"I'm not bull shitting you, man!" A frightened paramedic in the back of the ambulance yelped as he watched a pony's foreleg flailing about from out of the body bag. "Look! He's breathing and trying to get out of the bag!"

Expecting his comrade to be pulling a sick, ill timed joke, the man in the cab of the ambulance shifted in his seat to turn back and peek through the small, rectangular opening between himself and the patient box in the back. Instead of laughter however, he looked back to see his co-worker with his back against the wall and the stretcher right in front of him with a dull greenish yellow foreleg from an equine trying to pull the zipper of the bag open. Every hair on the men's bodies stood on end and their faces faded to resemble those of ghosts as the patient whom had no pulse moments ago was now gasping for breath and trying to free himself from the plastic confines of the body bag. Unbeknownst to the driver of the ambulance however, shifting in his sitting position and now becoming distracted had caused him to press the accelerator pedal to the floor.

The Equestrian visitors to Ukraine could not possibly have been more miserable over what they perceived to be complete and total failure of their mission quickly found themselves asleep in their seats on the bus back to the checkpoint. Princess Celestia on the other hoof, though exhausted nearly to the verge of an emotional meltdown could not find it within herself to shut her eyes and doze off as. She knew it would prove pointless to grab a mere ten minutes or so of sleep though as they would all be required to wake up once they reached the checkpoint to be decontaminated before being allowed to return home. It almost seemed as if their ordeal would never end and all they could ever want at this point was to curl up in their own beds and sleep in peace, though an impending bump in the road would delay their departure moreso but under better circumstances than before.

Slam! Honk! Bwipbwipbwipbwipbwipbwip!

Without the slightest hint of warning, the ambulance carrying the allegedly deceased Radius smacked into the rear of the bus, throwing everypony out of their seats much to their immense misery. After skidding to a stop and regaining his own composure, Denys turned back to see his passengers whom had already been through so much to be tossed about by another's careless driving. The short security guard would have none of it and proceeded to unfasten his seatbelt before he stormed off the bus and stomped over to the ambulance to give the driver a piece of his mind. After rubbing their temples and gathering themselves from the sudden jarring, everypony shifted over to one side of the bus where they watched Denys approach the two men, meanwhile Frederick and his colleagues walked over to investigate the commotion.

"What the fff...fudge are you guys trying to do!?" Denys scolded, nearly cursing for the first time in years. "Where'd you learn to drive!?"

Much to the confusion of everypony on board, they could not help but notice the stone dead look in the two men's eyes and that their faces had become whiter than Celestia's coat, though the Princess was not particularly clean at this moment. As he paused to wait a moment for the bumbling medics to explain themselves, Denys too had taken note of their lack of pigment and their incoherent babbling as they attempted to come out with it did little to help. With his hands on his hips and an eyebrow cocked, Denys then walked over to the rear of the ambulance and peeked in through the door to see for himself why the two paramedics were so shaken up over.

After a moment of standing at the back of the death wagon, Denys then proceeded to very slowly walk back towards the bus, his face also having turned pale as a ghost. Everypony watched as he walked back over, stepped up the short set of steps and sat back down in his seat, the stone dead look in his saucer like eyes never once leaving his ghostly whit face. Having no idea what was going on and why the soldiers outside were now crowding around the ambulance, everypony glanced back and forth amongst themselves as if searching for a volunteer to ask their driver and achieve closure. After giving it some thought, Rainbow Dash decided to attempt to snap Denys out of his strange trance.

"Yo, Denys." Rainbow Dash said as she tapped the silent security guard on the shoulder. "You alright? What's going on out there?"

Rainbow Dash then too her efforts up a notch and proceeded to wave her hoof in front of Denys's face.

"Helooo in there. Come on man, you're scaring us. Please, just tell me you're not having a stroke or something."

"Wha? Oh, n-no I'm fine, Rainbow." Denys stuttered before reaching for his cup of coffee that sat in a cup holder.

