It was now nearing three o'clock in the afternoon and the two royal sisters were preparing for the meeting they would be having with the six others that Celestia had summoned. She was never one to try to make her subjects do something they did not want to so worst case scenario, only Shining Armor would show up and Celestia would have to start over and search for more help. Best case was that everypony showed up and the orientation could commence.

The meeting was to be in Celestia's private study which had more than enough room for all and the table that was being set up. As Luna and Celestia set the remaining chairs up at the table, the two talked about the reality of what was about to play out. This mission was no ordinary one and nopony had ever encountered such obstacles as the ones that were common in the city of Pripyat. Not only that but going into a dead city large enough to house fifty thousand people to find one pony who has been lost there for three decades was not going to be as easy as it seemed; and what if they were to find him? Surely he would not be the same.

"Tia, it just occurred to me." Luna began as she finished setting the chairs. "Do you still love him? I mean, clearly you care enough to send several ponies to find him but do you still have the same feelings towards Radius as before?"

"I-I don't know, Lulu." Celestia replied. "Until the other day, I thought he was dead for all these years. If I find him, I'll know for sure though but until then, we just have to wait and see."

"I understand. Now, suppose he is still alive and you do find him. You said he was thirty-five years old that day, right? So after all this time, he would be sixty-five."

"That's right. Now that you mention that, that voice was a little more raspy than I remember. That and at his aging state, we haven't much time. Over time, he'll get weaker and eventually succumb to any hazards that may come his way.

"I never thought of it that way but that does make sense."

"Your Majesty?" A mare's voice coming from the speaker phone on Celestia's desk said. "Prince Shining Armor and two others are here to see you. They're a little early though."

"That's quite alright." Celestia replied as she used her aura to press the pager button. "Just send them right up to my study, please."

"Of course, Your Majesty. Oh, and it looks like the pizzas you ordered are here as well."

"C'mon, Mac, Hurry up!" Rainbow Dash said as she and Big Macintosh rushed to make their meeting on time. "We don't have time to stop and see the sights!"

"Where has this city been all mah life!?" Big Macintosh gushed. "It's so purdy here!"

"You've never been to Canterlot!?"

"Nope. Mah sister always told me she thought ah wouldn't like it! She ain't here right now and she's still pissin' me off!"

"Well, don't dwell on how mad you are at Applejack. Just be glad that you're getting out and seeing something new for a change."

Rainbow Dash and Big Macintosh proceeded to fly and gallop respectively to the palace where they would join the others and learn details of the task requested of them. The big red stallion would occasionally become distracted by a tall building or a magnificent statue as he was not used to seeing such things. It was only ten minutes until three and Rainbow Dash was determined to kick her old habit of being late for things physically pushing Bic Macintosh into the direction of the palace whenever he paused. Tardiness was not tolerated in the wonderbolts and now that she was one of them she was not about to allow herself to make such a mistake again.

At last, the two ponies finally made it to the front to the palace's courtyard gate where two guards who recognized Rainbow Dash promptly opened it and allowed both of them inside. After reaching the front entrance, another guard approached the duo to escort them to exactly where the meeting would be starting in five minutes.

"Ah, Miss Rainbow Dash." The guard greeted. "Right this way, you two."

"Thank's bud." Rainbow Dash replied. "I didn't think we were gonna make it with Big Mac here slowing us down." Rainbow Dash then waved for their escorting guard to lend her his ear so she could discreetly whisper to him why they were almost late "He doesn't get out much."

"Oh, by the way, he looks like he may need somepony to give him a little push."

"Huh? Big Mac, what are you doing?"

Being that the farm pony had never visited Equestria's Capitol city, he obviously had never laid eyes on the massive and magnificent palace before in his entire life. Big Macintosh simply could not help himself as he stared up at the castle with his pupils fully dilated as he was caught in a trance.

"Sooo purdy..." Big Macintosh said as tears flowed down his face.

"Come on you big oaf!" Rainbow Dash snapped as she wrapped her forelegs around the Earth pony. "If I have to carry you, you owe me free cider for life!"

"Perhaps I could be of assistance?" The guard said as he casually used his unicorn aura to pull a large revolver out of a holster on his uniform.

"Whoa! You guys carry guns now? Awesome!"

"Yeah, now watch this!"

Pow!

In order to snap Big Macintosh out of his trance, the guard fired a shot up into the air flawlessly grabbing Big Macintosh's attention. After that, the guard finally was able to escort then two recruits to the Princess's study. It was now 2:59pm and the trio was standing outside the door to Celestia's office and could now let the meeting begin.

"Here we are, you two." The guard said as he began trotting away.

"Hey thanks a lot, dude." Rainbow Dash said. "Maybe sometime you can show me how to use that thing."

