"
"Oh my god...Our theory..."
"...was correct...I don't remember doing this or exactly anything that happened after that. So if I killed those men, then we'll be able to see and find out for sure!"
"Radius, I've got a feeling that you're innocent. Who's this Spazz guy?"
"The side of me that I've been trying to keep locked away. This is the alter ego that I developed and the reason I gave up trying to get home. You're about to really find out how dangerous this guy makes me."
"Get...out...of my friend!" Mikhail coughed as Spazz held him against the wall by his throat.
"Heheheheh...Gahahahahaha! GAAHAAHAHAHAA! RADIUS IS GONE!"
Without warning, Spazz wrapped his hooves firmly around Mikhail's throat and swung him over towards the opposite side of the restroom before finally sending his face through the mirror, shattering it in one blow. With shards of broken glass stuck all over his face and neck, Mikhail squeaked in horror as again, the psychopath that had taken over his friend's mind and body smashed his face into the hard porcelain sink. Showing no mercy to the smaller, weaker and now badly injured deer that he had in his clutch, Spazz sent Mikhail's face sailing into the sink again...and again...and again...Shining Armor's body seemed to freeze as he watched the brutal, atrocious attack that took place before him. Just when it seemed like the horrendous beating would go on forever or at least until Mikhail would be turned into paste, Spazz threw the deer to the hard floor where he would be finished off.
"Radius..." Mikhail whimpered as Spazz pressed Radius's hoof against the dying deer's neck. "...I know it wasn't you...you'd never do something like this...ple-*cough* please don't let this guy take you ove-ah! *wheeze* Wha-whatever happens...I forgive you..."
Snap!
"Jesus fuck!" Radius's voice screamed as he watched what appeared to be his own self snapping his friend's neck.
"Radius, stay with me, okay?" Shining Armor said as he once again started to shed tears. "It wasn't you! That wasn't you who did this, you understand!?"
"I know! I know it, it's just...I allowed this...this...other side of me take control and do these things! Wait! What the fuck is he doing now!?"
Much to the dismay of modern day Radius and Shining Armor who both just witnessed Mikhail the deer get brutally murdered, the evil entity who called himself Spazz was far from finished. Using Radius's unicorn magic, Spazz lifted Mikhail's lifeless body off from the cold, hard floor and tossed him out the restroom door. After showing such blatant disrespect to the fresh corpse, he then trotted out the door to see that it just so happened that his dead victim had landed right at the hooves of his mortified friends who had trotted over to investigate the commotion.
As if they were trapped in the bright flash of a set of headlights, Mikhail's friends froze, not only in fear but as the sudden realization that their friend was dead at the hooves of another slowly sank in. The five bucks all stiffened up even more as they glanced up at their new found friend turned killer, the red glow in his eyes alone nearly enough to stop their hearts. They had all engaged in friendly festivities with Radius on several other occasions and suddenly, he had murdered one of their own and judging by the look of blood lust on his face, they were all the next ones to go.
"Wha...why...w-why did you do this!?" Clyde stuttered as he choked back his tears.
"You summa bish, you gilled 'im!" Ron screamed.
"And my only regret was killing him too quickly..." Spazz sighed.
"Wait, that's..." Tom began.
"Not Radius!" Trevor finished.
"Whoahoho, brilliant observation!" Spazz beamed as he stepped closer to the terrified deer. "You see, Radius was too boring for my liking so I'm in charge now...which means..."
Without warning, Spazz began manipulating Radius's magic, setting his jagged horn aglow. Before anyone could so much as think to ask him what he was doing, a bright green flash blinded the herd of deer and quickly subsided. For a moment, it seemed that no one was harmed much to their confusion. Seconds later however, the cold reality sank in as the head of Trevor slid off and plopped onto the ground, revealing a neat, almost surgically precise cut next to that of his conjoined brother. With another one of their own now dead, the remaining deer's adrenaline kicked into overdrive as they knew all too well that this entity that was controlling their friend was about to engage in a murderous frenzy.
"RUUUUUUUN!!" The remaining deer screamed in unison.
The herds's instincts were running full bore and it was everyone for themselves. Spazz just laughed maniacally as his victims made a run for it and in his badly wounded state, Tom could not get far. Blood gushed out of where his conjoined twin's head used to be and now that his heart was beating faster from fear and running, it took very little time for him to feel light headed. Within seconds, Tom collapsed to the ground where he proceeded to gasp and wheeze from the blood loss as he shared the same body as his dead brother.
Though the two bickered frequently, the two brothers who were literally one creature loved each other dearly and the reality that Trevor was decapitated was really starting to sink in for Tom who was starting to wonder why he had even bothered running. His killer needed to put in little to no effort to catch up and the way he leisurely trotted over to his suffering victim was sickening in itself. With a blood curdling smirk, Spazz stood over Tom as the latter huffed and puffed for air and looked up at the one who was about to end his life as he knew it. For most, the idea of dying was to be feared and avoided at any cost but to the badly bleeding Tom who had just seen his brother murdered moments ago, he welcomed death with open arms as he awaited the inevitable.
Shining Armor and Radius stifled gags as they watched Spazz use Radius's body to grab Tom by his antlers and sink his long, sharp teeth into his throat. Tom's eyes rolled back into his head as the psychopathic pony tore a large chunk of flesh out of his neck, his trachea and jugular vein coming out along with it. Spazz then spit out the chunk of meat as he dropped Tom's twitching body to the ground and licked the blood from the lips of his host. Clyde, Ron, and the bird eating deer named Eugene all wept as they looked back at another one of their friends being brutally murdered by another they considered a friend who was now chasing after them as he laughed like a true psycho.
Eugene would find himself the next one to go as a beam shot out from Radius's horn and sliced the deer's right, back leg clean off. Ron and Clyde stopped after they noticed Eugene collapse to the ground and ran back to their crippled friend to help. With a limb missing and two friends trying to help him off the ground, Eugene knew that he would just slow the others down and lead to their demise as well.
"Run!" Eugene sobbed. "Just get out of here! I'll just slow you down! Save yourselves!"
Spazz was closing in on the trio fast and if Clyde and Ron were to survive, they would have no choice but to leave their friend behind. With the psychotic killer galloping over, Clyde and Ron wept as they reluctantly let go of their incredibly noble friend and bolted off to the South. Much like Tom before him, Eugene knew that what ever few moments he had as he lay on the ground next to his severed leg would be his last. Shining Armor and Radius were about to witness one of the most sickening and vile acts they could have ever imagined as Spazz had decided not to simply put Eugene out of his misery; not quite yet.
"Gaaaaaahhaaaahaaaah!!" Eugene screamed as Spazz stomped on the wounded deer's other back leg, nearly breaking it in two.
"Oh, I'm gonna have some fun with you!" Spazz chuckled as he stood over his victim. "What'd I tell you, Radius?"
Spazz then laid his rock hard hoof across Eugene's cheek as hard as he could, causing several of the deer's teeth to fly out of his mouth.
"Doesn't this feel good?"
Smack!
"Huh!? Doesn't it!?"
Smack!
"You've been through way worse!"
Smack!
"All the shit you've been through!"
Smack!
"You can get back at the world! Put them through the pain you've been through!"
Smack! Smack! Smack!
Shining Armor found himself physically unable to watch the scene that transpired before him as Spazz relentlessly smashed Eugene's face with his hooves while resuming his fit of blood curdling cackling. After nearly three minutes of the unfortunate deer being brutally beaten, Eugene's body could take no more as he lay there like the mangled pile of flesh he had been turned into. Though his eyes remained open, his body shut down, his irises slowly went gray as his mind drifted off into oblivion, making him another of Spazz's casualties.
Fortunately for Ron and Clyde, they had put a great deal of distance between themselves and Spazz by the time he was finished beating Eugene to death. Nevertheless, as the two mortified pair of friends fled and used their head start to their advantage, Spazz was hot on their trail and would end up making quick work of the distance between him and his victims. The two remaining deer were out of sight but much to their misfortune, Spazz took advantage of his host's keen sense of smell which he would use to track them down before torturing and killing them.
"Ha! Hide and slaughter!" Spazz chuckled as he searched for his victims whom he saw as no more than toys to perform his sick, twisted acts upon. "I love it! Ready or not, you're fucking dead!"
Ron and Clyde had two choices to make in their attempt to escape from their friend turned killer. They could either split up and hope that he would go after the other first or stick together and try their best to get out alive by each other's side. The two deer chose the latter as they kept running as fast as their legs could carry them and once they reached the South-Eastern outskirts of Pripyat, they could take a moment to actually think straight. They were short on time to spend searching for a place to hide and even shorter on buildings to use for such purposes. If they were to even have a fighting chance of survival, they would have to make a decision very quickly. They would either need to keep running for their lives even though they were nearing exhaustion or make a dash into one of the buildings in the large industrial lot they found themselves in. Much to their dismay however, they would have no choice but one as Ron suddenly felt a painful burning sensation on his side and within moments, Clyde experienced the same.
Within seconds of feeling the sudden burst of burning pain in his side, Ron dropped to the ground in a quickly growing puddle of his own blood. Horrified, Clyde glanced over to the North to see the source of his comrade's distress casually trotting towards them with smoke wafting off of his horn. Though the fact that their adversary coming towards them was hard to ignore, the pain on his side was nearly impossible for Clyde as he looked down to see a large wound with blood running out at an alarming rate. Glancing back down at his wounded friend, Clyde finally realized that Spazz must have fired a thermal energy beam which struck Ron first which then went clean through and hit him.
"Nice shot, eh?" Spazz chuckled after blowing the smoke off of Radius's horn.
Clyde could feel himself getting weaker by the second as more and more blood flowed out of his large wound though still, he thought of his friend Ron. Much to his dismay however, Clyde looked down to see his friend with his eyes open and lying completely motionless. Knowing that Ron was dead as the blast had gone straight through his heart, Clyde applied pressure to his wound with a hoof and bolted towards the nearest building. In his badly wounded state, the last remaining deer of the local herd that he and his closest friends made up, hobbled into the nearest door he could get his hooves on and stumbled inside as his last ditch effort to escape.
This building that Clyde aimlessly staggered into as he began losing a dangerous amount of blood was none other than the home of Chernobyl's Reactor Number Four. With the massive gaping hole still wide open exposing the nuclear waste within to the environment as construction on the sarcophagus had not begun yet, it was Clyde's only hope for survival. Unfortunately for him, his effort to stay alive was in vain as losing as much blood as he was clouded his judgment and caused him to completely forget about the fresh crimson trail he was leaving behind.
Shining Armor's ghostly form was close behind the mutated Radius whose body was being controlled by his alter ego and once he followed behind the gentle pony turned psychotic killer into the building, he could get a good, long look into the eyes of the monster. Spazz paused for a moment as his glowing red eyes followed the similarly colored trail allowing Shining Armor to step in front of him and really see the inner demon that made the innocent physics geek out to look like pure evil. Though he was an observer in nothing but a memory, Shining Armor could feel every hair on his body stand on end and even feel the unshaven stubble on his face grow as another, more recent memory came back to him. What he was looking at were the eyes of the one who he caught trying to take advantage of Rainbow Dash and then attempted to murder both of them. The eyes he was looking into however were not that of Radius Hoofenshtov, who would soon come to terms with the fact that his body was used to commit such heinous acts. Even the modern day Radius who was also watching knew little of the actual details of what he did to his friends that day and in all honesty, he would rather have not known at all; especially what was to come next.
Spazz followed Clyde's blood trail through a few dark hallways but it did not take him long to find his victim lying on the floor with his hoof pressed onto his wound as he tried to stifle the bleeding as much as he could. In the far end of the massive room was none other than the destroyed fourth reactor to this day emitting an eerie glow from the several tons of uranium and plutonium that remained down inside. To most living creatures, just being in the room would kill them within minutes but to Spazz's host and his bleeding victim, it was nothing more than a little extra heat to them.
Clyde shuddered as Spazz trotted towards him before stopping right in his tracks much to Shining Armor's confusion. It was the look on the psychopath's face that indicated that instead of simply finishing Clyde off, he was about to put an idea so foul into place that to see would scar the toughest of ponies for life. After taking a few steps back, Spazz ripped a metal tube off from the wall and bent it until it broke open revealing several rubber coated, copper wires inside. It was unclear at first what Spazz was doing but as he pulled several wires out of the tube, used his teeth to strip the rubber coating off each end before finally wrapping one end around his horn, it became obvious. Remembering that Radius used his horn as a power source for his radio and television, Shining Armor's heart sank as he realized what Spazz was about to do to the dying deer that lay on the cold hard floor. With sparks flying from the wires on Radius's horn, Spazz casually trotted over to Clyde before prodding his victim's neck with the electrifying torture implement.
Clyde screamed and squeaked in agony while Spazz repeatedly zapped him with the bare copper wires. Over and over again, Spazz would jab the ends of the wires into Clyde's body all the while laughing like the sick maniac he was. Shining Armor once again covered his eyes as he wept at the brutal scene that played out before him which seemed to continue on for several minutes until finally, no more sounds came from Clyde. Shining Armor reluctantly uncovered his eyes to see Spazz standing over his final victim, the latter's eyes rolled back into his head and his body smoldering like a cigar. Though Clyde was bloody and burned, he was finally at peace and would suffer no more.
"Now you see what I've done..." Radius's voice said as Shining Armor's watched Clyde's blood form a large puddle under his lifeless body. "I could never forgive myself..."
"You're not the one who did it!" Shining Armor yelled out. "It wasn't you! That was some kind of...th-that was...you were being controlled!"
"I know...Yeah, I know it wasn't actually me who did this. I'm sickened by what I just saw and I never knew the details of what happened...but I was careless...I allowed it to happen."
"No! It's not your fau-"
"What have you done!?" A voice screamed behind Shining Armor.
Shining Armor then turned around to see a distraught, sobbing Radius trembling with his normal emerald green eyes as he held the mangled body of his friend who was murdered by his own hooves. Suddenly, Radius's eyes tightly shut as he dropped Clyde's body back onto the floor. As quickly as they closed, his eyes opened again, the evil, red glow of Spazz returning.
"Heheheheh. What have you done?" Spazz chuckled. "And just who the hell told you you could come back out? Get back in ther-RRRR!"
Radius's green eyes returned.
"No! You just made me kill my only friends you bastard! If bringing you down means I have to kill myself, then I will! I'll never let you hurt anyone again! Never!"
Spazz returned, bringing the red glow in his eyes with him.
"And just what do you plan on doing about it!? You're mine! This is my body now and I'll get revenge on the world for what it did to us! Nay, what it did to me! You can keel over in the back of my mind for all I care!"
Radius's gentle green eyes returned.
"The radiation!"
Spazz's red eyes made a comeback.
"What the...shut the fuck up! There's nothing you can do! You're body is mine! You hear me!?"
The green eyes of Radius returned.
"The hell it is, you scumbag!! That's not who I am!! I'll never let you do this to anyone ever again!! This is my body and you can't control me!!"
Radius then took several steps towards a nearby staircase where he intended to put an end to Spazz's maniacal rampage and keep others from being harmed by his own hooves. At first, it seemed like Radius had total control but after a moment, he seemed to struggle almost as if he was being physically held back by someone. That was when, the red glow made a brief return and by the sound of things, Radius was onto something as his theory of radiation absorption being the answer seemed to be proven correct.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing!?" Spazz shouted. "You'll regret this! I'll make you curse the day you were born! I'll destroy everypony you've ever loved!"
Again, Radius regained control and continued his hike down the stairs as Shining Armor followed.
"NEVER!" Radius screamed. "I'll stay and die here before I let you lay a hoof on anyone! If I have to live here for the rest of my life to keep others safe then...so be it!"
Radius proceeded to trot down the stairs that lead to a lower corridor underneath the reactor that ruined his life and took those of his human friends just over a year ago at this point. The further down he went, the easier it seemed to maintain control of his own mind and body. At this point, he knew for sure what he had to do to keep the sadistic side of himself locked away and he was ready and willing to sacrifice his own well being and quality of his life for the sake of keeping others safe. When he neared the bottom of the staircase, he set his sights on the many hardened blobs of uranium that he would use to keep Spazz's blood lust at bay. It was when he trotted towards a particular massive blob that the now badly weakened Spazz made a final effort to regain control of his host.
"We could have worked together, you know." Spazz said as his red eyes glowed. "Come one, let's talk about this, huh?"
"I've already let you say enough, let alone cause enough suffering." Radius spat in disgust as his green eyes returned for a moment.
Shining Armor watched as Radius battled a side born of his own self and made his way over to the massive, gray blob now known as the elephant's foot. It was in its most fresh and highly radioactive state as it had just formed under the reactor a year ago and had plenty more to give for many years to come. Spazz and Radius both waged a war in the mutated unicorn body they both vied for control of as the latter dragged himself over to the toxic stone while the former tried with all his might to drag him back.
"You haven't seen the last of me..." Spazz said through his teeth as they approached the foot. "I swear, I'll be back. You can't keep me locked in the back of your mind forever. I'm part of you. Nay, I am you!"
Radius took another few steps towards the elephant's foot before giving Spazz his last two bits.
"Fuck you, you son of a bitch." Radius said as he jabbed his horn into the once molten blob of radioactive stone.
Smoke wafted off Radius's horn and the part of the stone where the two came in contact and soon, sparks began flying in every conceivable direction. Radius huffed and puffed as he strained while his horn and the top of the stone began glowing cherry red. The glow in the ailing mutant's eyes flickered between red and green as the war waged on between the two entities who fought for control of one body that could and should only be home to one of them. Much to the fortune of the morally righteous and good natured Radius, it would seem as though he would emerge the victor...for now.
"I'LL BE BAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaack!!" Spazz shrieked as he fizzled out into the back of Radius's subconscious.
It all made sense now to Shining Armor as he observed Radius collapsing to the floor in a sobbing mess with a mixture of relief and the cold reality that his only friends were gone. The only solace for the heartbroken mutant who looked back on the old memory he was reliving was that they at least knew that it was not him who brought about their violent and bloody demise. Finally, Spazz was firmly locked away inside Radius's mind where he could no longer cause the magnitude of suffering that he had just finished moments ago and from here on, the mutated unicorn knew what he needed to do to keep him there.
For Shining Armor, everything just seemed to click into place as everything he saw before suddenly made perfect sense. It was difficult at first to understand how such a morally good pony could suddenly lose his mind and attempt to lay waste to any other living creature he could get his hooves on but after seeing Radius's memory, Shining Armor knew. He could finally truly understand as it takes a special kind of pony to be able to sacrifice their own happiness and well being to keep others safe and it was quite obvious that Radius Hoofenschtov was a true hero.
"I get it..." Shining Armor said as he stifled more tears. "It all makes sense now."
"Somepony to understand me is all I could ever ask for." Radius's voice whimpered as he too was close to weeping again. "All these years, I've been trapped here because I wanted to protect others from my own self. After this happened, I knew I needed to absorb radiation to keep Spazz locked up. At first, I only had to do it every three days but as time went on, a dose would last less and less time and I've had to move my home closer to ground zero until finally, I would end up living right above it."
"Why? Why didn't you tell us?"
"I...I wanted to but I didn't know how. I've always had issues with explaining things like this and I though that showing you was the only way. It's...typical of those with Asperger's. A weakness of mine."
"Okay, so suppose it was your body that killed those men while you were being controlled. The real you wouldn't have done that. Either way you look at it, I say you're innocent."
"Innocent as in not actually being me who killed them...but guilty for being careless enough to allow it to happen. Well, we're gonna head to the next memory now. Shouldn't be too many more to go."
Once again, just like the several times before, everything slowly went dark until all that could be seen was an empty, pitch black abyss. Even more slowly, the light gradually returned and before long, Shining Armor could tell that he was now standing on a sidewalk on an empty street. Judging by the presence of the large amount of foliage growing through cracks in the asphalt and the vines snaking their way up the sides of the buildings, it was during the summertime approximately a decade or so after Chernobyl's meltdown.
Shining Armor stood in the same spot for several minutes as he glanced about at his surroundings with no Radius or anypony else in sight. The streets of Pripyat have been quiet for many years and though the sun shined brightly from the beautiful blue sky, the silence was eerie nearly to the point where Shining Armor could feel the unshaven stubble on his face expedite its growth. Not a single bird sang nor insect buzzed about and the leaves on the trees lay completely motionless as there was no wind to speak of. Shining Armor had no idea what to expect and the unsettling silence did nothing to help however, he was just about to learn the meaning of the memory he was now in.
FLOP!
A startled Shining Armor was jarred out of his concentration on his surroundings by what sounded like three hundred pounds of dead weight falling from a building and hitting the sidewalk a mere few feet behind him. He then whipped around to see the source of the din and the reason for him bearing witness to this particular memory lying motionless and face down on the hard, crumbling concrete. Laying in a superficial indentation he had just created on the ground was a fully mutated Radius after having fallen from a great height. For a minute or two, he lay there as Shining Armor stared in both awe and confusion until slowly, he casually lifted himself out out the indent and arose to his hooves. After glancing over his body to find nothing more than a few scrapes and bruises with no serious injuries or broken bones to speak of, the frustrated mutant plopped his rear on the ground and sighed.
"Radius?" Shining Armor asked wistfully as he already knew the answer to his next question. "Did you just...try to ki-"
"Kill myself?" Radius's voice finished. "Yes. This was one of my dozens of suicide attempts and it was then that I realized that there was no escaping this hell. These mutations made my bones unbreakable. I tried all kinds of things to off myself. I tried drowning myself in the cooling pond and got bored after holding my breath for six hours. I even found out that my body is flame retardant when I tried setting myself on fire. You name it, I've tried it."
"A lot of the other stuff we saw before was pretty sick but this is just downright depressing."
"I know, Shining, I know. Look, this memory is't all that important, we don't have to stick around for this."
"I couldn't agree more. Let's get outta here."
At this point, it had become a routine as both Shining Armor and his host were well prepared for the transition as everything again slowly faded away. What the two were not prepared for however was how instead of giving way to darkness, a bright white light from some of the better. more pleasant memories took over. Shining Armor and his host anxiously waited with high hopes as the light gradually subsided revealing a memory that Radius felt as if it occurred only moments ago and for the first time in over two decades gave him great pride and a boost to his self esteem. What Shining Armor and Radius were witnessing before them was a standoff between the latter and five grotesque mutant wolves much like the former encountered before.
Upon closer observation, Shining Armor noticed that there lay a battered and unconscious man on the ground just behind an unharmed Radius as he stood his ground against his five equally as bruised and bloody foes. The man on the ground looked oddly familiar to Shining Armor and he could tell that he must have been a local security guard as he sported a dark green uniform similar to all of the other guards and his matching cap lay on the ground just a few feet away. Just next to the cap lay the man's only means of defense in the form of a puny, under-powered .380 pistol that was standard issue by the exclusion zone authorities. Such a low level firearm would not be nearly enough against a single normal sized wolf, let alone five of them the size of living room sofas.
"Now back off!" Radius shouted at the wolves. "If you pricks think I'm gonna sit idly by and let you attack innocent people, you're dead wrong!"
"I can't believe we're losing to this fucking bleeding heart!" The largest wolf who was nearly the size of a European car complained as he spat blood from his mouth.
"You can end it right now, Bolnoyvolk. I've given you plenty of chances, but it's still not too late to just walk away."
"Do you even have any goddamn clue what's going on here!? The humans are planning on building some kind of arch over the reactor! You need the radiation just as much as we do, eediot!"
"The whole world will be in danger if that sarcophagus collapses into that reactor! Is that what you want!? For this whole planet to suffer like we have!? Not if I have anything to say abou-"
"I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOUUUUUUUU!!!"
Without warning, the largest wolf named Bolnoyvolk sprang up and charged after Radius at full speed with intentions on tearing apart the hero and the passed out man in his fit of blind fury. Shining Armor and today's Radius watched the massive mutated wolf sprint after the latter's old self as he stood there not moving from the spot his hooves were seemingly glued to. As the events seemed to unfold in slow motion, Radius just stood by the injured man's side with an expression on his face that Shining Armor would never have expected to see in a time like this and it confused him immensely. As the giant wolf barreled towards Radius, the mutated unicorn did not hold the look of fear nor of anger or anxious anticipation, but a bemused expression of mild annoyance.
"Watch this!" Radius's voice said to Shining Armor. "This is one of my favorite memories."
Just as Bolnoyvolk closed in on his enemy in the form of the mutated unicorn that was half his size, Radius put his own plan into action by teleporting with a flicker of his horn. The massive wolf then screeched to a halt to gather his bearings and find out where his foe had teleported off to just to find out his location the hard way which was now crashing down on top of his head, back hooves first. The other four wolves watched in awe as the largest member of their pack was knocked to the ground with great force and the pony whom inflicted the damage did not stop there.
"Holy crap!" Shining Armor gasped as he watched the Radius from the past fight like a professional. "You never told me you could fight like that!"
"Ha ha ha! You learn to hold your own when you spend twenty-five years in a place like this! Radius's voice chuckled. "I only wish you could have seen how I kicked their asses when you and Rainbow Dash were in trouble!"
"Wait, twenty-five? I thought you were here for thirty years."
"I was. What we're watching here happened about five years ago."
Still the fight raged on between Radius and the wolf that was the size of a Volkswagen Beetle and with a substantial advantage in agility, the former was the one landing all the blows. This was a one sided battle as Bolnoyvolk just could not seem to get a hit or get his jaws or paws around the throat of his opponent and each and every attempt was met with either a solid hoof to the side or a hard buck to the snout. All the while, the other four battered wolves watched their comrade get pummeled repeatedly by the now seasoned veteran whom has seen and done things that would kill even the toughest of creatures with fear alone. Finally, after several minutes of Radius dodging attacks from Bolnoyvolk and the latter missing with every attempt to land a hit, the mutant unicorn made his final move.
Shining Armor watched with glossy eyes in admiration as he watched his host from five years ago raise his back legs and buck Bolnoyvolk in the jaw with all the strength he could physically muster and sent the massive beast flying. The now badly battered Bolnoyvolk hit the ground with a sold thud and tumbled right into the waiting paws of his comrades who knew all too well that the fight was over and any more fruitless attempts to bring the unicorn down would be entirely pointless. As the dazed Bolnoyvolk slowly came to and began to gather himself, he decided to offer Radius a few choice words before he realized that he had lost more than just the battle. Much more.
"Thiff ivm't omer! We'll bwe mack amd we...haa?!" Bolnoyvolk began before cutting himself off as he realized something had gone awry with his speech. Fearing the absolute worst, the injured wolf placed his paws over his mouth for a moment and proceeded to feel around. With his paws in the left side of his jaw, he felt nothing but his tender, bleeding gums with only the remains of a few broken teeth to speak of. He then switched his paws over to the right side of his jaw and found much of the same. Finally, he pulled his shaky paws out of his mouth and looked down to see several shards of his broken pearly whites resting in the little pools of blood that formed in his paws.
"Mah teef!!" Bolnoyvolk shouted before straining to crawl his broken body over to Radius in a pathetic attempt to attack him. "I'll breash ever bome im your body! I'm gomma tear outcher fuggin' wim pipe!"
"Let it go, comrade." Another wolf said as he placed his paw on Bolnoyvolk's shoulder to hold him back. "It's not worth it. He's just gonna kill us if we keep this up, now let's get out of here."
"He's right, Bolnoyvolk." Another spoke up as he too tried to hold his pack member back from causing himself further harm. "He's won, okay? Let's just quit while we're ahead."
"Your friends are wise, Bolnoyvolk." Radius said as he resumed standing by the side of the unconscious man. "Now leave. And If I ever catch you guys attacking a human again, I won't go so easy on you."
The wolf pack promptly headed Radius's warning and turned around to return home and tend to their wounds while two of them paused for a moment to lift their most severely injured comrade up to help him limp home while they supported him. Radius leered at them as he cautiously watched them limp away until finally, they were out of sight and he could finish attending to the injured man he had just saved. The sun was slowly disappearing over the horizon as it would soon be dark so Radius needed to make a decision quickly. As he sat for a moment tapping his chin with one of his mutated hooves as he pondered his next course of action, he realized that there would most certainly be a few risks involved.
Firstly, what worried Radius the most was the unpredictability his time limit between his radiation doses as he simply refused to allow the unconscious security guard to become another statistic of his alter ego. Secondly, he knew that soon, the man's colleagues would surely be searching for him once they realized he had not returned to his post and that would just put the rest of them in danger. The dark was approaching very quickly so Radius needed to make his decision now. As gently as he possibly could, as to avoid further injury to the already badly beaten, short, somewhat heavier set man in his mid fifties, he picked him up and placed him on his back and made a beeline for the safest spot near the outskirts of Pripyat he could think of. Shining Armor followed close behind.
After a good twenty minutes or so of slowly trotting towards an area where he knew the exclusion zone security guards often frequented, Radius would soon encounter a new problem that could make or break his attempt to save the life of the man on his back. The mutated unicorn began noticing several clumps of hair that did not belong to him falling onto his neck causing him to itch. For a moment he thought little of it but soon it just clicked and he pulled the man off his back to confirm his worst possible fears. The unconscious man was being poisoned by the very creature trying to save him causing his hair to fall out at an alarming rate.
"Oh shit!" Radius cursed as he frantically looked around for any signs of other security guards. "I can't just leave him here but if I carry him for much longer, the radiation from my body will fry him!"
Radius was stuck in a situation where either course of action he could take could lead to the man's safety or his death if he made a single wrong move and time was not on either of their sides. As bleak as the circumstances seemed however, Radius and the wounded man were at last about to get the break they needed much to the former's relief. Radius's ears perked up as he could just pick up the faint whirring of an electric motor and the thumping of air filled rubber tires, one of them sounding slightly low on air pressure going over potholes. As he stared off into the distance in the direction he could hear the sound coming from, he quickly put a simple plan into action.
Thinking quickly, Radius gently laid the man on the ground and propped him up against a tree stump as the sound of the mystery vehicle drew closer and closer still. The foliage was very thick in each and every direction so the sound of the motor was nearly on top of Radius until he retreated into some bushes several yards away where he would stay to watch. He did not want to leave the man's side until he knew for certain that he was in good hands so he would make sure his colleagues picked him up and rendered the aid he would need. After several seconds that seemed like an eternity, serenity in the form of an electric golf cart with two men on it came speeding around a nearby street corner.
Just like the unconscious man, the two men on the golf cart both donned similar dark green uniforms and judging by their speed of both their driving and them sweeping their spotlights from side to side, that they were on a mission. Radius continued to watch with great anticipation as the vehicle made its way towards where he set the injured guard down. It was when Radius observed the bright light reach the very spot and heard the screech of the golf cart skidding to a halt that he could breath a sweet sigh of relief. Shining Armor was observing the whole scene from a mere few feet away and stared at Radius with admiration as he had just witnessed once again more proof that his host was a hero.
"There he is!" One of the security guards gasped as he and his comrade jumped out of the vehicle to render aid. "Denys! Jesus Christ man, are you alright!?"
"Denys! Hey!" The other guard hollered as he gently shook his injured colleague by the shoulder. "Come on man, say something! Speak to me!"
"Uhhhg...ow, my head..." The man named Denys groaned as he slowly woke up in a daze. "Ahhh crud, what the...where am I? What happened?"
"Comrade, can you stand? Here, on your feet. Let's get you outta here to a doctor." The first guard said
"Good god man, your hair!" The second guard exclaimed as he noticed Denys's hair falling out in large clumps.
"Wha...? Wha-what about my hair? What's wrong?" Denys said as he placed a hand on top of his quickly smoothing head. "Ohhh...okay, that does it. From now on, I'm taking bus duty. I've had enough of this nonsense."
"Hey! That's the guy who drove us all in on the bus!" Shining Armor gasped at the sudden realization as the three men quickly sped away in the golf cart. "You saved Denys?"
"For the first time in years, I was actually proud of myself." Radius's voice whimpered. "I think we've only got one left. Let's get this over with."
For what Radius expected to be the last time, everything in sight faded to black which would from prior experience indicate that an unpleasant memory was in store. After a moment of standing in the black void, the light slowly returned in the form of an empty hallway inside a building. The particular hallway however seemed oddly familiar to Shining Armor whom could have sworn that he had been there before and recently as well. He was just about to find out exactly how recently and precisely why it was so familiar and when a scream from a nearby room broke the silence, the events all came back as freshly as they had happened.
"Nooo! Get off me!" A mare in distress screamed. "Help meee!"
Shining Armor's pupils swelled up, filling his eyes in their entirety as the sudden realization hit him. He sprinted down the hallway to the room where he heard the screaming and when he skidded to a stop in the doorway, sure enough he saw exactly what he dreaded. In the corner of the otherwise empty room was a mutated Radius under the full control of his sadistic alter ego with Rainbow Dash underneath him as he pinned her to the floor and attempted to take advantage of her. Shining Armor shivered in horror as he watched his friend try with all her might to push her attacker away and the genuine look of terror on her face was almost enough to urge the observing unicorn to intervene. Though it was just a memory and he knew that the events had happened days ago, Shining Armor had difficulty watching even though he knew what would transpire next. Fortunately, the attack would be ended promptly by a figure that bolted straight through the observer's ghostly form.
"Oof!" Radius grunted as Shining Armor saw his own self from days prior bash the mutant over the head with a lead pipe.
"You were the hero in this one, Shining." Radius's voice said in the background. "If you hadn't hit me on the head, my body would have been used to defile Rainbow Dash's. If I-
"Spazz." Shining Armor corrected. "It wasn't you trying to rape her, it was Spazz trying to rape both of you."
"Uh...I guess if you wanna look at it that way. Okay, if Spazz had succeeded and penetrated her, the damage would have been done and there would have been nothing we could have done to fix it. You stepped in not a moment too soon."
"Look, we know, we get it. Radius, I know you think this sounds fucked up but don't blame yourself. It wasn't your fault. Trust me, I know enough about mind control."
"But it is! It was my carelessness! My negligence! I knew the risks but I let my desire to talk to somepony get in the way! I *hic* I allo-*sniff* I allowed it to happen!"
Suddenly, the air began to wave and the intensity increased with every second Radius experienced an emotional meltdown. To see from an outside perspective himself on top of the first pony he had talked to in thirty years as he tried to thrust his erect member into her against her will was enough to push him over the edge.
"Radius, stay with me, okay? Just calm down, deep breaths! Please, don't cry! It wasn't your fault!"
"Noohohoho! I allowed it *hic* to happen! I let it happen, it's all my fauhahahault!"
"Radius, buddy, get a hold of yourself! It'l okay, I promise, Everything's gonna be okay! Please, just relax! What the...what's happening!?"
Instead of fading to dark or being taken over by a blinding white light like the other transitions, the air continued to wave much like heat rising from asphalt on a hot summer day though much more intense. Seeming how this has not happened before during any of the memories that Radius shared with Shining Armor, the latter was becoming quite anxious. Radius continued sobbing uncontrollably so his lack of emotional control was of no help. Soon however, a familiar sight of everything in sight being consumed by an empty black abyss but the serenity of it was short lived as once the last bit of light ceased, Shining Armor experienced the terror of falling into a seemingly bottomless pit. Shining Armor screamed as he could feel no solid ground underneath his hooves and continued to tumble down into what seemed like absolutely nothing. Still Radius continued his emotional meltdown and the sound of his sobbing and hyperventilating echoed off in the distance but the further Shining Armor fell, the more it faded away until finally, an empty, black void with no sound completely took over.
"All my fault..."
"All my fault..."
"All my fault..."
"Shining Armor! Are you okay?!" A familiar female voice said.
"Jeez, that spell musta knocked 'em both out!" A male voice with a country drawl said as Shining Armor's sense of hearing slowly returned. "Y'all holdin' up alright?"
"Gahh!" Shining Armor gasped as he sprang awake.