The steaming coffee in the styrofoam cup rippled within its container as the hand bringing it up to a set of lips with Denys's thick mustache on the upper trembled and shivered as he took a sip. Relieved to find that there was nothing wrong with Denys himself, everypony still felt compelled to find the answer to their next question as to what happened in the ambulance and why Frederick and the rest of his army buddies frantically running about. To make matters even more confusing still, a small convoy of more vehicles including another ambulance was fast approaching from the direction of the gate into the exclusion zone. The army trucks and the much larger ambulance, possibly from a larger town's fire and rescue squad that just arrived then sped over to the others and skidded to a halt as Frederick flagged them down. It was when several more men and women in hazmat suits jumped out and rushed over to the crashed van that the ponies simply couldn't wait any longer.

"Alright, that does it." Spitfire huffed as she trotted down the steps of the bus. "This is getting ridiculous. I'm gonna go see what's going on."

"Yeah, me too." Rainbow Dash added as Deny's flipped a switch to shut the door before either of them could exit.

"I can't...I-I-I can't let you two do that." Denys said as he continued to shiver. "The Radiation levels are increasing outside. See?"

Denys then pointed at the Geiger counter that sat atop the dashboard and sure enough the needle was bobbing and a it was emitting the telltale ticking sound as it detected the presence of dangerous particles. Though the needle did not show extremely dangerous levels at the moment, the sudden presence of gamma alone was cause for concern and it would just so happen to be related to the strange occurrence that brought their departure to a standstill.

"Why is there more radiation all of a sudden?" A worried Celestia asked. "And, what's going on over there? Are they...why are they pulling the stretcher back out?"

"Huh? Oh, right I probably should have told you." Denys said as he slowly regained his composure.

"Told us what?"

"Your uh...your subject there. Yeah uh, funny story. Turns out he's actually alive."

"Oh, is that all? And for a moment there, I thought we were all about to head ho-WHAT!?"

For a moment, Celestia was also beginning to think that she was losing her mind in more ways than one as she had a difficult time believing that she even heard Denys right in the first place. It was just then when through the very farthest corner of her eyes that she saw several men in hazmat suits pulling a stretcher out of an ambulance with a gasping and flailing equine on top that she nearly had a heart attack. Upon noticing this, she and everypony else rushed over to that side of the bus to see if the radiation they had absorbed had finally gotten to them or if they truly were seeing their hard work paying off in the best imaginable way. With their muzzles firmly pressed against the glass and their heavy breathing creating condensation, sure enough, they were now observing history in the making as paramedics rushed over to take their mutant patient's vitals.

All of those who were not dressed in proper protective gear quickly absconded the general area as Radius's body was highly Radioactive and it seemed as if he was now emitting a great deal with every second that went by. The paramedics busily prepared their patient for transport by affixing an oxygen mask to his muzzle and placing a lead lined blanket over him as to mitigate the amount of Radiation released into the air. All the while, Celestia, her subjects and even Denys watched with newly found high hopes as the medics loaded Radius into the larger, more properly equipped ambulance and prepared to bring him to get the medical attention he so desperately needed. It was a very emotional sight to behold and Celestia was expected to be able to properly contain her emotions being a Princess but is she were being honest, she would openly tell anypony objecting where they could firmly place those expectations. With tears flowing down her face and her breath picking up to the point of hyperventilating, she rushed over to the door of the bus and started to push with what little strength she had left.

Being as though the levels of radiation being purged from Radius's body were now making the Geiger counter in the bus crackle like a blazing fire, Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle wrapped their hooved around their honorary Aunt and held her back. Big Macintosh and soon Spitfire, Soarin, Daring Do, and Rainbow Dash followed suit and all grabbed ahold of their Princess as she bawled like she never had before. Never in her thousands of years of existence had things happened so fast the way they had in such a way that could take such an emotional and even physical toll on the alicorn Princess. In little more than one week, she had received word of the possibility of Radius still being alive, entered the exclusion zone to spend the next several days searching for him to find him alive and anything but well with an alternate personality that wished to lay waste to anything that lived. To top if all off, she had been badly beaten by him, poisoned her body to fight him a second time, watched him sacrifice himself and then wake up a half hour later. It was a lot to deal with and even more to take in and she was definitely feeling the pressure.

