Author's Notes:

Major props to heavy weapons brony for suggesting the name of the next revealed villain. Also, a big thanks to mix-up for suggesting the title of the chapter. Also, sorry but this chapter will go without an image but I think it will still be quite enjoyable. Fun fact: "Bolnoyvolk" actually translates to "sick wolf" in Russian.

"I get it..." Shining Armor said as he stifled more tears. "It all makes sense now."

"Somepony to understand me is all I could ever ask for." Radius's voice whimpered as he too was close to weeping again. "All these years, I've been trapped here because I wanted to protect others from my own self. After this happened, I knew I needed to absorb radiation to keep Spazz locked up. At first, I only had to do it every three days but as time went on, a dose would last less and less time and I've had to move my home closer to ground zero until finally, I would end up living right above it."

"Why? Why didn't you tell us?"

"I...I wanted to but I didn't know how. I've always had issues with explaining things like this and I though that showing you was the only way. It's...typical of those with Asperger's. A weakness of mine."

"Okay, so suppose it was your body that killed those men while you were being controlled. The real you wouldn't have done that. Either way you look at it, I say you're innocent."

"Innocent as in not actually being me who killed them...but guilty for being careless enough to allow it to happen. Well, we're gonna head to the next memory now. Shouldn't be too many more to go."

Once again, just like the several times before, everything slowly went dark until all that could be seen was an empty, pitch black abyss. Even more slowly, the light gradually returned and before long, Shining Armor could tell that he was now standing on a sidewalk on an empty street. Judging by the presence of the large amount of foliage growing through cracks in the asphalt and the vines snaking their way up the sides of the buildings, it was during the summertime approximately a decade or so after Chernobyl's meltdown.

Shining Armor stood in the same spot for several minutes as he glanced about at his surroundings with no Radius or anypony else in sight. The streets of Pripyat have been quiet for many years and though the sun shined brightly from the beautiful blue sky, the silence was eerie nearly to the point where Shining Armor could feel the unshaven stubble on his face expedite its growth. Not a single bird sang nor insect buzzed about and the leaves on the trees lay completely motionless as there was no wind to speak of. Shining Armor had no idea what to expect and the unsettling silence did nothing to help however, he was just about to learn the meaning of the memory he was now in.

FLOP!

A startled Shining Armor was jarred out of his concentration on his surroundings by what sounded like three hundred pounds of dead weight falling from a building and hitting the sidewalk a mere few feet behind him. He then whipped around to see the source of the din and the reason for him bearing witness to this particular memory lying motionless and face down on the hard, crumbling concrete. Laying in a superficial indentation he had just created on the ground was a fully mutated Radius after having fallen from a great height. For a minute or two, he lay there as Shining Armor stared in both awe and confusion until slowly, he casually lifted himself out out the indent and arose to his hooves. After glancing over his body to find nothing more than a few scrapes and bruises with no serious injuries or broken bones to speak of, the frustrated mutant plopped his rear on the ground and sighed.

"Radius?" Shining Armor asked wistfully as he already knew the answer to his next question. "Did you just...try to ki-"

"Kill myself?" Radius's voice finished. "Yes. This was one of my dozens of suicide attempts and it was then that I realized that there was no escaping this hell. These mutations made my bones unbreakable. I tried all kinds of things to off myself. I tried drowning myself in the cooling pond and got bored after holding my breath for six hours. I even found out that my body is flame retardant when I tried setting myself on fire. You name it, I've tried it."

"A lot of the other stuff we saw before was pretty sick but this is just downright depressing."

"I know, Shining, I know. Look, this memory is't all that important, we don't have to stick around for this."

"I couldn't agree more. Let's get outta here."

At this point, it had become a routine as both Shining Armor and his host were well prepared for the transition as everything again slowly faded away. What the two were not prepared for however was how instead of giving way to darkness, a bright white light from some of the better. more pleasant memories took over. Shining Armor and his host anxiously waited with high hopes as the light gradually subsided revealing a memory that Radius felt as if it occurred only moments ago and for the first time in over two decades gave him great pride and a boost to his self esteem. What Shining Armor and Radius were witnessing before them was a standoff between the latter and five grotesque mutant wolves much like the former encountered before.