Curious and rather anxious regarding what would occur in the next memory, Shining Armor's focus darted around a large room and much to his relief, all of his friends who were still in their hazmat suits were standing around. Upon further observation, he could tell that he too was still wearing his own hazmat suit and they were all in Radius's current home in a tower in the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant. Radius himself did not fare any better as he too was briefly rendered unconscious by the delicate memory spell but he soon awoke while Soarin and Big Macintosh both helped him get up to his hooves.
"How long did we have our horns together?" Shining Armor asked.
"About ten seconds, give or take." Daring Do replied.
"So?" Rainbow Dash asked. "What did you see?"
"You wanna know what I saw?" Shining Armor asked. "You all will never truly understand unless you saw it the way I did."
"What? What was it?" Spitfire asked anxiously.
"I learned so much about Radius...his family, his struggles in life. I learned what a kind and selfless pony he truly is. I saw true pain...real, indescribable suffering that this poor pony had to endure for thirty years. Then, I saw what happened to bring about that...that other creature that took him over...what he's had to do to himself and all the sacrifices he's had to make to keep that part of himself locked away...Denys, the guy who drove us all here on that bus is alive because of him...and most of all...I saw more than enough proof that Radius Hoofenschtov is innocent."
"So he's clear? He didn't kill those men?" Soarin asked.
"I didn't actually get anything really obvious shoved in my face but...well, the memories we searched through were all big deals in Radius's life and we actually found one that he didn't actually remember because he was being controlled by..."
"Like, his alter ego or something?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Spazz." Radius said as he slowly came out of his daze. "Hence the term 'spazzing out' that I used before. He's a completely different personality that developed within me out of my repressed anger and hatred towards the world for what happened to me. I could never really have anyone to blame for what I've been through and It's against my nature to wish harm on others. It's just not...me. That's not who I am and it's what I refuse to become."
"Tell us more about this Spazz guy." Spitfire said.
"He's a sick, sadistic killer with absolutely zero empathy and compassion for others and he's completely incapable of remorse. He's also the one who used my body to murder the only friends I had during my time here. If I satisfy my body's dependency on radiation, I can keep him away. If I go too long without it...well, Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor saw with their own eyes. It's true, I myself wasn't actually looking through my own eyes when he sort of...pushed me onto her but I was careless enough to forget about my radiation dose."
"Either way, I know for a fact that you're innocent." Shining Armor reassured. "If we could see memories from when Spazz took you over, then we would have seen it if you killed those workers. You didn't do it, Radius."
"Of course he didn't do it, you little twit." Said a snarky voice from just outside the entrance to the room.
Everypony turned to face the source of the voice of whom made all their manes stand on end and their pupils shrink to the size of pin pricks. Slowly walking into the room were two of the many radioactive wolves that live in the area and like all the others, they dwarfed even Big Macintosh by a least two solid feet in height and were at least twice as long. The mere sight of them and the hideous bony spines jutting out of their backs, their red eyes and glowing green tongues turned the deep, masculine voice of the big farm pony into faint little squeaks.
"See that line on the floor?" Radius asked the wolves as he pointed at a strip of tape on the floor directly in front of them. "Cross that and I end both of you right where you stand. Now state your business."
"Relax. We're just here to deliver a message." The slightly larger wolf assured.
"And what would that be?"
"You'll be happy to hear that you in fact didn't kill those guys." The shorter wolf said, causing Radius's ears to perk up.
"Go on, I'm listening."
"The one who did wants to have a word with you."
Though everypony knew that Radius was normally a gentle, mild mannered pony and the only way to see him behave violently was for his alter ego to take over, their ears all folded back at the look on his face as he slowly trotted towards the unexpected visitors. His body's glow increased in brightness and intensity tenfold as every hair on his body stood on end. His eyes were still his normal emerald green but even the two wolves could see the fire of pure anger burning in his eyes as he stared the larger one down mere inches from his muzzle. Though he was mutated, to see a pony strike fear in the heart of a massive wolf as a cold sweat dripped down his back was truly awe inspiring. With the wolf's ears folded back and his next bathroom break sure to be expedited, Radius asked a simple, three word question that poured through his clenched teeth in a cold, raspy battle hardened voice that nearly made both wolves faint.
"I just wanna have a talk with him..." Radius assured his group of new friends as they followed him to where the wolves told him to meet their leader. "...right before I cave his skull in and do the same thing he did to those men."
"This has ambush written all over it." Daring Do said.
"I'm gonna have to agree with her." Shining Armor said. "I've seen my fair share of those."
"You just saw me take on five huge wolves at one time." Radius countered. "I think I've proven that I can hold my own well enough."
"And just whatcha try'na prove this time, pardner?" Big Macintosh nervously asked.
"I'm trying to serve justice and redeem myself. Now you all need to quit following me, okay? Shit's about to go down."
Radius was on a mission and was set on serving justice to the one responsible for the deaths of the three murdered construction workers who were found by the search team as they lay disemboweled. Everypony else had their own serious doubts about the idea of the pony they searched for their entire time in the exclusion zone going off to confront some creature that was capable of such atrocious acts. Still, the mutated unicorn's mind was made up so he would stand to hear none of anypony's reasoning against his plans and much to their frustration, he picked up his speed to shake everypony off his trail. Contrary to his seemingly confident attitude, Radius knew that what he was getting into was far too dangerous for the rest of them to be involved in and as far as he was concerned, he too could very well die within the hour.
Though the group slowed their pace and increased their distance between themselves and Radius, they continued to follow much to the latter's annoyance and despite his repeated requests to cease. As far as they were concerned, he was still their primary objective and until Princess Celestia returned to give an order, they were not about to let him out of their sight. Still Radius pressed on Northbound, his brow furrowed and his acid producing salivary glands overacting, leaving deadly puddles in his wake for everypony else to avoid stepping in. The mutated unicorn was on a mission and nothing was going to stand in his way if he had anything to say about it.
Meanwhile...
"So what exactly is your plan, Princess?" Frederick asked as he cautiously peeked his head out of a bush that he and Celestia hid in.
"To find my subjects including Radius and neutralize whatever threatens their well being if necessary." Celestia replied as she scoped their surroundings with binoculars. "Oh, by the way, thank you for coming with me. I'm going to need all the help I can get."
"Eh, whatever. I just wanted to see some action."
"Action? That's it? No other reason?"
"Okay, okay, Shiny Guy is kinda cool I guess. He and I talked for a while over drinks other night."
"See? Us wimpy little ponies are alright after all."
"Well, I've got a reputation to maintain so this conversation never happened."
"What conversation?"
"Good. Alright, lead the way and stay alert. No telling where something may be hiding and waiting to ambush."
"I'm thousands of years old and I've lead an entire nation to war more times than bullets you've fired off in your whole lifetime. I think I can take on whatever little pipsqueaks think they can so much as look at me funny, the way I'm feeling right now."
"Alright, now that's what I'm talking about! Hey, try the two ways again. We might be within range of the others by now."
After nearly an hour of power trotting without a single break in between, Radius finally reached the exact location that the two wolves acting as messengers told him to meet their pack leader. He wanted nothing to do with any risk of harm coming to the team who spent over a week searching for him so he teleported far ahead of them when he noticed that they were still following him. After finding himself content with the distance he had put between himself and the others, he continued on but little did he know that they saw the flash of his reappearance in the distance. Still not giving in, once the team quickly reached the spot where they saw the flash, they found that they were fortunate enough to have a trail to follow in the form of the small, smoldering, sizzling pools of Radius's acid saliva.
Though the group had a trail to follow, they were tired and sore from over a week of very little sleep in uncomfortable conditions, searching an entire city for Radius, and occasional radiation exposure. If that was not enough, many of them experienced a traumatic event one way or another. Be it an attack from a mutant fish the size of a truck, a run in with a vicious gang-like pack of wolves or the sudden discovery of a mutilated human corpse, everypony had been through much great hardship in their time in Pripyat. With their energy and stamina running low along with the many scrapes and bruises their tired bodies had sustained, at this point, it was sheer will and determination that kept them going.
"He...o? Ca...nypo...co..in..." A familiar muffled female voice crackled over the what remaining radios the team had left.
"Is that who I think it is?" Daring do asked.
"Plea..ome in! Is ev...ony alright?! Hello?"
"Auntie!" Shining Armor exclaimed as he levitated his radio unit out of his saddlebag as they all continued to gallop. "Where are you?"
"Shining! Oh, we're finally within range! Frederick and I are heading back up to our base! Is everypony with you?
"Yeah except for Twiley but she's meeting some guys at the checkpoint! We're not actually at the base right now but we're not too far away from it. We found Radius but now he's gone off to pick a fight with the wolf pack! We tried to stop him but he's made up his mind!"
"Damn...Hang on a second..."
"Hey, Shining, this is Frederick." Fredrick said after being given the floor by Celestia. "Where are you guys?"
"We're heading North right now..." Shining Armor began. "...and by the looks of it, we're gonna be a bit west of the base! There are some schools and daycare centers where we are if that helps."
"Okay, I know exactly where you are then. Listen carefully, I need you guys to follow Radius but keep your distance and keep a low profile. The local wolves don't want us in Pripyat and they've got the road blocked off so the army can't get trucks in. Once Radius gets to where he's going, stop and wait and keep back. If he's thinking of fighting these other mutant freaks, it could get messy and if you get too close, you'll just get caught in crossfire. Understand?"
"Find out where he is but keep our distance! Got it!"
"Da, just find a good spot to lay low and we'll find you. We'll get what you all came for done in next hour. We'll get Radius to cooperate one way or another."
With the help of Frederick whom has seen plenty of combat and knew the area better than anyone else, everypony continued on to where Radius had ran off to in order to locate him and await further orders. Still though, he and Princess Celestia were just within radio range so they were still a fair amount of distance away from the rest of the team. If the soldier and the Princess were to find their comrades before the real danger does, they would have no choice but to head towards their location with much haste. Meanwhile, the primary target whom of which was the very reason for the group having left their home to work so hard to search for was just arriving at his own rendezvous and not far away from finding the trouble he sought after himself.
Radius had gotten to know every single nook and cranny of the city after spending thirty years unable to leave it so he already had a picture of the precise location painted in his mind. He arrived at the specified location in the form of a gymnasium of the local youth recreational center. Anxious to see who it was who had asked him to show up, Radius used his aura to pull open one of the heavy double doors before trotting in. The mutated unicorn knew that a fight would soon take place and he was confident in his abilities to defeat whatever foe may come his way so he turned around to face the door with his horn aglow. Using his now smoldering horn glowing a bright cherry red, Radius pressed it against the small gaps between the doors and began to melt the metal firmly welding them shut. Now, whoever he was to come up against could not easily escape; nor could he.
The inside of the gymnasium was dark and the floor covered in a thick layer of dust all except for a few spots directly under small holes in the ceiling where rain leaked through and formed puddles. Much to be expected after thirty years of absolutely no maintenance. Nevertheless, Radius was ready to serve justice and make the one responsible for the murders of the three construction workers pay for their atrocities. Much to his confusion however, the mystery being who had arranged the rendezvous was nowhere to be seen which both disappointed and aroused suspicion. Every conceivable possible scenario went through the mind of the unicorn who was more than ready to tear someone apart.
Perhaps, the perpetrator had gotten cold feet and fled in fear. Perhaps instead, Shining Armor's theory of an ambush was soon to be proven correct. Maybe they just simply had not arrived yet and were running late. Regardless, Radius was in the mood for some action that he had grown quite accustomed to as fights between he and other local creatures were quite common. Fortunately for the search team whom still sought for his safe return home however, they were able to quickly locate their target's rendezvous point as the trail of acid had come to an end just outside the still smoldering door.
"Uhh, I think he's sealed himself in." Daring Do said as she closely observed the fading glow of the quickly hardening metal used to seal the doors. "Might not wanna touch this, guys."
"Well, we've done all we can for now." Shining Armor replied. "Frederick knows what he's doing so we're gonna trust his word and wait until he and Celestia get here."
"I still kinda wanna see what's going on in there." Soarin said. "Why don't we just find a window and take a peak, huh?"
"Way ahead of ya!" Rainbow Dash said aloud.
"Shh! Relax, Crash!" Spitfire shushed. "We need to keep a low profile, remember?"
Agreeing that they all at least had the right to observe whatever it may be that their primary target was getting himself into, everypony very quietly made their way to the opposite side of the building to the nearest window. As a precautionary measure, Shining Armor made it a point to turn down the volume on his radio and have the rest who still had a functional unit to do the same as to prevent their cover being blown. The large room they peered into through the filthy, unwashed window was completely empty with the exception of the very reason they all entered the exclusion zone standing in the center, his ears perked up and his keen nose hard at work.
"Alright, come on out, you coward!" Radius shouted in the direction of a set of double doors that lead to a locker room. "I know you're in there! I can smell y-"
SLAM!
Radius was indeed correct as to the whereabouts of his potential adversary as one of the double doors flew open hitting the wall nearly hard enough to knock it off its hinges. The sheer force used to swing it open was the least of everypony's concern however as the massive, furry paw the size of a trashcan lid that extended from the dark room holding the door open incited a nervous gulp from each of them. Radius on the other hoof remained unmoved even as the second double door swung open and slammed against the wall causing the floor to shake and rotted chunks of the building to fall from the ceiling. Much like the first, the second door was also held against the wall by another gargantuan paw. By this point, everypony watching through the window could feel their manes stand on end end every last bit of their blood drain from their faces. There they all stood with their mouths agape and their bladders suddenly feeling full as the massive creature slowly stepped out from the darkness.
"Come on now, don't be shy!" Radius teased the colossal creature much to everypony's shock. "Come on out, handsome! Lemme get a good look at ya!"
"F-F-Fred?" Shining Armor squeaked over the radio as the massive creature slowly walked out from the dark locker room on four tree trunk-sized legs. "Aunt Tia? Help? Please?"
"Ohhh boy, what is it now?" Frederick asked.
"Is there...any possible way to expedite getting your army buddies in here?"
"They're filling up holes in road as fast as they can, comrade. What's the problem?"
"We found out who Radius wants to fight and he's the size of a goddamn truck!"
A long pause incited a moment of awkward silence and made the tension in the air thick enough to cut with a knife. Frederick was an intelligent and not to mention very brave individual but Shining Armor had just broke to him a bit of news that could truly make their mission much more difficult than it needed to be. After several seconds of trying to process what the pony on the other end of the frequency had just said to him, Shining Armor decided to speak up again.
"Did you hear me?" Shining Armor squeaked as he and the other ducked down from the window to avoid being seen. "There's a fucking mutated wolf...the size of an SUV over here!"
"Okay, hang on just a second." Frederick said. "Are we talking like as big as my Jeep or...or what?"
"Uhh, more like a Chevy Tahoe."
Again, Frederick paused making for another moment of awkward silence as he imagined a ghastly creature comparable to a full sized American sport-utility vehicle. Standing next to him, Celestia heard the entire conversation and if she were not already coated in white fur, she could not possibly look more pale. With a shaky hand, Frederick held down the key on his two way unit and gave the best advice he believed he possibly could.
"Get away from there!" Frederick shouted. "Get far the fuck away from there and Princess and I will come and get you! Just hang on, okay!?"
Shining Armor and the others did as instructed as they trusted the word of a combat experienced individual who knew the area better than anyone else. Slowly and every so quietly, they crept away from the side of the building and dashed into a nearby patch of overgrown foliage where they would continue to observe with their binoculars. Though they were a decent distance away from what seemed like an impending showdown, their minds were anything but at ease and every muscle in their bodies tensed up at the sight of what their primary objective was up against.
The horrifying creature in question was much like the rest of the deformed wolves seen before except well over twice the size and the three tails attached to it were easily twenty-five feet in length. Aside from that it's large eyes glowed and flickered back and forth between every possible color as well as a purplish steam spewing out of its nostrils every time it exhaled. This wolf seemed to emit a great deal to light as the long, sharp, bony spikes that jutted out of its back glowed green with every beat of its heart. It was truly an astonishing spectacle to behold and yet a sickening and nightmare inducing reminder of the true terror that is radiation and the horrible things it can create.
"What the...Bolnoyvolk? Is that you?" Radius nonchalantly asked the behemoth canine that stood before him. "Long time no see, comrade! Heh, funny, I was just thinking about you and the last time we met! Jeez, you got a lot bigger since then. What are you, ten or eleven now or something?"
"I'm fourteen, asshole." Bolnoyvolk replied with a furrowed brow and a smirk. "But yeah, you know, I've been working out and soaking up some more rads. Apparently the last time you bashed my head, you knocked something loose and my pituitary gland started acting up."
"Ohhh, didn't know that was possible. see, I was a doctor in physics so hormones weren't really part of my expertise. But hey...your welcome, I guess."
"Well fuck you very much."
"Pfft, aw come on, sourpuss. What are you so mad about?"
"This fucking shit!"
Bolnoyvolk then proceeded to use his paw to pull aside his lower lip while he pointed into his mouth with the other revealing several sparsely spaced teeth much too small for such a massive set of jaws. As Shining Armor spied at the creature showing his disproportionately small teeth through his binoculars, everything he was shown before simply clicked together like a perfect puzzle. He recalled the tooth that his sister had hoofed over to the scientists and though it once belonged to Radius, it was still comparable to those of this wolf which explained why Twilight feared that the mutated unicorn could be a murderer. Upon seeing this, there was no longer so much as a hint of doubt in his mind nor of anypony who watched the scene before them. As far as they were concerned, Radius Hoofenschtov was innocent.
"Aw quit your bitching." Radius teased Bolnoyvolk. "What's the problem? They're about as big as mine."
"They were a hell of a lot bigger before." Bolnoyvolk huffed. "Out of all the growing I've done, my teeth had to come in like this after you knocked them out. I'm five times your size now and because of you, my teeth didn't follow suit."
Both enemies paused for a moment and continued to stare each other down, Bolnoyvolk with his brow furrowed and what remained of his teeth barred and Radius with a toothy smirk. Despite their massive size difference, Radius almost seemed as if he were intentionally taunting the giant wolf with his smug attitude. Unlike their last encounter however, Bolnoyvolk had changed a great deal and was much more patient. Instead of losing his own composure like Radius was hoping for and expecting, the ghastly creature matched the smirk of the mutant unicorn and flipped the conversation much to the latter's confusion.
"Heheh...but enough about me." Bolnoyvolk chuckled. "Let's get to why you're here."
"Right. So you're the one who killed those guys, huh?" Radius asked.
"Ohohoho, I did a lot more than just kill them. You know how cats play with their food?"
"You...son of a bitch..."
"Oh man, you should have seen them squirm! Ahahah! I started out by breaking all their limbs and letting them try and crawl away."
Radius was always one for keeping his composure to the best of his abilities when it came to dealing with enemies and he knew very well that allowing emotion to get in the way was something to avoid. Try as he might however, he simply could not help himself as he clenched his teeth out of burning anger. He could actually feel his body temperature quickly rising and his bodily glow grow more intense. Despite his best efforts, his own anger would end up being his worst enemy and Bolnoyvolk who was well aware of it was planning to use that to his advantage.
"...And after they got a few feet away, I'd just drag them back and let them start over." Bolnoyvolk chuckled. "I'd let it go on for a good while. I'd chew on their throats a bit so they couldn't scream...slowly tear their guts out and let them squirm a bit more. The looks on their faces were the best parts. Just sitting back and letting them bleed out was the most fun I've had in ages."
"And that's why I'm here." Radius said through his teeth as he slowly began to circle his foe. "I'm gonna make you pay for what you've done."
"What about you? Like what you did twenty-nine years ago was any different?"
Bolnoyvolk then followed suit and now both enemies were slowly circling each other. Everypony observing from a distance through their binoculars could not hear what the two were saying but they both knew that that a fight was inevitable and they could do nothing about it but wait helplessly for Frederick and Celestia to arrive. Shining Armor had seen first hoof just how well Radius could fight but he had his doubts as his mutated friend was going up against a creature the size of an American truck. Regardless of which one of them had an advantage, everypony knew for a fact that one of them would not make it out alive.
"The fuck are you talking about?" Radius asked as he and Bolnoyvolk continued to circle each other. "How do you know about that?"
"I know plenty about you, Radius. You went crazy and massacred a bunch of your own friends. Everybody knows about that."
"It wasn't me. I have an alternate personality and if you keep that shit up, you'll be unlucky enough to meet him."
"Excuses, excuses."
"I'm not asking you to believe me. I don't have to prove anything to you. I know it wasn't actually me who killed them and that's all that matters. You on the other hoof...it was your true blue, sadistic self who disemboweled those men and you're okay with openly admitting that."
"And there's the pot calling the kettle black. You and I aren't any different. You're a cold blooded killer just as much as I am."
"I...am nothing...like you."
"Come at me little horsey. I'll give you a free shot."
"Of all the times we've fought before..."
"Let this be our final one..."
Both combatants were ready to go and prepared for a battle to the death that had just begun as Radius took advantage of the so-called free shot he was offered and charged after Bolnoyvolk. As the giant wolf sat on his rear while Radius sprinted after him with his horn aglow and ready to slice him to pieces, the former simply motioned with his paws for him to come over in a taunting manner. Radius was confident in his ability to fight and expected to make quick work of his foe. Surely this would be too easy, which is what he would have liked to think but Radius would soon find that allowing his emotions to play too large a part would be his first mistake. As the furious mutant closed in on the truck sized canine, he readied his horn to fire his beam of thermal energy and just as he let it out, Bolnoyvolk disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"What!?" Radius yelled as he screeched to a halt to glance about and find out what had just happened. "Where'd you go, you coward!? Disappearing act, huh!?"
"Oh, I didn't disappear, tough guy." Bolnoyvolk chuckled. "I'm still right here ripe for the picking. What are you waiting for? Make me pay for what I did."
"Ohhohoho, you've developed a refraction field and can make yourself invisible!? Nice!"
"I've got plenty of new tricks! Wanna see some?"
"Ooohh, the doggy's gonna do a trick for me?"
Each and every time Bolnoyvolk spoke to Radius, his dialog would come from a different direction which caught the mutated pony off guard. His eyes and ears darted all around the large room in attempt to pinpoint his potential adversary's precise location and his horn was still aglow ready to either slice through flesh or melt another hole through the concrete wall of the building. Much to Radius's misfortune however, he would not be able to so much as even fire a shot as the first major blow of the fight would not be in his favor.
"Surprise!" Bolnoyvolk beamed as he suddenly popped into view directly in front of Radius's face.
After majorly catching his opponent off guard, he quickly balled his paw up into a fist and nearly flattened the pony's muzzle sending him flying across the room. If not for the concrete wall that he slammed into causing dust and broken chunks of rubble to fill the air, Radius would have sailed much further. After the dust settled revealing Radius stuck in a superficial indentation matching his own shape, Bolnyvolk stood back to admire his work. Now realizing that he could no longer take this particular foe of his lightly, the still conscious Radius peeled himself off the wall and hit the hard floor below with a solid thud.
"Whoa! Not bad!" Radius said as he stumbled to his hooves. "Alright, that was pretty good but now you're playing with the big boys!"
"Says the tiny little horsey! Have at me!"
"Have at you!"
Expecting Bolnoyvolk to pull his invisibility trick again, Radius decided to use his own means of element of surprise and just as it appeared that he was going to try firing another beam he put his plan into action. Once he closed half the distance that was originally between himself and his enemy Radius tried an old but reliable trick he knew and teleported. In the blink of an eye, Radius disappeared from in front of his canine opponent and reappeared just behind him with intent on slicing him into oblivion with a well focused beam. Much to the hero's misfortune however, Bolnoyvolk was yet another step ahead and made it quite clear to the pony by grabbing him and pounding his head into the hardwood floor with concrete underneath. This time however, Bolnoyvolk was not about to give his equine opponent time to recover.
While Radius was dazed, Bolnoyvolk put one of his tails to work and tightly wrapped the flexable twenty-five foot appendage around the stunned unicorn flung him upward to the ceiling. The force of the wolf's movement was more that enough to send the three hundred pound pony straight through and even further up into the air. The entire time, Bolnoyvolk watched as his prey came plummeting back down and readied himself to inflict another blow unto him. Everypony from the search team watched helplessly as their new friend tumbled down back into the hole his body had created in the building. Once he disappeared back into the roof, the loud thud of him hitting the hard floor before receiving a firm stomp from his foe could be heard and even felt by the helpless team as it shook the very ground on which they stood.
Once the dust settled from Radius having slammed into the floor to have a massive back paw stomp him in even further, the juggernaut of a wolf stared down at his dazed and confused opponent with a smug smirk. Though Radius was dizzy and and battered rather badly, his bruises and cuts would prove to be the least of his worries as he was now blinded. Thirty years of wearing the same pare of glasses had dealt a great deal of wear and tear on the spectacles but being tossed through the air and bashed into the wall and floor respectively was the last bit needed to shatter the lenses.
"Aww. Poor widdle pony in da floor?" Bolnoyvolk mocked Radius as he reached into the hole he lay in and pulled him out. "Here lemme help you up."
"I'm gonna fucking kill you." Radius coughed just before being slammed into the floor again.
Things were beginning to look grim for Radius as Bolnoyvok repeatedly slammed his equine target into the floor and walls of the building. Finally, the sadistic wold had Radius whom he hated so much right where he wanted him and was thoroughly enjoying beating him senseless and stomping him as hard as he possibly could. Though the mutated unicorn was much more durable than the average pony, Bolnoyvolk's attacks were doing a great deal of damage to his body. Radius often had the desire to die but not at the paws of the one responsible for the horrific murders of three innocent men just doing their jobs; at least not before he too was punished for such atrocities.
Every inch of Radius's body received brutal blunt force of one form or another as Bolnoyvolk tried everything he could think of to cause bodily damage to his victim. The monster wolf one moment was firmly grasping onto Radius's tail as he repeatedly bashed him into the floor and walls and then using him as a living chew toy the next. For the pony's who worked so hard under horrific conditions and saddening circumstances to watch their new selfless hero of a new friend who had already gone through so much be mercilessly beaten was nausea inducing.
Finally, the brutal beating stopped and Bolnoyvolk tossed Radius's limp body to the floor in front of him to admire his work and the wounds he had inflicted. Unbeknownst to him however, he would soon find that a warning he received from his victim just a few minutes ago was about to come true despite Radius's best efforts to oppose it. As Radius lay there in a daze while Bolnoyvolk cracked the joints in his paws in preparation to finish off his target, something truly terrifying was going on inside the mind of the beaten and broken pony. Just when Bolnoyvolk though that he had won and the search team all embraced each other while they wept, a new and much more bloody battle was taking place within the mutated unicorn's subconscious.
"Raaadiuuusss..." A familiar voice sang out within Radius's mind. "Raaadiuuusss...Let me out, Radius...Heheheh...You can't win this without me."
"Fuck off, Spazz." Radius spat as he lay on the floor much to the confusion of Bolnoyvolk.
"Huh?" Bolnoyvolk asked as he scratched his head. "Hot damn, I must have hit him pretty hard! Hahaha! Now where did I put those cigars?"
"Come on, Radius." Spazz cooed. "You need me. You can't beat this guy on your own. Why don't you just take a little nap and let me take it from here, huh?"
"I'd rather die and take you with me." Radius huffed. "I'll never let you back out."
"Lemme rephrase that. I don't plan on giving you a choice in that matter."
"No! You're not doing this! I won't let you!"
"Oh, I'm doing it, alright! You're too weak to stop me and I've got you right where I want you!"
"Please don't...don't hurt my friends...please, they never did anything to you."
"Aww, that's too bad...'Cause I'm gonna tear them all apart while I fuck them at the same time. You done now? Huh? Alright, now go to sleep! This body is mine!"
"No...I can't...hold it anymore...I'm sorry, everypony...I failed you...I'm sorry."
"Man you're a riot when you're dying!" Bolnoyvolk laughed as he came back out from the locker room, a lit cigar smoldering between his teeth. "Do you talk to yourself often or just when you're...what!?"
Bolnoyvolk came back out from the locker room where he had retrieved a cigar from his personal stash as he was in the mood to celebrate a victory before he would finish off his victim once and for all. He simply expected to hear more incoherent babbling from the pony who's head he had throttled so many times before deciding to snap his neck and get it over with. What he did not expect however was to come out and see that Radius had gotten off the floor to dust himself off and was now in the process of nonchalantly using his aura to put the pieces of his glasses back together. To see his rival simply get off the floor and act as if nothing had happened was simply too much for the wolf whose jaw went agape causing him to drop his cigar.
"How...in the fuck!!" Bolnoyvolk shouted as he observed Radius gently sliding his fixed glasses back onto his face. "How can you just get up after all that!? This...how is this possible!?"
"Oh trust me, you did a pretty good job there so don't doubt yourself." Radius chuckled as he opened his eyes revealing a bright red glow. "But this town isn't big enough for two sadistic killing machines. What say we go ahead and really get this party started!?"
"Doctor Sparkle! Over here!" A short man in a white lab coat hollered out to the lavender alicorn.
"It's ready? Do you have it?" Twilight asked as she landed in front of the two scientists she met a few nights prior.
"Da, da, it's right here." The taller scientist confirmed as he pulled a black briefcase from the back of their van and proceeded to click it open. "We finished it just in time."
"Excellent! Twilight said. "Now the next question is how I go about getting close enough to administer the drug."
"Don't you worry, my fellow genius." The shorter man said. "We've thought of that and we're a step ahead!"
Much to Twilight's amazement, the taller scientist proceeded to pull pieces of what appeared to be a bolt action rifle out of the briefcase and began affixing them together. After a few clicks and pops, the parts were all put into place ultimately forming the fully assembled piece of hardware. Now that the gun was put together, the man then carefully pulled what looked like a rifle cartridge with what appeared to be a hypodermic needle at the tip instead of a bullet, placed it into the rifle's chamber and closed the breach.
"You put it in a tranquilizer dart!" An impressed Twilight Sparkle beamed. "That...that's perfect!"
"I hope you know how to use it." The shorter man said.
"I've had my fair share of practice. Ever since the Americans started exporting guns to Equestria and the Royal Guard started carrying them, I've gotten pretty sharp with one of these."
"Good, because we were only able to fill one dart on such short notice. You'll need to make this shot count."
"You can count on me, gentlemen."
"It's not just us." The taller man said. "There's another fellow scientist out there who deserves to his freedom. Not to mention the many people around the world who have been affected by radiation who are counting on you."
"I'm ready."
"We can't get into the exclusion zone yet so you'll need to act now. Good luck, Doctor Sparkle."
With no time to waste, Twilight took the rifle in her hooves and took to the air in search of Radius and the others with the intentions of freeing the former from his misery with the help of a newly developed drug. The last place Twilight had seen everypony else was at Radius's current home just above the destroyed reactor and hoped that they would still be there though she was prepared to fly as far as she needed to in order to achieve her goal. She had her mind set on the pony who deserved to go back home and a large family who still to this day desperately wanted him back and come Tartarus or high water, he would be within their warm embrace no matter what. Still, the main task at hoof was locating Radius in the first place and since he was known to be emotionally unstable at times, Twilight knew that she may need to expect him to move about quite a lot. What she did not expect however was the dire situation that she would soon discover once she found them if she ever would again.
Meanwhile, with Shining Armor and the rest of the team...
As everypony spied from a distance at the scene taking place through the large windows of the gymnasium, they could hardly contain their relief after seeing Radius rise up off the floor so effortlessly. All except Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash nearly broke out into cheers as they had not yet seen first hoof Radius's alter ego nor the devastation that he was capable of. The pupils of the two whom were unfortunate enough to have been relentlessly pursued and nearly gutted alive by the the sadistic creature shrank to pin pricks as they watched through their binoculars.
To see the eyes of the monster who threw himself on top of and attempted to sexually violate her just the other day sent shivers down Rainbow Dash's spine. A cold sweat poured down her face as she stood frozen to her spot, barely able to hold the binoculars in her trembling hooves. Shining Armor took notice and gently placed a hoof on the terrified mare's shoulder which did offer a small amount of comfort but nothing could truly put her mind at ease. The relief of everypony else was short lived as they noticed Rainbow Dash's distress after she dropped her binoculars, the image of Spazz standing over her as he prepared to insert Radius's stallionhood into her against her will burnt into her mind.
"Eveypony, this is not good." Shining Armor said as he tried his best to comfort a shivering Rainbow Dash. "He's back."
"So, that's this 'Spazz' guy Radius told us about?" Spitfire asked.
"Sheeoot, them eyes are givin' me the creeps." Big Macintosh said with a shudder.
It was at that moment that it occurred to everypony that Bolnoyvolk the wolf was the very least of their worries now that the side of Radius that he tried so hard to keep at bay was free to do as he pleased. Unbeknownst to the truck sized canine, his foe in the form of the three hundred pound mutated unicorn was no longer the force for good he had fought against before and now intended on causing pain in exchange for his sick pleasure.
"Alright, now I'm getting pissed!" Bolnoyvolk huffed as he cracked the knuckles of his paws. "Stay down!"
Radius in his Spazz controlled state of mind simply stood there with a smug grin as Bolnoyvolk lunged at him with his paws aiming for the pony's neck. The massive, lumbering wolf now simply wanted to skip the hassle and snuff out his enemy so he could finally get his revenge but the mutated equine's alter ego had other plans. Just as Bolnoyvolk wrapped his massive paws around Spazz's throat and began to squeeze with intentions of snapping his neck, the latter simply smirked as he belched up at least a quart of his acid saliva and spat it all over the wolf's forelegs.
"Gahhh, fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!" Bolnoyvolk shouted as he dropped Spazz and waved his forelegs about to throw off the corrosive spit as it burned through his fur.
"And I'm just getting started." Spazz chuckled.
While Bolnoyvolk was distracted with ridding his fur of the deadly acid that quickly began to erode his skin and flesh away, Spazz used the opportunity to take down the creature whom he saw as mere competition. Instead of exacting justice like Radius had intended, Spazz simply wished to do away with Bolnoyvolk both for fun and to gain the exclusive rights to torture whatever living being was unfortunate to meet his gaze. Now that he had the massive wolf right where he wanted him, Spazz teleported out of sight and reappeared above his rival where he would inflict his next blow.
WHAM!
With his back hooves and seemingly all the strength he could get out of Radius's body, Spazz kicked down onto the top of Bolnoyvolk's head sending him crashing to the floor. With acid burning through his forelegs and being rendered dazed from such blunt force, the unsuspecting Bolnoyvolk was just seeing the beginning of his misfortune which was nothing compared to what was to come soon. Once Spazz jumped off of Bolnoyvolk's head, the crazed wolf was about to make the same mistake that Radius had made by allowing his own anger to conquer him and cost him dearly.
"ENOUGH!!" Bolnoyvolk boomed as he arose from the floor, his body now glowing bright red. "THIS ENDS NOW!!"
As everypony watched from a distance in awe, Bolnoyvolk opened his jaws wide allowing a thick cloud of toxic purple smoke to billow from his throat. Spazz set Radius's horn aglow as he prepared to put his thermal beam to work and opened fire just as the smoke fully enveloped both combatants. Nopony could see what was going on through the thick cloud that had wafted out of the giant wolf's gullet and against his own better judgement, Shining Armor felt compelled to get a closer look. With his binoculars hanging around his neck on a cord, the Prince and Guard Captain let his curiosity get the best of him as he slowly trotted towards the deadly light show that took place in the building. Everypony else, even Rainbow Dash seemed to feel the same way as they too followed suit.
The strange purple smoke continued to fill the air and began to billow out of the broken windows and flash with each and every shot Spazz took with his host's horn as the fierce battle raged on. As the exhausted team awaited the arrival of their princess and their local guide, they all watched with great anticipation knowing the fight could still belong to either of the two at this point. However, as the frequency of the bright flashes slowed and the sounds of the scuffling between the two creatures decreased, it would appear that the fight may soon draw to a close. Finally, after several long minutes of the battle raging within Bolnoyvolk's poisonous breath, the commotion finally gave way to an eerie silence as the smoke wafted out of the windows and new holes burned into the building by Spazz's shots.