With Celestia finally having been coaxed into taking her seat with Twilight by her side to stroke her mane to comfort her, the Ambulance carrying Radius squealed its tires as it sped off towards the checkpoint. Denys then hastily stepped on the clutch pedal, cranked the slatebuster's engine over and followed suit. Though completely exhausted and sore to no end, everypony broke out in cheer as they followed behind the ambulance. At long last, things were looking up and their tireless work had produced results in that not only themselves but a long lost Equestrian was about to finally be brought home. Little did they know however that despite their high hopes and desire to just return home to their comfy, warm beds, they would still have to wait to celebrate as there was still the risk of something happening to Radius and there also was a great deal of official business to take care of.

A saddened and greatly disappointed Volodymyr Groysman sulked in his chair behind the desk in his office as he sipped on a glass of orange juice mixed with vodka as he had been informed of the death of the lost Equestrian citizen. Just as much as Celestia and the rest of the ponies whom he saw as not only diplomatic allies but friends as well, he too hoped so badly that the mission would have ended with Radius's safe return home to the loving embrace of his family. Much like the Equestrians as well, he too could not possibly have expected the next bit of news he was about to get and the whole object of the mission would explode right on his desk in the form of the ringing of his telephone that sat before him.

"Prime Minister Groysman speaking..." Volodymyr answered with a quiet, somber tone. "He what?...That's not funny! A brilliant scientist just died after being lost there for thirty years and you have the nerve to call me and play this sick joke!? Shame on you!...You're not...joking? Be serious with me now, understand?...my god...it's a miracle..."

A miracle it indeed was and as such was the only way Groysman could possible describe it. With the cordless phone in one hand and his drink in the other, Prime Minister Groysman paced back and forth as he listened to the person on the other line explain what happened. As aghast at the new found hope he was, Groysman knew that Radius would still surely need medical attention immediately so he quickly devised a plan that would ensure that their patient would not slip back and shake hooves with death and permanently.

"Okay, now I want you to listen very carefully." Groysman said to the person on the other line. "I want you to round up as many of the best surgeons you can possibly find and send them to Equestria. Get them through the portal to the hospital in Canterlot, it'll help to have him back in his native world. Let's see...Oh, and contact the Canterlot PD to escort that ambulance! We can't let anything get in the way and slow it down!"

The tightly sealed and well filter ventilated ambulance carrying Radius raced past the already opened gate, the crew driving it and attending to their patient having already received instruction from their nation's leader. Celestia watched from the bus as it's flashing emergency strobe lights faded away in the distance as she knew that they could not follow suit and go home quite yet. As Deny's parked the bus in the paved lot next to a guard post, a team of men and women in hazmat suits approached them and boarded the vehicle. One by one, a man walked up to each pony and pointed the probe of his handheld Geiger counter at their bodies and much to their alarm, they were highly contaminated as the Rads were quickly oozing out of their mutated comrade. The drug Radius had injected into himself was finally taking affect and his body was emitting enough gamma to be a nuclear reactor himself.

"Get them to an iodine bath!" The man with the Geiger counter ordered. "Check their blood pressure and vitals and get them hydrated now!"

Everypony, including Celestia certainly would rather their bodies be rid of the harmful particles but they were all near the point of falling asleep despite all the commotion. Still though, these soldiers in the hazmat suits had orders from the Prime Minister to ensure the health and safety of the Equestrians and as such, ordered everypony off the bus and escorted them to a small building on the opposite side of the paved lot. Slowly, one by one, everypony limped into the building in question which turned out to be a bathhouse of sorts where they would be scrubbed with iodine and monitored by the doctors also donning hazmat suits waiting for them. Princess Celestia knew of the required procedures upon exiting the exclusion zone so she knew it would still be several hours before they could all finally go home as badly as they all wanted to. The Equestrians however were not the only ones about to experience a painful scrubbing though and Denys knew it very well as he tried and failed to tiptoe away undetected.

"Uh, Denys?" A man in a hazmat suit addressed as he pointed a ticking Geiger counter at the short security guard before grabbing him by the arm. "You're going to need one too. come with us."

