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."

"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."