"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.

Author's Notes:

From here on out, I'll be slowing down and taking more time with the chapters. The story is nearing its climax and I want it to be good so I can't really give an accurate time frame for the next ones. The image above was done by mix-up.