"What the f...wow! Way to be blunt, sweetheart! Hows about when you're done, you come to my place and you can do whatever you want with it."

"I was pointing at the gun, you dick."

"Oh! Right, I knew that! Heheheh, gotta love this human tech, eh?"

"Don't you have like, a shit load of paperwork to fill out?"

After the embarrassed guard left the two alone, Rainbow Dash knocked on the door in front of them and waited for an answer. Not even three seconds later, the door quickly opened revealing Princess Luna standing in the doorway.

"He most certainly does have paperwork to fill out!" Luna angrily scolded as the Guard nervously trotted away. "Don't think we didn't hear that! I'm writing you up! You know better than to discharge your firearm without...Oh, Tia! Rainbow Dash is here!" Luna called back to her sister. "And...Big Macintosh! Why, I haven't seen you since that Summer's end carnival in Ponyville a few years ago!"

"You two met each other?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh replied. "We competed in a lot of games there and mopped the floor with everypony else."

"Indeed we did. Tia, did you invite him with me in mind? Have I ever told you I love you?"

"Luna, will you just let them in and shut the door already?" Celestia said. "Help yourselves to some pizza, you two."

With much haste, Rainbow Dash and Big Macintosh entered the room where Celestia would make a head count and start the meeting. Along with Celestia and Luna, there were three other ponies sitting at the table enjoying some of the pizza that the princess's had bought for them. Shining armor had showed up as expected but the other two that were at the table were two pegasi that Rainbow Dash certainly did not expect to see. The two familiar ponies were a yellow mare and a light blue stallion, the latter of which was completely oblivious to any of his surroundings as he was messily devouring several slices of the cheesy pie simultaneously.

"Captain Spitfire!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Soarin! You guys got a letter too!?"

"Sure did." Spitfire replied. "Dammit, Soarin, can you at least eat like you're sane when the Princesses are around?"

"Ah cam'p helfit, issooo goofg!" Soarin' said with a mouthful of pizza.

"Alright, everypony!" Princess Celestia declared. "Before we start, I'll just go ahead and do a head count here. Let's see...Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, Soarin, Big Mac...Huh. Well that's everypony except..."

"Hey, sorry I'm late everypony!" A yellowish mare with a mane and tail striped with different shades of gray said as she pushed the door open.

"Daring Do!!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Holy sh-cow!"

"Hey, Rainbow! What are the odds, eh? Looks like we're about to go kick some flank again!"

"You two know each other!?" Spitfire gasped.

"Oh, Miss Yearling!" Celestia said. "Thank you so much for coming! Okay, now that everypony is here, let's start. Is anypony familiar with the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown of eighty-six?"

Upon Celestia asking her first question, a hoof from everypony with the exception of Big Macintosh shot up into the air. Such was to be expected from the farm pony who rarely left his hometown much to his own frustration but a simple explanation could easily remedy that. After taking a moment to tell Big Macintosh the basics of the event, he seemed to have a decent understanding of it.

"Alright then, I'll go ahead and explain why we are all here today." Celestia continued. "Firstly, the six of you are here because you are all saints and I'm forever indebted to each and every one of you."

"Hey, we all look out for each other, Auntie." Shining Armor said. "It's really no trouble."

"I fear that idea of yours will change once we get to the exclusion zone. Lulu? The map, please?"

Princess Luna then pushed the pizza boxes on the table to the side and used her aura to gently lower a large map into their place. The map in question was that of the Nation of Ukraine with a large, oddly shaped area near the Northern border of Belarus labeled and bordered in red.

What we are looking at, everypony..." Celestia proceeded. "...is the zone. The area where we will be searching for this pony here."

Celestia then laid a photograph of Radius on the table for everypony to see. Just doing so left somewhat of a pain in her chest as she so badly missed the smile from the happy looking stallion in the picture.

"Now, he'll more than likely look a bit different today." Celestia went on. "This picture was taken thirty years ago so now he will be in his mid sixties. He is a certified genius with an IQ of one ninety-seven so somehow he has managed to find a way to survive in the zone. Our goal is to get him out of there and reunite him with his friends and his family. I've informed them of our discovery and his parents are now in their nineties. I promised them that If I found him alive, they would soon see their son again before they pass."

"With us on the job, I guarantee results!" Spitfire declared. "Right everypony?"

"Right!" Everypony else replied in unison.

"Now that's what I like to hear!" Celestia said. "Now here are the basics on what we'll be doing. We'll be splitting up into teams so that we may cover more area in a short period of time. I recorded an intercepting signal from Radius stating that he was in the city of Pripyat so that sort of narrows it down. We'll start by searching the side of the town that's furthest away from the power plant. The pegasi will be mostly doing an areal search while the rest of us will cover the ground."

