The team was finally there. The magnificent city of Kiev, where everywhere the ponies looked, they could see all kinds of amazing statues and architecture. Ukraine's capital city which was home to two point eight million people was quite the astonishing spectacle particularly to the farm pony Big Macintosh who stared in awe at the tall buildings and beautiful Eastern Orthodox cathedrals they rode past.

"What do you think, comrades?" Denys asked his passengers as he drove them to the Prime Minister's office. "Beautiful city, no?"

"Eeyup!" Big Macintosh replied as tears of joy streamed down his cheeks.

"This city is very old too, isn't it?" Celestia asked Denys.

"Goes as far back as fourteen hundred years, Your Majesty." Denys replied. "Here's the Capital building. I'll drop you off here and that policewoman will bring you to see Mr. Groysman. I gotta go take the old slate buster here for new tires and brakes but I'll be back soon to take you up to the exclusion zone."

The bus came to a stop at Kiev's capital building and Denys pulled a lover opening the door. As everypony arose from their seats, a woman wearing black slacks, a black pressed shirt with a black tie and a matching police cap came out of the front entrance and walked over to the team. The woman in question also wore a utility belt equipped with a pistol and other items and a badge on her shirt.

"Good morning." The officer said. "You must be the Equestrians here to see Mr. Groysman."

"That would be us, Miss." Celestia replied as she and the group began to follow the Kiev City officer into the building. "Such a magnificent city you have here."

"Thank you. I've actually been to Canterlot couple times. I take vacation there every year."

"Wow, humans takin' vacations in Equestria?" Big Macintosh asked. "Ah got some cacthin' up to do. Ah've hardly been out of mah home town let alone to another dimension."

"Well, here you are now." Rainbow Dash said. "Take some pictures and you'll have something to show Applejack what she's been missing."

"I take it you don't get out much, eh?" Daring do asked.

"Nope."

After the team was lead into the building by the Kiev City officer, she stepped onto an elevator to which the other followed suit. The door then closed and the elevator went up several floors until it stopped at the very top. A few seconds later, the door opened and the officer stepped out and took a right and kept walking down a hallway until she reached a door with a chrome placard that read "Prime Minister Groysman" on it.

"Here is Prime Minister's office." The officer said in her thick accent.

"Uh, say again?" Rainbow Dash said.

"Oh da, sorry, English isn't first language. Came over from Russia and I had to learn Ukrainian too."

"She said this here is Mr. Groysman's office, Rainbow." Celestia elaborated.

"He is expecting you so just knock and he will have you go in. I go. Good luck, comrades."

"Thank you, Miss." Celestia replied as the woman walked back to the elevator.

The faint sound of a man talking could be heard on the other side of the door. Only one voice could be made out so the person inside the room was either talking to himself or on the phone. Celestia did as the officer had instructed and knocked on the door to the Prime Minister's office. If he was too busy for them at the moment, surely he would ask them to wait before coming in. A few seconds later however, the team from Equestria got their answer.

"Yes, come in!" A male voice called over from inside the room.

Celestia then used her aura to turn the door knob and entered the room as did everypony else one by one. The office was quite large and in the middle of it was a large rectangular table slightly larger than the one in Celestia's study and it was surrounded by eight swivel chairs. On the left side of the room were dozens of cardboard boxes neatly stacked on top of each other. In the very back of the room was a fairly large desk with none other than the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodimyr Groysman sitting behind it. Groysman however appeared to be anything but happy as he continued speaking on the phone. He was speaking in his native tongue so only Princess Celestia who had taken time to learn basic Ukrainian could understand a few words of what he was saying.

"Oh, that's not good." Celestia said quietly as she waited for Mr. Groysman to finish his conversation.

"What? What's the problem?" Spitfire asked.

"I'm not sure if I heard that right so let's just let him explain."

"Ah, the ponies!" Mr. Groysman exclaimed as he hung up the phone and arose from his chair. "Welcome!"

"Thank you Mr. Groysman." Celestia replied as she shook the Prime Minister's hand.

Groysman then proceeded to shake hooves with everypony one by one as he pulled the chairs out for them to sit in. Such diplomatic meetings traditionally meant for the leader of a nation to show hospitality to their visitors and Groysman was doing an excellent job at making the ponies feel welcome.