Silence. For several minutes that ticked by so slowly that it was simply agonizing, the deafening silence was almost painful for the team to bear as the smoke slowly cleared. The suspense was unbearable and everypony was incredibly torn as to whom they would prefer to see emerge victorious. Bolnoyvolk was a serious threat to the safety of the workers who needed to complete the arch project but Spazz was a dangerous to anything that moved and breathed. On the contrary, Spazz was also taking advantage of the body of Radius whom deserved to have his life back. Only time would tell and that quickly approaching time had finally come, bringing a sigh of relief yet frightening realization to the team of ponies who observed the situation from mere yards away.
With the smoke at long last cleared, the two combatants remained in the center of the large room, Spazz standing there licking his teeth and Bolnoyvolk lying on his side in a large puddle of crimson. The state the wolf was in was sickening to say the least and worst of all he was still alive as could be plainly seen as he used his shaking paws to apply pressure to some of the many holes burned into his broken and bloodied body. Many patches of fur and flesh had been eaten away by Spazz's acid spit and judging by his very labored breathing, he would not live much longer and he knew it.
"Y-you go-ahh! You got me..." Bolnoyvolk coughed as he lie trembling on the floor. "You put up one hel-*cough* hell of a fight, comrade...you win."
"I gotta hoof it to ya, you weren't so bad yourself." Spazz chuckled as he trotted over to the wall and proceeded to rip a metal tube full of wires from it. "But alas, I can't have somebody taking up all my fun around here."
"F-fun? Wait I th-*wheez* I thought you were trying to serve justice. Wha-what are you doing? If you're so much better than me, you won't just leave me here to bleed like this. Aren't you goi-ahh!...f-finish me off...please, I beg you..."
"In time, my little chew toy, in time. For now, let's just say you're in for a shocking experience."
Much to Bolnoyvolk's confusion and Shining Armor's horror, Spazz began wrapping the ends of the copper electrical wired around the end of his gnarled horn and stared into the eyes of the terrified wolf he stood over. The toothy grin on Spazz's face was nearly enough to send Rainbow Dash into another panic fit and it was when sparks began flying from the wires, it was then that Bolnoyvolk knew what was coming to him. Though the wretch of a creature he was certainly deserved some form of severe punishment for the torturing and murders of the three men, Shining Armor had seen first hoof the sick method of getting his kicks that Spazz was about to perform. Despite the horrific atrocities against the very gift of life Bolnoyvolk had committed, Shining Armor felt that no living being no matter how vile deserved what Spazz was about to do. Shortly, everypony else would feel the same way.
"Gaaaaaahhhh!!" Bolnoyvolk shrieked in agony as Spazz prodded him with the lives wires, sending thousands of volts of electricity from his horn. "Aaaaahhhhh! Wait! No! Sto-Aaaaaahhhhaahhahh!"
The scene that played out before the group of ponies as they watched from a distance was truly sickening to say the very least. Rainbow Dash could not so much as stand to look through her binoculars anymore as the squeaking and yelping from the tortured creature was more than enough without seeing his broken and burned body twitch. Despite all he had done, the ponies had always be honor bound by the laws of peace and amnesty thus believed that there exist no living creature no matter how vile that deserved such ruthless torture. As far as they were concerned, the wrong doer was already being stripped of the gift of life and as such, should be clean and swift. Spazz on the other hoof nearly seemed to get off to what he was doing to Bolnoyvolk and for the ponies, it was simply nausea inducing. To them, what Spazz was doing was not justice; it was plain wrong, sick, and disgusting.
"Squirm, bitch!" Spazz shouted with a disgusting grin on his face as he cooked Bolnoyvolk alive. "I WANNA WATCH YOU SQUIRM! GAHAHAHAHAHAAA!! YEAH, BLEED, MOTHER FUCKER, BLEED!! BLEEEEEED!!"
For several minutes, Spazz continued to torture his victim to the point where the latter's body began to smolder as if it were close to catching fire. The strong, massive, truck sized wolf had been reduced to a whimpering little plaything whom was at the mercy of the monster who enjoyed toying with him and the squeaks and yelps that came from him were disturbing reminders of how hard even the mightiest can fall. For Bolnoyvolk, to endure such torture to a point where his flesh was literally being cooked and every organ in his body ready to burst into flame, the only thing he could think about was what he did to those workers and for the first time in his life felt remorse. Finally, when Bolnoyvolk's body began taking on an almost charred appearance, Spazz stopped his torture and seemed like he would finally grant mercy to his smoldering victim and put him out of his misery.
"P-please...stop..." Bolnoyvolk quietly whimpered as he begged for mercy. "I thought...you were the better one here...prove that you're better than me and kill me...I'm s-sorry..."
"I don't think you quite get what's going on here." Spazz said he casually trotted circles around the dying wolf whom he got pleasure out of torturing. "Remember that geek mentioning his other side?"
"Oh, fuck...I get it n-owww...aaauugh...please, have mercy...I-I...what are you doing?"
"Hold your horses, alright? You said you wanted me to end you, so I'm gonna do you the service...I never said it'd be quick though...heheheheh."
Spazz then proceeded to put a new demented plan into play by lifting his tongue with his mouth open wide and began spraying his acidic saliva all over the building. First he started by spraying a circle on the floor around Bolnoyvolk as he lay in his own blood and then proceeded to spray globs of spit on the walls for good measure. For the first time in his fourteen years of existence, the suffering wolf could truly understand agony and could only think of what he had put the three construction workers through. Never before until now had he even considered the feelings of another living being as even he, the vile creature who tortured those men was capable of some form of empathy now that he had experienced true suffering. Spazz on the other hand was not.
"That oughtta do it." Spazz said as he finished spraying his saliva around the room and found himself content with his work. "Well, big guy, it'll all be over soon. I've got some more fun to be had out there and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't horny as fuck right now. Phew, is it me or is it about to get hot in here?"
As Bolnoyvolk lay on the cold, hard floor in a pool of his own blood for what would be he last few minutes of living, Spazz lowered his head and placed his horn up close to the puddle of acid he had spat out. With nothing more than one tiny spark that crackled from the very tip, the acid was quickly set ablaze and rapidly spread along the wet trails all over the room until its entirety was nearly engulfed.
"There you go." Spazz beamed as he reached over the small but growing wall of flames to pat Bolnoyvolk on the head. "Now you just lay there and relax. Look on the bright side. You don't have to die cold and alone."
Spazz slowly and casually trotted over to the building's front door where he then proceeded to use his glowing horn to melt through the welds that Radius created to seal it shut before the fight. As Bolnoyvolk lay motionless and barely clinging to life, the flames continued to spread at a rapid pace to a point where large pieces of the ceiling began to fall all around the suffering wolf. Desperate to end his suffering, he could do nothing but hope for the building to cave in on him and much to his gratitude, it appeared that he would soon get his wish. Just as Spazz pushed the front door open and strolled out with a final wave to his burning victim, a large steel girder that supported the roof began to buckle as one end shifted from its original place.
Bolnoyvolk stared up at the ceiling hoping so badly that the steel beam that clung to the roof by only a few bolts directly above him would hit its mark. One by one, the bolts snapped until the girder hovered above pointed downwards and relieved the final bolt of its duties. The mutated wolf that was just as much a victim of radiation as Radius was closed his eyes as he waited for sweet serenity in the form of a half ton beam of steel until it came crashing down on his neck ultimately severing his spine. Bolnoyvolk was guilty of heinous deeds but would not have been the way he was if not for the radiation that plagued his body and mind before he was even born so he too was just as much of a victim as any other ailing creature living in the exclusion zone. At this point however, nothing mattered anymore other than the fact that his lifelong torment was over and he was finally set free.
"Whoa whoa, the heat is onnn!" Spazz sang as he strolled out the door of the burning and crumbling building. "It's on the stree-*sniff* what ho? I smell...fear!"
Spazz sensed the presence of others so without any hesitation or warning, he turned to face a nearby patch of overgrown foliage and bushes and fired several beams into it to flush out whomever was using them as cover. Like a flock of quail being spooked by a hunter's dog, one by one everypony jumped out of the brush to avoid being sliced in half much like the catfish that attacked Daring Do days prior. With each and every pony that showed his or herself, the more delighted Spazz became at the sight of whom he saw as mere playthings. Once Rainbow Dash jumped out of the foliage however, he had made his decision as to who his next victim would be.
"My little fucktoy!" Spazz beamed as Rainbow Dash stood up off the ground and froze where she stood. "Fancy seeing you, sweet meat! What say we finish what we started?"
If having this monster that took over Radius's body tackle her and hold her down was not enough, to see him trotting towards her as he licked his teeth was pure terror. Rainbow Dash physically could not find it in herself to so much as move as muscle and as she squeaked in horror as the very though of Spazz succeeding to take her this time scared her so much that she began to grow wet in her nether regions. With her tail firmly pressed down against her privates as her only means of protecting her body from the psychopath she was helpless and could do nothing more as he reached a hoof out to grab her and do with her what he pleased.
"Nope!" Big Mac snorted as he stepped between Rainbow Dash and her assailant, every hair on his body standing on end and his pupils fully dilated.
"Step aside and wait your turn!" Spazz retorted with full intentions on having his way with Rainbow Dash.
"It's over, Spazz!" Shining Armor said through his teeth as he stood his ground next to Big Macintosh. "I've got somepony on the way here as we speak with something that's gonna wipe you out!"
"Ohohoho, have I got a special plan for you! I'm gonna pin you down and go in dry!"
One by one, everypony on the team stood up off the ground and formed a circle around Spazz with the exception of Rainbow Dash as she was too petrified to move. Everypony's coat stood on end and their pupils fully dilated as their adrenaline surged through their veins in their natural fight or flight response. Spazz had just taken out a creature several times his own size but for the sake of their comrades and the pony that the monster was holding hostage in his own body, the group refused to back down. Surely five ponies could manage to bring down one if they worked together, or so they would hope.
Much to the dismay of everypony who circled him, Spazz appeared to be utterly unmoved by their attempt to intimidate him. With a bemused look in his leering, red eyes, one by one he glanced around at each pony who stood in his way before he began snickering. If that was not enough for terrible discouragement, everypony's heart sank to new lows as Spazz's horn lit up.
"You're all making this way too easy." Spazz chuckled through a shit eating grin as he used his aura to create a bubble around himself. "So why don't you just step back and make this fun?"
Instead of using the shield spell to protect himself as the group had for a moment suspected, Spazz used it as more of a bomb. With seemingly no effort whatsoever, the sick maniac forced the wall around him out and away from himself, tossing everypony several yards away where they landed on the ground in a daze. Now that he had everypony whom he saw as little more than toys he was not quite ready to play with cast aside and out of his way, he could proceed with his vile and filthy pleasures he had in mind for Rainbow Dash.
Like the others, Rainbow Dash had also been blasted back by the sudden force and she too was dazed and disoriented. It was at the moment however that a toxic, green aura from a unicorn surrounded her entire body and began to drag her towards its source she snapped out of her trance at the sudden realization of what was to come next. Rainbow Dash screamed at the top of her lungs at the horror of being dragged to a waiting set of glowing, red eyes as Spazz held out a hoof he would use to hold her still on the ground. After a few mere seconds that felt like years, the mortified pegasus had a large hoof firmly pressed down on her chest while another covered her mouth. Before she could even so much as think of flailing her legs or wings about, Spazz's aura quickly tied the last of the loose ends until there was no possible way for her to resist his unwanted advances. With Radius's massive, throbbing, glowing cock fully erect and rock hard, Spazz then looked into the sobbing eyes of his helpless victim as he lowered the member towards her unwilling marehood.
KAPOW!
"Gahhh!" Spazz winced at the sound of a gunshot followed by a bullet ricocheting off his horn.
"Next one will sever your dick, asshole!" A familiar male voice shouted from several yards away. "Let her go!"
As quickly as it surrounded Rainbow Dash's body, Spazz's aura subsided and was immediately replaced by a much more comforting and familiar golden one. With her attacker distracted by being shot directly on to tip of his horn, Rainbow Dash found herself floating through the air and being whisked away from him into a waiting pair of white pony arms. For everypony, especially Rainbow Dash, to finally see their Princess come to their aid with the help of a heavily armed friend they had in Frederick Schultz was a wonderful sight for their sore, weary eyes.
The eyes of Princess Celestia though tired like those of the others, burned with anger as she glared daggers at Spazz and held a traumatized Rainbow Dash in her arms. The immortal alicorn was a patient being who has forgiven many a wrong doer but upon witnessing a parasite within the mind of her former flame attempt to violate her subjects, she could not and would not allow him to get away with it. Very gently, Celestia placed Rainbow Dash back on the ground where the latter then hid behind Frederick as he aimed his AK-47 rifle directly between Spazz's glowing, red eyes. Ecstatic to see both of them, everypony else, sprang up from where they lay dazed and rushed over to their Princess's side. Still, instead of taking it as his cue to surrender, Spazz was completely unmoved and unafraid which made the situation appear no less grim as the sadistic creature whistled at the sight of the regal alicorn.
"Ah, so you're that sweet piece of ass I've heard so much about!" Spazz catcalled to Celestia as he licked his teeth. "Hot damn, how did a little geek like this get to tap that hot fla-"
"BECAUSE THAT GEEK WAS THE SWEETEST, MOST SELFLESS SAINT OF A STALLION TO HAVE GRACED THE FLOORS OF MY CASTLE'S BALLROOM, YOU CUR!" Celestia boomed with her ancient royal Canterlot voice she and her sister used centuries ago.
Celestia then took a few steps forward much to everypony's surprise, indicating that she would take on Spazz herself and even more surprising was what she did when the remainder of the team stepped up with her. First Shining Armor followed by Spitfire, Soarin, Big Macintosh, and then Daring Do stepped up to their Princess's side to be stopped in their tracks by the alicorn's arm in front of them like a gate at a railway crossing.
"No." Celestia said firmly as she held her arm in front of her subjects signaling for them to stop. "I've already put you all in enough danger. No more. Frederick! Please escort my subjects to safety...I'll take care of this scum."
"And just leave you here with this psycho!?" Spitfire gasped.
"No more stalling, just go! I'll hold him off until Twilight gets here! Just follow Frederick and everything will be fine!"
Reluctantly, everypony did as ordered and followed their guide whom would lead them all to safety provided that their Princess could successfully keep Spazz a bay. With his fully loaded assault rifle and pistol both with several extra magazines at his disposal, Frederick was well equipped to deal with any threat that should arise. Still, the horrible monster that Spazz was still had an Equestrian citizen as his hostage so gunning him down would have to be a last resort which Celestia gave permission for only if there was no other way.
Though Celestia was a Princess who spent most of her time either in an extravagant palace or the more upscale side of her capitol city, she was far from the sliver spoon type and had seen her fair share of combat. It was long ago since her last physical conflict with anypony, she had never felt so ready for anything such as this before and after what she and the team had been through, she was in no mood for anything but best results. As Spazz deviously rubbed his hooves together and drooled at the idea of shedding blood, Celestia spread her wings and limbered up for the impending battle with the menace who controlled the very pony she loved so much long ago. For nearly two long minutes, the two powerful creatures stared each other down waiting for the other to make a move. Celestia gritted her teeth as she stared daggers at the very definition of the word "evil" and finally engaged her opponent.
With her wings fully spread, Celestia charged Spazz with her horn aglow with full intentions of putting a stop to his reign of terror over his innocent host. Now that she knew the truth of why her former flame could not return home, it seemed that she could not possibly be more infuriated until Spazz mockingly gestured for her to come over to him making her angrier still. Quickly, the gap between the two combatants closed and the hooves started flying in every possible direction. Celestia had the slight advantage as her legs were longer and could better reach their mark and successfully landed some hard blows on Spazz's face. Spazz on the other hoof was also able to lay a few good smacks onto the face of the Princess and showed no interest in holding back.
Though having longer legs, Spazz seemed to have a strength advantage when it came to hoof to hoof combat so Celestia implemented the element of surprise by teleporting and reappearing directly behind her adversary. With every last bit of strength she could muster, she bucked her rear legs and nearly buried her hooves into Spazz's back. Her latest attack managed to knock the monster to the ground but he needed little to no time to recover as he was back up within seconds. The two found their horns locked and their hooves pressed against one another's as they both tried to push the other to the ground and ultimately into submission. As she locked eyes with Spazz, her anger towards him built even further and she felt compelled to offer him a few choice words.
"For thirty years..." Celestia said through her teeth as she and Spazz continued to push each other back and forth. "You kept a good pony here...all alone...tormented him when he could have otherwise came home!"
"It wasn't me, you bitch!" Spazz retorted. "He was abandoned! Cast aside like he was nothing! Left here to rot! He wouldn't even be alive now if it wasn't for me!"
"We didn't even know he was here, you bastard! Get...out...of his body!!"
"This is my body! I am Radius, just without my weaker side now! He was too forgiving! He was fucking weak!"
"LIES!!"
Celestia was fed up with Spazz and the mere thoughts of what he put Radius through pushed her anger over the edge and almost as if on a reflex, headbutted her opponent and bloodied his muzzle. Just when she thought she had him stunned for a moment however, the vile creature cocked his right foreleg back and laid it across the Princess's muzzle with all this strength, sending her flying. It seemed that the already bleak situation could get no worse but it was when the dazed and battered alicorn felt her back hit the wall of the burning building that she knew that the fight was no longer hers. The force of Spazz's blow was so great that his victim did not stop until she had finally hit the floor and found herself badly wounded in the midst of a raging inferno. Much to the horror of Celestia and soon everypony else, Spazz was once again the undeserving victor.
"Aww, what a shame." Spazz sighed out of mock disappointment as he slowly trotted away from the collapsing building. "I bet she would have been a great lay. Heh, just when I thought she couldn't get any hotter."
Meanwhile, with Frederick and the search team...
Though Frederick was a battle hardened individual who would sooner take a bullet than admit he cared for anyone, he genuinely made it his top priority to lead the ponies under his protection to safety. Much like them, he was tired, sore all over and since they were all still in the Northernmost section of Pripyat so there was still a long way to go before they reached a safe zone. Not only that but it would still be a long time before the Ukrainian Army could get the road filled in and their trucks through in order to assist. It seemed that everyone of the possible odds was hard at work against them and just to add more panic to their day, the loud crash of the burning building collapsing from where Celestia and Spazz fought was like every imaginable nightmare coming true.
"Oh my god, no!!" Soarin cried out as he and the other paused to see a massive cloud of smoke billowing from the inferno.
"Please tell me the Princess can handle that guy!" Spitfire cried.
"I don't know guys, it's not looking good!" Shining Armor whimpered.
"We can't stop now!" Frederick warned the group. "I promised Princess I'd get you all out of here safe! She can handle that freak, I know she can! We go!"
Frederick had made friends with both Shining Armor and had gotten to admire and respect Princess Celestia as well and was determined to see that they left the exclusion zone unharmed. Though he assured the group that their Princess stood a fighting chance against the horrible and powerful monster that controlled the body of an otherwise good pony, the doubt he truly felt made his heart sink with each passing second. Keeping the exhausted and battered group from panicking and clouding their judgement as a great burden that the soldier had accepted responsibility for but the worry of their Princess actually not making it truly made him sick to his stomach. All he could do now however was his absolute best to follow through with his job and see to it that nopony would be hurt on his watch.
All that remained of a long abandoned gymnasium of a North Pripyat youth activity center was little more than the building's foundation covered with the smoldering rubble that Spazz set ablaze hours before. The back of the massive charred corpse of Bolnoyvolk the wolf lay exposed in the very center of the floor, the rest of his body under a blanket of burned concrete and twisted steel. It seemed as though there existed no sign of life in the area as the despicable monster who had torched the structure had set out hunting for Frederick and the team of ponies as they frantically sought the aid of the military. Radius Hoofenschtov's evil alter ago wished for nothing more than to lay waste to everyone and everypony who was unfortunate to have caught his glance of death and now, there was no one who could stop him. There was however, somepony who was going to try.
Princess Celestia coughed and wheezed as she pulled herself out of the ashes of the burnt building, her body battered and bloody, barely protected by her weak shield spell. She would sooner forfeit her immortality and die before allowing her Earth stranded subjects to be caught by Spazz and succumb to whatever sick plans he had in mind for them. The only problem was that she did not stand much of a chance against the monster that controlled the body of her former lover as was plainly evident by her swollen, black eye and blood dripping from her nose. She was able to land a few strikes but he needed to put forth very little effort and tossed her aside as he could chase after the others.
Celestia's body shivered as she was in horrible pain with burns, cuts, and bruises riddling every inch of her. The only thing keeping her from passing out from shock and fatigue was the thought of her subjects being pursued by a creature whom was not capable of empathy or compassion in any form whatsoever. Spazz was nothing but a being born from Radius's repressed feelings of anger and hatred and as such all he knew was to torture, maim, rape, and kill. The only thing that was on his mind now that he had total control over his host was blood and he was now after the Princess's subjects with full intent to spill theirs. He almost seemed to get off to the idea of causing others terrible pain and suffering and there was little that could be done about it of which Celestia refused to accept.
With the lives of her friends and many more in danger, the battered and broken Princess trembled as she rose to her hooves and limped her way due South where she had last seen everypony run off to with Frederick. Even while in perfect health, she could not so much as come close to bringing the monster down let alone now in her badly wounded state. The situation seemed all too bleak and any efforts a lost cause but still she pressed on. Her wings were broken and bent in ways that would make the toughest cringe just to look at and each and every step she took sent a burning pain through her legs as her hooves touched the ground. Still, she hobbled and limped her broken body along the trail of hoof prints she discovered with little hope of catching up with anypony as she traveled at a slug's pace.
"Ohhh, it's hopeless..." Celestia sobbed as she nearly collapsed to the ground. "I got them all in-*hic* into th-this and now everypony's going to die!"
It seemed that all was lost and even Celestia who had always pulled through with the help of her friends, her sister, her guards or Twilight and her friends was ready to give up as nopony was there to help. The only thing she could do was allow shock from her ever building pain to set in and put her to sleep. She knew all too well however, that once she awoke even though she may end up in the hands of local authorities rendering aid, she would never forgive herself should harm come to her subjects. Every muscle in her body trembled and shivered as she struggled to simply stand and slowly, her legs, no longer able to support her slim figure gave out, introducing her bloodied muzzle to the cold, hard ground.
It was a new low for the once regal Princess of Equestria who was reduced to a weak and battered pony covered in blood and soot, completely unable to perform her most basic of duties that is protecting her subjects. She had seen her share of combat and losses in the past but never before was she defeated so easily and rendered so helpless. Never before had she felt so pathetic in her thousands of years of existence. This was the day that she had long dreaded and so badly hope would never come; the day Princess Celestia of Equestria failed. while she lay on her stomach struggling to so much as hold her head up however, a sparkling structure caught her attention off in the distance as the red and white striped glossy paint shimmered in the sunlight a mile away.
The smokestack of Chernobyl's fourth nuclear reactor stood tall and proud despite its purpose and functionality had been brought to an unexpected halt thirty years ago. Much resembling the red and white pole perched outside a barber shop, the sight of the smoke tower that glistened in the sunlight on this beautiful May afternoon provided just the small push needed to start turning the wheels in Celestia's head. Though her train of thought had to start at the very beginning and get to the bare basics of the situation, it was a start.
Before Radius, an Equestrian unicorn with natural magical capabilities had never been involved in a nuclear accident, causing such substantial radiation absorption. As a result of Radius being exposed to such normally lethal quantities of rem, his body had become much stronger and developed unique characteristics that proved beneficial to his survival. Who was to say that Celestia could do the same, and her being an alicorn with more powerful magic than a unicorn, if her theory was correct, could mean the difference between life and death for many ponies and humans alike. It was a longshot but if she could find the strength within herself to get herself to the destroyed reactor, she may be able to test her theory and give her comrades a fighting chance.
With a new idea in mind that just might possibly work, Celestia's pupils fully dilated and filled her eyes entirely as she painfully strained to lift herself off the ground. Every muscle in her body tensed up and burned with fatigue as she slowly stood up so she could put her next plan into action. The only problem however that despite her sudden new burst of strength from her adrenaline starting to flow, she had a mile to go and surely would burn herself out well before reaching her destination. In order to conserve what little physical energy she had left, she knew that she could teleport herself much closer to the power plant but in order to do that, she would need to picture in her mind a specific spot where she was before.
"Okay, where was I that was closest to the plant?" Celestia asked herself as she scrambled to think. "Let's see, I was...ah, that two headed turtle. If that doesn't make one remember a spot, nothing would."
Celestia then tightly shut her eyes as she concentrated on the specific details of the last spot she could remember in order to be able to teleport back. Doing so, she could save a great deal of time and physical energy along with having a much better chance at testing her theory and ultimately saving her friends and if she planned it carefully, Radius as well. For another minute or so, Celestia concentrated intently as she pictured the spot on the ground where the mutated turtle basked in the sun. She remembered even the most minute of the details down to the position and sizes of nearby pebbles on the ground and a small cluster of stunted trees a few feet to her right.
It took slightly longer than usual as she had exhausted much of her magic by using her shield spell but with her aura enveloping her horn, the remainder of her body glowed white for a fraction of a second before disappearing in a flash. As soon as she popped out of sight, she snapped back in and held her eyes shut for a moment longer until the blinding flash dissipated and revealed that her efforts were successful much to her relief. She badly needed to make her one and only attempt count as she had drained the last of her magic in doing so and from here on out, she would have no other choice but to travel the rest of the way to the power plant on hoof. Fortunately however, she could see the emissions tower right from where she stood and it was much closer than before.
With the lives of her subjects in dire risk being her motivation she needed to keep going, the wounded Princess placed one shaking hoof in front of the other and proceeded to make her painful trek to her destination. She had her mind made up and nothing could change it. She would either rescue her friends including Radius as well or go down with them trying as her immortality was rendered null and void in this world.
Meanwhile...
Frederick and the others had put a decent amount of distance between themselves and the maniac who was out for their blood as far as they could tell but were still nowhere near in a safe area as long as he was out there. Very carefully and quietly, they all hid within a cluster of overgrown foliage and bushes as they intently looked around for any sign of their adversary. Frederick, Shining Armor and Spitfire were scouting the area through their binoculars in search of an area with cover nearby where they could all bolt into and avoid being seen.
"I think we lost him..." Frederick whispered to his equine comrades. "For now..."
"Fred, are you absolutely positive, our Princess will be alright?" Spitfire whispered as she held the shivering Rainbow Dash in her arms in attempt to comfort the traumatized wonderbolt rookie.
"You guys just gotta trust me. I'm an asshole but when I've got a job to do, I see it through to the end. You're all getting out of here just fine on my watch, including the Princess."
"He's right, guys." Shining Armor reassured. "He's not gonna let anypony get hurt out here."
Frederick continued to scope out an area of overgrown foliage that he felt would make for good cover approximately fifty yards away from the patch he and everypony was hiding in. After deciding that he and his hoofed companions would make a break for it, giving them one more step closer to safety, he paused for a moment to decide precisely how they would go about it. After forming his plan, he turned to everypony to discuss their exact move.
"Okay, listen up." Frederick whispered. "That patch over there is about...eh, fifty or so meters away. We're on my signal, we're all gonna make a run for it. No teleporting because it'll draw attention. Shining, take this pistol and stay to the left of the group and keep your eyes on that side."
"Got it." Shining Armor replied with a salute.
"Alright, Backfire, you, Sore Loser, and A.K. Forty-Seven stay in th-"
"Yearling." Daring Do corrected.
"I'm not a loser..." Soarin pouted.
"Backfire is my brother." Spitfire replied with a raised eyebrow. "You know him?"
"Okay, okay, I learn all your names later but now, we've got more important shit to think about." Frederick said as he palmed his face out of frustration. "Now listen, you three need to go in a straight line up into that tree once me and the rest of us on the ground get halfway there."
The two wonderbolts and the brave explorer then gave a salute.
"Excellent. Ok, Rainbow here will run next to me in the middle of the group. She's been though enough bullshit so we're gonna have her back on this one."
"Thanks Fred." Rainbow Dash sighed in relief. "I have a question though."
"Okay, shoot."
"Wasn't there a magazine in your rifle? I could have sworn there was but it's gone."
"Hey, this pistol is missing a mag too." A perplexed Shining Armor said.
"What the..." Frederick's pupils shrank as he looked down at his rifle to see that sure enough, the thirty round magazine was no longer there. For safety, he had made it a habit to wait until he needed to fire to cock his gun which would mean that the chamber was also empty. Frederick then began to sweat as he frantically searched his pockets for any of the several spare magazines with not so much as a single cartridge casing to be found which worried he and everypony else immensely. It was when they found out precisely where the shells had gone that all hope had seemed lost.
"Looking for these?" A sinister, raspy voice chuckled from above.
Instantly, everypony's pupils shrank to pin pricks and their gazes all shot over to the large tree where the dreaded voice came from. Sure enough, much to the horror of the entire group, Frederick included, there lay Radius controlled by Spazz in a seductive pose on a thick limb just a mere few feet over their human guide's head. In the monster's aura floated four large magazines meant for Frederick's assault rifle and three more that went to his pistol. Just to mock his victims and remind them that he intended do to them what he had tried with Rainbow Dash, he clenched a bright red rose that he had plucked from a nearby bush in his pointed, glistening fangs as he stared down at them with half lidded bedroom eyes.
"RUUUN!!!" Frederick screamed as he threw his rifle at Spazz in hopes of dazing the enemy and buying some time.
"Oooh, I'll give you a head start!" Spazz beamed as Frederick's gun sailed through the air mere inches over his head. As he counted the seconds while he watched the group he saw as mere play things he menacingly rubbed his hooves together and began to drool. He did not simply wish to quickly slaughter everypony and end up having too little fun but instead planned to slowly work them into exhaustion and rape and torture them all one by one as he watched the color drain from their eyes. After ten seconds of allowing them to gain some distance, he then jumped from the tree and prepared to give chase. He would soon however find his playtime interrupted by a loud crack coming from above followed by a blinding, purple flash of light.
"Gahh!" Spazz yelled as a lavender aura suddenly hit him directly between the eyes, knocking Radius's glasses off of his face. "Who the fuck did that!?"
"Enjoy your last second of freedom, you bastard!" Twilight Sparkle shouted as she hovered in the air above an infuriated Spazz. "You're going down!"
Before Twilight Sparkle could so much as think of taking aim with the tranquilizer rifle the scientists had given her, Spazz began blindly firing thermal beams from Radius's horn in a murderous frenzy. The startled alicorn ducked and dodged as several shots came within inches or less of hitting her and she was with only one round of her own ammunition which she simply could not afford to waste. If she was to have a chance at landing her dart right on target, Twilight had no choice but to retreat for the time being and rejoin with the others. She would need to catch Spazz by surprise and while standing still but she refused to risk allowing him to catch up to her friends and do who knows what to them so knocking his glasses off and waiting for a better opportunity would have to suffice.
"Son of a bitch..." Spazz angrily huffed as he blindly pawed at the ground in search of Radius's glasses which he needed if he wished to see anything. "Of all the fucking kick-ass mutations this geek got...he couldn't get better eyes!?"
The Princess was now just a few hundred yards away from the entrance to the building that housed the remains of Chernobyl's Reactor number four and the pain her body had to endure nearly put her out right then and there. As she struggled to hold her tender, broken wings against her sides, the sharp ends of some of the bones began to tear through her skin and expose themselves through her feathers. She then fell to her stomach once more and her mind began to drift until her ears perked up to another reminder of why she was doing all of this to begin with.
"RUUUN!" A familiar voice screamed from off in the distance.
"You're going down!"Shouted another from far away.
The ailing alicorn glanced over towards the general direction the voices were coming from and no sooner, a barrage of bright green beams shot up into the sky followed by the blood curdling screams of her subjects. Celestia's pupils filled her eyes as she watched the seemingly endless attack with the use of lethal energy that sliced a giant fish clean in half the other day. The very thought of her own and even Frederick needlessly being subjected such a fate or whatever it was that Spazz had in mind for them gave her the boost she needed and just enough of an adrenaline surge. The pain was numbed by her body's natural fight or flight response and she found the strength within her to return to her hooves and continue her trek towards the power plant that created the very entity she set out to stop.
With saving the lives of her friends the only thing on her mind, one by one, Celestia put one hoof in front of the other, picking up the pace with each and every step. Sweat poured down her furrowed brow as the muscles in her legs burned worse and worse still each time her hoof came in contact with the ground and supported the weight of her body. She was getting so close that she could nearly kick a stone through the open door of the building and with every inch of progress she made, the more intense the strange, bitter, metallic taste in the air became. It was what happened next where she knew for sure she was on the right track.
Beep!...beep!...
"Huh?" Celestia panted as she noticed that the safety meter that still hung around her neck began to go haywire.
Beep!...beep!...beep!...
"Just what I...was looking for."
Celestia panted heavily as the device loudly warned her of the presence of harmful levels of radiation, its red and yellow lights joining the ghastly screeching and chirping. Still she pressed on until she finally found herself going through the door, the device's warning growing even louder and more head splitting with each and every step. The only thing that could light the Princess's way through the dark hallways were the small led lights that dotted the device she wore and the only compass she had were the horrific squeals emitting from it. Once she dragged herself one way, the beeping would decrease in frequency ever so slightly to which she would respond by taking a step back and going the other way. Once the noise picked up again, she knew that she was heading in the right direction. Her means of navigation however were short lived as she could no longer differentiate the beeping of her device because she was that much closer to the source of the gamma.
Through the dark hallways and corridors she continued as did the screaming her entire body had to endure. To make matters worse, the safety device she used as a guide began bringing about a migraine coupled with the higher levels of rem she was soaking into her body with every second she was there. If the Princess was putting up with enough hardship as it was, the gurgling and sudden pressure in the pit of her stomach was about to make things even worse still. The intense battle occurring within her gastric system was so agonizing that she quickly found herself leaning up against the wall as she began to hyperventilate which then ultimately turned the shallow breaths into heaves.
Before Celestia could even so much as recoup her thoughts, the contents of her stomach were shooting back up her throat and onto the floor with enough force to knock her down onto her rump. The ill Princess power-vomited and even with her stomach rendered entirely empty, she continued to involuntarily heave until small amounts of blood started to trickle from her gums and down her chin. At this point, she knew that the radiation she was absorbing was inflicting major damage on her body and with what little mental coherency she had left, with what she saw, or rather thought she saw next, she knew she was not well.
"Hey. You're almost there." Squeaked a voice from what sounded like a small creature just to the Princess's left.
The startled Princess then turned glanced to her left to see a regretfully familiar sight and the source of the voice in the form of a local mouse. This creature however was walking upright on two legs, appeared to have had it body flattened much resembling a pancake and was covered in blood with several inches of its intestines hanging out of various open wounds. Celestia gasped and then stifled yet another gag at the rodent she and Twilight witnessed jumping out a window and falling to its death a few days earlier. The ancient Princess had bore witness to some of the most twisted things imaginable in her day but to have the bloody mouse she saw get splattered with her own eyes now casually staring up at her made her jaw hang open in shock.
"What's the matter?" The mouse asked as blood dripped from its body, forming a puddle where it stood. "You're so close. Don't give up now."
"Th-th-there is...no way I'm actually seeing this." Celestia stuttered as she double took.
"Well, of course you're seeing this, not that it means I'm actually here."
"Great, so I'm hallucinating. Just fucking great."
"Language, my dear. You're a Princess aren't you?"
"Look, I don't have time for this! I need to...why the hell am I even bothering!? You're just an illusion!"
"Yeah, we've established that but nonetheless you're being awfully rude to this illusion who's just trying to help."
The mouse then turned around and began walking back in the direction from which Celestia came, leaving tiny paw prints of crimson with each and every step. Its intestines dragged on the floor, leaving lines on blood in its path as well.
"Wait!" Celestia cried as she struggled to stand. "You said you could help?"
"Sure did!" The mouse squeaked as it turned back around to face the Princess. "I know what you're looking for. This part of the building is kind of a chore to navigate so I've got it marked for you. see?"