"Tia, are you ready for the video call with Mr. Groysman?" Luna asked.

"Oh! Yes, wheel that monitor over here, will you please?"

Princess Luna the proceeded to used her aura to push a small cart with a computer monitor sitting on it and what appeared to be a small camera on top of that. She then carefully stepped over the wires to the front of the screen and pressed the largest button causing it to flicker on. After a few seconds, a bar appeared in the middle of the screen accompanied by the word "loading" underneath it. Once the bar finished changing color from right to left, a man sitting at a desk with a slightly tan complexion and black hair and wearing a clean, dark blue suit appeared on the screen.

"Whoa, cool!" Rainbow Dash said in awe.

"Is he alright?" Big Macintosh asked out of concern. "He looks mighty cramped trapped in that box."

"Wow, Mac, I love AJ like a sister but her holding you back the way she has been is starting to bug me."

"Heheh, so how do you like our technology, everypony?" Volodymyr Groysman chuckled.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Groysman." Celestia greeted. "Thank you so much for calling to speak with us."

"It's the least I could do, Your Majesty. So, I trust that you've explained to everypony the general idea of what we are up against?"

"Most of it. I've discussed the plan with them but I haven't mentioned the details regarding the area yet. Care to explain?"

"Absolutely. Now, I want everypony to listen very carefully. The thirty kilometer exclusion zone is a very dangerous place. Not only is it highly contaminated with radiation, some spots more than others, but there are also scores of creatures living there that would tear you apart as soon as look at you. Since the town's abandonment, the population of wolves has skyrocketed. Normal wolves would rather avoid contact and would be more afraid of you than you of them but the ones there are anything but normal. Also, keep a close eye on the wind direction as opposed to the plant's position. If you're downwind from it, move away immediately."

"I've dealt with worse." Daring do said.

"Same here." Rainbow Dash added. "Plenty of times."

"Well, be that as it may..." Groysman continued. "You can not, I repeat, absolutely can not let your guard down. Though you may have seen a lot of dangers before, you need to always be prepared for the worst. That and I can not stress enough, you must never go about the streets of the city at night. The first thing you have to what you arrive is to find a building to use as a base and camp area. Preferably an upper floor in one of the apartment flats. You'll be hidden from any creatures on the ground and further away from the soil's radiation that way."

"I'm writing all of this down." Celestia said. "Pay close attention, everypony, this is very important."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Oh, I also wanted to mention that I have made a few arrangements for you in advance. First, I've provided any and all equipment you will need. I'll walk you through that when you meet me in Kiev. Next, I've hired some local help to act as guides. They will be patrolling the area day and night. They will meet you once you arrive in Pripyat and you will know them when you see them. They will be around to help search and make sure that you are all safe as well as act as a direct link between you and I if and when any updates need to be shared."

"I have a Question, sir." Shining Armor said as he raised his hoof.

"Of course, Mr. Armor. Go right ahead."

"I have some gear that I brought that I once used when I was Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard. Could I bring some of that too?"

"If you can carry it, then it's an excellent idea. You can't be too prepared in the exclusion zone. Feel free to bring whatever you think you may need. Any more questions?

The Prime Minister explained everything he needed to and as such, not a single hoof could bee seen in the air with a curious pony attached to it. Groysman took one last moment to look around the room through his camera for anypony he may have missed before proceeding to wrap up the meeting.

"Excellent." Groysman said. "Get yourselves plenty of rest tonight, everypony. I'll be sending a bus to pick all of you up from Canterlot's Interdimensional depot at six o'clock sharp. One of the security guards who patrols the zone's checkpoint will be driving you. I'll see you in Kiev before you set out."

"We'll see you there, Mr. Groysman." Celestia said. "Thanks for your help."

"My pleasure, Your Majesty. I'm ending this call now."

To conclude the meeting, Prime Minister Groysman tapped a key on his keyboard and just like that, the computer screen that sat atop the office cart went dark. The plans were now a go and the only thing to do was to start packing and get plenty of rest for the road ahead would surely have its fair share of bumps. Now that free time was available however, Princess Luna felt that it was necessary to ask some questions od her own and clear up any misunderstandings.

"Um, sister?" Luna asked. "What is this 'we' you kept speaking of?"

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked.

"Well, you said something like 'we will see you there' and 'we need to be careful' and such."

"Oh, I thought I was pretty clear."

"Beg your pardon?"

"You didn't think I was just going to toss a bunch of my subjects into a nuclear fallout zone did you? I'm going with them."

"The hell you are!"

Author's Notes:

Sorry if I've been churning out these chapters two fast for you. I've been drinking and inspired lately

(Added later) Damn, looks like I was hitting the sauce pretty hard there.