"Feel free to help yourselves to some cold water." Groysman said as he carried an office water cooler over to the table and placed a stack of paper cups next to it.

"Hey, this guy's alright." Spitfire whispered as she nudged Rainbow Dash with her elbow.

"Mr. Groysman, I need to ask you..." Celestia began. "Your conversation on the phone, what was that about? Is something wrong?"

"I'm afraid so, Your Majesty." Mr. Groysman replied. "For several years, the building which houses reactor number four has been crumpling and won't hold for much longer. We started building a massive steel arch over it to contain it once the inevitable happens. It was expected to be finished next year but I just got word that another one of our workers has gone missing. Something terrible is going on there and I have no choice but to suspend the project and pull the workers out for their safety."

"Jeez, and I thought we were just going to search for a pony." Rainbow Dash said.

"Correct. Once you get there, you may proceed to search for your lost citizen while I have some guys help track the others. Now, if you could keep an eye out for out missing workers, that would be greatly appreciated but I won't keep you from doing what you came here to do. Like I mentioned before, I've hired two guys to act as your guides and they'll be helping search for the three missing workers as well. These guys are some of the best who had ever served in the Ukrainian Army and I have total confidence in their abilities."

"Okay, so when do we meet these guys?" Daring Do asked."

"They'll be waiting for you on the North side of Pripyat furthest away from the reactor. I've asked the bus driver Denys to drop you off there so you won't have to go far. Oh, if you don't mind, may I see what type of equipment you brought, Mr. Armor?"

"Of course." Shining Armor replied as he levitated his bag over which seemed heavier than it should have for some reason.

Mr. Groysman then proceeded to unzip the duffel bag and go through the contents. For the most part, he seemed to approve of what Shining Armor had packed until he pulled out the water purification tablets with a curious look on his face.

"Hmm...Sorry, Mr. Armor but these will do you no good." Groysman said as he set the package of tablets on the table. "You don't want to drink the water from there no matter how many of these you use. See those boxes over there? I've gotten some things together that you'll want to bring with you and some pallets of sealed, purified water will be going with you as well."

"Okay, sounds good, sir. Thanks."

"No worries. But I must ask you..."

"What's that?"

"Why the Hell did you stuff another pony into your bag?"

Mr. Groysman then reached into the bag and pulled out a lavender colored mare with a horn and wings. The mare in question had a large sheepish grin on her face and judging by the looks everypony else was giving her, she would need to explain herself quickly.

"Twilight!?" Shining Armor yelled as Mr. Groysman gently set the stowaway down on the floor. "What the hell were you doing in my bag!?"

"Rainbow, I though I said not to tell her about this!" Celestia boomed.

"I didn't, I swear!" Rainbow replied. "She tried to follow me to the train station and I told her I was going to a quesadilla party!"

"Ohoho, this oughtta be good." Spitfire said.

"Twilight as in the Princess?" Groysman asked. "With all due respect, Your Majesty, what is the meaning of this?"

"I'm sorry, everypony but I just couldn't pass up this opportunity!" Twilight said. "I mean, do you have any idea what kinds of discoveries could be made there? The plantlife! The woodland creatures! The soil! All those things that could be studied! Think about the scientific applications!"

"Well, it looks like now that she's here too, it can't be helped. We don't have another bus going to Equestria until next Wednesday. It looks like you have a team of Eight now, Your Majesty."

"Alright then." Celestia said. "But Twilight you and I will have to talk about your stowing away in Shining Armor's bag."

"I know, I'm sorry, Princess." Twilight said. "On that note though, Shining, I'll have to talk to you about your choice of bourbon. That stuff was terrible!"

"Uh, Twiley?" Shining Armor Said as he pulled an empty aftershave bottle out of his bag. "I didn't pack bourbon."

"Oh...Yikes."

After their brief meeting with Prime Minister Groysman, the team with its newest purple addition left the office building with his best regards and several boxes of necessary equipment. These items included two way radios, sealed food rations, first aid supplies, purified water, and much more. Mr. Groysman informed the group that they would be receiving all necessary radiation protection from the staff at the checkpoint where they would be entering the exclusion zone.

