"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.

R.H. June, 2006