"Not again!" Denys groaned as a second man in a hazmat suit grabbed his other arm where the two proceeded to lift him off the ground and carry him to the opposite side of the building, his short legs kicking all the way.

The ponies just wanted it all to finally be over but now that they knew Radius was alive and in good hands, they could undergo their decontamination with the lack of complete and utter misery. With the ambulance carrying a weak and sickly Radius hooked up to a machine that breathed for him, other traffic on the road promptly pulled to the side. With still nearly a hundred miles to get to Kiev and ultimately the portal highway that lead to Canterlot, the driver would soon find relief in the form of help from local police departments who diverted all other cars on the motorway to free up an entire lane. Soon thereafter, one of the police cars pulled in front of the ambulance and blared its lights and sirens acting as an escort.

The center lane throughout the entire highway leading to Kiev was wide open and clear for the emergency vehicles to drive as fast as they needed to, compliments of Prime Minister Groysman. Those who were stuck in the jam packed lanes of slower traffic on either side would simply need to accept it as there was a life at stake and he needed to be brought home post haste. Despite him springing awake from his out of body experience, there was still a chance of him slipping back as he constantly faded in and out of consciousness and the medical technicians attending to him made it a point to speak to him to keep him awake.

"Hey, stay with us, comrade." One of the medics said to their patient in a friendly yet urgent tone. "You'll be home soon, we promise."

Radius's weary eyes darted back and forth at the people who worked hard to keep him alive but much to his regret, he was in too much pain to speak coherently to express gratitude. His glasses were destroyed as well so he could not even so much as make out the facial features of the medics as they appeared as little more than blurry shapes and colors to him.

The small convoy of emergency vehicles raced down the highway at one hundred miles per hour the entire way and since one hundred miles was the distance needed to be closed, the hour ticked by unbearably slowly. Even with the entire road cleared of traffic by police and fire departments from all over Ukraine, it would still be a slow process but they could at least make the best of their resources to expedite it as much as possible. Finally, after the hour long drive down the seemingly endless stretch of open highway, the convoy entered the city of Kiev. Instead of a grueling, tedious, and sluggish drive through stop and go traffic however, Groysman had ordered the police to divert traffic to clear the entire route to the Interdimensional Portal.

Shortly after entering the city limits, the police car from the smaller town up North pulled over to the side where it was immediately replaced by a Kiev city patrol car to take the escorting from there. Kiev was a very large city with a population of nearly three million and would normally take hours to drive from one side to the other but fortunately for Radius, his ambulance would take a mere fifteen minutes. After a few turns through the empty streets, the ambulance was finally about to reach the portal, an entire lane leading through a gate been cleared just for them. The guard post occupied by a human and Unicorn security guard promptly lifted its gate as the convoy came into view and in before either two guards could blink, the Kiev patrol car followed by the ambulance whipped through. There was a mile long stretch of road to allow vehicles to pick up enough speed as it was dangerous and illegal to drive too slowly through the portal but they made short work of it and disappeared into the abyss of flashing lights and colors.

Three short minutes was all it took for the police car and the ambulance to make it through the waving vortex and soon they could see the light that was the entrance to Equestria at the end. With his knuckles turning white under his protective gloves, the driver floored the pedal and within the blink of an eye, the convoy rocketed through to the end of the portal, making this the first time in thirty years that Radius Hoofenschtov was within his native homeland. Knowing this, the entire crew in the ambulance cheered and patted Radius on the head and continued to talk him up to keep him focused on staying awake for the time being.

Still, the job was far from over and two pegasus Canterlot police officers were waiting to escort the ambulance to the Hospital within the center of Equestria's capital city. Unlike the Canterlot Royal Guard who only worked security detail at the castle and as body guards when the royal sisters were on tour, the two pegasi who signaled for the Kiev police officer and ambulance to follow donned the attire of the typical officer. Aside from their dark blue uniforms with reflective yellow and black caution stripes, the pegasi also had portable purple and green light bars and sirens of their own strapped to their backs. Their job was to escort them the rest of the way to the hospital.