Upon closer observation, Shining Armor noticed that there lay a battered and unconscious man on the ground just behind an unharmed Radius as he stood his ground against his five equally as bruised and bloody foes. The man on the ground looked oddly familiar to Shining Armor and he could tell that he must have been a local security guard as he sported a dark green uniform similar to all of the other guards and his matching cap lay on the ground just a few feet away. Just next to the cap lay the man's only means of defense in the form of a puny, under-powered .380 pistol that was standard issue by the exclusion zone authorities. Such a low level firearm would not be nearly enough against a single normal sized wolf, let alone five of them the size of living room sofas.

"Now back off!" Radius shouted at the wolves. "If you pricks think I'm gonna sit idly by and let you attack innocent people, you're dead wrong!"

"I can't believe we're losing to this fucking bleeding heart!" The largest wolf who was nearly the size of a European car complained as he spat blood from his mouth.

"You can end it right now, Bolnoyvolk. I've given you plenty of chances, but it's still not too late to just walk away."

"Do you even have any goddamn clue what's going on here!? The humans are planning on building some kind of arch over the reactor! You need the radiation just as much as we do, eediot!"

"The whole world will be in danger if that sarcophagus collapses into that reactor! Is that what you want!? For this whole planet to suffer like we have!? Not if I have anything to say abou-"

"I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOUUUUUUUU!!!"

Without warning, the largest wolf named Bolnoyvolk sprang up and charged after Radius at full speed with intentions on tearing apart the hero and the passed out man in his fit of blind fury. Shining Armor and today's Radius watched the massive mutated wolf sprint after the latter's old self as he stood there not moving from the spot his hooves were seemingly glued to. As the events seemed to unfold in slow motion, Radius just stood by the injured man's side with an expression on his face that Shining Armor would never have expected to see in a time like this and it confused him immensely. As the giant wolf barreled towards Radius, the mutated unicorn did not hold the look of fear nor of anger or anxious anticipation, but a bemused expression of mild annoyance.

"Watch this!" Radius's voice said to Shining Armor. "This is one of my favorite memories."

Just as Bolnoyvolk closed in on his enemy in the form of the mutated unicorn that was half his size, Radius put his own plan into action by teleporting with a flicker of his horn. The massive wolf then screeched to a halt to gather his bearings and find out where his foe had teleported off to just to find out his location the hard way which was now crashing down on top of his head, back hooves first. The other four wolves watched in awe as the largest member of their pack was knocked to the ground with great force and the pony whom inflicted the damage did not stop there.

"Holy crap!" Shining Armor gasped as he watched the Radius from the past fight like a professional. "You never told me you could fight like that!"

"Ha ha ha! You learn to hold your own when you spend twenty-five years in a place like this! Radius's voice chuckled. "I only wish you could have seen how I kicked their asses when you and Rainbow Dash were in trouble!"

"Wait, twenty-five? I thought you were here for thirty years."

"I was. What we're watching here happened about five years ago."

Still the fight raged on between Radius and the wolf that was the size of a Volkswagen Beetle and with a substantial advantage in agility, the former was the one landing all the blows. This was a one sided battle as Bolnoyvolk just could not seem to get a hit or get his jaws or paws around the throat of his opponent and each and every attempt was met with either a solid hoof to the side or a hard buck to the snout. All the while, the other four battered wolves watched their comrade get pummeled repeatedly by the now seasoned veteran whom has seen and done things that would kill even the toughest of creatures with fear alone. Finally, after several minutes of Radius dodging attacks from Bolnoyvolk and the latter missing with every attempt to land a hit, the mutant unicorn made his final move.

Shining Armor watched with glossy eyes in admiration as he watched his host from five years ago raise his back legs and buck Bolnoyvolk in the jaw with all the strength he could physically muster and sent the massive beast flying. The now badly battered Bolnoyvolk hit the ground with a sold thud and tumbled right into the waiting paws of his comrades who knew all too well that the fight was over and any more fruitless attempts to bring the unicorn down would be entirely pointless. As the dazed Bolnoyvolk slowly came to and began to gather himself, he decided to offer Radius a few choice words before he realized that he had lost more than just the battle. Much more.

"Thiff ivm't omer! We'll bwe mack amd we...haa?!" Bolnoyvolk began before cutting himself off as he realized something had gone awry with his speech. Fearing the absolute worst, the injured wolf placed his paws over his mouth for a moment and proceeded to feel around. With his paws in the left side of his jaw, he felt nothing but his tender, bleeding gums with only the remains of a few broken teeth to speak of. He then switched his paws over to the right side of his jaw and found much of the same. Finally, he pulled his shaky paws out of his mouth and looked down to see several shards of his broken pearly whites resting in the little pools of blood that formed in his paws.