The seemingly zombified rodent then pointed with a tiny paw down the next hallway, revealing that he had indeed marked a trail with his own blood for the Princess much to both her gratitude and disgust. She had seen all sorts of incredibly hard to believe things during her thousands of years and here mere week in the exclusion zone so at this point she was willing to believe nearly anything and even managed to forget that she was not actually seeing this. She would soon be reminded of that chilling fact once she turned back to the mangled rodent.
"Thank you!" The princess beamed as she turned to see that the mouse was no longer there. The bloody prints on the floor where it once stood were gone as well however save for the ones that still marked that path that Celestia needed to take in order to reach her next destination. With no more time to waste, the sickly alicorn pushed herself away from the wall and back onto her hooves and painfully continued her trek, eternally grateful that she was the only being to have witnessed herself babbling in her radiation induced hallucinations.
"Nopony..." Celestia huffed as she took a series of painful steps. "...can ever...find out about this."
The pain was so intense and her heavy breathing so pronounced that the beeping and wailing of the Geiger counter that hung around Celestia's neck became easy to tune out. For several long, agonizing minutes, she followed the trail of blood that disappeared before her very eyes as she trotted past the tiny paw prints of crimson. Down the dark hallways she went at a slug's pace, her stomach fairing much of the same as the rest of her until finally, she reached a staircase heading down into a pitch black corridor. The disemboweled rodent's paw prints lead down the steps to a room directly underneath the infamous reactor number four and Celestia now had to climb down.
After reaching out her hoof and grabbing on to the stair railing, Celestia held on tight as she carefully took her first step down. With her rear left hoof securely on the step, she then placed her left front followed by her right rear, her right front hanging on to the rail. Slowly and steadily, step by step she descended, using the flash of her warning device as her only means of lighting the way as to not trip. Though she could see her path well enough, the Princess was dizzy and extremely nauseous which made it immensely difficult to keep solid hoofing on the steps. Right before her very eyes, the bloody paw prints the mouse had left for her began to glow and shift between many different colors as her hallucinations grew worse.
Finally, after what seemed to take hours but in reality only a few minutes, Princess Celestia reached the bottom and from here on out, it the path to her destination would be a straight shot. Still, her trek would not be easy and coupled with the pain and nausea, the intense buzzing and beeping of her device was getting more difficult to tune out and began to simply add more to her migraine. After all that, everything she had to endure, still she pressed onward down the dark hallway and at this point, the smell of burning plastic filled the air as smoke began wafting out of her Geiger counter much to her confusion. Her confusion however would be short lived however, as she was now face to face with the very monstrosity of radioactive death she sought after.
With the last little bit of magic she could manage to get from her horn, Celestia lit the dead end in front of her as the lights on her device began to fizzle out from the overload of rem. Sparks flew and crackled from the meter as smoke poured out from its speaker until with one final snap, it ceased all function and died out completely. This was the least of what Celestia paid attention to as she stared mesmerized at the huge, gray mass of stone that appeared to have poured from the ceiling in a molten state before coming to rest and cooling on the floor before her. What Celestia was staring at and standing ten feet away from was the most toxic and deadly object known to human and ponykind alike; the infamous elephant's foot.
The sight of it was surreal. The massive blob of uranium mixed with other highly radioactive substances had in a way become almost legendary and now Princess Celestia was staring directly at it as the air appeared to wave. Knowing that she would soon pass out cold if she did not act quickly so she prepared to put her plan into action. Buckets of sweat poured down every inch of her body and the air seemed to burn more and more with each and every step she took towards the deadly stone. All the while, Princess Celestia was well aware that by doing what she was about to do, she was taking a huge gamble as it would either give her the means to take Spazz down and save her subjects or completely destroy her. At this point there was no going back. It was do or die.
With nothing left to lose and her whole world to gain, Princess Celestia went for it and plunged her horn down onto the elephant's foot to absorb all the radiation her magical body could possibly take in. For the first several seconds of soaking in massive quantities of gamma seemed to be no better or worse than the rest of her time within the dark corridor but only because her senses were being badly dulled. If the pain her entire body was in was bad before, what was about to happen would top everything she had endured in the past tenfold and she was in for a rude awakening.
Every muscle in the Princess's body tensed up as smoke began to pour from where she held her horn in contact with the mass of poisonous rock. Soon, sparks began to fly, lighting up the dark room but blinding her in the process and as the foot crackled away, a cherry red glow started to form around Celestia's horn. The pain was like absolutely nothing she had ever been subjected to in all her thousands of years and if she could think clearly, she would never wish such a thing on even the worst of her very worst of enemies. Just when she felt that it could not possibly get worse however, the red glow heated up even more and became bright orange and seemed to have welded her horn into place so now she could not remove it even if she tried.
"Hnnnggg...aaahhhhhh!!" Celestia strained before screaming in agony as every cell in her body began to cook.
There was nothing quite like it. The pain was much like a burning sensation but comparable to the feeling of every inch of her body being tightly squeezed to a point where she could barely breathe. To put her body through such magnitude of trauma, she regretted every moment of it as she pulled with what little strength she could muster in attempt to free her horn from the clutches of the stone of death. Never before had the Princess felt so foolish as she was the one who had done this to her own self but momentarily, she would be in no condition to even think at all. As the sparks continued to fly and smoke billowed from her horn, the powder keg of magic and gamma radiation being combined could no longer contain itself and erupted with a boom that shook the entire building to its foundations.
The explosion that sent Celestia flying until her back hit the wall, leaving a sizable dent behind rendered her blinded and deafened, a painful ring lingering in her ears for what seemed like an eternity. Bricks and chunks of plaster from the walls and ceiling began to crumble and fall from their places as the helpless alicorn lay disoriented on her stomach. After laying there for a few minutes to catch her breath and recoup her thoughts, her eyesight slowly returned and she noticed that the elephant's foot was now glowing a bright orange and lighting the entire room.
The next thing that Celestia noticed is that her entire body had gone completely numb and it seemed almost as if she was totally paralyzed save for her neck and above. As the minutes ticked by, her sense of touch very slowly made its unwelcome return however as did her ability to move and as she gradually lifted herself off the floor, she would find that it now required less effort and brought about less pain. Finally, stood back up on all fours still attempting to gather her own mind. As the glow of the heated stone began to die out however, she would soon find herself seeming back to square one as the shooting pain returned and knocked her back to the floor like a shockwave.
"Aaaaahhh! Aaauuugghhh!" Celestia shrieked in pure agony as she writhed on the floor, the veins in her body beginning to emit an orange glow.
The dimming light from the blob of uranium had now fizzled out, rendering the room pitch dark with no light to speak of save for the Celestia's veins and the occasional flash from her horn. She continued to squirm about on the dirty, dusty floor and scream as her horrific pain that would kill or send most into shock spiked with seemingly no end in sight. Much like Radius before her, she emitted all kinds of squeaks and screams that would induce weeping in even the most hardened of soldiers and as the echoed through the building and out through the door she had entered, still no one could hear her scream. The minutes ticked by and still, the Princess let out her blood curdling shrieks but at this point, her wailing was now quickly growing weaker by the second until finally, silence.
The deafening silence that now took over the building would have been more concerning than Celestia's screaming had there been someone rushing to her aid. She was completely on her own and no one knew even her general location and if she lay in the dark basement dying, it could be months or even years before she would be found. After several more minutes still, the silence remained and to anyone who would have been standing nearby outside the building's entrance, it would be rather clear to them that Equestria had just lost a Princess and in such an undignified manner to boot. However, the insane laughter in place of the screaming that erupted from the dark, cavernous depths of the building would indicate otherwise and that death was not an option for the Princess but rather madness instead.
From first thing in the morning until late afternoon, after getting Denys and the slatebuster pulled out of the trench in the road, the Ukrainian Army worked tirelessly to fill in the gap in order to get their trucks into Pripyat. After so many hours and truckload after truckload of gravel dumped into the hole, finally it would appear that they had just enough of it filled in to be safely driven over without falling in. The highest ranking officer present who was in charge of the operation and the safety of their Equestrian diplomats then gestured the first truck in line to drive over the mostly filled in hole as they had little time to finish. The large wheels on the front axle rolled over with a thump followed by the rear wheels. Upon seeing that the filling was still well intact, he then motioned for the next truck followed by a third and fourth. It was time.
"Alright, let's move!" The leading officer ordered as he hopped into the nearest truck.
Finally, the Ukrainian Army was headed towards the abandoned city at full speed and as per the orders of Prime Minister Groysman, nothing would stand in their way and live to tell the tale. He was not about to allow his nation to become the death place of the Princess of Equestria and several of her subjects and upon hearing of Radius's earlier attack on the other group of soldiers, he was to be shot is he were to show any signs of aggression. But would they arrive in time, or would it be too little, too late?
Meanwhile, a mile and a half to the North...
"Comrades, we're low on fuel." Said the worried driver of the first truck to arrive in Pripyat hours earlier.
"We might not have any other choice but to park it until the others get here." The highest ranking soldier among them replied. "Let's pull over there and keep a look ou-Jesus Christ!"
Just as the men prepared to stop to give their truck a break and conserve their fuel until backup arrived to help, all four men inside the vehicle were knocked from their seats by a sudden jolt. After taking a moment to gather themselves, and assess the new and rather unwelcome situation, they looked out their windows to see that their dreaded nightmare they were attempting to avoid for hours was coming true. The ground beneath them was now twenty feet below the still turning wheels and a strange, glowing, green aura surrounded the entire truck as it hovered up in the air. As suddenly as the aura enveloped them, it spun the truck around to face the culprit who had gone from being a desperate, tormented soul to sadistic monster who wanted little more than to toy with everyone unlucky enough to catch his eye.
"Hoohoo, could this possibly be more fun!?" Spazz giggled as he instilled fear into the hearts of them men he had just captured. "Who wants to go flying!?"
Knowing what Spazz was planning to do, the men frantically waved their hands in protest, hoping that their pleading and shouting would have some sort of emotional impact on their assailant. Much to their misfortune however, they were completely unaware as quite who they were dealing with and the fact that reasoning with him not to harm others was a lost cause. Spazz then begun a trot down the crumbling road as the men in the truck continued to plead for him to spare them and even started pulling out pictures of their families and children from their wallets of which Spazz was completely unphased by. Still the men screamed and hollered out the windows of the truck as Spazz picked up the pace of his trot until he was barreling down the road in a full gallop, the truck he had in his clutch hovering above.
Finally, what the helpless soldiers in the truck had feared all along had come true as their merciless adversary hurled their vehicle through the air with little effort. Unbeknownst to the four men and the search team that had come to retrieve Radius to begin with, Spazz's throw was anything but random as he knew exactly where they were, just a mere hundred yards away. Frederick and his equine comrades had stopped in the center of an intersection for a much needed breather and as such, they were all tired, sore, dirty, and growing sick from being in a hazard zone for as long as they had. They had nowhere else to go and the Army seemed so near yet so far away and now the stranded group had a six ton truck about to crush each and every one of them. With no more strength left in their tired, battered bodies, Frederick and everypony fell to their knees as the truck plummeted down towards them like a meteor with an engine and a tank containing combustible fuel. As Frederick and the terrified men in the truck made eye contact, they each gave a salute as they all closed their eyes and awaited the fiery explosion that would be their untimely fate.
SLAM!
The vehicle had sailed through the air and hit its mark with a loud, metallic crunch, its victims on the ground grateful that they were crushed quickly and painlessly. With their eyes still closed and their hooves still over their ears, they awaited the bright white light that would ultimately bring them to the afterlife. As far as Frederick was concerned, it meant nothing more than that he had failed in his mission to escort his diplomatic friends to safety. To Shining Armor, it was the heart wrenching realization that his loving wife Cadence was now a widow and their precious daughter Flurry Heart would now have to grow up without her father. Rainbow Dash, whom had just begun to see her dream of becoming a wonderbolt through just had her promising career cut short and Twilight Sparkle was now the first alicorn Princess to have been killed. The only thing they could do now was wait for themselves to be whisked away to whatever paradise they were destined for by whatever the massive set of wings above them were attached to.
Upon opening their eyes expecting to see their maker, what they saw instead was the truck that allegedly crushed them hovering in the air ten feet over them, them men inside embracing each other for what would have been their last moments. Sure enough, the whooshing sound of two massive wings was coming from a pair of yellowish feathered wings that emitted a strange glow. Whatever or whoever it was who owned those wings was holding onto the truck from the other side and had caught it from the air just in time. Frederick and the ponies stared up in awe as the strange being slowly descended from the air and gently set the truck back down onto the ground. Curious as to what or who it was who the strange wings belonged to and ultimately who saved their lives, everypony slowly stepped around the truck to see none other than their very own Princess they were forced to leave behind at the burning building.
Though she was still recognizable, Princess Celestia looked nothing like she did before and appeared to now be standing two feet taller than before and her muscles more pronounced and toned. Her entire coat and her tattered wings were an unsightly and unhealthy yellow and glowed a bright green. Covering those hardened muscles were her glowing, orange veins and looking down further, they could all see that her hooves were cloven much like those of ancient equine ancestors. Looking back up, everypony could see her horn which had nearly become two as it untwisted and forked at the end. Even her ethernal mane and tail had gone through drastic changes as it flickered and whipped about through the air like a neon green flame. Of all of these horrifying changes that their beloved Princess had endured, the most frightening of all was the look of pure rage and fury in her red, highly bloodshot eyes. As Spazz Stood from several yards away with his jaw agape and his eyes open wide, the new Celestia turned to face him and snorted through her nostrils, indicating that she was now out for his blood.
"P-P-Princess?" A flabbergasted Twilight Sparkle stuttered as she dropped her rifle from her trembling hooves. "You, uh...h-how are you feeling?"
"Pretty goddamn good, Twilight." The now much larger and stronger Princess replied with a raspy voice and affirmative tone. "Now why don't you all step back so I can take care of this prick?"
Frederick and everypony else stared in absolute shock at what Princess Celestia had done to herself to have a better chance at taking down the evil Spazz as she stepped forward to face him. For the first time since they have ever seen him, the monster that had taken over Radius's body had his eyes fully open and the crooked, sick grin had turned into a nervous and unsure frown. It was then when a single bead of sweat formed just under his horn, rolled down and came to a rest on his brow, Celestia knew that she had him. Still, he stood rooted to the spot as the enraged and irradiated alicorn angrily stomped her way over to him and as he gathered his thoughts, he made a desperate attempt to appear completely unafraid as before but failing miserably to do so.
"Hot damn!" Spazz catcalled, his voice clearly trembling. "Yeah, come on over, sexy! Y-y'know, I happen to have a thing for chicks who uh...who c-can take control."
Celestia picked up the pace, turning her trot towards Spazz into a full on gallop, her eyes locked onto his as she charged him. The type of Pony she remembered that Radius was, she knew that if taking down a deadly killer who was capable of destroying the lives of hundreds if not thousands meant destroying him as well, it was what he would have wanted. As far as Celestia was concerned, she just may very well have to though only as a last resort should Twilight's dart fail to hit its mark. As the furious Princess brought the distance between herself and her adversary to a close, the latter had no choice but to stand his ground and fight with all he had.
With a solid thud, Celestia and Spazz locked their horns together just as before but this time, Celestia who now stood two feet taller and possessed much muscle mass was pushing her enemy along with little effort. His back hooves dug into the ground leaving trenches behind as his front hooves pushed against those of the alicorn who sought to bring about the end of his reign of terror. The normally calm Spazz could no longer even so much as attempt to hide his fear of being taken down now that he faced somepony much stronger than himself and before he could so much as think to strike first, Celestia made the first move.
Knowing very well that the battle that had just begun could cause unnecessary collateral damage if they stood where they were, Frederick, his four Army colleagues and the ponies, rushed to find cover behind the nearest building. All the while, Celestia had laid one of her rock hard, devolved hooves across Spazz's face with every ounce of her new found strength, sending the monster flying through the side of an apartment complex. Dust filled the air as Spazz disappeared into the side of the crumbling highrise and Celestia flew close behind and followed suit, refusing to allow her opponent any time to recover. Window frames and bricks flew from the side of the damaged structure as Celestia tossed Spazz back out through, creating another gaping hole in the process.
Expecting him to hit the ground, the team watched in shock as Spazz enveloped himself in his own aura and hovered in place, staring up at Celestia while she prepared to pursue him through the air. In order to gain some distance and a better chance to fire a shot at the enraged alicorn, Spazz rocketed through the air with the use of his unicorn aura but when he looked back, he found Celestia hot on his hooves. For the first time in days, everypony could have a shred of hope as they could plainly see that for the first time ever, they had finally witnessed true fear in the monster's eyes.
"Ahh! Wait, you dated this guy, right?" Spazz hollered back at his pursuer as he dodged shots from her horn. "If you take me out, you'll destroy him too! Oh shit!"
Spazz would find out that Celestia's first several shots were mere warnings as the next few grazed Spazz's legs and back, burning through the fur and drawing blood. His glowing red pupils shrank to pin pricks as he winced from the pain before trying once more to put charisma to work for him.
"Yoww! Ahh, okay just calm the fuck down for a second!" Spazz yelped as he and Celestia weaved back and forth past tall buildings all around Pripyat. "Look, I'm sorry, can't we just sit down and tal-"
"LIES!" Celestia boomed with her and her sister's trademark ancient Canterlot Royalty voice. "YOU'RE NEVER SORRY FOR ANYTHING YOU'VE DONE!!"
"Whoa! Okay, I'm not but just lemme-oww! Fuck!"
"RADIUS WOULD SOONER DIE AND TAKE YOU WITH HIM THAN ALLOW YOU TO HARM ANOTHER SOUL!! YOU HEAR ME?! HE'S THE STRONGER ONE OF YOU TWO!!"
Princess Celestia fully intended on punishing Spazz for his atrocities and quickly gained on him as she relentlessly chased him through the skyline of the god forsaken city. The predator turned prey was fully aware that he had few if any other options by means of defending himself and reestablishing himself as the atrocious killing machine with full control of everyone and everything he could possibly destroy. As Celestia snapped her newly formed fangs at the rear hooves of the serial killer she sought to bring down, the latter put the only choice he had into play and twisted himself around to strike back at his pursuer. Much to his misfortune however, instead of landing a blow unto his adversary, he was met with a solid hoof to the muzzle, several of his teeth flying out of his mouth from the impact.
Princess Celestia did not stop there and proceeded to wrap her arms around the dazed and disoriented Spazz and fly downward towards the ground at what seemed like mach two velocity. Everyone who bore witness to the amazing spectacle cheered as the two combatants plummeted to the ground in a rapid spinning motion as if Celestia planned to drill Spazz into the cold, hard asphalt below. With a loud bang that shook the ground, Celestia and Spazz hit the ground and disappeared in a cloud of dust that filled the air as a crater was created in the middle of a street.
Though they were all exhausted from their week of trekking a radioactive city and sleeping on a cold floor but still, everypony refused to let the two fighters out of their sight. The group sprinted towards the scene as the dust began to clear and once they skidded to a halt before the crater, they were delighted to find their favored party the victor. Standing over the battered and bloody Spazz in the crumbling indentation in the asphalt was the newly mutated Princess Celestia, her hoof pressed firmly on his chest in effort to keep him subdued.
Spazz was panting and struggling to breath as his host's blood trickled down his throat and his eyes were just as covered and were swelling and bruised around the sockets. Celestia whom had just pummeled him senselessly appeared to be free of any major wounds but did not appear to be faring any better emotionally, for she knew very well that she could have easily killed the very pony she sought to rescue. However, Radius still had a chance as Twilight was now preparing the drug and Frederick's army colleagues had finally arrived, their trucks screeching to a stop as he flagged them down.
Dozens of men and women whom donned full military attire and each armed with a Kalashnikov rifle poured out of their trucks with intent on taking the Spazz-controlled Radius into custody as he lay twitching in the dent. As eerie of a creature he was to behold, to see the ruler of their ally Equestria to have mutated into a glowing version of herself and nearly twice her original size was a spectacle in itself but what would occur next would top everything they had seen. Even Twilight who had paused from readying her own rifle could not believe her eyes as her mentor's body began to shrink right before them as her glow fizzled out.
Spazz lay badly battered and dazed in the crater and watched his adversary whom had just put him there quickly shrink back to her original size as her illuminated veins went dim. He shifted his eyes to his left where he observed Twilight Sparkle staring in shock as she was distracted from her task at hoof and to his right were dozens of soldiers in much of the same state. It occurred to him that due to Celestia having been exposed to radiation for several minutes as opposed to Radius having thirty years worth, she could more easily slip out of her mutations. As a result of Radius having weaker magic than his former alicorn lover and having taken the brunt of the wrath of reactor number four, Spazz's host was forever bound to his ghastly form. That is when Spazz began to think that perhaps the fact that Celestia was not locked into hers could be just what he would need to take advantage of once the time was right.
"Princess!" Everypony gasped in unison as they rushed to catch their dizzy ruler before she fell to the ground.
"Wha? I-I..." Celestia panted as the last of her radiation induced mutations wore out, returning her body back to her normal form.
"Come on. Let's get these guys out of here." Frederick called over to his bewildered group of colleagues as he lit up a smoke. "Our work here is done. Anybody have one of those rings? You know, so the guy in the ground can't slice us in half?"
"I've got a few in the truck!" Said a soldier as he ran back to retrieve the item meant to restrain a rouge unicorn's magic.
Though his glowing red eyes were closed as to feign unconsciousness, Spazz could hear every move that everyone and everypony made around him. Every foot or hoof step, every click of Twilight preparing her rifle, the opening and closing of a truck door followed by the soldier jogging back over to render him defenseless, he could hear it. Most importantly, he could pinpoint precisely how far away from him and in what direction Celestia was. If he wished to retain the freedom he had gained mere hours ago, he needed to act quickly. Celestia was weakened and as far as he was concerned, everyone thought they had him and surely could not foresee his final attempt at wreaking his perverse pleasures brought by the spillage of blood. At this point, he had nothing to lose.
"Surprise, sweet cheeks!!" Spazz shouted as he sprang up and threw himself at Celestia, tackling her to the ground before tightly pressing his hooves against her throat.
No one saw it coming. They all thought they finally had Spazz taken down and that they could at long last go home and with Radius alive to boot. Now, with the life of a world leader at stake and the hooves of a demented monster violently strangling her, the armed soldiers had no other option but to use lethal force and end Spazz once and for all.
"FIRE!!!" The highest ranking soldier yelled without even a second thought.
A hail of bullets was about to rain down on Spazz and his innocent host, putting an end to both of them. Since being deployed to the exclusion zone, the Ukrainian Army had strict orders from the Prime minister to protect Celestia and her subjects and bring them to safety by any means necessary. Being part of Radius however, Spazz had his host's intelligence and thus had a plan of his own to ensure that he would not only survive but make his sickest of fantasies a reality now that he had dozens of toys nearby to call his own. Just in the nick of time before being filled with holes, Spazz surrounded himself in a shield bubble that rendered the bullets useless. Still, the soldiers continued to empty their magazines into the impenetrable barrier until their rifles made no more than dry clicks. Spazz's ears twitched excitedly at the sound as he put his final plan into action.
Much like before when the search team attempted to thwart his last attempt to take advantage of Rainbow Dash, Spazz turned his protective shield into a shockwave, knocking everyone down and stunning them. With no one else standing in his way, Celestia was now at the mercy of the demon that wrapped the hooves of her former lover firmly around her neck. Spazz drooled and his body began to take on a reddish glow of intense arousal as he seemed to get off at the sight of the eyes of his victim rolling back into her head as the color slowly drained from her irises.
"Remember what I told you, Raddy!?" Spazz asked his host with a laugh. "Remember!? I told you I'd destroy everything and everypony you've ever loved! I'm starting with this one and I'm gonna make you watch! I want you to look into her dying eyes! Look at them!! GAHAHAHAHAHAAAH!!!"
"Twiley!!" A desperate Shining Armor screamed as he struggled to lift himself back onto his hooves. "Twiley, take the shot! Take the shot!!"
Spazz was sure that he had won and was about to indulge in all the violent sex and bloody disembowelment he could possibly want and as such, he had allowed his arousal distract him from the Lavender alicorn with the tranq rifle. This was the moment that could save her mentor, all her friends and even Radius or act as the final nail in the coffin for all of them. It was all in her hooves and though this was not the first time such was the case, the very idea of failure made her shiver as she struggled to take aim. There was too much to lose, too much at stake and this was unlike any other adversary she had ever dealt with in her young life.
Despite all that made her shudder, Twilight Sparkle knew that allowing her anxiety to get the better of her would lead to the deaths of everypony and everyone within Ukraine and beyond. With every last ounce of strength and willpower she could muster, Twilight Sparkle lined up the sights with a large vein that bulged from Radius's neck and slowly exhaled as she squeezed the trigger. Her adrenaline was surging through her bloodstream at full bore and the dart seemed to float through the air towards its target. The closer it flew towards its mark however, the less accurate of a shot it would appear to be. For the devastated alicorn behind the trigger, it was the painful realization that the barrel had been bent in the scuffle and she would learn the hard way.
"NOOOOOO!!!" Twilight Sparkle screamed at the top of her lungs as the dart sailed over Radius's head and came to a stop in the dirt a mere twenty feet away.
Twilight's heart sank to a low it had never hit before as did those of the search team whom of which had began to weep as they watched their beloved Princess be choked before their very eyes. In their exhausted states, they struggled to so much as even lift themselves off the ground and Twilight Sparkle herself was ready to faint as she had failed to save everypony who would all soon meet the same if not, worse fate than Celestia. Even the soldiers would surely not be able to help as they still lay stunned on the asphalt. It was all over. Spazz had won.
"OOF!" Spazz grunted after a right hoof that belonged to his host laid a firm smack to his lower lip, knocking him back thus freeing Celestia. "What...the fuck...was that?...That's me doing what I should have done thirty years ago, you sick fuck!...WHAT!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? YOU'RE MINE, YOU HEAR ME!? MINE!!"
Everypony stared in shock with their mouths agape as Spazz returned to his hooves and opened his eyes, revealing that his left emitted the same evil red glow and the right, a glossy green that only the purest of hearts could possess. Spazz and Radius were undergoing a full fledged war over control of the body they shared and that rightfully belonged to the caring physicist. The bodily interloper shut both eyes and violently shook his head back and forth in attempt to put Radius back into what he felt was his rightful place in the back of his own mind. Once he opened them, much to his dismay, he could only see through the left eye which meant, his host had regained the other half of the body the fought for control of.
"Do you remember what Celestia said!?" Radius's mouth hollered before the right hoof laid another punch to his own face, knocking him back to the ground. "Ahh! She's right! I would rather die and take you with me!"
Suddenly, Radius's two right legs, both front and back pulled himself along the ground away from Celestia, her Equestrian subjects and the Ukrainian soldiers who were just coming to. As quickly as his journey to his destination began, the left half of his body began to resist which Radius responded to stomping on his own left rear leg with his right. He was able to crawl several more feet towards where the dart had landed in the dirt. There were only a mere few yards to go and he could nearly taste the strange serum inside the tiny vial that he just knew was meant for him. Still however, Spazz used Radius left front arm to make one final protest against the rightful owner of the body he encroached upon.
"Gahh!" Spazz Yelped as Radius sunk his teeth into his own left front leg, forcing it to release its grip on the ground. "You're shooting yourself in the foot! You'll never see your home or anyone you love again! The light of day! All gone just because you think of others! You could have gone along for the ride, but nooo, you had to put others first! You're pathetic! I can't fucking believe I'm getting taken out by the likes of you!!"
Celestia gasped and wheezed for air as she could feel her throat having been freed from Spazz's clutch. Just as her equine subjects crawled to her aid as quickly as their sick and tired bodies would allow, the battered Princess looked over to see the raging battle between Spazz and Radius. He was almost there. Only three more drags across the ground...two...one. With his right front hoof that he controlled, Radius plucked the dart from the soil it rested in and held it high pointed directly at his jugular vein before offering his last farewell to the monster who tormented him for so long.
"I won't be seeing you in Tartarus..." Radius said with a smirk on the right side of his lips while Spazz gasped in horror on his left. "...because I'm going to a better place than you...goodbye, asshole!"
With one final self inflicted blow, Radius plunged the needle of the dart as deeply as it would go into the large vein on his neck. With his eyes tightly shut, he took several slow, deep breaths as if he were meditating but what followed next indicated that it was not the case. Much to the dismay of everyone and everypony who watched, the mutated unicorn rolled onto his back before every muscle and limb on his body proceeded to violently twitch. Soon, his eyes rolled back into his head as they flickered back and forth between Spazz's red and Radius's natural green. Everyone winced as he then began to hack and cough foam from his mouth as his body continued to violently convulse. To add to the incredibly pitiful and disturbing scene that played before them all, the strange squeaks and yelps that came from his mouth were simply horrifying to listen to.
The eyes of the ailing mutant flickered between the two entities faster and faster still until finally, they stopped on red for a brief moment and with one final high pitched shriek, they faded to green. Radius rolled from his back onto his side as the last lingering breath escaped his lungs followed by his body going limp. A deafening silence filled the air and having been subjected to the torment the ponies had spent the last several hours enduring, it was welcome and yet not something they were used to.
Celestia had caught her breath and recovered from her near asphyxiation and now that the drug had finally been administered, she wanted nothing more than to see what would become of Radius. The soldiers were also anxious as they too were aware of the circumstances and knew that the limp mutated body they were cautiously approaching was a long lost Chernobyl victim. Frederick, being the one who had spent most of his time going out of his way to yield results from the search had pushed his way through the group of armed men and women as he simply wanted closure.
With the help Of Shining Armor and Big Macintosh, Princess Celestia arose to her hooves as the two stallions limped along with her over to the seemingly lifeless body. Twilight Sparkle and Spitfire did the same for Rainbow Dash whom had fared the worst out of the three and then Soarin followed suit. The large group of soldiers parted as their diplomatic guests slowly limped their ways through towards Radius whom was still lying motionless on his side. Very carefully, Frederick slowly knelt down to to mutant and gently placed his thumb, index and middle finder around the equine's wrist. He felt no pulse. As everyone and everypony anxiously watched, Frederick then placed his index and middle finger over Radius's neck. There was nothing.
It seemed that everyone else was now safe but things were not looking good for Radius whom had just stuck a syringe filled with a strange, unknown serum into his neck but that still did not confirm or debunk any their concerns. The cold, hard truth would soon tug at the hearts of everyone watching as Frederick placed his hand around Radius's left front leg and rolled him to his other side and facing towards the group. His eyes were open and his natural green had been replaced by a dull, lifeless gray and good measure, Frederick hovered his hand over the mutant's muzzle with not a single breath of air to speak of.
The cold, hard reality slowly sank in for everypony whom had worked so tirelessly for every hour of every day for over a week just to get the worst possible sleep at night. The Equestrians simply did not know what to say and as every soldier in the group somberly removed their helmets out of respect, their was not a single dry eye to be seen. Even the battle toughened Frederick was not immune to the devastating outcome and the heart wrenching fact that Radius had sacrificed himself to save everypony else and also finally achieve peace of his own. Thirty long, lonely, agonizing years of constant pain and torment at long last had come to an end. The poor soul to have endured the struggles of battling with his own self on a daily basis could now rest in peace. After three decades of his seemingly never ending nightmare within Chernobyl's radioactive exclusion zone, Radius Circumfrancis Hoofenschtov was finally free.
"N-no, th-this just isn't right!" Twilight Sparkle stuttered out of disbelief, breaking the long silence. "This wasn't supposed to happen! Th-that drug was supposed to purge the radiation from his body and restore his DNA! It wasn't supposed to kill him!"
Shining Armor was always there for his sister to lend support and this time was no different as he placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder and pulled her in for a hug as she burst into tears. Seemingly out of the blue, Soarin began sobbing not only for the fallen mutant, but for the fact that every one of them were exhausted, sick, sore, battered, bruised, and dirty. Frederick wanted nothing more than to get them all back home and return to his own home himself so he retrieved a mic from one of the trucks' radios to call in transportation for them as they badly needed medical care and rest. All the while, Celestia stared blankly down at Radius's body, all the events over the past two weeks rushing through her mind.
Just over a week ago, the Princess was going taking a pause from her duties in remembrance of a supposedly deceased loved one. In that short amount of time, she had learned that he had been alive all this time and begins a search for him just to actually see him die before her very eyes. It was a lot to take in to say the least but after a taking the moment she needed to gather her thoughts, she turned to her trembling student and slowly trotted towards her. With her lips quivering and tears flowing down her cheeks, Celestia embraced the lavender alicorn and broke down, completely unable to keep her emotions in check.
"Twi-T-Twilight, it's *hic* it's okay, Twilight, I know it wasn't!" Celestia sobbed along with Twilight, their heads resting on the other's shoulders. "I know it was *sniff* it was supposed to cure him b-but he...I just...I didn't want to accept it before but...he was too far gone."
"P-princess, I'm s-so sorry!" Twilight sobbed.
"No, no Twilight, listen to me! He was here for thirty years! There was nothing else we could have done! Don't ever think you did anything wrong, do you understand!? You set him free! You're his hero, Twilight!"
Still hugging her student tightly, Celestia then lifted her head to face her subjects, everyone of them with the look in their eyes only those who've worked hard just to have their progress ruined would give. Tears rushed down their own faces from their sunken in eyes complimented by dark rings. They were all filthy, covered in insect bites, cuts, scrapes and bruises, they had lost weight and worst of all, they were irradiated and sick. To have worked so tirelessly to find somepony just to watch him die brought everypony to their emotional breaking point but Celestia refused to allow them to think their efforts were in vain.
"You're all his heroes!" Celestia announced as she continued to weep. "Every one of you! For thirty years, Radius was here suffering like this...and because we all came here, he's free now. After today...we can all go home knowing that we all worked together to bring peace to somepony who it was long over due. We should all be proud of ourselves f-for th-this and we *sniff* we...*hic* let's just go home, everypony! I just want to go home!"
Every pony and human alike could not possibly agree more as they had all been through more than enough for a long time to come and now that their primary subject was finally at rest, their own beds were the first things on their minds. Slowly, the group of soldiers walked back to their trucks with their heads hung low with Frederick making a beeline to the nearest radio to call in for more necessary help. As everypony held each other close and let their emotions flow freely in the form of buckets of tears, one by one, the trucks of soldiers departed back to the checkpoint save for just a few.
It did not take long for an ambulance from the nearest town and Denys to arrive to bring deliver Radius's body everypony else respectively from the exclusion zone. With one final salute, one by one everypony somberly trotted past the cold, lifeless body of Radius Hoofenschtov as they headed to board the bus that would finally take them home. Their hearts ached badly as did their entire bodies but now their work was done and they at long last could get the rest they needed. While two men in hazmat suits who brought the ambulance prepared a stretcher, Princess Celestia took one final moment to grieve in peace and reached down with a hoof to gently close Radius's stone dead eyes before offering her final goodbyes.
"You don't have to suffer anymore..." Celestia whispered as the tears continued to flow down her cheeks.
Like her subjects before her, the weary Princess whom refused an offer for an ambulance of her own then limped her way to the bus where Denys kindly helped her board as she could barely lift a hoof off the ground. The men with the ambulance had hoisted Radius up onto the stretcher and with one stroke of a zipper, he was bagged, tagged, and rolled into the back of the red and white van where he would finally be returned home for the burial he deserved. It was all finally over and everypony could return home knowing that they had done another an invaluable service. For Princess Celestia on the other hoof, though she was overjoyed that her long lost subject was now in a better place, her largest regret was that he had not died instantly in Chernobyls explosion as it was originally perceived. Instead, he had stayed there and needlessly suffered for so long and the weeping Princess knew it would be many years before she could forgive herself for having not done something sooner; that is, if she ever would.
"What a waste..." Rainbow Dash said wistfully as she watched the paramedics shut the back door of the ambulance. "What...a fucking...waste."
"We did all we could, Rainbow." Shining Armor said, his voice trembling as he failed to stifle his tears.