Much like the roads they left behind, the cobblestone streets of Canterlot had been cleared of any traffic be it pony or engine powered, equine residents on hoof or visiting humans on foot. Hundreds of ponies and several humans from Earth stood behind the road barriers and watched in awe as the emergency crews from different universes worked together to bring about the safe return of a long lost Equestrian citizen. Try as anyone or anypony might, once one being knows of an important undertaking, everyone and their mother knows as revealed by the scores of news choppers hovering over the city and following the convoy's every move. Vans from television and radio station from both Equestria and many nations from Earth alike dotted the sides of the blocked streets and broadcast the footage as the pegasi, the kiev police car and the ambulance screamed by.

At long last, the destination in the form of Canterlot's Starswirl Memorial Hospital could be seen towering over the many smaller buildings off in the distance with a helicopter from Canterlot's police force circling close by. The emergency crews needed the proper space to do their jobs and as the Ambulance finally entered the cobblestone lot in front of the hospital so before they could proceed, the encroaching news choppers needed to be kept at bay. As the Kiev patrol car parked out of the way to leave the rest to the crew in the ambulance, the pony piloting the police chopper flashed his spotlight and shouted orders to keep back over a loud PA speaker at any news choppers who dared come too close.

The night was fast approaching and the hospital staff was finishing their last preparations needed to take on a patient they had no choice but to quarantine. The fifteenth and very top floor was where they needed to bring Radius to and and all other patients had been moved to the bottom five for their protection. Much to their fortune, the hospital was slow and was not currently attending to a great number of injured and sick ponies. Everything had been planned out to a T and the final procedures could finally commence.

"Okay, park it right there!" The pony piloting the police chopper ordered as he pointed his spotlight down at the Ambulance. "You're good right where you are! Hold on now, we're about to take you up to the top! No, no don't shut your lights off, keep them on!"

Confused as to why they were ordered to stay put, the crew in the ambulance just did as they were asked and remained stationary so they could bring their patient to his awaiting treatment. With the spotlight focused on the van that sat below, the chopper very slowly positioned itself directly over it approximately fifty feet in the air. As he hovered in place, the pilot then pushed forward a lever that dropped a cable with a large, heavy, disc shaped object attached to the end from the air machine's underside. Very slowly, the object in question on the end of the thick steel cable slipped down towards the vehicle waiting below until finally, it hovered just inches above the metal roof of the emergency van. With the flip of another switch followed by a loud, metallic thump, the crew inside the ambulance held on to whatever they could grab as they realized that they were being lifted by an electromagnet.

The ambulance was now gripped by the powerful magnet and now the pilot above could increase the throttle and lift the van up to the top of the skyscraper where a team of doctors was waiting. Slowly and steadily, the chopper brought the ambulance higher and higher off the ground. Everything appeared to be going as planned and the pesky news choppers were keeping their distance as to allow them emergency crew to do their jobs. Finally, the Ambulance on the end of the cable was hoisted up and over the top of the hospital where it was then gently laid down on the helipad on the building's zenith. With the van's wheels firmly planted on the helipad, the chopper released if from the magnet and proceeded hovered in place to wait for the medics to hand Radius over to the hands and hooves of which held his very life as they knew it.

Several more ponies and people in hazmat suits rushed over to take the stretcher and relieve the medics and the pilot in the chopper of their duties as their jobs were done and they could return home knowing that they had played a major part in making history. As the chopper lifted and carried the ambulance back down to the ground, the staff, both from this hospital and borrowed from elsewhere wheeled the stretcher over to the staircase that would lead down to the top floor. They had to act quickly and get Radius to the quarantined section as to avoid extended contamination of the hallways but fortunately, they would not have far to go.

"Radius, can you hear me alright?" One of the ponies helping push his stretcher asked in a gentle, welcoming tone as he held a clipboard in his unicorn aura.

"Y-yes...I can...I can hear you." Radis wheezed in between labored breaths.

"Okay, good, now I need to ask some questions okay."

"O-okay."