"Mah teef!!" Bolnoyvolk shouted before straining to crawl his broken body over to Radius in a pathetic attempt to attack him. "I'll breash ever bome im your body! I'm gomma tear outcher fuggin' wim pipe!"

"Let it go, comrade." Another wolf said as he placed his paw on Bolnoyvolk's shoulder to hold him back. "It's not worth it. He's just gonna kill us if we keep this up, now let's get out of here."

"He's right, Bolnoyvolk." Another spoke up as he too tried to hold his pack member back from causing himself further harm. "He's won, okay? Let's just quit while we're ahead."

"Your friends are wise, Bolnoyvolk." Radius said as he resumed standing by the side of the unconscious man. "Now leave. And If I ever catch you guys attacking a human again, I won't go so easy on you."

The wolf pack promptly headed Radius's warning and turned around to return home and tend to their wounds while two of them paused for a moment to lift their most severely injured comrade up to help him limp home while they supported him. Radius leered at them as he cautiously watched them limp away until finally, they were out of sight and he could finish attending to the injured man he had just saved. The sun was slowly disappearing over the horizon as it would soon be dark so Radius needed to make a decision quickly. As he sat for a moment tapping his chin with one of his mutated hooves as he pondered his next course of action, he realized that there would most certainly be a few risks involved.

Firstly, what worried Radius the most was the unpredictability his time limit between his radiation doses as he simply refused to allow the unconscious security guard to become another statistic of his alter ego. Secondly, he knew that soon, the man's colleagues would surely be searching for him once they realized he had not returned to his post and that would just put the rest of them in danger. The dark was approaching very quickly so Radius needed to make his decision now. As gently as he possibly could, as to avoid further injury to the already badly beaten, short, somewhat heavier set man in his mid fifties, he picked him up and placed him on his back and made a beeline for the safest spot near the outskirts of Pripyat he could think of. Shining Armor followed close behind.

After a good twenty minutes or so of slowly trotting towards an area where he knew the exclusion zone security guards often frequented, Radius would soon encounter a new problem that could make or break his attempt to save the life of the man on his back. The mutated unicorn began noticing several clumps of hair that did not belong to him falling onto his neck causing him to itch. For a moment he thought little of it but soon it just clicked and he pulled the man off his back to confirm his worst possible fears. The unconscious man was being poisoned by the very creature trying to save him causing his hair to fall out at an alarming rate.

"Oh shit!" Radius cursed as he frantically looked around for any signs of other security guards. "I can't just leave him here but if I carry him for much longer, the radiation from my body will fry him!"

Radius was stuck in a situation where either course of action he could take could lead to the man's safety or his death if he made a single wrong move and time was not on either of their sides. As bleak as the circumstances seemed however, Radius and the wounded man were at last about to get the break they needed much to the former's relief. Radius's ears perked up as he could just pick up the faint whirring of an electric motor and the thumping of air filled rubber tires, one of them sounding slightly low on air pressure going over potholes. As he stared off into the distance in the direction he could hear the sound coming from, he quickly put a simple plan into action.

Thinking quickly, Radius gently laid the man on the ground and propped him up against a tree stump as the sound of the mystery vehicle drew closer and closer still. The foliage was very thick in each and every direction so the sound of the motor was nearly on top of Radius until he retreated into some bushes several yards away where he would stay to watch. He did not want to leave the man's side until he knew for certain that he was in good hands so he would make sure his colleagues picked him up and rendered the aid he would need. After several seconds that seemed like an eternity, serenity in the form of an electric golf cart with two men on it came speeding around a nearby street corner.

Just like the unconscious man, the two men on the golf cart both donned similar dark green uniforms and judging by their speed of both their driving and them sweeping their spotlights from side to side, that they were on a mission. Radius continued to watch with great anticipation as the vehicle made its way towards where he set the injured guard down. It was when Radius observed the bright light reach the very spot and heard the screech of the golf cart skidding to a halt that he could breath a sweet sigh of relief. Shining Armor was observing the whole scene from a mere few feet away and stared at Radius with admiration as he had just witnessed once again more proof that his host was a hero.

"There he is!" One of the security guards gasped as he and his comrade jumped out of the vehicle to render aid. "Denys! Jesus Christ man, are you alright!?"

"Denys! Hey!" The other guard hollered as he gently shook his injured colleague by the shoulder. "Come on man, say something! Speak to me!"

"Uhhhg...ow, my head..." The man named Denys groaned as he slowly woke up in a daze. "Ahhh crud, what the...where am I? What happened?"