"Not for the past thirty years, we didn't."
"Nopony could have known." Daring Do added. "How easy can it be to find somepony who goes out of his way to avoid being found. It's nopony's fault."
"Can we please all just talk about this later?" Celestia cut in. "I can't...I just can't do this right now."
Celestia had hit a record low point in her life and as she sat in her seat and soaked the nearest window with her tears, she could think of nothing but what could have been if Radius had been rescued much sooner. The loving uncle he was could have watched his nieces and nephews grow up and spent all that time with his family that loved him so. What if he had proposed to Celestia? The loved they once shared for each other was undying and she though she never found out for certain that Radius had planned to do so, she had often suspected that he did and she knew she would have gladly accepted. Now, thirty years of unnecessary pain and agony had come to a well deserved end and now Celestia had to return home and face Radius's family and his dying elderly parents to tell them that he had been alive all this time but ended up getting killed after they had found him.
With the bus full of ponies in the front, the ambulance just behind and Frederick in the first truck with two more behind, the next stop would be the checkpoint a few miles away. Everypony was so exhausted that most had already fallen asleep as soon as their rump hit their seat and the ones who had not yet dozed off were not far from doing so. Still, there were procedures they all had to follow upon leaving the exclusion zone before returning home so there was still quite some time before they could all enjoy the divine comfort of their own beds. As Denys hastily cranked the engine over and shifted into gear, Celestia herself quietly cried herself to sleep with her cheek resting against the cold glass of the side window. Little did everypony know, while they slept and drifted into their own dreams, another dream of sorts was occurring in a completely different world for a certain soul who would otherwise enter paradise.
Complete silence and a blinding white light was all Radius could hear or see. He could not feel nor could he speak, try as he might. For the longest time, Radius anxiously awaited his ultimate fate and whatever paradise or punishment was in store for him. As his thoughts drifted about, he began to wonder if this was it. This strange white abyss that he was stuck in could be the afterlife he was destined for. Though immensely boring, surly better than suffering in a radioactive city, needing to poison his body daily in order to keep an alternate personality at bay. Or would it? He would soon find out however as he would notice his sense of touch making a slow return.
It started with the sudden sensation of sitting on his rump followed by a strange, cold feeling right where he sat. Slowly, the bright light began to fade as well, revealing the new surroundings that Radius would soon find himself in. With his eyes still closed, he waited for the bright flash to disperse and once it finally subsided, he opened his eyes and blinked several times as he double took.
Radius Hoofenschtov returned to his hooves and stared in awe at what seemed like a park of sorts that he found himself in. Every one of the countless trees in the area were completely barren and the ground covered in a thin layer of snow, slowly growing thicker as more flakes fell from the gray, cloud filled sky. As he turned around to get a better look, he noticed the clicking of his hooves on a hard surface and looked down to see that he was standing on a narrow path made of bricks leading through the strange park he found himself in. The road of brick was the least of his concern however as he stared down at his cleanly polished hooves attached to legs covered in short, gray fur.
"Gah! My hooves!" Radius yelped as he sat on his rump and looked his body up and down.
Radius glanced over every inch of his body that his eyes were not attached to and stared in shock as he was covered in the natural, healthy, coat of gray that he was born with. He then reached up to his forehead and rubbed his horn, finding that it was straight, of normal length and consistently tapered from the base to the tip. Upon further observation, he could see that the two underdeveloped, mutated legs that once jutted from his chest were no longer there. For the first time in a great many years, he was his old, normal self and as such, he was no longer experiencing the constant burning pain that plagued his entire body for so long.
He needed a moment for everything to sink in. Though he could not quite remember precisely why he had suddenly arrived in such a strange, unfamiliar place, the fact that his body was the only thing he could have ever asked for and he relished in the moment. His seemingly endless torment was at long last, finally over. Why or how, he simply did not care. However, he did have a few unanswered questions of which he would prefer to gain closure. As he paused another moment to look around before beginning a leisurely trot down the brick path, the snowfall slightly picked up the pace to a point where it was just heavy enough but not so much where it would obstruct visibility.
"I wonder if the sun ever comes out." Radius said to himself. "A bit colder than any paradise I've ever thought of but this place isn't so bad....huh...I wonder if..."
Radius trailed off as a new thought popped into his mind and the more he mulled it over, the more he wanted to bring closure to it. Radius like most ponies was always a social being and as such, he desired companionship and if he could just find at least one other living being to talk to, he could not care less about the dreary weather.
"Hello?" Radius called out as he continued to trot down the path. "Hello? Anypony here?"
He so badly hoped to hear a reply but much to his dismay, not a single voice or movement could be heard from either direction. Surely he was not the only one there as the area appeared to be fairly large as far as he could tell. Perhaps, there would be a town or village nearby as there were plenty signs of civilization including the brick path, several benches and lamp posts that dotted the park. There was only one way to find out and Radius decided to hoof it through the snow and the icy wind.
"Can anypony hear me!?" Radius called out, refusing to give up his hopes that he would find someone or somepony to talk to.
The path seemed endless. Radius was talented when it came to judging how much time had gone by without the aid of a watch so once he had realized that precisely an hour had gone by, he began to experience difficulty in trotting through the snow. The fluffy ice was now up to the chest of the now normal sized equine and upon being slowed down in his journey, the cold was beginning to affect him much more. More tired than cold however, Radius thought to himself that surely in the afterlife, he could not simply die again so the discomfort of the icy air would simply be just that. Still however, it confused Radius immensely that his supposed paradise should be much more enjoyable or at least after a short break perhaps he could continue his trek and find another sentient being to help him make sense of everything. For now, the nearest park bench would have to suffice.
Even in death, Radius could feel discomfort much to his confusion. Though he would consider it foal's play in comparison to what he had endured before, he began to wonder if perhaps he was to be punished rather than rewarded. For all he knew, the worst could be yet to come and as he sat on that park bench and shivered in the cold, the very idea that he may have to endure worse torment for all eternity made his blood run colder than the icy wind. Fortunately for Radius, he was about to learn otherwise as a pair of gloved hands came up behind him and gently placed a warm blanket on his back.
"Here, friend, take this." The voice of an older sounding man said.
"Oh...uh, th-thanks." Radius stuttered as he shivered before relishing in the newly found warmth that a kind soul had just given him.
"Don't mention it. May I join you?"
"Of course! I've been looking for someone else to talk to for a while!"
The man behind Radius then took up his offer and slowly walked over to the other side of the bench and slowly sat down next to him. He did not say anything else and Radius looked over to see a man in a heavy gray coat, appearing to be wool of some sort. The man also wore a black ushanka style hat and simply sat next to the confused pony just twiddling his thumbs as if contemplating what to say next. The only part of the man's face past the flaps of the hat was his nose and a neatly trimmed gray mustache just underneath. Before Radius could introduce himself to break the awkward silence, the man finally took it upon himself to do so, revealing that he and the pony knew each other in the distant past.
"Wow...You're finally here..." The man said quietly, sounding as if he were on the verge of tears. "I can't believe you're finally here...I've been waiting here for so long to talk to you."
Much to Radius's confusion, he had gotten more than he bargained for as he was certainly relieved to find that he was not the only soul there but as he thought for a moment, the man's voice did sound familiar. Unless Radius saw his face, he could not for the life of him put his hoof on it. Perhaps this man was an old friend or a work colleague. There was only one way to find out.
"Uh, have we met before?" Radius asked with a raised eyebrow.
The man responded by simply nodding his head as he continued to nervously fidget with his hands. The warm comfort the blanket the man had given to him was too good to just jump out of and off the bench to see who exactly he was talking to but he felt quite tempted to. Finally, the mysterious man slowly turned towards the pony he sat on the bench next to and looked him directly in the eye. The sudden realization that the only person around he could talk to was a man whose name he had cursed for thirty years made Radius's blood boil, ridding him of his need for the blanket.
"YOU!!" Radius shouted as he sprang up to his hooves, his veins quickly jutting from under the skin of his neck. "You're here!? Oh god, I'm in hell!"
"Of course you're not, Radius, you've done nothing wrong." Anatoly Dyatlov calmly assured the enraged pony, completely unsurprised by his reaction. "I understand why you're not happy to see me but all I ask is that you please just hear me out for a mome-"
"Not happy!? I fucking despise you!! You caused me so much pain and suffering for so goddamn long!! You...I'm so pissed I can't even see straight, you son of a bitch!!"
Suddenly, the normally peaceful pony that Radius was snapped under the pressures of his blind anger and raised one of his rock hard hooves as he grabbed the scarf around Dyatlov's neck with the other. With every ounce of his strength, the furious equine tightly shut his eyes and jammed his hoof into Dyatlov's face as hard as his front leg would allow. Instead of the sensation of hitting his enemy's soft, fleshy face or hearing the satisfying sound of a nose breaking or teeth being crushed, there was nothing more than the "whoosh" of his hoof flying through the air. Upon opening his eyes, Radius was greeted with the sight of most of his front leg buried deep within Dyatlov's face and his hoof coming out the other side. There was no blood whatsoever and when Radius flung his hoof about, repeatedly going through what appeared to be the smoke-like form of Anatoly, every hair on his body stood on end.
"What!? Radius yelped as he stumbled and fell off the bench and into the fluffy layer of snow on the ground. "Wh-wh-what the...what the fuck!?"
"Trust me, Doctor Hoofenschtov, if you could land a blow, I'd turn the other cheek." Anatoly said, the sad, droopy expression never leaving his face.
"Wha-what is this!?"
"You're dead, Radius. We...we both are."
"No shit, but what is this place and why do I have to be stuck here with you!?"
"I don't really know. I guess the only way I can describe it is like a...some kind of a 'Purgatory' I guess. It's certainly no paradise but...I wouldn't say it's awful."
"How long have you been here?"
"Since December of ninety-five. The day my heart gave out, I was certain one of two things would happen. I would eith-"
"I don't care! Why the hell am I even talking to you!?"
"I understand. If you change your mind, I'll be waiting here."
"I'll say the same thing to you now that I said thirty years ago! Bite me!"
With his entire coat still standing on end and his teeth clenched nearly to the point of crumbling in his jaw, Radius stormed away and continued onward, leaving Anatoly Dyatlov to sit alone on the bench. The furious unicorn indeed desired some companionship if this was to be his home for all of eternity but surely there had to be someone or somepony else other than the man he hated so badly. Anyone but him would do. He was so enraged to see him that the snow he trotted through seemed to melt from the heat of his body brought on by his anger alone.
Step after step, the snow sizzled and steam wafted from every hoof print Radius had left behind as he stomped further away from whom he saw as his sworn enemy. Though he was incredibly miffed to have seen Dyatlov again, it did feel rather nostalgic to cuss him out like he had a mere hour before his life would be ruined forever. The only difference was that it did not feel nearly as satisfying as it had the last time. Normally, Anatoly would have earned such rude choice words thrown his way as he was usually the one to instigate and back then, he simply pushed Radius over the edge. Now that he had calmed down and began to think for a moment, Radius realized that the tables had turned. This time, he was the one shouting and Anatoly simply sat there and took it.
"Huh...weird..." Radius muttered to himself as he continued to trot in search of anyone else to talk to. "That's not like him. I've never seen him that calm before...and why would he just let me talk to him like that?"
Radius was always known for rationality and logical thinking but nopony was immune to the occasional allowing their emotions to cloud their judgement. As he continued to trot down the snowy path, the fluffy, white ice no longer melting in his wake, he began to ponder the situation he found himself in. This just was not the Anatoly Dyatlov he knew from before as for once he had addressed him properly and just nodded politely while Radius cursed at him. Still, Radius badly wanted someone to talk to and if he could get a better understanding of what was going on and dare he think perhaps even find some closure, Dyatlov would suffice. After all, he seemed much more approachable than Radius had remembered so what could he have to lose? Now that he himself had a moment to calm down, perhaps he could trot back simply to learn more of what made the two such terrible enemies.
While the now calm and collected pony trotted back towards the bench where he had left Dyatlov, his heart rate slowly started to pick up again as the man came into his sight. Again, his hair began to stand on end as he trotted closer to Dyatlov who occupied himself with a newspaper until finally, Radius stopped directly at his feet. Dyatlov was well aware that the pony he badly wished to speak with was standing directly in front of him and he knew very well that he was still not happy to see him. Radius, having gone so many years without contact with others and having always experienced difficulty picking up on social cues could plainly see the man's hands nervously shake as he slowly lowered the paper before folding it neatly and placing it down on his lap.
There they both sat and stood respectively staring each other directly in the eye, two mortal enemies Anatoly Stepanovich Dyatlov and Radius Circumfrancis Hoofenschtov. For the first time in thirty years, Radius finally had a chance to tell the man who ruined his life how he felt and get everything off his chest. For the first time ever, Dyatlov made it quite clear that he intended to listen to what the pony whom he had hurt had to say and allow him the closure he knew he deserved. For the first time ever, Dyatlov gave complete control over the conversation to Radius.
"Do you have any idea..." Radius said through clenched teeth as he glared daggers up at the man who sat on the bench. "...any conceivable fucking clue...of the hell I've been through these past three decades? The things I've had to do to survive all the while, I was completely unable to kill myself and end it?"
"No..." Dyatlov answered quietly as his lips quivered. "I'm not going to lie to you and say that I d-"
"Just a simple 'no' is more than enough. Now, I know there was a window to the control room that I should have been assigned to that day. Tell me...what went through your mind when you looked out to see that massive fire where the reactor was? What were you thinking when you realized that you caused so many others to die and thousands more to suffer?"
Instead of replying, Anatoly Dyatlov simply sat there with his eyes tightly shut then proceeded to hyperventilate until he simply could no longer hold his emotions at bay. The little pony who stood no higher that Dyatlov's waist had gotten to him and reduced him to a sobbing mess who could not help but tightly squeeze the newspaper he held in his hand. To see a man who had always tried to make himself appear tough no matter what to weep so openly was the last thing he expected. Finally, after a minute or two of profuse sobbing, Dyatlov was able to speak coherently and answer Radius's question.
"Th-that's what I was trying to tell you." Dyatlov whimpered as the tears flowed down his cheeks and formed a pool in his gray mustache. "W-when I had my heart attack back in ninety-five...I thought for sure I was going to Hell to pay for it but...I ended up here. I was given another chance, Radius, we both were! We were both brou-...we were all brought here for a reason!"
Anatoly then slowly arose from the bench and held his arms out to Radius as he walked towards him, much to the pony's confusion. Noticing that instead of allowing him to come any closer, Radius was trotting backwards with the same bemused expression on his face, Dyatlov threw the last bit of pride he had left away and dropped to his knees.
"P-please I just..." Anatoly sobbed. "I always wanted to tell you I'm sorry! W-when I saw the explosion, it was right then that I knew I'd caused the worst nuclear accident in history! Th-that's why I tried to hard to keep total control of the test on the reactor! I was a jealous fool because I knew you were a better engineer than I ever was!"
"What do you want from me, Dyatlov!?" Radius asked as he trotted backwards, Dyatlov having become a sad sight.
"Your forgiveness!"
"Not a chance, asshole!"
"I know nothing can ever give you back those years you lost! Just know that not a day has gone by without me thinking about it whether I was alive or not!"
"And you think I can forgive all that? You're crazy!"
"Please, I beg of you! This is why we were both brought here! Please, find it somewhere in your heart to forgive me!"
"I get it...soon before the explosion...Vlad and Valeriy told me you had a son who died from leukemia, right?"
"Y-yes, th-that's right."
"So lemme guess...if I forgive you, you get to see him again? Is that it?"
"I...I..."
"Well, then guess what!? Maybe, I'll just keep your ass here and you'll never see him again! How about that!?"
Radius then plastered on one of the shittiest of shit eating grins on his face much like that of his alter ego whom terrorized him for so many years. Though Spazz himself seemed to be gone for the time being, Radius was behaving frighteningly like him and to a pair of bipedal beings who Radius failed to notice standing behind him, it was disappointing to see. Regardless of what he had been through, those who knew Radius knew that it was against everything he once stood for to wish harm on others in any way shape or form and to see him do so, was incredibly saddening and unbecoming of who he was.
"Raddy...buddy, how could you say that?" A man's voice said wistfully behind Radius.
"We get it. You went through hell." Said another. "You have family back at home too, man. And this...this just isn't like you."
Radius's pupils dilated and completely filled his eyes as the sudden realization of who stood behind him hit him. Radius whipped around and looked up at the faces of none other than his two favorite work colleagues whom of which died in his arms that fateful night. The looks on their faces much resembled the droopy, depressed expression Dyatlov donned before he began sobbing and it was rather clear that witnessing Radius explicitly go against his own nature was the reason for it. As long as he lived back home in Canterlot, he was well known for living by his own philosophy of never wishing harm or harboring ill will towards others and he had just broken his own rule that he had always taken such pride in.
"G-guys!" Radius stuttered as he looked into the sad eyes of his friends whom he had not seen since the meltdown. "Oh my god, you're here too!?"
"Yeah, man we've been here since you last saw us." Vladimir said with a sigh. "I guess going through what you had to would change anyone though."
"We get it if you can't forgive the guy but at least don't toy with him about his son." Valeriy said as he shook his head in disapproval. "Ain't cool at all."
Radius was speechless but he understood where his two deceased friends were coming from as Radius's hatred had made him lose touch with his own past self. Though he did not wish to show it, he did feel guilty over his malicious comment as he too knew what it was like to have loved ones taken from him. If that was not enough to really make Radius think, what he saw when he turned back towards Anatoly would surely persuade him to view the situation from a different perspective. To the confused equine's surprise, there were two more familiar men helping Anatoly back up to his feet as they patted him on the back in attempt to comfort him.
"What the...Aleksandr!? Leonid!?" Radius gasped at the sight of two more colleagues who died because of the man they both took pity on. "What the...how did..."
"Hello, Radius." Said the mustached Aleksandr Akimov said in the calm and welcoming tone he was known for.
"Nice to see you again, Doctor." Leonid Toptunov greeted much the same.
Though they were all deceased and stuck in an icy cold limbo, Radius could still feel a strange pain in his heart as he watched his former colleagues offer support to the man who was allegedly responsible for their deaths. Akimov and Toptunov, like many others did not see a swift nor painless end to their lives as their radiation poisoning had slowly eaten away at their flesh and skin while they lived to deal with it. They had to endure great pain and agony because of human error and negligence and yet they treated the man allegedly mostly to blame like a friend. Radius was rather shocked yet touched at the same time to see them show such kindness towards Dyatlov; Especially Toptunov, who met his demise at age twenty-six, right when he began his promising career just to have it tragically cut short.
"I...guys, I don't..." Radius fumbled with his words, unable to form a complete sentence.
"We've all been here for a while, Radius." Toptunov sighed. "We've had a lot of time to think and talk things over. Once Anatoly got here, we had already long forgiven him."
"We know, it'll be hard for you to do the same." Akimov said. "We couldn't even begin to describe how good it felt to just drop all that weight off our shoulders."
"Hey, those deer are back, guys." Vladimir said as he and Valeriy stood behind Radius.
Wondering why there would be a herd of deer in a place such as this, Radius turned around to see that sure enough, there were six deer crowding around his two work colleagues as they petted and scratched behind their ears. They were all just normal looking deer and behaved as such, save for two that appeared to be identical to each other and mimicked each other's every move and never left the other's side. It was then and there that Radius realized just who he was looking at and his pupils dilated as the memory involving them came back to him.
"Radius...you wouldn't do this... A familiar voice echoed through the stunned pony's mind as he stared into the eyes of one deer in particular. "I know this isn't you...whatever happens...I forgive you...
"M-Mikail?" Radius whimpered as the seemingly non-sentient animal trotted towards him.
"These guys got here a little while after we did." Vladimir said, noticing Radius addressing one of the deceased souls. "Do you know them from somewhere?"
"Yes...I do..."
"How about that wolf over there?" Akimov asked as he pointed over towards the more forested side of the brick path. "He just got here a few hours ago?"
"What!? Where!?"
Again, Radius shifted his focus to see that there indeed was a wolf behind a bush and it ducked down when he and the pony made eye contact, as if it were afraid. It was just a normal European breed of wolf and the first that Radius had seen lacking grotesque mutations in many years. As the sudden realization of who exactly that shy wolf that hid from him was sunk in, it acted as the final nudge needed to push Radius over the edge. With several people and animals he once knew forming a circle around him, he turned to face Anatoly Dyatlov for what would be his final time. As tears poured down the face of the man and the pony who faced each other, much to the amazement and awe of everyone present, the latter's body began to slowly levitate off the ground.
Try as he might, Radius could no longer hold it. The anger, the hatred, the ill will, and malice he once held onto for so long was slipping away and for the first time in thirty long, painful, tortuous years of loneliness and misery, he gave up on his tight grip on it. He himself had been forgiven by the herd of deer who died because of his own bodily actions, their blood finally having been cleansed from his hooves. Not only that but Bolnoyvolk, whom he had just had a battle to the death with was finally at peace and free from the mutations that sickened both his body and mind. After having his heart touched in such a way was the last straw and he simply no longer had the will to hold onto his grudge anymore.
After a moment of shutting his eyes as the indescribable weight dropped off of Radius's back, he gasped as he had just noticed that he was now hovering six feet off the ground. A bright aura of light slowly came into existence and enveloped his floating body as he kicked his hooves about. Everyone watching was as confused as he was as they had yet to see such a phenomenon occur in their realm. As the light that surrounded Radius grew brighter and brighter still, his eyes began to glow an even brighter white until finally, his entire body followed suit as slowly twirled in a circle while still air born. What came next was what would astonish all who watched more than anything they had ever bore witness to in all their days alive or dead alike.
With his eyes shut tight as if accepting his transformation, everyone gasped in amazement as an appendage sprouted from the left side of Radius's upper back, near his shoulder blades. Still completely enveloped in his divine, white glow, the strange object that jutted from his back that quickly spread and fanned out and another immediately followed suit from the opposite side. After the two strange appendages had completed their growth, Radius's entire body did a slight amount of growing of its own, his legs and neck slowly becoming longer and taller. To the pony experiencing these odd transformations, it neither painful nor even mildly uncomfortable and not a result of radiation.
Finally, the light dispersed and Radius slowly floated back down to the ground and landed as gently as a leaf in the cold snow. Once he knew he was back on solid ground, he opened his eyes to see everyone still staring at him, their eyes much resembling saucers. Curious and admittedly rather worried as to what had happened to him this time that earned such stares from everyone else, Radius turned his gaze to his right to see plain as day, a large, unfurled wing attached to his own body. It took a good, long minute for the genius to process what exactly it was that he was staring at and when he turned to his left, he saw another wing just like the other, the feathers matching the same light gray as the rest of his coat.
"No..." Radius whispered to himself. "This...can't be...there's no way, this just isn't possible! I'm...an alicorn? Oh my god, guys! What's happening to you all!?"
Turning back his attention to the onlookers, Radius gasped as he could see straight through them and their fading bodies. With a final wave, all of the humans completely faded away having been finally set free by the final grudge being let go. Radius then frantically turned back to the herd of deer to see that they too had become transparent and within seconds were totally gone, at long last being able to depart to the afterlife. It was then and there that Radius realized that by his forgiveness of a man he had hated so badly for so long, he had just given several restless souls the freedom they too longed for and now after waiting so patiently, they could finally rest in peace.
Soon, the sky quickly darkened as they snow fall increased intensity and quickly became a whiteout. As Radius frantically looked around with his new wings flared out, the darkness quickly took over until a pitch black abyss was all that remained. It was much like the transitions between some of the memories he had shared with Shining Armor mere hours ago but he truly had no idea why it was happening now or what was to come next. Much to his new found good fortune, he would not have to wait long as the darkness would promptly give way to light once again.
Finally, the light faded away, revealing the next place Radius would find himself in the form of a very large, grassy meadow with a great many hills and thousands of gravestones and monuments as far as the eye could see. The cool wind that whipped about blew scores of fallen leaves around a series of brick paths that lead through what apparently was a cemetery.
"I know he would have forgiven you too, Anatoly." A familiar female voice said behind Radius. "That's just the type of pony he was."
As his pupils dilated and filled his eyes, Radius quickly turned around to see none other than the magnificent, beautiful mare he once fell in love with so long ago trotting down the path towards him. Accompanying her by her side was Anatoly Dyatlov himself, appearing to have fared much worse than when he had seen him just moments ago. Princess Celestia trotted at a slug's pace to allow the sickly and weak Dyatlov to keep up as he huffed and puffed with every little step he took. Still, despite his struggles to simply walk along the path, he tried his very best to express his gratitude towards the princess who had just made peace with him as deep within the back of his mind, he knew he would not live much longer.
"Bless your heart, Your Majesty." Anatoly wheezed between his severely labored breaths. "It's true, he was so kind. I always remembered the rest of the staff saying that he never truly hated me despite my...my..."
Before Anatoly could finish his sentence, he collapsed to his knees and succumbed to a full fledged coughing fit. There he was on his knees, wheezing and gasping for breath a mere five feet from where Radius stood as tears flowed down his cheeks. Meanwhile, Celestia gently rubbed the ailing man's back with her hoof as she waited for his coughing to subside. After he could finally catch his breath, the Princess enveloped Dyatlov within her aura and gently placed him on her back where she proceeded to begin her trot to where he would be catching his train back to Earth.
"Bless you, Princess." Dyatlov choked as he continued to weep at the alicorn's kindness towards him.
"I'm...I-I'm so glad we met here today." Celestia said as she too let her emotions out and began to openly weep. "This is what Radius would have wanted. This would have made him so happy and...and...*sniff* I-if he were still alive today, I'd hope he'd never change the way he was!"
It was those last words from his former lover that once again tugged firmly at Radius's heart and as he watched her trot away with the dying Anatoly on her back, he hung his head low and created a puddle of tears on the ground beneath his face. Though he had felt the liberation of having let go of his grudge, he felt ashamed that he had gone against his very own nature and that Celestia would have been so disappointed if she ever knew. Now, it could finally all be put to rest along with the souls who he had just set free. For Radius on the other hoof, fate would have other plans.
"Radius!" The voices of all his work colleagues echoed in unison as the scene before him once again began to fade. "Radius! Go home, Radius!"
"Home?" Radius whimpered. "Wh-what about home?"
"You need to go home, Radius! It's not your time yet!"
Instead of fading to black, a blinding, white light was all that Radius could see for mere minutes that felt like years as the voices of his friends called out to him one last time.
"Go home, Radius! Go hoooome!Go hooooooome!"
As suddenly as the light brought an end to the last bit of scenery, it vanished just as quickly and gave way to darkness. The feeling of having been set free replaced by pain all over his body and after a moment of feeling about with his hooves, he could tell that he was lying on his back. Finally, his eyes fully adjusted to the change and revealed a strange, gray obstruction that sat directly on top of his muzzle. It seemed like a wall of sorts that was laying over top his whole body that rustled and crinkled much like a tarp or a plastic bag found in a cereal box as he flailed his hooves about. In the very center of the strange, plastic wall was a seam of sorts that lead to an extremely tiny opening on the very top. Very carefully, Radius pressed his hoof against this small opening which turned out to be a zipper and pushed it down just enough to let in a refreshing gulp of much needed air much to the dismay of another being who watched from outside his plastic prison.
"Haaahh! H-hey, g-guys!" A man's voice hollered out in a state of near panic. "Y-y-you might wanna come look at this!"
"What? What's going on back there!?" Asked another man from where sounded like the front cockpit of a moving vehicle.
"I-I-I don't th-thhhh..."
"Out with it, comrade! What's the problem!?"
"The patient's not dead..."
Chapter 33: Almost Forgot What Not Being Poisoned Feels Like
"I'm not bull shitting you, man!" A frightened paramedic in the back of the ambulance yelped as he watched a pony's foreleg flailing about from out of the body bag. "Look! He's breathing and trying to get out of the bag!"
Expecting his comrade to be pulling a sick, ill timed joke, the man in the cab of the ambulance shifted in his seat to turn back and peek through the small, rectangular opening between himself and the patient box in the back. Instead of laughter however, he looked back to see his co-worker with his back against the wall and the stretcher right in front of him with a dull greenish yellow foreleg from an equine trying to pull the zipper of the bag open. Every hair on the men's bodies stood on end and their faces faded to resemble those of ghosts as the patient whom had no pulse moments ago was now gasping for breath and trying to free himself from the plastic confines of the body bag. Unbeknownst to the driver of the ambulance however, shifting in his sitting position and now becoming distracted had caused him to press the accelerator pedal to the floor.
Meanwhile, with the ponies in front...
The Equestrian visitors to Ukraine could not possibly have been more miserable over what they perceived to be complete and total failure of their mission quickly found themselves asleep in their seats on the bus back to the checkpoint. Princess Celestia on the other hoof, though exhausted nearly to the verge of an emotional meltdown could not find it within herself to shut her eyes and doze off as. She knew it would prove pointless to grab a mere ten minutes or so of sleep though as they would all be required to wake up once they reached the checkpoint to be decontaminated before being allowed to return home. It almost seemed as if their ordeal would never end and all they could ever want at this point was to curl up in their own beds and sleep in peace, though an impending bump in the road would delay their departure moreso but under better circumstances than before.
Slam! Honk! Bwipbwipbwipbwipbwipbwip!
Without the slightest hint of warning, the ambulance carrying the allegedly deceased Radius smacked into the rear of the bus, throwing everypony out of their seats much to their immense misery. After skidding to a stop and regaining his own composure, Denys turned back to see his passengers whom had already been through so much to be tossed about by another's careless driving. The short security guard would have none of it and proceeded to unfasten his seatbelt before he stormed off the bus and stomped over to the ambulance to give the driver a piece of his mind. After rubbing their temples and gathering themselves from the sudden jarring, everypony shifted over to one side of the bus where they watched Denys approach the two men, meanwhile Frederick and his colleagues walked over to investigate the commotion.
"What the fff...fudge are you guys trying to do!?" Denys scolded, nearly cursing for the first time in years. "Where'd you learn to drive!?"
Much to the confusion of everypony on board, they could not help but notice the stone dead look in the two men's eyes and that their faces had become whiter than Celestia's coat, though the Princess was not particularly clean at this moment. As he paused to wait a moment for the bumbling medics to explain themselves, Denys too had taken note of their lack of pigment and their incoherent babbling as they attempted to come out with it did little to help. With his hands on his hips and an eyebrow cocked, Denys then walked over to the rear of the ambulance and peeked in through the door to see for himself why the two paramedics were so shaken up over.
After a moment of standing at the back of the death wagon, Denys then proceeded to very slowly walk back towards the bus, his face also having turned pale as a ghost. Everypony watched as he walked back over, stepped up the short set of steps and sat back down in his seat, the stone dead look in his saucer like eyes never once leaving his ghostly whit face. Having no idea what was going on and why the soldiers outside were now crowding around the ambulance, everypony glanced back and forth amongst themselves as if searching for a volunteer to ask their driver and achieve closure. After giving it some thought, Rainbow Dash decided to attempt to snap Denys out of his strange trance.
"Yo, Denys." Rainbow Dash said as she tapped the silent security guard on the shoulder. "You alright? What's going on out there?"
Rainbow Dash then too her efforts up a notch and proceeded to wave her hoof in front of Denys's face.
"Helooo in there. Come on man, you're scaring us. Please, just tell me you're not having a stroke or something."
"Wha? Oh, n-no I'm fine, Rainbow." Denys stuttered before reaching for his cup of coffee that sat in a cup holder.
The steaming coffee in the styrofoam cup rippled within its container as the hand bringing it up to a set of lips with Denys's thick mustache on the upper trembled and shivered as he took a sip. Relieved to find that there was nothing wrong with Denys himself, everypony still felt compelled to find the answer to their next question as to what happened in the ambulance and why Frederick and the rest of his army buddies frantically running about. To make matters even more confusing still, a small convoy of more vehicles including another ambulance was fast approaching from the direction of the gate into the exclusion zone. The army trucks and the much larger ambulance, possibly from a larger town's fire and rescue squad that just arrived then sped over to the others and skidded to a halt as Frederick flagged them down. It was when several more men and women in hazmat suits jumped out and rushed over to the crashed van that the ponies simply couldn't wait any longer.
"Alright, that does it." Spitfire huffed as she trotted down the steps of the bus. "This is getting ridiculous. I'm gonna go see what's going on."
"Yeah, me too." Rainbow Dash added as Deny's flipped a switch to shut the door before either of them could exit.
"I can't...I-I-I can't let you two do that." Denys said as he continued to shiver. "The Radiation levels are increasing outside. See?"
Denys then pointed at the Geiger counter that sat atop the dashboard and sure enough the needle was bobbing and a it was emitting the telltale ticking sound as it detected the presence of dangerous particles. Though the needle did not show extremely dangerous levels at the moment, the sudden presence of gamma alone was cause for concern and it would just so happen to be related to the strange occurrence that brought their departure to a standstill.
"Why is there more radiation all of a sudden?" A worried Celestia asked. "And, what's going on over there? Are they...why are they pulling the stretcher back out?"
"Huh? Oh, right I probably should have told you." Denys said as he slowly regained his composure.
"Oh, is that all? And for a moment there, I thought we were all about to head ho-WHAT!?"
For a moment, Celestia was also beginning to think that she was losing her mind in more ways than one as she had a difficult time believing that she even heard Denys right in the first place. It was just then when through the very farthest corner of her eyes that she saw several men in hazmat suits pulling a stretcher out of an ambulance with a gasping and flailing equine on top that she nearly had a heart attack. Upon noticing this, she and everypony else rushed over to that side of the bus to see if the radiation they had absorbed had finally gotten to them or if they truly were seeing their hard work paying off in the best imaginable way. With their muzzles firmly pressed against the glass and their heavy breathing creating condensation, sure enough, they were now observing history in the making as paramedics rushed over to take their mutant patient's vitals.
All of those who were not dressed in proper protective gear quickly absconded the general area as Radius's body was highly Radioactive and it seemed as if he was now emitting a great deal with every second that went by. The paramedics busily prepared their patient for transport by affixing an oxygen mask to his muzzle and placing a lead lined blanket over him as to mitigate the amount of Radiation released into the air. All the while, Celestia, her subjects and even Denys watched with newly found high hopes as the medics loaded Radius into the larger, more properly equipped ambulance and prepared to bring him to get the medical attention he so desperately needed. It was a very emotional sight to behold and Celestia was expected to be able to properly contain her emotions being a Princess but is she were being honest, she would openly tell anypony objecting where they could firmly place those expectations. With tears flowing down her face and her breath picking up to the point of hyperventilating, she rushed over to the door of the bus and started to push with what little strength she had left.
Being as though the levels of radiation being purged from Radius's body were now making the Geiger counter in the bus crackle like a blazing fire, Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle wrapped their hooved around their honorary Aunt and held her back. Big Macintosh and soon Spitfire, Soarin, Daring Do, and Rainbow Dash followed suit and all grabbed ahold of their Princess as she bawled like she never had before. Never in her thousands of years of existence had things happened so fast the way they had in such a way that could take such an emotional and even physical toll on the alicorn Princess. In little more than one week, she had received word of the possibility of Radius still being alive, entered the exclusion zone to spend the next several days searching for him to find him alive and anything but well with an alternate personality that wished to lay waste to anything that lived. To top if all off, she had been badly beaten by him, poisoned her body to fight him a second time, watched him sacrifice himself and then wake up a half hour later. It was a lot to deal with and even more to take in and she was definitely feeling the pressure.
With Celestia finally having been coaxed into taking her seat with Twilight by her side to stroke her mane to comfort her, the Ambulance carrying Radius squealed its tires as it sped off towards the checkpoint. Denys then hastily stepped on the clutch pedal, cranked the slatebuster's engine over and followed suit. Though completely exhausted and sore to no end, everypony broke out in cheer as they followed behind the ambulance. At long last, things were looking up and their tireless work had produced results in that not only themselves but a long lost Equestrian was about to finally be brought home. Little did they know however that despite their high hopes and desire to just return home to their comfy, warm beds, they would still have to wait to celebrate as there was still the risk of something happening to Radius and there also was a great deal of official business to take care of.