"From one to ten, one being mild, ten being the worst pain you've ever had, how would rate it?"

"T-tw...guhh, twenty..."

"Oh no, I'm sorry you're hurting so bad but you're doing great here, you're a real trooper. Where does it hurt the most?"

"My chest...it fe-ahh...feels like I'm ha-having a heart attack. It's near my...my extra legs."

"We'll find out what's wrong and you'll be just fine, okay, buddy? We're bringing you in for some quick xrays, some blood tests and we'll see if you need any surgeries, okay?"

The journey was finally over and Radius along with his doting caretakers were situated within the quarantine section that was sealed off from the rest of the hospital. With the medical team assigned to the patient, they could now assess what they were dealing with and start work. On each and every side of his more comfortable hospital bed that he had been gently laid down upon, doctors and nurses from both Earth and Equestria busily worked together and began recording his heart rate, blood pressure, and took a few samples of his blood as well. A unicorn nurse affixed Radius's right front leg with a fluid iv while a man, apparently an X-ray specialist wheeled his machine over and placed it over the patient's body to take a few quick images to find out what was causing him so much pain in his chest. After the specialist finished his part and wheeled his machine back to review the images, a human doctor from Earth walked over to attempt to comfort Radius as they awaited the results.

"Welcome home, Doctor Hoofenschtov." The doctor in the hazmat suit greeted with glossy eyes as he was on the verge of tears. "We may have to bring you in for an emergency surgery. Is there anything we can get you in the meantime? A sick bag? A ginger ale maybe?"

"A magic canceling ring and as many hoofcuffs that can fit on my leg." Radius replied after realizing that he may need to be restrained should a certain somepony decide to take him over.

"Beg your pardon? Why would you want tha-"

"Listen to me! You need to get a ring on my horn and get me chained to this bed! Please, I can't live with myself if I kill somepony again! I'm dangerous! I need to be chained down!"

Deciding not to question his request a second time, the doctor then rushed out of the room and moments later, returned with the items needed to ensure that Radius's body could not be used to wreak another being's sick pleasures. With much haste, the man then slid a metal ring with a blinking red light on it around Radius's horn and down to the base until the light turned green, indicating that the now smooth, normal unicorn horn was rendered powerless. Next, the man began affixing the several pairs of hoofcuffs he had commandeered from the hospital security guards to Radius's right front leg and clicked the other ends to the steel bars on the side of the bed. At this point, the X-ray specialist had found the main problem and now the team could finally provide the treatment their patient needed.

"Guys, it's confirmed!" The X-ray specialist announced. "The bones in the bases of his extra legs are pinching his arteries! We need to amputate, his life depends on it!"

Wasting no time, the team of surgeons wheeled Radius's bed to a separate room still within the quarantine ward where they quickly prepared for the lifesaving procedure. Before he knew it, Radius was now on top of the operating table, cuffed to it for the safety of others and as he shed tears of joy just to simply be within the borders of his homeland, the team's anesthesiologist very gently placed a mask over his muzzle. Now, Radius could drift off to a deep slumber knowing that his thirty year long nightmare had finally come to an end and he could begin his journey on the road to recovery.

After hours of painful scrubbing and bathing in iodine, Princess Celestia and her subjects who had come with her to aid in the search for Radius were finally decontaminated and given a clean bill of health after thorough examinations by on site medical staff. At this point, though they were indeed ecstatic over Radius's strange and sudden resurrection, everypony had one thing and one thing only on their minds; Returning home to a nice warm bed to sleep away their exhaustion. At long last, they were finally able to do so once their driver was ready. Denys wished to bring the ponies home as quickly as possible as he sympathized with them and after drying himself from his own bath, he put a fresh uniform on and walked out of the bath house with what appeared to be a note of some sort in his hand.

The bus he had driven the ponies on before was in the process of being decontaminated itself so a full sized van was prepared for him to bring them home but not before he handled some quick unfinished business of his own. With his nose held high in the air, Denys walked right on up to a man in a guard uniform much like his own and handed the note in question over without a word.

"What's this?" The guard, apparently Denys's boss asked as he unfolded the paper.