"Comrade, can you stand? Here, on your feet. Let's get you outta here to a doctor." The first guard said

"Good god man, your hair!" The second guard exclaimed as he noticed Denys's hair falling out in large clumps.

"Wha...? Wha-what about my hair? What's wrong?" Denys said as he placed a hand on top of his quickly smoothing head. "Ohhh...okay, that does it. From now on, I'm taking bus duty. I've had enough of this nonsense."

"Hey! That's the guy who drove us all in on the bus!" Shining Armor gasped at the sudden realization as the three men quickly sped away in the golf cart. "You saved Denys?"

"For the first time in years, I was actually proud of myself." Radius's voice whimpered. "I think we've only got one left. Let's get this over with."

For what Radius expected to be the last time, everything in sight faded to black which would from prior experience indicate that an unpleasant memory was in store. After a moment of standing in the black void, the light slowly returned in the form of an empty hallway inside a building. The particular hallway however seemed oddly familiar to Shining Armor whom could have sworn that he had been there before and recently as well. He was just about to find out exactly how recently and precisely why it was so familiar and when a scream from a nearby room broke the silence, the events all came back as freshly as they had happened.

"Nooo! Get off me!" A mare in distress screamed. "Help meee!"

Shining Armor's pupils swelled up, filling his eyes in their entirety as the sudden realization hit him. He sprinted down the hallway to the room where he heard the screaming and when he skidded to a stop in the doorway, sure enough he saw exactly what he dreaded. In the corner of the otherwise empty room was a mutated Radius under the full control of his sadistic alter ego with Rainbow Dash underneath him as he pinned her to the floor and attempted to take advantage of her. Shining Armor shivered in horror as he watched his friend try with all her might to push her attacker away and the genuine look of terror on her face was almost enough to urge the observing unicorn to intervene. Though it was just a memory and he knew that the events had happened days ago, Shining Armor had difficulty watching even though he knew what would transpire next. Fortunately, the attack would be ended promptly by a figure that bolted straight through the observer's ghostly form.

"Oof!" Radius grunted as Shining Armor saw his own self from days prior bash the mutant over the head with a lead pipe.

"You were the hero in this one, Shining." Radius's voice said in the background. "If you hadn't hit me on the head, my body would have been used to defile Rainbow Dash's. If I-

"Spazz." Shining Armor corrected. "It wasn't you trying to rape her, it was Spazz trying to rape both of you."

"Uh...I guess if you wanna look at it that way. Okay, if Spazz had succeeded and penetrated her, the damage would have been done and there would have been nothing we could have done to fix it. You stepped in not a moment too soon."

"Look, we know, we get it. Radius, I know you think this sounds fucked up but don't blame yourself. It wasn't your fault. Trust me, I know enough about mind control."

"But it is! It was my carelessness! My negligence! I knew the risks but I let my desire to talk to somepony get in the way! I *hic* I allo-*sniff* I allowed it to happen!"

Suddenly, the air began to wave and the intensity increased with every second Radius experienced an emotional meltdown. To see from an outside perspective himself on top of the first pony he had talked to in thirty years as he tried to thrust his erect member into her against her will was enough to push him over the edge.

"Radius, stay with me, okay? Just calm down, deep breaths! Please, don't cry! It wasn't your fault!"

"Noohohoho! I allowed it *hic* to happen! I let it happen, it's all my fauhahahault!"

"Radius, buddy, get a hold of yourself! It'l okay, I promise, Everything's gonna be okay! Please, just relax! What the...what's happening!?"

Instead of fading to dark or being taken over by a blinding white light like the other transitions, the air continued to wave much like heat rising from asphalt on a hot summer day though much more intense. Seeming how this has not happened before during any of the memories that Radius shared with Shining Armor, the latter was becoming quite anxious. Radius continued sobbing uncontrollably so his lack of emotional control was of no help. Soon however, a familiar sight of everything in sight being consumed by an empty black abyss but the serenity of it was short lived as once the last bit of light ceased, Shining Armor experienced the terror of falling into a seemingly bottomless pit. Shining Armor screamed as he could feel no solid ground underneath his hooves and continued to tumble down into what seemed like absolutely nothing. Still Radius continued his emotional meltdown and the sound of his sobbing and hyperventilating echoed off in the distance but the further Shining Armor fell, the more it faded away until finally, an empty, black void with no sound completely took over.

"All my fault..."

"All my fault..."

"All my fault..."

"Shining Armor! Are you okay?!" A familiar female voice said.