Meanwhile, one hundred miles to the South, in the Capitol building in Kiev...
A saddened and greatly disappointed Volodymyr Groysman sulked in his chair behind the desk in his office as he sipped on a glass of orange juice mixed with vodka as he had been informed of the death of the lost Equestrian citizen. Just as much as Celestia and the rest of the ponies whom he saw as not only diplomatic allies but friends as well, he too hoped so badly that the mission would have ended with Radius's safe return home to the loving embrace of his family. Much like the Equestrians as well, he too could not possibly have expected the next bit of news he was about to get and the whole object of the mission would explode right on his desk in the form of the ringing of his telephone that sat before him.
"Prime Minister Groysman speaking..." Volodymyr answered with a quiet, somber tone. "He what?...That's not funny! A brilliant scientist just died after being lost there for thirty years and you have the nerve to call me and play this sick joke!? Shame on you!...You're not...joking? Be serious with me now, understand?...my god...it's a miracle..."
A miracle it indeed was and as such was the only way Groysman could possible describe it. With the cordless phone in one hand and his drink in the other, Prime Minister Groysman paced back and forth as he listened to the person on the other line explain what happened. As aghast at the new found hope he was, Groysman knew that Radius would still surely need medical attention immediately so he quickly devised a plan that would ensure that their patient would not slip back and shake hooves with death and permanently.
"Okay, now I want you to listen very carefully." Groysman said to the person on the other line. "I want you to round up as many of the best surgeons you can possibly find and send them to Equestria. Get them through the portal to the hospital in Canterlot, it'll help to have him back in his native world. Let's see...Oh, and contact the Canterlot PD to escort that ambulance! We can't let anything get in the way and slow it down!"
Meanwhile, at the entrance to the Exclusion Zone...
The tightly sealed and well filter ventilated ambulance carrying Radius raced past the already opened gate, the crew driving it and attending to their patient having already received instruction from their nation's leader. Celestia watched from the bus as it's flashing emergency strobe lights faded away in the distance as she knew that they could not follow suit and go home quite yet. As Deny's parked the bus in the paved lot next to a guard post, a team of men and women in hazmat suits approached them and boarded the vehicle. One by one, a man walked up to each pony and pointed the probe of his handheld Geiger counter at their bodies and much to their alarm, they were highly contaminated as the Rads were quickly oozing out of their mutated comrade. The drug Radius had injected into himself was finally taking affect and his body was emitting enough gamma to be a nuclear reactor himself.
"Get them to an iodine bath!" The man with the Geiger counter ordered. "Check their blood pressure and vitals and get them hydrated now!"
Everypony, including Celestia certainly would rather their bodies be rid of the harmful particles but they were all near the point of falling asleep despite all the commotion. Still though, these soldiers in the hazmat suits had orders from the Prime Minister to ensure the health and safety of the Equestrians and as such, ordered everypony off the bus and escorted them to a small building on the opposite side of the paved lot. Slowly, one by one, everypony limped into the building in question which turned out to be a bathhouse of sorts where they would be scrubbed with iodine and monitored by the doctors also donning hazmat suits waiting for them. Princess Celestia knew of the required procedures upon exiting the exclusion zone so she knew it would still be several hours before they could all finally go home as badly as they all wanted to. The Equestrians however were not the only ones about to experience a painful scrubbing though and Denys knew it very well as he tried and failed to tiptoe away undetected.
"Uh, Denys?" A man in a hazmat suit addressed as he pointed a ticking Geiger counter at the short security guard before grabbing him by the arm. "You're going to need one too. come with us."
"Not again!" Denys groaned as a second man in a hazmat suit grabbed his other arm where the two proceeded to lift him off the ground and carry him to the opposite side of the building, his short legs kicking all the way.
The ponies just wanted it all to finally be over but now that they knew Radius was alive and in good hands, they could undergo their decontamination with the lack of complete and utter misery. With the ambulance carrying a weak and sickly Radius hooked up to a machine that breathed for him, other traffic on the road promptly pulled to the side. With still nearly a hundred miles to get to Kiev and ultimately the portal highway that lead to Canterlot, the driver would soon find relief in the form of help from local police departments who diverted all other cars on the motorway to free up an entire lane. Soon thereafter, one of the police cars pulled in front of the ambulance and blared its lights and sirens acting as an escort.
The center lane throughout the entire highway leading to Kiev was wide open and clear for the emergency vehicles to drive as fast as they needed to, compliments of Prime Minister Groysman. Those who were stuck in the jam packed lanes of slower traffic on either side would simply need to accept it as there was a life at stake and he needed to be brought home post haste. Despite him springing awake from his out of body experience, there was still a chance of him slipping back as he constantly faded in and out of consciousness and the medical technicians attending to him made it a point to speak to him to keep him awake.
"Hey, stay with us, comrade." One of the medics said to their patient in a friendly yet urgent tone. "You'll be home soon, we promise."
Radius's weary eyes darted back and forth at the people who worked hard to keep him alive but much to his regret, he was in too much pain to speak coherently to express gratitude. His glasses were destroyed as well so he could not even so much as make out the facial features of the medics as they appeared as little more than blurry shapes and colors to him.
The small convoy of emergency vehicles raced down the highway at one hundred miles per hour the entire way and since one hundred miles was the distance needed to be closed, the hour ticked by unbearably slowly. Even with the entire road cleared of traffic by police and fire departments from all over Ukraine, it would still be a slow process but they could at least make the best of their resources to expedite it as much as possible. Finally, after the hour long drive down the seemingly endless stretch of open highway, the convoy entered the city of Kiev. Instead of a grueling, tedious, and sluggish drive through stop and go traffic however, Groysman had ordered the police to divert traffic to clear the entire route to the Interdimensional Portal.
Shortly after entering the city limits, the police car from the smaller town up North pulled over to the side where it was immediately replaced by a Kiev city patrol car to take the escorting from there. Kiev was a very large city with a population of nearly three million and would normally take hours to drive from one side to the other but fortunately for Radius, his ambulance would take a mere fifteen minutes. After a few turns through the empty streets, the ambulance was finally about to reach the portal, an entire lane leading through a gate been cleared just for them. The guard post occupied by a human and Unicorn security guard promptly lifted its gate as the convoy came into view and in before either two guards could blink, the Kiev patrol car followed by the ambulance whipped through. There was a mile long stretch of road to allow vehicles to pick up enough speed as it was dangerous and illegal to drive too slowly through the portal but they made short work of it and disappeared into the abyss of flashing lights and colors.
Three short minutes was all it took for the police car and the ambulance to make it through the waving vortex and soon they could see the light that was the entrance to Equestria at the end. With his knuckles turning white under his protective gloves, the driver floored the pedal and within the blink of an eye, the convoy rocketed through to the end of the portal, making this the first time in thirty years that Radius Hoofenschtov was within his native homeland. Knowing this, the entire crew in the ambulance cheered and patted Radius on the head and continued to talk him up to keep him focused on staying awake for the time being.
Still, the job was far from over and two pegasus Canterlot police officers were waiting to escort the ambulance to the Hospital within the center of Equestria's capital city. Unlike the Canterlot Royal Guard who only worked security detail at the castle and as body guards when the royal sisters were on tour, the two pegasi who signaled for the Kiev police officer and ambulance to follow donned the attire of the typical officer. Aside from their dark blue uniforms with reflective yellow and black caution stripes, the pegasi also had portable purple and green light bars and sirens of their own strapped to their backs. Their job was to escort them the rest of the way to the hospital.
Much like the roads they left behind, the cobblestone streets of Canterlot had been cleared of any traffic be it pony or engine powered, equine residents on hoof or visiting humans on foot. Hundreds of ponies and several humans from Earth stood behind the road barriers and watched in awe as the emergency crews from different universes worked together to bring about the safe return of a long lost Equestrian citizen. Try as anyone or anypony might, once one being knows of an important undertaking, everyone and their mother knows as revealed by the scores of news choppers hovering over the city and following the convoy's every move. Vans from television and radio station from both Equestria and many nations from Earth alike dotted the sides of the blocked streets and broadcast the footage as the pegasi, the kiev police car and the ambulance screamed by.
At long last, the destination in the form of Canterlot's Starswirl Memorial Hospital could be seen towering over the many smaller buildings off in the distance with a helicopter from Canterlot's police force circling close by. The emergency crews needed the proper space to do their jobs and as the Ambulance finally entered the cobblestone lot in front of the hospital so before they could proceed, the encroaching news choppers needed to be kept at bay. As the Kiev patrol car parked out of the way to leave the rest to the crew in the ambulance, the pony piloting the police chopper flashed his spotlight and shouted orders to keep back over a loud PA speaker at any news choppers who dared come too close.
The night was fast approaching and the hospital staff was finishing their last preparations needed to take on a patient they had no choice but to quarantine. The fifteenth and very top floor was where they needed to bring Radius to and and all other patients had been moved to the bottom five for their protection. Much to their fortune, the hospital was slow and was not currently attending to a great number of injured and sick ponies. Everything had been planned out to a T and the final procedures could finally commence.
"Okay, park it right there!" The pony piloting the police chopper ordered as he pointed his spotlight down at the Ambulance. "You're good right where you are! Hold on now, we're about to take you up to the top! No, no don't shut your lights off, keep them on!"
Confused as to why they were ordered to stay put, the crew in the ambulance just did as they were asked and remained stationary so they could bring their patient to his awaiting treatment. With the spotlight focused on the van that sat below, the chopper very slowly positioned itself directly over it approximately fifty feet in the air. As he hovered in place, the pilot then pushed forward a lever that dropped a cable with a large, heavy, disc shaped object attached to the end from the air machine's underside. Very slowly, the object in question on the end of the thick steel cable slipped down towards the vehicle waiting below until finally, it hovered just inches above the metal roof of the emergency van. With the flip of another switch followed by a loud, metallic thump, the crew inside the ambulance held on to whatever they could grab as they realized that they were being lifted by an electromagnet.
The ambulance was now gripped by the powerful magnet and now the pilot above could increase the throttle and lift the van up to the top of the skyscraper where a team of doctors was waiting. Slowly and steadily, the chopper brought the ambulance higher and higher off the ground. Everything appeared to be going as planned and the pesky news choppers were keeping their distance as to allow them emergency crew to do their jobs. Finally, the Ambulance on the end of the cable was hoisted up and over the top of the hospital where it was then gently laid down on the helipad on the building's zenith. With the van's wheels firmly planted on the helipad, the chopper released if from the magnet and proceeded hovered in place to wait for the medics to hand Radius over to the hands and hooves of which held his very life as they knew it.
Several more ponies and people in hazmat suits rushed over to take the stretcher and relieve the medics and the pilot in the chopper of their duties as their jobs were done and they could return home knowing that they had played a major part in making history. As the chopper lifted and carried the ambulance back down to the ground, the staff, both from this hospital and borrowed from elsewhere wheeled the stretcher over to the staircase that would lead down to the top floor. They had to act quickly and get Radius to the quarantined section as to avoid extended contamination of the hallways but fortunately, they would not have far to go.
"Radius, can you hear me alright?" One of the ponies helping push his stretcher asked in a gentle, welcoming tone as he held a clipboard in his unicorn aura.
"Y-yes...I can...I can hear you." Radis wheezed in between labored breaths.
"Okay, good, now I need to ask some questions okay."
"O-okay."
"From one to ten, one being mild, ten being the worst pain you've ever had, how would rate it?"
"T-tw...guhh, twenty..."
"Oh no, I'm sorry you're hurting so bad but you're doing great here, you're a real trooper. Where does it hurt the most?"
"My chest...it fe-ahh...feels like I'm ha-having a heart attack. It's near my...my extra legs."
"We'll find out what's wrong and you'll be just fine, okay, buddy? We're bringing you in for some quick xrays, some blood tests and we'll see if you need any surgeries, okay?"
The journey was finally over and Radius along with his doting caretakers were situated within the quarantine section that was sealed off from the rest of the hospital. With the medical team assigned to the patient, they could now assess what they were dealing with and start work. On each and every side of his more comfortable hospital bed that he had been gently laid down upon, doctors and nurses from both Earth and Equestria busily worked together and began recording his heart rate, blood pressure, and took a few samples of his blood as well. A unicorn nurse affixed Radius's right front leg with a fluid iv while a man, apparently an X-ray specialist wheeled his machine over and placed it over the patient's body to take a few quick images to find out what was causing him so much pain in his chest. After the specialist finished his part and wheeled his machine back to review the images, a human doctor from Earth walked over to attempt to comfort Radius as they awaited the results.
"Welcome home, Doctor Hoofenschtov." The doctor in the hazmat suit greeted with glossy eyes as he was on the verge of tears. "We may have to bring you in for an emergency surgery. Is there anything we can get you in the meantime? A sick bag? A ginger ale maybe?"
"A magic canceling ring and as many hoofcuffs that can fit on my leg." Radius replied after realizing that he may need to be restrained should a certain somepony decide to take him over.
"Beg your pardon? Why would you want tha-"
"Listen to me! You need to get a ring on my horn and get me chained to this bed! Please, I can't live with myself if I kill somepony again! I'm dangerous! I need to be chained down!"
Deciding not to question his request a second time, the doctor then rushed out of the room and moments later, returned with the items needed to ensure that Radius's body could not be used to wreak another being's sick pleasures. With much haste, the man then slid a metal ring with a blinking red light on it around Radius's horn and down to the base until the light turned green, indicating that the now smooth, normal unicorn horn was rendered powerless. Next, the man began affixing the several pairs of hoofcuffs he had commandeered from the hospital security guards to Radius's right front leg and clicked the other ends to the steel bars on the side of the bed. At this point, the X-ray specialist had found the main problem and now the team could finally provide the treatment their patient needed.
"Guys, it's confirmed!" The X-ray specialist announced. "The bones in the bases of his extra legs are pinching his arteries! We need to amputate, his life depends on it!"
Wasting no time, the team of surgeons wheeled Radius's bed to a separate room still within the quarantine ward where they quickly prepared for the lifesaving procedure. Before he knew it, Radius was now on top of the operating table, cuffed to it for the safety of others and as he shed tears of joy just to simply be within the borders of his homeland, the team's anesthesiologist very gently placed a mask over his muzzle. Now, Radius could drift off to a deep slumber knowing that his thirty year long nightmare had finally come to an end and he could begin his journey on the road to recovery.
Meanwhile, on Earth, one hundred miles North of Kiev, Ukraine...
After hours of painful scrubbing and bathing in iodine, Princess Celestia and her subjects who had come with her to aid in the search for Radius were finally decontaminated and given a clean bill of health after thorough examinations by on site medical staff. At this point, though they were indeed ecstatic over Radius's strange and sudden resurrection, everypony had one thing and one thing only on their minds; Returning home to a nice warm bed to sleep away their exhaustion. At long last, they were finally able to do so once their driver was ready. Denys wished to bring the ponies home as quickly as possible as he sympathized with them and after drying himself from his own bath, he put a fresh uniform on and walked out of the bath house with what appeared to be a note of some sort in his hand.
The bus he had driven the ponies on before was in the process of being decontaminated itself so a full sized van was prepared for him to bring them home but not before he handled some quick unfinished business of his own. With his nose held high in the air, Denys walked right on up to a man in a guard uniform much like his own and handed the note in question over without a word.
"What's this?" The guard, apparently Denys's boss asked as he unfolded the paper.
"My retirement notice." Denys replied firmly. "As soon as I turn sixty next month...I...am...outta here!"
With that, Denys walked over to the van with everypony having already climbed inside and quickly fallen asleep. After everything they had been through, Denys would have been surprised if that had not dozed off and very quietly climbed into the driver's seat and set off for the portal highway. For the first time since their mission began over a week ago, their next few hours went by virtually uneventful save for the winding, twisting ride through the vortex itself. The first time they had gone through, they could not help but let it get their heart rates pumped up but now, they were so tired that they slept straight through the entire way. After the portal back to Equestria was behind them, they drove past the gate that promptly opened as the attending guards were fully aware that two of their Princesses were on board, they made their short journey through Canterlot and finally stopped in front of the palace of the Royal sisters.
"Comrades?" Denys said softly as he attempted to wake everypony up. "You're home now."
"Uhhh, already?" Princess Celestia said as she rubbed her eyes.
"Heh, more like finally." Twilight Sparkle chuckled.
"Ahh, you beat me to it, sis." Shining Armor chuckled as he and his sister bumped hooves.
"Thank you for everything, Denys." Celestia said as she hopped her tired, weary body out of the van with everypony else following suit. "Ah, I only wish I could have told Frederick the same thing."
"Oh, my pleasure, comrades." Denys replied with a smile. "And I'm sure you'll be able to get ahold of him later but I think you're main priority right now is to rest."
"Ah couldn't agree more." Big Macintosh said as he struggled to keep his eyes open.
"Bye Denys." Rainbow Dash said with a wave. "Enjoy your retirement."
"Will do!" Denys said as he shifted into drive. "The missus will be glad to hear I'm finally ditching the zone! It's been real!"
Denys himself could finally return to his own home with good news for his family and the van he drove faded off into the distance leaving Celestia and her volunteers at the front of the castle. It was finally over. Their gruelling work and their tireless searching was had finally come to its conclusion. At this very moment as they trotted up the steps and through the large front door, the fruits of their labor were being cared for at the hospital that they could see jutting out from the Canterlot skyline, the cool, night breeze soothing to their sore bodies. Hastily, Celestia and everypony else save for Shining Armor shuffled in through the entrance and began a beeline to their beds for the night. Rainbow Dash noticed her unicorn friend staring off into the distance and decided to join him for a moment before she too would achieve her much needed rest.
"Hey." Rainbow said as she limped over to Shining Armor. "Whatcha staring at, buddy?"
"We did it..." Shining Armor said, his voice trembling and tears flowing down his face.
"You okay?"
"We did it, Rainbow. To think that...well, just look. See that tall building way out there? The one with all the flashing lights on top and all around it. Huh, looks like the CPD is keeping close by in case something happens."
"Yeah. Oh, is that..."
"The hospital. Just think, Rainbow. Right over there, a long lost life is being restored. Torment and misery about to come to end end after thirty fucking years...all thanks to us. We all did a great thing this week."
"Wow, that's deep. You're right though. I think we should all be proud of ourselves for this."
"That's right, we definitely should. Not only did we give somepony his life back, we all got to know each other better too. I can honestly say we all really grew from this whole experience. I even lost a few pounds."
"Dude, stop it, you're making me...*sniff* You know what, you...you're like the brother I never had, you know that?"
Without any forewarning, Shining Armor allowed his exhaustion induced emotions to take over and wrapped his hooves around Rainbow Dash who followed suit without a moment's hesitation. The two embraced each other as they soaked one another with their tears, their friendship stronger by leaps and bounds than it was a mere week ago. Though they enjoyed talking with each other and staring at the skyscraper off in the distance, alas, it was time to retire for the night as they both knew that try as they might, fatigue was taking its toll. Just after breaking their hug however, Shining Armor wanted to show Rainbow Dash one more thing he felt that he gained from their trip that he knew she would like to hear about.
"Hey, Rainbow." Shining Armor said with a smirk as he pulled his last pack of cigarettes from his saddlebag. "Here's something else I got from this whole thing."
With what little strength he had left, Shining Armor took the pack of cancer sticks in his hoof and lobbed them up into their air as hard as he could. With his horn aglow with his pink aura, he then took a shot at the pack, hitting them directly and sending them bursting into flames with a sharp pop. By doing so, Shining Armor expressed that he too had gained a newfound freedom as the strings that the tobacco company puppet masters used to control him were severed for good.
"WOOH! I won't be needing those anymore!!" Shining Armor cheered as he and Rainbow Dash did a giddy spin and a twirl towards the front entrance of the castle.
Like Celestia and the others before them, Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor wasted no time climbing the stairs and trotting through the hallways to the guest bedroom they stayed in before they left for Ukraine. Though the two two were only minutes behind the others, everypony was sound asleep and reveling in the warm, soft comfort they had longed for so desperately. Even Celestia did not have it in her to trot to her own bedroom as she was snuggled up tight with Twilight Sparkle. With every single step towards their beds, Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor's energy reserves finally fizzled out and with one final push, they each rolled onto their own soft, cloud mattress with velvet sheets where they could no longer so much as twitch a muscle. They fell asleep instantly.
As everypony slept late into the night and into the wee hours of the morning, the doctors who performed surgery on Radius for hours had finally stitched up the last of his wounds. The team of human and pony surgeons wheeled their patient into the quarantined recovery room and placed him within a large glass box and now could finally leave it up to time to heal him. Everyone and everypony then went through a separate room for decontamination of their suits and then finally out of the quarantine ward where they could at long last remove their protective clothing and return home.
As the tired and weary surgeons walked and trotted out of the hospital together wiping sweat from their brows, they praised one another on their superb medical expertise and over all their teamwork on a job well done. With hands and hooves shaken and several phone numbers and other contact information exchanged, it seemed as if nothing but good things could come from the miracle of Radius having been brought home, going so far as to create new friendships. Little did they realize however, yet another miracle was about to take place, for as the surgeons climbed into waiting taxis and vehicles of their own, what seemed like an entire fleet began flooding the parking lot.
The hospital staff would soon get much more than they bargained for as dozens upon dozens of ponies hopped out of the taxis and other vehicles both engine and muscle powered and began pouring into the front entrance of the hospital. Much to the dismay of the receptionist at the front desk, the crowd of ponies galloping through the door seemed endless and to make matters much more daunting, none of them were in any mood to be polite towards anypony getting in their way.
Meanwhile, on the fourteenth floor of the hospital...
Hospital security guards working the night shift trotted about the hospital, making their rounds to ensure the safety of other staff and patients as they always had. Tonight however was much different than most others as they were supervising a patient who had the potential to maim and kill anypony he could get his hooves on so every guard on the hospital's payroll plus many more borrowed from others were on duty. To further ensure quick response in the event of such an emergency, the entirety of the Canterlot Police Department was stationed on every block that surrounded the hospital. Even the pegasi squad circled the upper floor from outside the building, keeping a watchful eye and ready to fight should anything happen. Though it seemed that the security detail was well taken care of, not even an entire army could stop the ponies attempting to climb up to the top as they would see for themselves soon enough.
"H-hey g-guys?" A trembling voice whimpered over the radio on every guard's belt. "W-we've got compa-hey! I said you can't go up there! Stop!"
"What the hell's going on down there?!" Another guard answered as all of them listened intently.
"They're all over the place!! I can't hol-Stop! I said we can't let you go up there!! I understand, I get it, but he's being quarantined!"
Their pupils shrank to the size of pin pricks as the guards on the upper floors had an idea of what to expect as they could hear the sound of shouting and screaming from a very large crowd in the background on the their radios. If that was not enough to make them nervous, they were now terrified and sweating profusely as the floors began to quake. Finally, one last message from the ground floor would reveal their new adversary in the form of dozens of desperate ponies being controlled by their intense emotions.
"We can't hold them off down here!" Another guard screamed over the radio. "Brace yourselves! They're coming up!"
"Who?!" Another guard shouted. "Who the hell is coming up here!?"
The floors of the Starswirl Memorial Hospital shook as a massive family of ponies frantically climbed the stairs to see their long lost loved one for the first time in thirty years. For safety reasons, the elevators had been disabled and shut down so the tremors brought about by hooves galloping up the many flights raged on and grew more intense with every floor they breached. Every available security guard who had not yet been swept away by the large crowd readied themselves for a riot as they stood their ground in front of the stairwell leading to floor number fifteen where Radius was resting.
Sweat poured down the faces of the nervous guards for at the very end of the long hallway before them, the ponies in the very front of the massive group appeared from around the corner and galloped towards them at full bore. The looks on their faces and the puddles of tears they all were leaving behind indicated the emotional heartache they were all going through and having others stand in their way did nothing to help. These ponies were all relatives of Radius and they were there to reunite with their loved one.
The sea of ponies of all coat colors and races, mostly unicorns rushed towards the guards as they stood firmly in place. Siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews, ponies old and young and many too young to have even met Radius were all here and they demanded their voices be heard as they skidded to a halt in front of the trembling officers. The bickering and shouting from the crowd was deafening as there had to have been well over a hundred ponies, everyone of them sporting the look consistent of having lost somepony near and dear to them. Finally, after waving his hooves about and shouting, nearly begging for the crowd to be silent, the lead guard finally managed to gain some compliance as he could now begin to hear himself think.
"Please, everypony, we have other patients here who need to rest!" The security chief hollered to the sea of emotional ponies. "Just quiet down and we can talk about this!" At last, the crowd settled down as much as they could so one pony at a time could speak.
"Where's my brother!?" A mare in her early sixties sobbed as she waved her hooves around from in the crowd.
"I never met my uncle Radius!" A younger stallion screamed before breaking down into a sobbing mess. "Please, I wanna see him!!"
Near the very back of the crowd, the painful coughing and wheezing from an older stallion could be faintly heard.
"Listen, he just got out of surgery!" The guard said aloud. "He can't take visitors right now! Trust me, I understand what you're all goi-"
"How you could you possibly understand!?" A mare in her early forties screamed hysterically. "You try having your uncle taken away just to find out he was alive and suffering...for thirty...fucking...YEARS!!"
Again, the old stallion near the back began coughing and he was now loud enough that ponies closer to him took notice and stood by his side to comfort him.
"He was the first pony I ever saw when I first opened my eyes!!" The mare continued to sob. "He held me in his hooves the day I was born!! And you're gonna tell us we can't fucking see him!?"
Yet again, the stallion in the back was coughing and hacking so loudly the nopony could ignore it any longer. The crowd was dead silent save for the occasional sniffle for both Radius and their ailing relative near the back. As the stallion continued to gasp and wheeze, the crowd slowly parted down the middle with everypony's gaze on their suffering kin. Down the hallway, in the central, rear of the sea of weeping ponies, stood a very old, gray unicorn stallion, slightly darker than Radius's normal color, his snow white mane only present on the sides and back of his head. The tired old stallion had a pair of clear, rubber tubes coming from his nostrils, going over his head behind his ears, both fitted with a hearing aid of their own, ultimately ending in a pair of small oxygen tanks he carried in saddlebags. As he still continued to cough, a tan colored unicorn mare approximately the same age as he, gently rubbed his back while she too breathed heavily from climbing the stairs.
Finally, it seemed that the stallion could catch his breath and his coughing finally subsided. Now that he could finally open his eyes, he gazed forward and slowly put one hoof in front of the other, making his way towards the group of guards at a slug's pace, his wife of many years helping him along the way. The closer he trotted over, the better they could hear his heavy breathing and it was almost as painful to listen to as to actually experience. Finally, the stallion and the mare who stood by his side made it to the front of the crowd and stood before the puzzled guards before breaking the awkward silence.
"P-please I j-just..." The old stallion said, his voice shaking as much as the legs he struggled to stand on. "I-I'm not...I don't have much time left...I know I'm not going to live much longer. We got news that Radius was s-still alive a-and...h-he's just up those s-stairs..."
Snot dripped from the tired old stallion's nose as he choked back his tears the best he could so he was able to speak clearly enough. To look at this pony who could drop to the floor at any moment was heart wrenching for the guards who felt absolutely horrid for blocking his way. They too began to well up with watery eyes as the stallion before them caught his breath and began to speak again.
"That's all I could ever ask for..." The stallion sobbed. "I just want to see him even one last time before I leave this world...d-do you have foals sir?"
"I-I...yes, I do." The guard whom the old stallion spoke to answered. "I have a colt and a filly."
"Then surely you know what a parent's worst nightmare is. Thirty years ago...he was taken away from us...and now, as I wait to be taken myself, I find that he's still alive...so I ask you from a father to a father...Please! Please, let me see my son!!"
Even if it meant breaking protocol, the guards could not and would not deny this dying old stallion the chance to see his son whom had been lost for so long. One by one, they all stepped out of the way and allowed Radius's parents to trot up the stairs leading to the top floor as two of them flanked both sides of each to help them climb. Once they reached the door, the leading guard pushed it open and turned around to take Mr. Hoofenschtov's hoof to aid him over the last few steps. Very slowly, the group of guards trotted forward as to allow the elderly couple to keep up with them as they lead them through the hallways and stopped in front of a lone door labeled "Quarantined Patient, Authorized Ponies Only". Behind that very door was Mr. and Mrs. Hoofenschov's long lost son.
"Just a heads up, you two..." The leading guard said as he placed his hoof on the door handle. "He doesn't look so great. Go in there and see your son."
The guard was telling the truth as the mother and father of Radius Hoofenschtov trotted into the room to see a sickly looking stallion with a dull yellowish-gray coat that grew in patches as a great deal had fallen off. The stallion within the glass box slept soundly despite the whirring or electric motors from a ventilation system that filtered air going into and out of the box and that of a respirator that acted as Radius's lungs. A fluid iv bag hung on a metal hook above his head and just beneath where the needle in his skin was taped to his wrist were three sets of hoofcuffs that bound him to the heavy bed he lay in. The dark circles around his closed eyes indicated a great deal of suffering and his body was much larger and more muscular than they remembered. Underneath his forelegs, there were also large scars sewn shut where his abnormal limbs once were. Regardless of his appearance having changed so, the stallion who lay before the two elderly ponies was their own flesh and blood and they were laying eyes on him for the first time in thirty years.
At a first glance, he would seem almost unrecognizable but to the parents Hoofenschtov, right away they could tell that he indeed was theirs. From the shape of his chin to the sound of his snoring behind the glass, everything came back to them along with the same feeling of warmth they experienced in their racing hearts the very day he was born in 1951. The images of their colt growing up raced through their minds as they pressed their hooves against the glass containing the son that they had lost for three decades. They wanted so badly to talk to him and hear his voice but alas, he needed his rest more than anything right now. However, as the mother and father of the patient embraced each other with his hoof still against the glass, Radius's ear twitched at the sound of the two ponies sobbing.
Mr. and Mrs. Hoofenschtov had not felt as wonderful as they did then and there since the day they brought Radius home from the hospital after his birth. Their greatest wish had been fulfilled and both of them knew that they could die happy ponies when their own time came and just when they thought things could not possibly get better, the faint tap of a hoof being placed on the other side of the glass caught their attention. With the father's hoof still on the glass, both parents looked up to see that of their son placed up against it as well as he stared over at them with a loving smile and his glossy, green eyes with round pupils, tears flowing down his face like never before.
"Hi Mom...Hi Dad..." Radius squeaked as he choked back more tears. "I'm gonna be okay..."
Mother and Father Hoofenschtov were speechless but their emotions still ran high and they sobbed profusely with their hooves and muzzles firmly pressed against the glass box that separated them from their colt. If only not for the glass barrier that stood in their way and prevented them from holding and kissing him one last time and though it was to prevent the spread of the radiation his body still emitted, but the two parents simply did not care. For all they cared, they would roast to death just to spend a moment with their son in their embrace but everypony else down stairs would be harmed as well and they all had more life ahead of them. They knew it would be selfish to put them at risk for their own wants.
"I thought I'd never see you two again!" Radius sobbed as he shifted in his laying position to face his parents for the first time in three decades.
"S-s-sonnn!" Mr. Hoofenschtov wheezed. "W-we thought the same th-thinggg!"
"R-R-Radius, w-we love you so much!" Mrs. Hoofenschtov sobbed.
"Radius! Son! Listen to me, my wonderful, beautiful colt! We're so sorry! It tore me up for years that we never got to tell you! We're so sorry we took you for granted! We're so sorry we were always so hard on you, you were always perfect the way you were! I'd never, ever want you to change!"
"No no no, Dad, Mom, it's okay!" Radius beamed as he wept tears of joy. "It's okay, I know you never meant it! I love you both, I never stopped before and I never will!"
"Radius, you have so much to see and catch up on!" Mrs. Hoofenschtov cried out. "The whole family can't wait to see you again!"
"And there's even a new generation!" Mr. Hoofenschtov beamed. "Your sisters' foals are having foals of their own and you'll be an amazing great uncle! You even have a nephew who was born after you went away! You can get out of there someday soon and come home and meet them all! Doesn't that sound great, son?"
"We even kept your house in the family! We all got together and paid it off and left it just the way you did in remembrance of you!"
"Oh god, I wanna get outta here so bad!" Radius sobbed. "Mom, Dad, I love you both more than you know! I always have and always will!"
It was already slightly after two in the morning but still Radius and his parents talked and caught up for hours and though their tired old bodies could barely stand and their eyes barely stay open, they adored every moment of it. It was only when Radius kept dozing off around five o'clock that his mother and father decided that it would be time to let him get his much needed rest so he could recover. They knew that he would need it much more than they would so once again, it was time for the loving family to say their final goodbyes be it for now or otherwise and rejoin the rest of the clan in the waiting room on the ground level.
"Radius, my boy..." Mr. Hoofenschtov began, his voice shaking like never before. "Just know...and I know you're mother would agree...that today has been the best day of our lives."
"He's right, I couldn't agree more, son." Mrs. Hoofenschtov confirmed as the two prepared to depart. "Also, know that if something should happen, we will rest easy knowing you're doing the same."
"I love you both!! I love you so much, Mom and Dad!!"
"We love you too, son!!" Mother and Father Hoofenschtov beamed in unison as they slowly trotted backwards, their hooves leaving the glass that confined Radius for the time being.
Saying goodbye this time was the hardest thing the two elderly ponies had ever done in their ninety-two years of living as was the same for Radius as well. As the two sickly old unicorns waved to their colt, the door slowly closed, ending their beautiful moment together as a family. For their sake, Radius was ecstatic that he had spared his parents the grim details of his life at Chernobyl as he just knew that it would break their hearts to know that they all lived in comfort at home meanwhile their saint of a son was constantly suffering. As his parents rode the elevator back down to the ground floor, Radius used the last bit of strength he had remaining and offered his own parting words to them and his entire family who waited nearly two hundred feet below him.
"I LOVE YOOOUUU!!!" Radius's voice echoed throughout the building, jarring his snoozing kin from their sleep in the hospital's front lobby.
No longer able to so much as hold his eyes open, Radius fell into his much needed deep sleep, marking the beginning of his long journey on the road to recovery. As he slept soundly in his soft, warm hospital bed, his parents exited the elevator on the first floor, their dream of seeing their son again having finally been fulfilled. The rest of the family who still waited, sprang to their hooves with great anticipation as to what their oldest kin had to say.
"He hasn't changed a bit..." Mr. Hoofenschtov sobbed as he huffed and puffed to catch his breath. "Oh bless his heart, he's still the same he always was! I'd never have him any other way!"
"And we'll get to see him soon!" Mrs. Hoofenschtov beamed as she gently rubbed her ailing husband's back. "He'll be getting out of here when he's recovered! We ha-*hic* we have our Radius back!"
Though the ponies in the crowd were disappointed to not have been able to see Radius then and there, they remained optimistic that they would soon reunite with their loved one. Though Radius would have to rest for now, what they knew was important that his parents were able to see him as for all they knew, it could be their last time. Magnesius and Chloridea Hoofenschtov were both in very poor health so at any moment, either of them could collapse to the floor. Magnesius's heart could give out from having constantly gasp for breath or he could easily choke to death on his own mucus that clogged his sinuses whereas Chloridea was diabetic and her kidneys grew weaker and weaker by the minute. No matter which angle one would look at it, the couple had very little time left.
Slowly, the crowd of hopeful family members filed out of the hospital and flooded the parking lot as they returned to their waiting taxis and carriages of their own. Many of the Hoofenschtovs were residents of Canterlot so they did not have far to trot to return home, whereas many others flocked from out of town so they would stay with their local kin until they could see Radius again. With the help of their youngest grandson, Mother and Father Hoofenschtov climbed into their own coach where from there, the former would also pull them home. As the elderly couple quietly rode home in the night, their only source of light coming from the street lamps they passed underneath, Chloridea could hear her husband whispering to himself.
