"Incredible!" Spitfire said as she trotted into the newly discovered room. "So do you guys think this Radius character might have lived here?"

"Oh, we don't think." Daring do said as she held the photograph she found for everypony to see. "We know."

"Hot Damn!" Soarin gasped. "So that means he could be close, right? If he's still alive, he has to be nearby!"

"Unlikely. This room hasn't been touched in years. There's enough dust on this sofa alone to make a snowmare out of."

"Ah wonder what's takin' Celestia and Twi so long to git here." Big macintosh said.

"Dunno." Rainbow Dash replied. "They sounded a bit weird when they answered us on the radio."

"We're here!" Twilight said as she burst into the room followed by Princess Celestia. "Sorry, s-sorry, we just saw...some things."

"Anything important?" Daring Do asked.

"We really would rather not talk about it." Celestia replied.

"O-okay then. Well anyway, I think Big Muscles and I-"

"Macintosh." Big Mac corrected.

"Right. Big Macintosh and I found a lead."

"Wait!" Celestia gasped. "That smell. It's so...familiar."

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.

"Um...F-Fredrick, buddy." Shining Armor sheepishly stuttered. "I-I can't thank you guys enou-"

"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.