"My retirement notice." Denys replied firmly. "As soon as I turn sixty next month...I...am...outta here!"

With that, Denys walked over to the van with everypony having already climbed inside and quickly fallen asleep. After everything they had been through, Denys would have been surprised if that had not dozed off and very quietly climbed into the driver's seat and set off for the portal highway. For the first time since their mission began over a week ago, their next few hours went by virtually uneventful save for the winding, twisting ride through the vortex itself. The first time they had gone through, they could not help but let it get their heart rates pumped up but now, they were so tired that they slept straight through the entire way. After the portal back to Equestria was behind them, they drove past the gate that promptly opened as the attending guards were fully aware that two of their Princesses were on board, they made their short journey through Canterlot and finally stopped in front of the palace of the Royal sisters.

"Comrades?" Denys said softly as he attempted to wake everypony up. "You're home now."

"Uhhh, already?" Princess Celestia said as she rubbed her eyes.

"Heh, more like finally." Twilight Sparkle chuckled.

"Ahh, you beat me to it, sis." Shining Armor chuckled as he and his sister bumped hooves.

"Thank you for everything, Denys." Celestia said as she hopped her tired, weary body out of the van with everypony else following suit. "Ah, I only wish I could have told Frederick the same thing."

"Oh, my pleasure, comrades." Denys replied with a smile. "And I'm sure you'll be able to get ahold of him later but I think you're main priority right now is to rest."

"Ah couldn't agree more." Big Macintosh said as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Bye Denys." Rainbow Dash said with a wave. "Enjoy your retirement."

"Will do!" Denys said as he shifted into drive. "The missus will be glad to hear I'm finally ditching the zone! It's been real!"

Denys himself could finally return to his own home with good news for his family and the van he drove faded off into the distance leaving Celestia and her volunteers at the front of the castle. It was finally over. Their gruelling work and their tireless searching was had finally come to its conclusion. At this very moment as they trotted up the steps and through the large front door, the fruits of their labor were being cared for at the hospital that they could see jutting out from the Canterlot skyline, the cool, night breeze soothing to their sore bodies. Hastily, Celestia and everypony else save for Shining Armor shuffled in through the entrance and began a beeline to their beds for the night. Rainbow Dash noticed her unicorn friend staring off into the distance and decided to join him for a moment before she too would achieve her much needed rest.

"Hey." Rainbow said as she limped over to Shining Armor. "Whatcha staring at, buddy?"

"We did it..." Shining Armor said, his voice trembling and tears flowing down his face.

"You okay?"

"We did it, Rainbow. To think that...well, just look. See that tall building way out there? The one with all the flashing lights on top and all around it. Huh, looks like the CPD is keeping close by in case something happens."

"Yeah. Oh, is that..."

"The hospital. Just think, Rainbow. Right over there, a long lost life is being restored. Torment and misery about to come to end end after thirty fucking years...all thanks to us. We all did a great thing this week."

"Wow, that's deep. You're right though. I think we should all be proud of ourselves for this."

"That's right, we definitely should. Not only did we give somepony his life back, we all got to know each other better too. I can honestly say we all really grew from this whole experience. I even lost a few pounds."

"Dude, stop it, you're making me...*sniff* You know what, you...you're like the brother I never had, you know that?"

Without any forewarning, Shining Armor allowed his exhaustion induced emotions to take over and wrapped his hooves around Rainbow Dash who followed suit without a moment's hesitation. The two embraced each other as they soaked one another with their tears, their friendship stronger by leaps and bounds than it was a mere week ago. Though they enjoyed talking with each other and staring at the skyscraper off in the distance, alas, it was time to retire for the night as they both knew that try as they might, fatigue was taking its toll. Just after breaking their hug however, Shining Armor wanted to show Rainbow Dash one more thing he felt that he gained from their trip that he knew she would like to hear about.

"Hey, Rainbow." Shining Armor said with a smirk as he pulled his last pack of cigarettes from his saddlebag. "Here's something else I got from this whole thing."