"Just a little longer...Just a little longer..." Magnesius repeated quietly as he cried himself to sleep, his wife joining him in his weeping. "I want to hold him one last time...Just a little longer...Just a little longer...Just a little longer..."
"Today marks a joyous reunion for the city of Canterlot and Equestria as a whole..." The voice of a new reporter began as it came from the alarm clock radio in the castle's guest bedroom. "...and especially for the family of Radius Hoofenschtov who was brought by ambulance to the rooftop of the Starswirl Memorial Hospital late last night after being lost on Earth following the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.
"Wha?...almost noon?" Princess Celestia groaned as she looked at the alarm clock, failing to remember the last time she even came close to sleeping in so late.
"So far, we have been unable to reach any of the Hoofenschtovs for much commentary save for the younger sister of Radius who had the following to say..."
"Will you ponies *bleep* off already!?" Radius's sister cursed over the airwaves.
"More on that later...In other news, has our beloved Princess of the night settled for a mere doughnut peddler? What does she see in him? Stay tuned and fin-"
"That's about enough of that!" Celestia huffed as she smacked the off button on the alarm clock. "I'm right there with you, sister. I know what it's liked to be criticised for who you fall in love with."
Celestia sat on her bed next to a still slumbering Twilight Sparkle as she rubbed her tired, groggy eyes. She had passed right out the second her sore body touched the bed so she was just now being hit with the sudden realization that she was back home in Canterlot. The weary Princess smiled warmly at her subjects who still slept, them being the very reason that she was able to locate Radius and bring him home where he belonged. Just when she began to zone out however, a new but less miserable pain took her over as the sweet odor of pancakes wafted through the air, inciting a rude growl from her stomach.
It had been centuries since Princess Celestia was this hungry and the idea of being given full access to heaps of pancakes was making her salivate. Still quite sore, covered in bandages and her wings held in place by splints, the Princess limped down the stairs and followed the enticing aroma down the hallway and ultimately into the dining room that she and her sister often met to trade shifts. Her eyes lit up at the sight of her dear younger sibling placing a large platter of pancakes on the table next to several others. Along with those platters piled high with the delectable stacks of flapjacks were bottles of maple syrup imported from Canada, pitchers of caramelized fruit such as strawberries and blueberries and even jars of peanut butter. Celestia's mouth watered at the sight and scent of such an amazing breakfast but first, she had something more important to acknowledge.
"Lulu!!" Celestia beamed as she limped over and hugged the night Princess. "I missed you so much!"
"Tia!" Luna greeted as she too joined her elder sister in a warm embrace. "I'm so glad you and everypony is alright! And...sister, is it...is it true?"
"What's that, Luna?"
"Those things I've been hearing from the media. We both know we can't take everything they say seriously but...did you really find him? Will I get to meet my sister's old coltfriend?"
"You will, I promise."
"So...when you found him, did you two...you know."
"It's been too long, sis. The connection we once had just isn't there but...that's not really all that important. What matters is that he's in the hospital recovering and will be reunited with his family soon."
Meanwhile, on the top floor of the Starswirl Memorial Hospital...
It was nearing noontime and Radius had been enjoying his much needed sleep for nearly ten hours after seeing his parents. Within his glass prison that kept others around him safe from his poisonous emissions was a digital Geiger counter affixed to one of the walls and according to its readings, radiation levels were quickly decreasing. It was a good sign and looked promising that perhaps his condition could be upgraded. The readings on his accompanying heart monitor showed a smooth and consistent pulse and so far, he was able to breath without assistance from a machine. What was most important was that he showed no signs of aggression or red glow in his gentle, emerald green eyes but still, he would need to remain chained down to his bed for the time being.
Though it was essential for Radius to get his rest however, he would need to eat soon as well. The hospital staff was well aware of his prior situations regarding his diet that was rather unorthodox for an Equestrian pony but the true signs of what outcome they could expect for their patient would soon be revealed. With a dozen armed security guards on standby and several more from the Canterlot Police Force still gliding around the zenith of the building, a doctor wearing full protective gear cautiously entered the confines of the glass box. Very carefully, the doctor used his unicorn aura to levitate a large bowl of vegetation into the glass room with him and place it on a small tray table directly in front of the slumbering patient.
Having been previously alerted to what the abnormally large unicorn was capable of, the nervous pony then darted out of the room into a nearby decontamination chamber where his suit would be sprayed down. He would then enter another where he would be able to undress from his suit and undergo the necessary bathing procedure in order to avoid damaging effects. Now, only time would tell and the only thing to do was to let the patient be and allow him to eat upon his own will to do so as a watched pot never boils. If they were to return to see an empty bowl and no piles of regurgitation to speak of, then there would be a great deal of hope for the well deserving pony.
It would not be long to achieve results however as Radius's nose twitched at the smell of fresh greens and other veggies that would be the envy of any hungry herbivore. Slowly but surely, the starving pony regained consciousness and blinked until he could make out the general shape of the glorious salad that was placed before him. He would be without his glasses until a new pair would be given to him so for now, he would have to rely on his sense of smell and touch to make up for his poor eyesight. With a shaky hoof, Radius reached forward to pull the tempting bowl of veggies closer to where he could see them more clearly and stared just to really mentally process just what it was that he was looking at.
The salivating unicorn had not seen such a beautiful arrangement of leafy goodness in thirty years and the longer he gave the heap a perplexed stare, the less he could control himself. The pile of spinach mixed with iceberg lettuce, thinly sliced onions, cherry tomatoes, and carrot shavings that sat on a table looked and smelled like a paradise that he had once known before and was about to be able to indulge in once again. If that was not enough to get his undivided attention, the crunchy, garlic flavored croutons that dotted the mixture made it all the more tantalizing. There was only one way to find out as he gently placed a single cherry tomato between his now square, plant cutting incisors and slowly began to chew, the sweet juice permeating his senses as it squeezed out of the tender fruit.
After a few chews with the his front teeth, Radius used his tongue to push the tomato back to his molars of which made quick work of the delicious ball of sweet, juicy goodness. Finally, with one gulp, the fruit slithered down his throat and Radius paused for a few minutes to allow it to reach his stomach where it stayed to allow for digestion. Just like his first time and every other time taking Celestia to bed years ago, it just felt right; almost as if it simply belonged. He wanted more. He had to have more.
With his pupils fully dilated, Radius grabbed a hoof full of the fresh, leafy heaven and shoved it into his mouth and chewed the mouthful into a pulp and swallowed that as well where it would then join the tomato. He could no longer help himself and tears of pure joy flowed like a river down his face as he shoved hoof full after hoof full into his longing mouth and made quick work of the entire salad that was placed before him. It was when he realized that unlike many attempts before, the vegetation was sitting well in his stomach that had exchanged its lust for blood and flesh for that of what belonged in the body of an equine that he became especially emotional.
"Sooo delicious!" Radius sobbed before letting out a satisfied burp, going against his usually classy nature. "After all these years! Oh my gohahahawd, I'm an herbivore again!!"
Several members of the hospital staff gathered around the entrance to his room and peeked through the glass in great anticipation as his emotional outburst had drawn attention. Instead of a meltdown of sorts however, the would push and shove past one another to see their patient basking in the bliss of having taken another step towards normalcy. For the first time in three decades, Radius Hoofenschtov's glee got the best of him and he could no longer hold back his laughter which alone lifted his spirits and that of those around him a great deal. For the first time, In thirty long years, he was genuinely happy.
"Oh, Luna! You actually did a good job with the pancakes this time!" Celestia beamed as one by one, her groggy subjects who had also fallen under the spell of the sweet aroma filed into the dining room.
"Heheh, well, I actually had a little help with these." Luna replied with a blush. "I ended up burning a great many before I made any of acceptable quality."
"Hey, I dunno what you're talking about, Lulu, they look just fine to me!" Pony Joe beamed as he trotted out of the kitchen before taking a hearty bite of a crispy disc.
"Aww, Joey, you're just saying that."
"Because I mean it, gorgeous. Now why don't you just take a seat with everypony else while I bring the last of the plates over, kay?"
Luna then took a step closer to the beefy, off-white stallion and looked him in the eyes, their faces not even an inch apart.
"Oh? Well, I think I have a better idea." Luna cooed as she closed her eyes and pressed her lips against Joe's.
Everypony in the room chuckled as the night Princess turned the local Doughnut Stallion into putty in her hooves. It was a welcome, light hearted sight for sore eyes and to see such another example of two ponies from entirely different backgrounds form such a relationship was very uplifting. Though the two lovebirds were more than happy to hold each other with their lips together however, it was when Luna started getting her tongue involved that their sweet kiss turned into a full fledged makeout. Still Celestia could not help but to think of the first time she and Radius kissed the way she saw her sister do so which ultimately lead to her first time in bed with him. Fortunately, Joe would rather have saved it for a time where the two could go somewhere more private before continuing.
"Ohh, Lulu, not in front of everypony else." Joe said with a giggle as he broke their kiss. "Uhh...heheheh, hooves above the waist, babe."
"Ah, right." Luna said as her blush intensified. "It's been a while since I...engaged in such displays of affection, I'm rather rusty on what is appropriate and what is not."
"Luna, you liar!" Celestia said with a laugh. "You just lost control of yourself, admit it!"
"Hey, pancakes, everypony!" Joe said aloud in attempt to change the subject and make the situation less awkward.
"Yeah, I don't know about you guys but I'm digging in!" Rainbow Dash said as she grabbed a plate and slapped down a hefty stack upon it.
"Mmmff, I comcurff." Soarin mumbled, his mouth already full of the spongy fried cakes.
Everypony else seemed to agree as well and promptly followed suit. For over a week, they had all barely been nourished by the nasty, chalky MREs they had packed for their trip and had burned up much more energy than they had replenished. It was not long before the heaps of pancakes began running low and Joe quickly returned to the kitchen to prepare more and brew up several more gallons of coffee while he was at it. Finally, now that everypony had something in their stomachs, they could actually think rationally and ponder everything that they had all just been through together. Celestia knew she was forgetting something and could now remember precisely what and levitated a pen and her checkbook into the room and began jotting figures down while Big Macintosh cleared his throat.
"Uh, everypony?" The normally untalkative farm pony spoke up. "Y'all ever git a minute ta think what we just done?"
"What do ya mean, dude?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well, Ah just...Ah dunno, Ah think it's probably mah tiredness talkin' but...Ah'm glad we all went there an' done this. Ya know, gittin' Radius outta there an' all. We done did sumthin' good."
"Of all the adventures I've been on..." Daring Do began with watery eyes. "...Of all the priceless treasures I've recovered, this mission we just did was without any shred of doubt the most rewarding I've ever gone on."
"If you mean by giving somepony his whole life back, yeah, I can say I agree." Spitfire added.
"That's not all, everypony." Celestia interjected as she finished signing one of the several checks she had just written. "I'm sure you all understand that money isn't nearly as important as friendship but you all risked your very lives to save and restore another."
Celestia then used her aura to divvy out the small monetary documents to their respective pony she had written them for. As gently as a falling leaf, the checks settled in front of their new owners, every one of them going wide eyed at the quantity of zeros in the amount.
"Two million bits!?" Rainbow Dash gasped.
"Two million bits." Celestia repeated with a firm nod.
"You don't have to do this!" Twilight said aloud, her eyes resembling saucers.
"Auntie, she's right!" Shining Armor added. "We don't need this much money!"
"Oh? Well that's just too bad." Celestia said with a smirk before taking a sip of coffee. "I don't plan on taking no for an answer. If you don't feel you need it then perhaps the Crystal Empire could use a bigger park. Perhaps the streets in Ponyville could use some new stone?"
"Your Majesty, thank you so much!" Soarin beamed.
"For all you have been through and what you have done for a desperate pony in need, it's the least I could do."
After everypony took a moment to get over the shock of being rather handsomely paid, they continued to enjoy their hearty breakfast and each other's company. Though it was a breath of fresh air to be somewhere other than the exclusion zone, especially the palace, they all had one thing on their mind and that was to just go home to their own beds and rest their sore bodies. However, it would make for a more comfortable nap had their coats and manes still not reeked of iodine that was used to decontaminate them the evening before so a good long soak in a relaxing bubble bath would be in order.
After the large and satisfying breakfast, everypony including Celestia enjoyed a well deserved soak in the massive tub in the Princess's personal bathroom in order to rid their bodies of the odor of the bitter antiseptic. For hours, the all dozed off in between conversations as the luxurious, sudsy water warmed their bodies to their cores relieving them of a great deal of their pain. At a time like this, they all took great joy in the small things and the fact that they would soon be home to rest away the remainder of their soreness was making everypony giddy.
Everypony had eaten to their heart's content, taken an exquisite warm bath and was now waiting at Canterlot's train depot from where they would finally head home for the rest the heroes deserved. Spitfire and Soarin had already taken a hot air balloon and were on their way back to Cloudsdale as their wings were still far to soar to fly all the way there. Celestia decided to wait with them to see them off and naturally opted to pay for their tickets as well for she had some rather important matters to attend to once her loyal subjects set off for home. Every one of them would wholeheartedly agree that aside despite the hardships, blood, sweat, and tears that went into seeing their mission through, a great many wonderful things became of it. New friendships were created and existing ones were made stronger than ever.
A.K. Yearling's train was the first to arrive and after giving everypony including Celestia a warm hug and Big Macintosh her phone number, she boarded and was now on her way back home where she would begin work on her next book. Shining Armor's train to the Crystal Empire was next in line and like the former, he shared an embrace with his sister and friends new and old before boarding. Soon, he would be reunited with his wife and daughter where he could make amends for the way he had taken such blessings for granted and announce that he would never poison his lungs again. Finally, the next train to Ponyville arrived and with yet another group hug, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Big Macintosh were en route to their home town.
Celestia was left alone at the platform after the bittersweet goodbyes with nothing but her thoughts and a cloud of smoke that wafted in the train's wake. After a few minutes of sitting there thinking to herself and pondering all the things she and the others had been through in the past week, she began her trot down the street to another destination she had in mind. It was a beautiful afternoon in early May and she genuinely enjoyed her leisurely trot down the streets of her city towards the fifteen story tower that jutted from the skyline. There was not a single citizen of Canterlot or even Equestria for that matter who knew not whom Princess Celestia was and it was rather strange to see her trotting about the streets without a guard escort. Today was different and she simply did not care nor wish to wait a moment longer than she had to for was on a new mission and though much more minor than the last, she intended on seeing it through.
The Princess casually trotted through the automatic door into the Starswirl Memorial hospital and made her way towards the elevator. The receptionist would normally ask whomever enters to sign in and register as a visitor but obviously the ruler of Equestria would be an exception she she did not so much as question her presence. Once on floor fourteen, she stepped off and made her way towards the next flight of stairs up as the elevator had been disabled for the top floor for safety. Tensions seemed thicker along the way due to the high presence of security guards for the hospital and the well armed pegasus police officers circling the building outside. Despite the potential need for increased security however, as Celestia trotted onward, she passed by several ponied sobbing and tightly embracing one another.
Celestia recognized several of the emotional visitors as members of Radius's family and they were all finally being allowed to visit their long lost kin whether they had met him before or not. It warmed her heart to have bore witness to these displays of love and joy to be able to reunite with Radius after so many years of him being gone. Many of these ponies were middle aged and seniors who were most likely cousins and some of the thirty and forty somethings, she recognized as nieces and nephews. Many more of these ponies the Princess trotted past were in their twenties, teens, and even young foals whom had just enjoyed a wonderful visit with their relative that were finally able to meet for the first time.
"He's so brave..." Radius's eldest niece sobbed as she embraced her younger brother who was doing the same.
"And he's still the same great guy he always was..." The nephew sobbed. "Oh gohahahawd, I missed him so much!"
It had been an emotional week for everypony and as usual, Celestia too was no exception as her eyes began to water up at the sight of all the happy ponies blissfully recalling fond memories of the pony of the hour. They would soon be able to make new memories with him once he would eventually be discharged from the hospital and he too could at long last be reintegrated into society. Celestia's heart rate began to quicken as her turn to see Radius would be next as she trotted towards the door to the room where he was kept in his temporary glass prison. As she stood there nervously and waited for the visitor before her to finish, the door opened slowly and out trotted a young stallion that made her double take. This unicorn stallion appeared to be in his late twenties and had a slate gray coat and a crimson mane with a matching tail, sported thick glasses and a white collar with a red bowtie. Knowing that this young pony was in fact not Radius, her pupils dilated and her eyes watered as she realized just who it was who was just visiting his lost uncle.
"He looks so much like me!" The young stallion beamed, tears of pure joy flowing down his cheeks. "Uncle Radius looks so much like me!"
As the giddy colt who was born after Radius's dissappearence galloped off back to his waiting relatives, Celestia could now get a good close look at the pony that Radius Hoofenschtov truly was for the first time since the meltdown. She knew Radius well enough to make love to him so she knew for a fact that the depressed, miserable mutant and the sadistic monster he was turned into was not really who he was. Now she would finally get to see the real him. Her hooves began to sweat as she slowly pushed the door open and trotted into the room.
There was Radius inside the glass box squinting up at the mare he fell in love with so long ago, his coat having nearly returned to its natural light gray. He looked nearly the same as he did on the night when they last made love save for him now being the same size as Celestia which seemed as though he would remain at this rate. What she found rather odd though was that he was now in his mid sixties and had endured great hardship and poisoning for so long yet his still had the appearance of a stallion in his thirties. Some other things simply never change as he failed to see just who his next visitor was until she trotted close enough to the glass prompting Radius's pupils to dilate and more tears to flow down his face.
"C-Celestia!" Radius bawled. "Oh my god, Celestia, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
"No no no no, Radius, you've done nothing wrong!" Celestia sobbed with her hooves pressed up against the glass. "You don't have anything to be sorry about!"
"No, Celestia, I do! I-I what I said to you...b-back in Pripyat about you...about...w-when we first saw each other again..."
"Oh, Radius, I know you didn't mean that!"
"I might as well have called you a fucking retard! Celestia, in all my years, if I had remained my true self, I'd never even dream of talking to you like that! I never meant to say something so horrible to you, I'm so sorry!"
"I know you didn't mean it and you have stayed true to yourself! You haven't changed at all and nopony would ever want you to!"
It took several minutes for the two ponies to calm themselves enough to speak coherently and when they finally did, their spirits could go nowhere but upwards. Radius had missed so much over the past thirty years and Celestia spent a great deal of time telling Radius all about it. From the return of her own sister to Twilight Sparkle's ascension, from Shining Armor's wedding to the birth of their alicorn foal, Radius's eyes lit up at the thought of making up for lost time. Most of all, he just wanted out of his glass box and to be with his family, not to mention he had seven other ponies to thank for restoring his very life as he knew it.
Hours ticked by as the two did the most catching up they possibly could in such little time and the sun which Celestia had placed on an autopilot setting of sorts had begun to set and make way for her sister's moon. They would have talked longer but when Radius began to nod off, they both knew it was time to part ways for now. Radius would need to remain under the care and supervision of medical staff and police for at least another week at the rate of which he was healing and Celestia would have a mere few days of resting before she would have to resume her duties. Neither of the two knew when they would see the other again nor the seven others who put their very lives on the line to bring him back but someday he would make sure that he did. In the meantime, the heroes who worked so tirelessly together would take plenty of time for the rest and relaxation they deserved.
Meanwhile...
After hours on the train and yet another trotting down the winding trail of a thick forest, A.K. Yearling had finally reached her cottage on top of the hill, pushed the door open and made a beeline for her fridge. With a cider in hoof and a stack of papers under her wing, she took a seat in front of her computer and placed the stack within a printer that sat next to it. She had upgraded from her old typewriter recently and now she finally had a moment of peace and quiet, she could put it to good use doing what she loved; writing about her most recent grand adventure. The keys clicked and tapped away as the author and brave explorer relaxed while she set to work on her latest and in her opinion greatest works.
After parting ways for the time being at the balloon pad in Cloudsdale, Spitfire and Soarin made their ways back to their own home, both wholeheartedly agreeing that they as well as Rainbow Dash could stand to take a few weeks off wonderbolt training. Both of them had only one thing on their minds and when they returned to their homes, they set right to it. With a an ice cold soda in hoof and his television remote in the other, Soarin sat in his comfy recliner and proceeded to pick up his phone to order a pizza. Spitfire simply wanted to sleep and she lay down on and gently drifted off, knowing that she and her friends have just done a wonderful thing for somepony but relieved that it was finally all over.
To the North of Equestria, at the Crystal Empire, Prince Shining Armor trotted his exhausted body through the front entrance of the palace and was greeted with the sight of his beautiful wife trotting over with a warm smile. In her arms was the couple's daughter Flurry Heart whom was not used to going several days without seeing her father and her glossy eyes nearly lit up the room as he came galloping over as fast as his tired legs could carry him. The young family of three held each other tight as Shining Armor buried his muzzle into his wife's chest and began bawling partially from fatigue but mostly tears of joy as he was back with the two ponies he was blessed with. It was at that very moment that Prince Shining Armor vowed to never take them for granted as long as he breathed and that he would be breathing for a long time to come now that he had quit smoking for good.
In the town of Ponyville, particularly on the Western outskirts trotted the big, lumbering stallion Big Macintosh with his saddlebags of luggage as he made his way back to his farm, his home. The sun was setting and the workday was just wrapping up as he could see his two younger sisters cleaning and placing various farm tools back into place for the next day. At a slug's pace, the tired stallion trotted towards Applejack and Applebloom and their granny whom had trotted out to greet him upon his return. The last conversation the two siblings had before the brother's departure was a heated argument and hurtful things were said of which Big Macintosh planned to rectify. The above average sized and usually stoic earth pony was never much for openly weeping but nevertheless, he promptly embraced his sister and broke down into a sobbing mess. Not only was he ashamed for cursing at his sister the way he did but what weighed on his heart the most was that there were several occasions when he could have been killed during the mission. The very thought of those words being his last ones to have ever said to her was enough to make his stomach turn. As he tightly hugged his two precious sisters and his granny all in a group, he knew that he would stay home for a while before his next big outing.
On the North side of town stood Twilight Sparkle's magnificent crystal castle and the exhausted lavender alicorn Princess wasted no time climbing the steps up the the massive front double doors. Before she could so much as reach for the handle however, it was quickly opened from the inside by her loyal assistant Spike the young dragon who anxiously awaited her safe return. After a tearful hug between the two, the thoughtful little reptile helped the mare who raised him since birth climb her tired body up the stairs to her bedroom where he had a pot of tea already prepared for her. After fluffing her pillow and tucking her into bed like a parent would for their foal, Spike retreated from the room and promptly returned with a plate of muffins he had just pulled from the oven. Alas, Twilight was already sound asleep after just a few sips of tea but Spike understood as he knew that her trip could not have been easy by any means but that would have to be a story she told him another day. The young dragon kissed Twilight's forehead before walking out of the room and smiled warmly back at her as he slowly shut the door and let her rest.
Finally, Rainbow Dash trotted towards her could home that floated in the air on the East side of Ponyville. Out of everypony else, save for Celestia, the tough mare had gone through great hardship and endured both physical and emotional trauma. She had been poisoned by radiation, beaten, her wings both badly sprained, and nearly brutally raped twice but she refused to allow any of that to bring her down. What did discourage her slightly however was her dilemma as to how precisely she would go about getting up to her home high above ground with her wings held in place by splints. For a moment, she contemplated trotting her already exhausted body all the way to Twilight's castle to crash with her friend for the night until she suddenly felt herself being lifted off the ground. The confused pegasus glanced up to see her loyal pet tortoise Tank with his propellers affixed to the top of his shell and his strong legs gripping her firmly as he carried her up to the front porch, through the door and right to her soft chair. To top it all off, the sweet tortoise retreated to the refrigerator and returned with a bottle of cider for his tired and battered owner.
"Thanks, Tank." Rainbow Dash said as she patted her tortoise on the head. "You're a real pal, you know that?"
Celestia had not forgotten another whom she felt deserved her thanks for risking his own life and limb for her subjects and would not allow him to be unrewarded. In a small town in Ukraine, to the North of Kiev was a small, dingy house with chipping paint and shutters hanging by the last screws. The sun was beginning to set as an older model Jeep Wrangler pulled into the short driveway before its owner shut the engine down and stumbled out. With a bottle of bols tipped back and the opening pressed to his lips, Frederick Schultz began walking over towards his front door where he would enter his house and spend his usual night alone and miserable. As he wiped his chin and reached for the door handle however, he noticed a strange envelope sticking out of the mailbox bolted to the side of his house. Knowing that he had already opened the mail he received earlier in the day, he curiously broke the odd wax seal and pulled out what appeared to be a small document written specially for him.
Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia of Equestria Date: May 9, 2016
Pay to the order of: Frederick Schultz
In the amount of: Two Million and 00/100------------------------B2,000,000
From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much! Princess Celestia
The days following Radius's return turned into weeks which of course meant business as usual for Princess Celestia who resumed her normal duties of raising the sun and general ruling with her sister by her side. Radius was visited daily by his parents and other relatives and was making remarkable progress in his recovery. His wounds were healing well, his coat had fully grown back, his horn had completely returned to normal, he showed no signs of aggression and best of all, the meter within his glass cell read zero. After more evaluation from medical staff and psychiatric examinations from some of Equestria's best psychiatrists, Radius Circumfrancis Hoofenshtov was given a clean bill of health. It was finally time for him to go home.
The squeal of the brakes on a medical transport van slowing to a stop in front of Radius's old home signaled his return and the same sea of ponies that stormed the hospital waited for him on his front lawn. With the van in park and the hazard flashers deployed a man and a pony who worked for the hospitals exited the front and opened the side door. After a moment of the pony fumbling with the buttons on a keypad, the electric buzzing of the wheelchair hoist unfolding from the side whirred away. The entire family of ponies shed buckets as they watched their loved one roll out the door out onto the platform and with another few seconds of being gently lowered, Radius was placed onto solid ground. Once again, the sea of ponies parted down the center leading to the house's front door where Mother and Father Hoofenshtov stood on the porch where they waited to hug their son for the first time in thirty long years. The man and pony began to gently push his wheelchair towards them but Radius had other plans.
"Wait." Radius said, prompting the medical workers to stop in their tracks. "I want to go to them. I think I can do this."
Without another word, Radius shifted in his chair and placed his forehooves on the ground. With a few grunts and some mild straining, he then lifted his rump off and then his left rear hoof followed by his right. This was his first step on Equestrian soil since he was lost in 1986 and to witness such a momentous occasion was enough for some of the older relatives of Radius to drop to their knees. Slowly but surely Radius trotted up the stone path that lead up to his front porch where his parents waited to embrace him as they created puddles of tears beneath them. They were blurry figures as he was still without his glasses but he knew their color and the sound of their voices anywhere and though painful, he trotted faster and faster towards the couple who gave birth to him sixty-five years ago.
The first step of the front porch was breached by Radius as he carefully felt his way around the stairs as his poor vision gave him the need to take caution. This would soon be rectified however as Radius's elder sister held a small, gold plated, jewel studded box in her aura while his younger sister used her to open it revealing his first welcome home gift. Together, the two sisters of Radius levitated a magnificent pair of gold plated, jewel studded glasses that matched the case and held it in their brother's path. He then trotted directly into the spectacles and as soon as he slid them onto his face, he could see clearly as crystal the faces of his two sisters, his mother, and father, all four weeping profusely as they held their hooves out, longing for his embrace.
The crowd of relatives erupted in cheer as Radius, his sisters, and his parents relished in their group hug, the first in thirty long, empty years. It was a dream come true for all of them and so surreal that they often had to ask themselves if it was actually happening. Never before in all their years have any of the Hoofenshtovs been so giddy as they were now and would live the rest of their days eternally grateful to have their loved one back. To them, Radius was a very piece of their hearts who had been ripped away from them long ago and they would remember this day, the day they were reunited with him until their own time came. For Magnesius Hoofenschtov however, to get one final moment to hold his son was his last wish at long last coming true.
"Son..." Magnesius gasped as his legs began to give out. "I...love...you..."
The cheering of the crowd cut out like a light as they watched Magnesius's body go limp while Radius held him tightly, his breath leaving his lungs for the last time it ever would. Everypony's mouth hung agape as they had just watched their kin die within the arms of another who they were so grateful to have back in their own loving embrace. Radius's tears of joy turned into those of sorrow and as he sat on his rump and held the limp body of his father, he had only wished that he could have been with him and the rest of his family over the past thirty years. The Hoofenshtov family had been dealt yet another in their growing list of hard blows but as a clan, remained strong as always and would continue to face any storm no matter how brutal. Though a new wound had been opened and an old, familiar pain in their heart returning, they would always be grateful for the last moment Radius could spend with his dying father and would not have had it any other way.
Princess Celestia had made it a point to promptly find any and every detail regarding Radius's condition and his reunion with his family was no exception. She even managed to hear of the death of Magnesius before the nearest ambulance reported to Radius's home to retrieve his body. Over the years of Radius having been gone, the Princess developed a close relationship with them as they would have been her in laws had she married their son and she was heartbroken to hear of his passing. Be that as it may, Radius was now at home where he could now be with his family and make up for lost time while for the Princess, it was back to business as usual.
The royal sisters sat together in Celestia's personal office where their current task on hoof was making plans for the next Grand Galloping Gala which would be held in autumn this time. The usual process of planning would often entail simply deciding to have it the same exact way as the year before and send the paperwork through just to have it out of the way. Much like the year Celestia was reunited with her sister however, the former was feeling especially warm inside due to the return of another good soul so she felt motivated to put in more time and effort than usual.
"Hey Luna?" Celestia asked as she levitated an old list of names to her sister. "Do you think you could help me out and see if you can contact the people and ponies on this list?"
"Sure." Luna replied as she scanned through the names. "Huh. I wonder if Sir Elton John would play for us on the stage."
"He did years ago. We used to have a DJ too...Hang on a sec, I'm going to give Miss Scratch a call."
"Our nephew Blueblood is a wonderful singer. Maybe he could have him sing."
"Do you think we could get a band too?"
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Ohohohoh, I think I'm thinking what you're thinking!"
"Same time! On three! One!"
"Two!"
"Three!"
"Nickleback!!" Both sisters squealed in unison.
Though it was still months away, there was much to do to prepare for the next Grand Galloping Gala and the royal sisters decided to get an early start. Calls needed to be made, letters written, catering companies booked, invitations written and sent. If the Gala was to be the fun and exciting event it once was, not a moment could be wasted. With each other's help, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would make the next Grand Galloping Gala the best once since 1985.
One Week Later, On The Opposite Side Of Canterlot...
The hoofenschotv family threw a magnificent welcome home party for Radius that would fill up the family album with photographs and be talked about for generations to come. Though they were all saddened to have to say goodbye to Magnesius, they would remain eternally grateful that he could be given closure and finally achieve peace. The relatives from out of town had to say their bittersweet goodbyes and return home but with Radius back home and in their lives, they would be sure to visit often.
After a week of nothing but resting, eating, soaking in bubble baths, and socializing with his family, Radius felt that he was ready to go out and see the town and take in the beautiful spring weather. The sun was shining bright, the skies blue save for the occasional fluffy cloud and a gentle breeze complimented the warm air. With a his favorite new collar and bowtie he received as a gift around his neck and his new jewel encrusted glasses clearing his visual path, Radius hugged his sisters who were staying with him for the time being and set out for his stroll.
As he trotted down the sidewalk of the Canterlot neighborhood he once called home and could now do so once again, he repeatedly took long and satisfying whiffs of the clean, delicious air. Each and every pony he trotted past, he could not help but greet with a smile and a wave despite his usual social difficulties coupled with decades of no contact with his own kind. Many would give him a rather perplexed stare but he shrugged it off as being as tall as Celestia was something ponies were not used to seeing, plus his face was all over the news by now.
On and on Radius went through the city of Canterlot, stopping constantly to chat with a passerby or stop at a store to buy a snack or drink. It was the little things he enjoyed that were all coming back to him after being deprived of them for so long. Be it the sweet taste of a soft, freshly baked muffin, the fizzy kick he got from an ice cold soda, or the divine aroma of the hoof made soaps he just bought from a bath boutique, the memories were like a paradise to him. Every little crack in the sidewalk to the slogans written in permanent marker on the fire hydrants to the stickers of the faces of various celebrities named Bill on the "post no bills" signs, it all came back and he loved it. Just as he began thinking his day could not possibly get better though, his confidence would receive a healthy boost as he overheard a conversation between two rather attractive mares he trotted past.
"Oh my god, that's him." A pegasus mare said to her earth pony friend. "That's the guy who survived in that dead city for thirty years."
"I don't get it." The Earth mare said as she tilted her sunglasses down and stared at Radius. "He looks like he isn't much older than thirty."
"And he's so big and...brawny."
"Good god, the fuckin' muscles on that guy."
"I dunno about you but he could pound my ass any day."
"My place or yours?" Radius chuckled as he turned around, his pearly white smile making the mares blush. "Heheheh, just think for a while about what you'd be getting yourselves into, girls!"
With a wink, Radius trotted off with his head held high and his confidence even higher leaving the two mares to swoon over him. Never in his life had he ever had the nerve to say such things to a mare other than the one he dated years ago let alone pick up on their social cues indicating they were interested. After a block or two, Radius's attention was drawn to his reflection of the windows of every store he trotted past and it was then that he could really see why mares and the occasional stallion stared at him the way they did. Just when he thought his self esteem could go no higher, to see his muscular figure chiseled by all the years of physical hardship made it tempting to actually see if he could bed a mare tonight. As nice as the idea of bringing home a hot piece of tail sounded however, he could never get his true self to engage in meaningless hookups and would rather do it for love over lust. Nevertheless, it was uplifting for him to be seen as attractive to others.
After the next several blocks, Radius found himself trotting into the city's public library as it was once his favorite hangout back in the day. Of course different librarians had come and gone over the years but save for the unfamiliar pony behind the desk, the look and smell of the place had not changed at all. The only difference was the presence of tables with computers on top that were added when the internet began to take Equestria by storm of which Radius wanted to try to see if he liked it.
After an hour of browsing the web and learning how to use it, Radius made a mental note to later buy his own computer and have internet installed at his house but now, it was time to partake in one of his favorite pastimes; reading. He was in the mood for anything, he simply did not care what. There was so many books but so little time but fortunately he remembered the ones he had read already and there were indeed a great many of them so it would be easier to choose. As he sifted through the foreign works from Earth however, a certain title and author caught his eye and he simply could not find it within himself to ignore it and move on.
"What?...no it...it can't be." Radius gasped as he slowly pulled the book in question off the shelf, the shock of what it was that he was holding slowly sinking in.
Chernobyl: How it Happened
By: Anatoly S. Dyatlov
"He wrote a book?" Radius said to himself as he opened the cover and started reading. "What the...I didn't know the reactor was slapped together with such cheap materials...and the construction was so rushed, no wonder it had problems...oh my god...it wasn't even his fault."
With much haste, Radius trotted up to the mare at the counter and presented his old, faded library card he had brought with him which the librarian then presented him with an updated replacement. After leaving the library with the book floating in his aura in front of his face, Radius trotted to the nearest park where he sat underneath a tree to continue reading. It all made so much sense now. Though Radius had forgiven Dyatlov for his part that caused the meltdown, now he was staring at proof that it was not entirely his fault and that the reactor was doom right from the start. Being an engineer himself and with a PHD for that matter, the flaws in the reactor's design were as plain at the large hole in the building it later became. Had it been designed and constructed properly, it would have never exploded and once it did, what was then the Soviet Union passed the blame in its entirety on the crew working that night.
Radius was a fast reader and he had finished the book just in time as the setting sun would have made it difficult to read much further. He trotted back to the now closed library where he gently slipped the book into the drop box slot and proceeded on his way through the streets of Canterlot, the street lamps just beginning to switch on and light the way. The giddy unicorn could not remember the last time had felt the way he did and grabbed hold of each street lamp he passed and did a foal like twirl around them as he trotted down the streets on the warm Spring night. He was out of the exclusion zone and back with his family, he was healthy, happy, and knew in his heart that the evil entity that used him as a puppet was gone for good.