The group had to wait a few extra minutes for Denys to show up as he mentioned before that he needed to take the bus to the shop for some routine maintenance. Prime Minister Groysman had called ahead for a box truck to take the boxes and pallets of supplies from his office where they would then follow behind the team in the bus once it arrived. Finally, after a twenty minute wait, Denys's old reliable bus he called the slate buster could be seen coming towards the ponies. As it slowed down to a slug's pace, it was apparent that it was recently fitted with brand new tires and the brakes no longer made that ghastly squeal.

"I rather like this Denys." Celestia said as the bus with everypony's favorite driver came to a stop before them. "Very cheerful."

"Hop on, comrades!" Denys Said after opening the door. As everypony trotted up the steps one by one, Denys held out a fist for each pony to bump as they trotted past him. "Eh, I don't think I remember the purple one. Where did she come from?"

"She thought it was a good idea to stow away in my bag." Shining Armor huffed.

"Ohoho! That's clever! You're a clever one, my friend!"

"Why thank you, sir." Twilight replied as she took a seat next to her brother. "I'm glad someone here appreciates cleverness."

"I still can't believe you did that." Shining said. "Don't get me wrong, I like science myself but we're here for a different reason."

"And since you decided to come with us uninvited..." Celestia began. "I think you'll fit in just fine with our search party."

"I'm totally willing to help search for Radius." Twilight said. "I just think while I'm at it, I could take soil and tissue samples and maybe have them analyzed."

"Okay, your truck is behind us and ready to follow!" Deny's announced. "Next stop, the checkpoint! We should arrive in about two hours!"

"Two hours!?" Rainbow Dash groaned. "Why's it gotta be so far away!?"

"Relax, Private." Spitfire reassured. "This ride'll be over before you know it."

"Yeah, and just be glad we can all be here together." Soarin added.

"I'm just glad to have been called up for this to begin with." Daring do said. "This could yield some good material for my next book."

"Well now that you mention that..." Rainbow Dash began as her ears perked up. "...I guess it's not all that bad."

After a solid twenty minutes of slowly going through stop and go city traffic. Denys steered the bus onto the entrance to the highway thus officially beginning their one hundred mile journey to the exclusion zone. Once the bus reached a speed of sixty miles per hour, Denys set the cruise control and let the machine do its work while the box truck full of equipment followed behind the whole way. Traffic was very thick at first but as they rode further away from Kiev, the cars on the highway were more thinly spread out until one would go by once in a great while.

As time went on and the distance between the team and their destination continued to close, the highway became completely straight and the lack of any sights was making some of the passengers drowsy. The only thing even slightly interesting was a minor blockage in traffic up ahead in the form of a small, red compact car that had apparently run out of fuel with another small white car stopped next to it.

"Hammond, you blithering idiot!" The man in the white car shouted in a British accent as the bus passed them by.

"I could have sworn I've seen those guys before." Daring do said.

"Like where?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"On TV. I think they're from the BBC channel or something."

"We should be arriving in twenty minutes!" Denys announced.

At long last, the long, boring ride down the highway would soon be over and everypony could stretch their legs and make the necessary preparation before entering the exclusion zone. After the twenty long minutes that Denys had promised, the bus was now approaching a checkpoint complete with a gate, several armed guards and a few various small buildings. Most of the more anxious ones including Rainbow Dash were hoping that they could simply just drive up to the gate, have a guard open it and pass through. They would soon be disappointed as Denys drove into a parking spot in a small lot and stopped the bus. There was still a lot of work do to before being aloud in particularly of the paper variety.

"I trust you like Ukraine, no?" Said a guard wearing uniform similar to what Denys was wearing. "Heheheh, follow me, comrades."

After hopping off the bus, everypony followed the guard into one of the small buildings. Once they were all inside, the officer then motioned all of them to each take a seat at a table. After everypony was seated, he then proceeded to count the volunteers including Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle.

"Let's see..." The guard began. "One, two, three...eight of you. Okay, I'll go get the paperwork. Once you're all done with that, I'll go over some rules and fit you with some additional equipment you'll need."