"Jeez, that spell musta knocked 'em both out!" A male voice with a country drawl said as Shining Armor's sense of hearing slowly returned. "Y'all holdin' up alright?"

"Gahh!" Shining Armor gasped as he sprang awake.

Curious and rather anxious regarding what would occur in the next memory, Shining Armor's focus darted around a large room and much to his relief, all of his friends who were still in their hazmat suits were standing around. Upon further observation, he could tell that he too was still wearing his own hazmat suit and they were all in Radius's current home in a tower in the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant. Radius himself did not fare any better as he too was briefly rendered unconscious by the delicate memory spell but he soon awoke while Soarin and Big Macintosh both helped him get up to his hooves.

"How long did we have our horns together?" Shining Armor asked.

"About ten seconds, give or take." Daring Do replied.

"So?" Rainbow Dash asked. "What did you see?"

"You wanna know what I saw?" Shining Armor asked. "You all will never truly understand unless you saw it the way I did."

"What? What was it?" Spitfire asked anxiously.

"I learned so much about Radius...his family, his struggles in life. I learned what a kind and selfless pony he truly is. I saw true pain...real, indescribable suffering that this poor pony had to endure for thirty years. Then, I saw what happened to bring about that...that other creature that took him over...what he's had to do to himself and all the sacrifices he's had to make to keep that part of himself locked away...Denys, the guy who drove us all here on that bus is alive because of him...and most of all...I saw more than enough proof that Radius Hoofenschtov is innocent."

"So he's clear? He didn't kill those men?" Soarin asked.

"I didn't actually get anything really obvious shoved in my face but...well, the memories we searched through were all big deals in Radius's life and we actually found one that he didn't actually remember because he was being controlled by..."

"Like, his alter ego or something?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Spazz." Radius said as he slowly came out of his daze. "Hence the term 'spazzing out' that I used before. He's a completely different personality that developed within me out of my repressed anger and hatred towards the world for what happened to me. I could never really have anyone to blame for what I've been through and It's against my nature to wish harm on others. It's just not...me. That's not who I am and it's what I refuse to become."

"Tell us more about this Spazz guy." Spitfire said.

"He's a sick, sadistic killer with absolutely zero empathy and compassion for others and he's completely incapable of remorse. He's also the one who used my body to murder the only friends I had during my time here. If I satisfy my body's dependency on radiation, I can keep him away. If I go too long without it...well, Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor saw with their own eyes. It's true, I myself wasn't actually looking through my own eyes when he sort of...pushed me onto her but I was careless enough to forget about my radiation dose."

"Either way, I know for a fact that you're innocent." Shining Armor reassured. "If we could see memories from when Spazz took you over, then we would have seen it if you killed those workers. You didn't do it, Radius."

"Of course he didn't do it, you little twit." Said a snarky voice from just outside the entrance to the room.

Everypony turned to face the source of the voice of whom made all their manes stand on end and their pupils shrink to the size of pin pricks. Slowly walking into the room were two of the many radioactive wolves that live in the area and like all the others, they dwarfed even Big Macintosh by a least two solid feet in height and were at least twice as long. The mere sight of them and the hideous bony spines jutting out of their backs, their red eyes and glowing green tongues turned the deep, masculine voice of the big farm pony into faint little squeaks.

"See that line on the floor?" Radius asked the wolves as he pointed at a strip of tape on the floor directly in front of them. "Cross that and I end both of you right where you stand. Now state your business."

"Relax. We're just here to deliver a message." The slightly larger wolf assured.

"And what would that be?"

"You'll be happy to hear that you in fact didn't kill those guys." The shorter wolf said, causing Radius's ears to perk up.

"Go on, I'm listening."

"The one who did wants to have a word with you."

Though everypony knew that Radius was normally a gentle, mild mannered pony and the only way to see him behave violently was for his alter ego to take over, their ears all folded back at the look on his face as he slowly trotted towards the unexpected visitors. His body's glow increased in brightness and intensity tenfold as every hair on his body stood on end. His eyes were still his normal emerald green but even the two wolves could see the fire of pure anger burning in his eyes as he stared the larger one down mere inches from his muzzle. Though he was mutated, to see a pony strike fear in the heart of a massive wolf as a cold sweat dripped down his back was truly awe inspiring. With the wolf's ears folded back and his next bathroom break sure to be expedited, Radius asked a simple, three word question that poured through his clenched teeth in a cold, raspy battle hardened voice that nearly made both wolves faint.

"Where is he?"