Closure; what Radius felt was closure on a dark chapter of his life that he could at long last draw to a close and he could see a bright future ahead of him. Though he had lost thirty years of his life that he could never get back, the least he could do was to live the years ahead of him to the fullest as he had a feeling there would be a great many of them to come. Be it from his DNA being stunted by the radiation or what happened in his out of body experience, for whatever reason he had not aged at all and would not be going anywhere anytime soon.
He had been tested in every way imaginable. He had been burned, poisoned, mutated, had friends die in his arms, and was left alone for so long but no matter what was thrown at him, he would never be broken. He had repressed terrible anger and never truly hated anyone, had sacrificed so much to save many lives and had even forgiven the very worst of enemies. Though it may take countless years for the damage done to him to fully heal, his experiences had done nothing but made his stronger and he wanted the whole world to know. First however, his main objective was to make up for lost time with his family and as he opened his mailbox full of letters addressed to him, he would remember that he had some other unfinished business to attend to. Though months away, the little familiar golden ticket signed by Her Royal Highness was a reminder of what he needed to do and he would let nothing keep him from it.
"I'll see you again soon, my dear." Radius sighed as he trotted back to his house with the ticket in his aura.
Four months later...
"Mister Groysman! I'm so glad you could make it!" Celestia beamed as she trotted over to Ukraine's Prime Minister and extended her hoof. "Welcome to the gala!"
"I wouldn't miss it for anything, your highness!" Groysman beamed with a bright smile as he made a fist and reciprocated the Princess's hoof bump. "I'll be honest, it's nothing like what I've heard before! Dancing, music, people and ponies coming together and sharing laughs...this is great!"
"Well, I won't lie, for the past several years, the gala hasn't really had as much energy as you see now. My sister and I made some changes this year."
"Wonderful! I just hope I don't run into uh...you know."
"Let me guess...Putin?"
Mister Groysman then nervously tugged his collar as his eyes darted around the room. Running into the Russian President would be awkward to say the least as Ukraine has been fighting against his nation for quite some time in order to stay independent.
"I didn't invite him." Celestia said through her teeth as her eyes narrowed. "Not after he humiliated Twilight Sparkle the way he did on his last visit here."
Three years earlier...
Today...
"He did that!?" Groysman gasped, his eyes resembling saucers. "What audacity! Such disrespect!"
"Rest assured, Mister Groysman, as long as you're in Equestria, you won't be seeing him." Celestia said with a smile, attempting to shift to a more positive note. "So do enjoy your time here. I'm going to mingle with the crowd but we have hours to catch up. Thanks again for coming!"
"And thank you for inviting me! Oh! And I decided to take your advice and legalize same sex marriages in Ukraine!"
"That's wonderful!"
For the time being, Celestia and Prime Minister Groysman separated where the former trotted about to greet more attendees and the latter headed over to the table of hors d'oeuvres. Many faces of people and ponies alike who showed up were familiar and others not so much and the Princess was excited to see who would show up next all the while hoping to see the one she and several of her subjects rescued months ago. As She trotted past the stage, her nephew Blueblood standing there singing Talk Talk's "It's my life", she thought to herself how much his voice sounds oddly similar to that of the original singer. It was when a coiffure of neatly combed, bright red hair on top of the head of a well dressed man sitting at the bar caught her eye. As she trotted closer, she could see a cigarette holder sticking from his mouth with a smoldering lung dart on the end.
"Good god..." The pony tending the bar gasped as the man polished off another bottle and set it down next to the others. "How can one man drink so much vodka?"
"Frederick? Is that you?" Celestia said as she came up behind the red haired man.
"Huh? Oh, hey, Princess Celestia, how you doing?" Frederick greeted as he turned around, his clean shaven face and well groomed appearance making him almost unrecognizable.
Without any kind of forewarning, Celestia then wrapped her arms around the battle hardened soldier who brought her subjects to safety months ago whether he wanted her to or not. Not much for hugging, Frederick put up somewhat of a struggle at first but quickly changed his mind as the warm feeling of friendship was not so bad afterall.
"Heheh, okay, okay." Frederick sighed as he accepted his fate and returned Celestia's hug.
"You have no idea how much what you did for us means to everypony!" Celestia said as she broke the hug and wiped a tear away. "I could never thank you enough."
"Eh, you already have, trust me. The exchange rate between bits and Ukrainian hryvnia is in my favor...big time."
"Oh?"
"I'm only thirty-two and I'll never have to work again!"
"That's wonderful!"
"No, it sucks! I'm so bored but I don't ever wanna set foot in that fu-er...that freaking exclusion zone again!"
"Well...there is an opening for a new Lieutenant for the Royal Guard. I've seen your leadership skills first hoof. Why don't you apply?"
"Huh...I just might."
Celestia was certainly not among the only ones having a wonderful time seeing friends. For the first time ever, the farm pony Big Macintosh had attended the Grand Galloping Gala and he was sporting a dashing white tuxedo with a matching top hat. Around his neatly folded collar was a black bolo neck tie that would be the envy of even the most discerning of Southern U.S. lawyers. He and A.K. Yearling were catching up while the latter signed autographs for ponies who hoofed copies of her books over to be adorned with her signature.
"Why, Ah do declare, Miss Yearling, it has been just far too long, mah dear!" Big Macintosh said in a mixture of a posh accent and country drawl that would make a certain Colonel proud.
"Hey, handsome, nice seeing you here!" A.K. Yearling greeted as she hugged her big, well dressed friend. "So uh...how are things with eh...whatshername?"
"Ah, Sugar Belle'n Ah mutually decided to uh, go our separate ways. It didn't end badly, just wasn't workin' out."
"Oh! Sooo, you're not seeing anypony at the moment? Because I was hoping later we could maybe...go back to my hotel when this is over?"
"Ah thought ya'd never ask, darlin'."
A few yards away, Spitfire and Soarin were catching up with Rainbow Dash who was introducing them to a dark yellow earth stallion with a mane and tail of several shades of gray whom of which she had brought as her date. Everypony was having a wonderful time getting to know each other in the formal, upscale setting weather they were making new friends or catching up with old ones. Upon spotting the glimmer of a shiny, well polished bald head a few yards away, Rainbow Dash herself wished to do some catching up of her own.
"Hey, Quibble, I'm gonna go see a friend real quick, kay?" Rainbow Dash said to her date. "You just hang out with Soarin and Spitfire while I do that."
"Mkay, Dash." Rainbow Dash's date Quibble Pants replied before resuming his conversation with the two wonderbolts.
Rainbow Dash then trotted over to the short, stout senior aged man she recognized. The man had traded in his security guard uniform that he no longer needed to wear for a new suit of the same dark green. Unlike the last time the ponies had seen him, his gray mustache was neatly trimmed and waxed as per the occasion.
"Hey! Denys! How's it going, man?" Rainbow Dash greeted as she extended a hoof.
"Little Rainbow Buddy!" Denys beamed as he bumped the pony's hoof with his fist. "How you doing, kiddo?"
"Great! I'm moving up with the wonderbolts! How's your retirement going?"
"Ah, couldn't be better! I knew my wife and my daughter would be glad I left that place! Oh, on that note, I'd like you to meet her. Hey Helga! This is my pony friend I told you about! The one who reminded me of you!"
From several yards away walked a young woman in her late twenties. The woman was wearing magnificent dark green dress that matched her father's suit and was a head taller than him. What surprised Rainbow Dash the most was her hairdo which was dyed several different colors in stripes much like a rainbow. For a moment, Rainbow Dash wondered why she reminded Denys of his daughter but upon seeing her hairdo, she wondered no more.
"Helga, this is Rainbow Dash." Denys introduced. "Rainbow Dash, Helga."
"Hey." Helga greeted.
"Hey." Rainbow Dash repeated.
"Do you like video games?"
"Yeah!"
"Fallout?"
"I think we're gonna get along just swell."
While new friends were being made, siblings were catching up and Twilight Sparkle and her Brother Shining Armor were no exception. Twilight, who was wearing a Nobel Peace Prize she had won for her aid in development of the cure for radiation induced mutations was conversing with her sister in law Cadence while Shining Armor holding onto his daughter. Though much more fun, exciting and energetic than many before it, this Grand Galloping Gala was uneventful yet in a good way as it was just simply going well. However, it was when Shining Armor noticed that his daughter Flurry heart was no longer in his grasp that the doting father began to worry.
"Flurry?" Shining Armor asked as his eyes darted around the room. "Flurry, sweetie, where did you go?"
"Leave it to this goofball to lose her." Cadence chuckled as she was not worried. There were many worse places a foal could be lost.
Twilight Sparkle was also unafraid as the odds of Flurry Heart getting into any serious mischief at a gala full of people, ponies and members of the guard were practically nonexistent. As her brother frantically darted about the ballroom like a madman, she rolled her eyes and chuckled to herself as she joined the search for her niece.
Meanwhile, just outside the entrance to the palace ballroom...
"No way..." One of two guards whispered as he observed a very tall, well dressed gray stallion trotting towards him and his colleague who secured the entrance. "Is that who I think it is?"
"Huh? I dunno, who do you think that is?" The younger, more clueless guard asked as he flicked a booger he just removed from one of his nostrils.
"Good evening, gentlecolts." Radius Hoofenschtov greeted with a smile as he showed his ticket. Much to his confusion, the older guard of the two removed his helmet and gave a salute.
"Of course, sir!" The guard said as he stepped aside. "Please, go right in and enjoy the gala! Psst! Private! Remove the helmet and show some respect!"
"Ow!" The subordinate guard yelped as his superior gave him a slap to catch his attention. "Okay, fine, jeez!"
Still clueless, the younger guard did as he was told and promptly removed his helmet, gave a salute and stepped aside to allow Radius into the ballroom.
"Oh, fellas, that's really not necessary." The modest Radius said as he trotted past. "I'm no different than anypony else who comes here."
"But it is, sir!" The elder guard replied. "To be graced by your presence tonight was a real treat!"
"Wow, uh...thanks."
"Who the hell was that?" The younger guard asked, annoyed by being slapped by his supervisor.
"That...was the toughest, bravest, most selfless son of a bitch I've ever laid eyes on."
Radius entered the ballroom expecting to see the stuffy, boring gathering of snobs that Shining Armor once told him it had become but instead he saw a Gala just like the ones he used to know. In the same exact spot he remembered, a dance floor was spread out in front of a stage with a DJ, sound equipment, classical instruments and a grand piano with none other than Sir Elton John himself playing a beautiful tune. If the last few months were full of fun and excitement, to see the Gala just the way he remembered it made his heart race, he was so giddy. As he trotted on in to join the other attendees and mingle with the crowd, he thought there was no possible was it could get any better but he was about to be proven wrong once again.
"Pardon me...sir" A monotone, robotic sounding voice said behind Radius. "Do I have the pleasure of addressing Radius Hoofenschtov?"
"Oh! Why yes, I'm Radiu-oooh my godohmigodohmigodohmygod!" Radius stuttered as he turned around to see the man in the electric wheelchair whom had addressed him, his finger tapping a small keypad to aide in his speech. "S-S-S-Stephen Hawking!"
"Doctor Hoofenschtov...I am so pleased to finally meet you. When I heard you had gone missing back in the eighties...I thought I would never get the chance to speak with you and tell you how much I admired your work. Now that I get to speak to you right now...is like a dream come true. Don't forget...you were well known within the science community...and I would actually not be surprised a bit if you still were."
"I-I-I always wanted to meet you too! Oh my god! My idol just told me I'm his idol!"
"I feel the same way...Doctor. Now...I'm going to get some of that delicious punch. Feel free to contact me anytime. I will see you around...Radius."
"Absolutely, Doctor Hawking! Wow..."
After their brief chat, Stephen Hawking then rolled on his way back over to the punch table, leaving Radius free to mingle with the crowd. Ponies and people of all backgrounds from all over Equestria and Earth alike and they were all smiling and having a wonderful time. The perfect opportunity to socialize and converse like Radius had difficulties with but craved contact with other so badly. A hardship for a social creature who disliked loneliness but one he was able to overcome nonetheless. He would momentarily meet someone else whom he had met before unbeknownst to him however, and little did he know, he was the very reason for the other's very existence.
"Whoops! Sorry, I didn't see you there, comrade." Said a short, stout sixty year old man with a gray mustache, sporting a dark green suit after bumping into Radius.
"Oh, no worries at all sir." Radius replied with a smile. "Hey, um...you look kind of familiar. Have we met before?"
"As a matter of fact, we have." The man replied with a chuckle.
"Oh? Where at?"
"Well, you'll just have to find out, comrade...and thank you."
"For?"
"Again...you'll find out. My wife and I just retired and bought a summer home here in Canterlot. I'll be around. I'm Denys, by the way."
With a chuckle, the mysterious man who just chatted with Radius walked away towards a group of ponies and humans he wished to converse with. As strange and confusing the brief encounter was, he could not allow anything to distract him. Being that there were few, if any ponies as tall as he and Celestia though, it was not long before Radius spotted his primary objective that he had difficulty not thinking about over the past few months. There she was, Radius's former flame sharing a hearty laugh with Barack Obama precisely thirty-two yards away according to the physicist's calculations. For most of his time back home, Radius's confidence had built up to a point where he could trot up and talk to somepony with no issue but as he stared off and admired Celestia from afar, his knees went weak.
Though it was true that the couple had fallen out of love during their time apart, for Radius, that one time she visited him in the hospital was that one little spark needed to set his heart ablaze once more. Back when the two were an item, it was Celestia who courted Radius and made the first move by revealing her intentions and opening up about her feelings. For the months that followed his discharge from the hospital, he thought about her more and more often until he knew he could no longer lie to himself. He wanted Celestia back and he decided that it was his turn to step up and tell her. Upon actually seeing her however was when there arose a new, yet very old problem.
His old shyness and anxiety Radius knew from his youth had frozen him to the spot. He simply couldn't get himself to do it and even ducked his head down when she Celestia glanced into his general direction. Once he could tell that she had switched her gaze to another direction, he trotted back over to a table where he proceeded to pull up a chair on which he sat and sulked. Not even so much as a minute would go by of Radius staring over at the beautiful alicorn that was once his marefriend however, as somepony else would take it upon himself to talk some sense into him.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" Said a somewhat creepy voice that only someone or somepony with little to no sanity could possess on the side of the table opposite of Radius. "You want her, so go and get her."
Radius shifted in the chair and turned around to see the being in question who had walked, trotted, floated or whatever he does over to strike up a conversation. The creature was quite the strange looking fellow but at the same time, oddly familiar. The long, slender, snake-like body with the head of a stallion with a deer antler on one side and a goat horn on the other. The arms of the creature were asymmetrical too, one being that of a lion and the other an eagle or griffin, the latter holding a martini. Looking down even further revealed one leg of a goat and the other some sort of reptilian creature such as a lizard. As per the dress code for the gala, the creature sported a bright orange tuxedo with a matching top hat and stared at Radius expectantly with his yellow eyes.
"Uh...w-weren't you in the garden before?" Radius stuttered.
"Ah, yes, I was kind of an asshole once upon a time." The creature replied before taking a sip of his drink. "But I've been a good little colt so old Tia over there let me go and play...provided I don't do any real damage. Ohuhhahahahehehee!"
"She's...told me about you. Are you D-"
"Discord's the name, chaos...was my game. Hm, I'll have to find a new one. One that won't get me into trouble."
Discord then extended his lion paw for a bump to which Radius hesitantly obliged.
"How much have I missed?" Radius asked.
"A lot, my friend. And by the looks of it, you were about to allow yourself to miss out on even more."
"What do you mean?"
"Celestia has told me a lot about you. You still like her and you're going to just mope around and let her slip away?"
"It's not like she's going anywhere."
"Oh, quit making excuses already! You get off your ass, get over there, take her hoof and dance with her!"
"Why are you even helping me anyway!?"
Discord then sipped up the rest of his drink and proceeded to take a bite out of the glass much to Radius's confusion. After taking a moment to chew on his crunchy snack before swallowing it, Discord then wiped his lips with a napkin, ate that too, and then proceeded to speak again.
"Because Radius, she needs you and deserves somepony like you. I don't ever let her know this, and if you tell anypony, I'll rip your nuts off and roast them...but I happen to have a lot of respect for her and for many reasons...I really owe it to her."
"That so?" Radius trembled at the thought of his testicles being separated from his body and cooked.
"Yes. You see...well, I'm sure you already know how forgiving she can be. She gives ponies so many second...third, even fourth chances. I was lucky enough to be one of those."
"Well, she has always had a big heart."
"I've done many wrong things in my time and Celestia knows I didn't deserve those chances...but she gave them to me anyway. I'd still be that stone statue that watched you two fuck each other's brains out in the garden if it weren't for her kindness."
"Wow, I really gotta quit making ponies watch us."
"Oh, there were others? Lucky them! Admittedly, you two were fun to watch but I digress. Celestia needs you whether she knows she does or not and you need her!"
"You're...you're right!"
"After all the shit you've been through, are you going to let a little anxiety hold you down!?"
"No! I'm not!"
"You're strong enough to survive everything life threw at you!"
"Yes I am!"
"Then you trot on over there and make her yours again!"
"Yeah!!"
After Discord's pep talk, Radius was riled up and ready to do what he came to do. He only had to glance around for a moment as Celestia had not gone far and he trotted over with his head held high and confidence in every step. The closer he got to her, the faster his heart began to beat and a cold sweat ran down the back of his neck but he was prepared for such an issue as he had used some very appealing cologne before arriving. Her back was turned to him and he was getting so close. Close enough where he could smell her cupcake scented perfume that she always wore which only made him want her more as it brought back the memories. He was almost there! It was working perfectly, all he had to do was tap her on the shoulder and surprise her once she turned around! Just a few more steps! The only thing that could get in his way now was the feeling of fifteen pounds of weight clinging to his right front leg as whatever it was emitted a foalish giggle.
"Huh?" Radius asked as he stopped in his tracks to that a tiny filly had latched onto his leg and stared up at him with a huge smile and glossy eyes as she hugged his leg tight. Radius would never in his life dream of rudely dismissing a foal or telling one to scram so he smiled back down at the filly whom he would gently coax off of him. Celestia would have to wait. "Well, hi there, sweetie! Aren't you just adorable! Are you lost? I'm sure your mommy and daddy are arou-wait a minute...wings...and a horn? You're..."
"She likes you, Radius." Said a familiar voice of a young male standing behind him, his voice trembling as if on the verge of tears.
Radius's pupils dilated as he realized just who it was behind him and precisely whose foal he was holding. He turned around and sure enough, there stood Shining Armor next to a pink alicorn mare, the latter covering her mouth as she soon followed suit and began weeping like her husband.
"This is him!?" Cadence asked as she trotted over and wrapped her arms around Radius. Shining Armor did the same immediately after. "Oh my god, Radius, I've heard so much about you! Welcome back!!"
"Flurry, sweetie, meet Uncle Radius!" Shining Armor said, choking back more tears. "I'm so glad you came! I...I...*sniff* I'm so glad you're okay!"
"Shining! Th-thank you so much! For everything!" Radius sobbed.
"Hey! There he is, guys!" A mare beamed from several yards away. "He showed up!"
"Well Ah'll be dipped!" Said as stallion with a country drawl as he galloped over. "Everypony, git over there n' see 'im!"
All those voices, he knew he had heard them before and it did not take long for his memory to be jogged by the half dozen ponies who suddenly had their arms around him. Rainbow Dash, Big Macintosh, A.K. Yearling, Spitfire, Soarin, and Twilight Sparkle had all joined Cadence and Shining Armor in their group hug with the stallion they helped to get his life back and they loved every moment of it. Radius took note of Celestia having trotted off as she had not noticed him but for now, it was time to express his gratitude towards those who saved him and given him another chance. Much like Discord had told him moments ago, he too also had Celestia to thank. Once everypony's tear ducts were bled dry and they could all begin to think straight however is when Radius decided that he was going to do what he had to, his destiny.
"I'll be back, everypony." Radius said as he stood tall and proud, his gaze following his target trotting towards the dance floor. "I have some business to take care of."
"Go get her, Raddy!" Rainbow Dash beamed.
Knowing exactly what their friend was trying to do, his rescuers watched with great anticipation as he trotted over to their Princess, his confidence at its peak. This time, nothing was about to stop him and even Discord watched from afar and observed his pep talk at work. He made it! He stood directly behind Princess Celestia and was close enough to tap her on the shoulder but politely waited until she finished her conversation with the singer Taylor Swift. The young woman soon bid Celestia good evening and began to walk away! This was his chance! It was now or never, do or die!
"May I have the next dance, milad-" Radius began as he tapped Celestia on the shoulder and was immediately met with her arms wrapping tightly around him.
"Radius!!" Celestia squealed as she embraced her former flame and cried into his chest. In the past, she would not have been able to do so as easily but now that Radius was just as tall and her, she buried her muzzle into his tuxedo and wept and refused to let go of him. It had certainly worked out better than he could have imagined as he did not see that coming. "Radius, I'm so glad you could make it! I made sure the gala would be just the way you remembered!"
"Celestia...I...I owe my life to you. To everypony." Radius said as his waterworks made a return. "Because of you and everypony who came to get me...my whole family is happy again. I have closure. That part of my life is gone, it's all behind me and it's never coming back."
"R-Radius, I-I'm so sorry you had to stay there for so long!"
"No, no, it's not your fault, don't focus on that. Tia...I'm all about looking forward from here on out. I'm back and I'm not going anywhere."
"You just...called me 'Tia'...Oh my god, I missed that so much. Oh! Radius! I made a promise to somepony! Luna! Sister, over here!"
Equestria's Princess of the night wasted no time galloping over to her sister and the large, gray stallion she stood next to and she could tell right away just who he was. Princess Luna cared not about how she got over there as long as she did quickly and even leaped and jumped over other gala attendees to meet the pony who should have been her brother in law. Just like Celestia before her who afterwards followed suit, Luna firmly wrapped her arms around Radius and bawled as she could at long last meet the stallion who made her sister so happy long ago. After being gone for many years of which Luna could relate to, Radius was with his family and friends both new and old. Once again though, now that everypony had calmed themselves enough to hear themselves think, Radius still had important matters to attend to.
"Tia, you never answered my question." Radius chuckled as the two slowly trotted together to catch up.
"Oh! You mean...to dance with me?"
"Uh huh."
"I'd like that..."
Almost as if on cue, Sir Elton John took back to the stage and sat on the bench in front of his grand piano while another was being wheeled over next to the first. As Radius and Celestia trotted over to the dance floor, none other than Billy Joel took his seat in front of his own piano and the two men began to play a song so perfect for slow dancing that it may as well have been planned. Discord giving the two men a thumbs up just to have both of them look back at him and return the gesture was an indication that it indeed was.
"It's nine o'clock on a Saturday..." Billy Joel sang. "The regular crowd shuffles in..."
"There's an old man sitting next to me..." Elton John began. "...making love to his tonic and gin."
"He says 'son, can you play me a memory'. I'm not really sure how it goes."
"But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete when I wore a younger man's clothes."
In the very center of the dance floor, Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia of Equestria and Doctor Radius Circumfrancis Hoofenschtov danced to the song, her hooves on his shoulders and his near her flanks. As they looked into each other's eyes, Radius knew that he was winning her over. For Celestia, it was happening all over again. As quickly as she could tell that the connection was lost when she first saw Radius in Pripyat, the spark ignited the flame once more as she danced with him. She simply could not help it, he was simply impossible to resist. Over thirty years ago, she had been the one to start it all and was the one to make the first move. Now, it was Radius's turn and their eyes never broke contact while they danced. As the song played on, Radius would explain to her the unfinished business he stilled had to attend to.
"Tia?" Radius said softly.
"Yes, Radius?" Celestia said, her tone matching his.
"Next month...I have a trip to Ukraine booked."
"Why is that?"
"There's someone I need to visit there. It's really important and I'd like you to go with me. What do you say?"
"Consider my schedule cleared."
As Celestia and Radius continued to hold each other and dance together, everypony who aided in the latter's return took to the dance floor with their own dates and held each other close. Shining Armor and Cadance, Rainbow Dash with Quibble, Big Macintosh with A.K. Yearling, Soarin and Spitfire with a mare and stallion of their own respectively, and Twilight Sparkle with a yellow pegasus with a bright blue mane and tail. Denys and his wife also took to the floor and soon, Mister and Missus Groysman followed suit as well. Frederick had also just hit it off with a pretty lady around his age and was slow dancing with her. Even Princess Luna with her pudgy coltfriend Pony Joe slow danced together, holding each other close the entire time. Everywhere the eye could see, love was in bloom and the Grand Galloping Gala of Fall 2016 would be remembered as the most love filled Gala Equestria had ever seen and would be fondly talked about for years to come.
One month later...
Radius along with Princess Celestia by his side trotted down a path on a cool, crisp November afternoon in a cemetery on the outskirts of Kiev. With a beautiful bouquet of flowers in hoof, Radius was on a personal quest and in search of the memorial of someone in particular. The large cemetery seemed to stretch for miles but as per the directions they were given, Radius and Celestia knew they were close. Even if it took several more hours to find it or even days, they would not leave the yard until that headstone was found. Fortunately for the couple, they would not have to look much further and their search would come to an end.
"Here he is..." Radius said quietly.
"You are a saint for doing this, Radius." Celestia said as she hugged her stallion.
"I'm just returning the favor, Tia. It's only fair."
With his bouquet in hoof, Radius slowly trotted over to the stone he had spent hours searching for. Nearly thirty-one years of the darkest chapter in his life would be turned over and the slate cleaned for good. He felt optimistic before about his future and having finally left the past where it belonged but only what he was about to do could make it official. As he stood two feet away from the gravestone, he wiped away the frost brought by the chilling air as to read what was carved into it. There not a shred of doubt that he had the correct grave.
Anatoly Stepanovich Dyatlov March 3rd, 1931-December 13th, 1995 Rest In Peace
After gently placing the bouquet before the memorial, with Celestia standing behind him weeping profusely at the beautiful deed her coltfriend had done, Radius whispered his three choice words for the man buried beneath them.
"Well? What's that big announcement you've gotten me so worked up about, dear?" Celestia asked Radius, the two of them out on a date at one of Canterlot's finest restaurants.
"Well, Tia..." Radius began as he used his aura to blot his muzzle clean with a napkin. "I've decided that I'm going to go back to work. I'll be looking for a job again."
Celestia did not expect to hear that and if anything was rather confused. She personally banned nuclear power following the meltdown of Chernobyl so he certainly could not return to his old line of work but surely after what he had gone through, he likely would not even want to. What she wondered was why he even wanted to find work in the first place as she felt that he deserved to simply take it easy for the rest of his days. Unbeknownst to her, in regards to the number of his days if there was one would be part two of his announcement.
"Really?" Celestia asked as she gave Radius a Quizzical look. "B-but...why? You should never have to work again. You've got more than enough money to support yourself for the rest of your life...but if you insist...I do have an opening for a physics professor at my school if you'd want to give that a try."
"Hey, now that's right up my alley! See, I don't care about money." Radius clarified. "I'm bored. I just want to work again and be a productive Equestrian citizen like everypony else. Oh! And about that so-called 'rest of my life' baloney..."
"Beg your pardon?"
"Ever notice how I'm almost seventy and I still look like I'm in my thirties?"
"I...did often wonder."
"Yeah, I'm not gonna die...like ever. I've looked into it."
"Are you sure about that? How do you know?
"Two things that could have happened. The radiation could have stunted my DNA and/or that out of body experience I told you about after I shoved that needle in my neck."
"I...I'll believe that if another several years go by and you don't age."
"Okay, hon, I'll show you."
With a smug smirk on his face, Radius gently placed his hoof onto Celestia's who had rested hers on the table which made the Princess blush. To her, the scene that played out before her was de javu only instead of her being the one doing most of the courting, the tide was turned. With his hoof still on hers, the couple stared each other down, Radius's eyes half lidded and taunting whereas Celestia's were wide open out of surprise. As her heart began to race at the thought of what could happen between the two later, she could only think of going back to the castle as quickly as possible.
"C-can we get the check, p-please?" Celestia stuttered.
Celestia and Radius enjoyed a quiet trot home through the streets of Canterlot, the sidewalks covered in a fresh, thin layer of fluffy snow. Their winter coats and scarves around their necks kept them warm and cozy as they trotted through the freezing December air. As the glanced over at one another and made eye contact however, it was almost as if they were communicating telepathically regarding what they wanted to do once they returned to the castle. By the look in each other's eyes, they could tell right away and the very thought of what they would soon do to each other eliminated the need for their winter attire.
At first, their trot started out slow and steady but as their bodies heated up from their hormones going awol, they picked up their pace. Their eyes never left each other's as they trotted side by side and finally broke into a full gallop. Faster and faster, the hormone and love crazed couple who had been reunited after years apart galloped towards the entrance of the castle before barreling in at full speed. Still, they kept eye contact even as they threw their coats and scarves off before beginning their climb up the stairs to Celestia's bedroom. The hormones were beginning to mess with their minds and they repeatedly tripped over each other. It was when they were about to completely lose it when they noticed Radius's massive, throbbing cock stood at full mast and slapped against the stairs as they ascended each step.
After what seemed like an eternity of clumsily clawing their way up the stairs, the hot and heavy breathing couple made their way down the long hallway and ultimately to Celestia's bedroom. After pushing the door open, they both charged in at the same time but now that Radius was larger than before, the doorway was a tighter fit than they remembered. Though they so desperately wanted to throw each other onto the bed and make passionate love, they had to first overcome the obstacle of being stuck in the doorway. Nonetheless, the two laughed at the mess they had gotten their horny selves into and used their magic to escape one they could think clearly. Though the two were geniuses, even the judgement of the most brilliant of ponies can be clouded when such passion is involved.
Finally, the couple escaped from the doorway and with the door shut and locked so they could enjoy their privacy, they jumped onto the bed and buried each other's tongues down their throats and sucked face like mad. Radius's cock was still rock hard and Celestia's marehood was burning with desire, getting wetter with each passing second. It was time. With Celestia on her back and Radius standing above, the horny stallion straddled the mare that lay before him and slowly inserted his throbbing penis inter her wet, desperate vagina. He was much bigger than she remembered him so inch by inch, he pushed himself in and once the medial ring was through, he slid in the rest of the way earning a gasp from his mare.
"Haah...R-Radius..." Celestia whimpered with delight as her stallion slowly began to push in and pull out.
"Tia...I love you s-ahh! I love you so much!" Radius gasped as he involuntarily began to pick up the speed of his thrusting. "Ahh...ohh...mmm yeahhh..."
Radius snorted repeatedly as his ancient instincts took over and he began thrusting faster, deeper and harder into the mare he loved dearly. For a good half hour, Radius plowed Celestia as she lie on her back and just when it seemed like his intense thrusting would never end, Celestia suddenly spread her wings, used them to push her upwards and flipped Radius onto his back. The sneaky maneuver was so well coordinated that Celestia landed right on top of her lover, his cock never leaving her love tunnel.
"My turn." Celestia giggled before giving the surprised and admittedly impressed Radius a quick peck on the lips.
"Ooohhhoho, nice one, babe!" Radius complimented as he folded his arms behind his head and laid back while Celestia grinded upon him.
For another half hour, Radius relaxed as Celestia enjoyed his stiff member, grinding her hips and flapping her wings in order to bounce up and down on him. He missed this part badly, they both did for it was the position they were in when they both came and their minds go blank as their entire bodies tingled at the climax of their first time in the eighties. Though their minds indulged in the junk food-like bliss that was their bodies becoming one, the memories came pouring back.
Again, the couple changed positions and Radius took Celestia's mane between his teeth as his primal urges consumed him again and he began plowing his lover from behind. Though they were madly in love, for the time being, their brilliant minds had been reduced to those of a couple of dirty, horny animals and they relished in every moment of it. Nothing could bring either of them back to their senses but their impending orgasms and the smell of their bodily fluids that stained the sheets filled the air and once it met their nostrils, they slipped deeper into their madness.
An entire hour went by and the two lovers were still at it. It was when for a moment that Radius gained just one split second of rational thought, he knew he was going to come and he wanted to be closer to to the face of his Princess when he did. Knowing that neither of them would last much longer, Radius flopped to his side bringing Celestia with him and once he had his muzzle resting on her shoulder, he whispered sweet nothing into her ear as he continued to rut her.
Aaahhaaahhhahhh!" Celestia moaned as Radius continued to pound her. "Ooohhhhooohh yeeess!! Yes!!"
"Uhh! Huhh!" Radius grunted. "T-Tia, I'm gonn-ahh! I'm g-gonna make this the best f-uhh! Best fuckin' night of your life!"
He was close, they both were. It was only a matter of time and the closer they got, the tighter Radius held onto Celestia. With his teeth clenched, he felt another clench in his testes and began to hyperventilate as he picked up the pace of his thrusting. Celestia too could feel the impending explosion building up within her and at this point, there was no possible way to stop it, not that she would ever want to. The couple was at the point of no return and just like their first time they ever made love to each other, they would both come at the same time.
Their entire bodies throbbed and twitched as blasts of hot seed exploded from the tip of Radius's rock hard stallionhood while Celestia ejaculated her own fluids at that very same moment. As burst after burst shot out of Radius filling his Princess, their eyes rolled back into their heads, Radius still gripping his mare tight and holding their bodies together. Their bodies continued to convulse and the intensity of their orgasms was so great, it was much like being high on the strongest drug ever concocted and in a way, they were high on a drug and it was called love.
Bliss. Absolute, pure, unadulterated bliss. At long last, their bodies were completely spent and the couple lay hyperventilating as they held each other close. To them, one of the best parts of their love making was simply holding themselves against each other and a sharing the warmth afterwards. After thirty long years of being torn away from each other, they were given the chance to start over. They had many a love making session in the past and they were all special but this one would never be topped. It felt like their very first time, like it never had before and never would again.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end and their divine experience was no exception. Finally, their high began to wear off and though their bodies were completely spent, they would share their thoughts before they passed out for the night. Once they regained their thinking capacity, they would also have a concern to address that they had otherwise forgotten.
"Tia!" Radius beamed. "Holy shit! There is no way we'll be able to top that! That was amazing!!"
"Well, don't be giving me any credit, you did all the work!" Celestia said with a laugh.
"What are you talking about!? You were grinding up on me like a champ! To look up at you while you...damn, that was hot!"
"Oh...uh, I just thought of something."
"Hm?"
"Um, I didn't cast a contraception spell. Did you?"
Celestia and Radius stared at each other and thought for a moment until their lips curled up into grins, ultimately leading to them bursting out into laughter. The two agreed that their concern was rather silly as Radius could surely not impregnate Celestia. Though the ancient Princess had a fully functioning womb and ovaries, the chances of Radius being able to fertilize them would theoretically be zero.
"Pfft, yeah, like I'm gonna have any swimmers left after spending thirty years soaking up radiation!" Radius chuckled. "I mean I would have but I mean we kinda did get lost in the heat of the moment."
"Hahaha! You're right darling. So did you have it tested or..."
"Well, no I didn't think there was any need to. They tested me for diseases when I was brought back but...I think it's pretty safe to say I'm shooting blanks...though I did wanna have foals of my own back in the day."
"Aww, I'm sorry, dear. We'll always have each other though."
"And I wouldn't have it any other way. It's great to be back."
"It's wonderful to have you back."
A great many terrible days were behind Radius and Celestia and there would be countless wonderful ones ahead. Despite their assumptions regarding Radius's reproductive organs however, little did they know that it would be the first of many wonderful mistakes. Unbeknownst to them, the miracle of having Radius back safe and sound would be joined by yet another miracle that was just beginning in Celestia's womb. As the loving couple of lovestruck fools slowly drifted off to sleep, Celestia used a certain pet name she often affectionately called Radius in a metaphorical sense. Little did she know, it would someday be literal.