The guard then walked out of the building over into another one to retrieve the forms that everypony would need to fill out. Even Celestia was not prepared for what was to come next as the guard returned with one of his co workers both of them carrying as much weight as they possibly could in pure paper.

"You're kidding." Rainbow Dash said as the two officers handed each pony a sizable stack of papers and a pen. "You're kidding, right?"

"Heheheh, don't worry, my friend." The guard replied. "Everyone has to fill these out before coming in."

"Okay, let's see." Soarin said as he started going through the questions on the paper. "Date of birth, height, weight..."

"Mother's maiden name..." Spitfire began. "Felony convictions, none...family history of illnesses..."

"Uh, pardon me, sir?" Big Mac spoke up. "How am Ah supposed to find out mah Pa's sperm count?"

"Give him a call." The guard replied. "Here, you can borrow this phone."

"He's dead."

"Oh...Okay just put a zero then."

"Please tell me this is the last of the paperwork." Rainbow Dash pleaded.

"Da, this is all of it, comrade." The Guard chuckled. "You're all done. Now I just need to explain a few things and you should have your camp set up within the hour. Okay, first off..."

Before finishing his sentence, the officer briefly glanced at each stallion in the room one by one before picking up a small box off the floor and rummaging through its contents.

"...how many of you males here plan on having little baby ponies?"

Without hesitating, all the stallions' hooves shot right up into the air.

"I'd love to be a dad..." Soarin sighed. "...someday."

"Cadence and I would probably wanna have another eventually." Shining Armor replied.

"Ah think Ah'd have foals someday." Big Mac said.

"Okay, then you'll need to wear these." The officer proceeded as he pulled what appeared to be athletic cups with elastic straps out of the box. "These are lined with lead. You attach these to your jewels and they protect from most radiation. Take it from another guy, you'll be glad you put these on."

The officer then proceeded to walk around the room and hand each of the blushing stallions a lead lined athletic cup of their own.

"Don't worry, fellas." The guard reassured. "You can use that restroom if you need some privacy to put them on. Okay next, you all need to take an iodine tablet once a day while you are out there. Also, I cannot stress this enough, never go out at night. Now, I'm sure you've also heard about the missing workers. If you happen to stumble across any of them, we ask you to render any necessary aid to them and inform us via two way radio immediately. You all with me so far?"

After looking around the room to see everypony nodding, the guard continued.

"Okay, good. Now, same goes for your lost pony, you find him, render first aid, let us know. Now, about the radiation. You'll all have your saddle bags fitted with an alarm that will go off when radiation in your immediate area is too high. If that happens, you must move until it stops beeping. You will each also get one of these. This is a Geiger counter and it will be your best friend out here. Lastly, in the unlikely event that you may need to trek an area with extreme radiation levels, we'll be loading up several boxes of lead lined body suits specially made for four legged equines. Just a precaution. Any questions?"

One last time, the checkpoint guard looked around the room for any hooves in the air with a curious pony attached to it. Once he did not find any, he could dismiss the group and allow them back onto the bus and through the gate.

"Your Majesty..." The officer began. "My friends from Equestria...welcome to the exclusion zone. Be careful out there."

"Thank you, sir." Celestia replied as she offered her hoof for a bump to which the guard obliged.

Denys was sitting in the driver's seat of the 1984 bus he drove reading a book as he waited for the ponies to finish their preparations. As everypony filed in and took a seat, the driver and passenger of the box van proceeded to load several more boxes into the back. The cargo compartment of the van was filled to the brim with the supplies needed to survive the exclusion zone as it should be. Finally, after an entire morning of riding down a highway and filling out obscene amounts of paperwork, everypony was back on the bus and on their way to do what they came to do and that was to locate and rescue Radius Hoofenschtov.

The engine was started, the gate was up and the bus was now moving past it. There was no going back now. If anypony wished to opt out without being judged by the others, their chance for that was left at the gate that was now fading away in the distance. Based on the way everypony was feeling about the mission however, packing it in and quitting before the start was the last thing on their minds. They all promised to help Princess Celestia in her time of stress and they were determined to see it through to the end; that is, if they knew just precisely what they were getting themselves into.

Author's Notes:

I need to lay off drinking for a while Oh and consider this chapter a gift to anybody who's a fan of Top Gear