With what little strength he had left, Shining Armor took the pack of cancer sticks in his hoof and lobbed them up into their air as hard as he could. With his horn aglow with his pink aura, he then took a shot at the pack, hitting them directly and sending them bursting into flames with a sharp pop. By doing so, Shining Armor expressed that he too had gained a newfound freedom as the strings that the tobacco company puppet masters used to control him were severed for good.

"WOOH! I won't be needing those anymore!!" Shining Armor cheered as he and Rainbow Dash did a giddy spin and a twirl towards the front entrance of the castle.

Like Celestia and the others before them, Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor wasted no time climbing the stairs and trotting through the hallways to the guest bedroom they stayed in before they left for Ukraine. Though the two two were only minutes behind the others, everypony was sound asleep and reveling in the warm, soft comfort they had longed for so desperately. Even Celestia did not have it in her to trot to her own bedroom as she was snuggled up tight with Twilight Sparkle. With every single step towards their beds, Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor's energy reserves finally fizzled out and with one final push, they each rolled onto their own soft, cloud mattress with velvet sheets where they could no longer so much as twitch a muscle. They fell asleep instantly.

As everypony slept late into the night and into the wee hours of the morning, the doctors who performed surgery on Radius for hours had finally stitched up the last of his wounds. The team of human and pony surgeons wheeled their patient into the quarantined recovery room and placed him within a large glass box and now could finally leave it up to time to heal him. Everyone and everypony then went through a separate room for decontamination of their suits and then finally out of the quarantine ward where they could at long last remove their protective clothing and return home.

As the tired and weary surgeons walked and trotted out of the hospital together wiping sweat from their brows, they praised one another on their superb medical expertise and over all their teamwork on a job well done. With hands and hooves shaken and several phone numbers and other contact information exchanged, it seemed as if nothing but good things could come from the miracle of Radius having been brought home, going so far as to create new friendships. Little did they realize however, yet another miracle was about to take place, for as the surgeons climbed into waiting taxis and vehicles of their own, what seemed like an entire fleet began flooding the parking lot.

The hospital staff would soon get much more than they bargained for as dozens upon dozens of ponies hopped out of the taxis and other vehicles both engine and muscle powered and began pouring into the front entrance of the hospital. Much to the dismay of the receptionist at the front desk, the crowd of ponies galloping through the door seemed endless and to make matters much more daunting, none of them were in any mood to be polite towards anypony getting in their way.

Hospital security guards working the night shift trotted about the hospital, making their rounds to ensure the safety of other staff and patients as they always had. Tonight however was much different than most others as they were supervising a patient who had the potential to maim and kill anypony he could get his hooves on so every guard on the hospital's payroll plus many more borrowed from others were on duty. To further ensure quick response in the event of such an emergency, the entirety of the Canterlot Police Department was stationed on every block that surrounded the hospital. Even the pegasi squad circled the upper floor from outside the building, keeping a watchful eye and ready to fight should anything happen. Though it seemed that the security detail was well taken care of, not even an entire army could stop the ponies attempting to climb up to the top as they would see for themselves soon enough.

"H-hey g-guys?" A trembling voice whimpered over the radio on every guard's belt. "W-we've got compa-hey! I said you can't go up there! Stop!"

"What the hell's going on down there?!" Another guard answered as all of them listened intently.

"They're all over the place!! I can't hol-Stop! I said we can't let you go up there!! I understand, I get it, but he's being quarantined!"

Their pupils shrank to the size of pin pricks as the guards on the upper floors had an idea of what to expect as they could hear the sound of shouting and screaming from a very large crowd in the background on the their radios. If that was not enough to make them nervous, they were now terrified and sweating profusely as the floors began to quake. Finally, one last message from the ground floor would reveal their new adversary in the form of dozens of desperate ponies being controlled by their intense emotions.

"We can't hold them off down here!" Another guard screamed over the radio. "Brace yourselves! They're coming up!"

"Who?!" Another guard shouted. "Who the hell is coming up here!?"

"It's the patient's family!!"

Author's Notes:

My apologies, but this chapter will be without an image for now. Anyway, prepare to be hit repeatedly in the feels from here on out.