The mission was simple. Get to the infected area without getting caught, get Joe his data disks back, and then we can all go back home and everything will go back to normal. That was the idea for the Mane 6, Spike, and Ford, but as the transport boat carried them across the coast and into the quarantine zone, it felt so much more intimidating than they first anticipated.

As the boat progressively inched on, the surroundings became more foreboding: Chain-link fences lined the dry ground with rusting signs that warned of the radioactivity of the long-since abandon metropolis. The Mane 6 and Spike couldn’t help but grow apprehensive of it all. Combined with the hazy mist that coated the flooded shores, it was nothing short of eerie.

"This is...a lot more surreal than I thought it would be," Twilight said, maintaining the shield over the rest of her friends.

"You get used to it," Joe eyed the aging buildings around them.

"That's easy coming from you," Spike rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "How far do we have to go to get to the house?"

"Not too far," Joe replied through his protective suit. "As long as we stay together we should be fine."

"Fine?" Rainbow asked skeptically. "Look, I'm all for helping someone who his grieving and all, but I feel like we're crossing boundaries that we should not be crossed."

"I'm away of the risks," Ford spoke up. "And I know you all knew of it too before you decided to come along, Rainbow. Like I said, just this one last time, and that's the end of it."

"That doesn't really make it any less discomforting," Twilight looked around the flooded neighborhoods.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Pinkie optimistically asked.

"We get caught and thrown in jail for trespassing," Ford answered leisurely.

"Like I said, doesn't make it any less discomforting," the purple alicorn deadpanned.

The boat was docked and the team soon found themselves traversing the overgrown ghost-town. Nature was slowly regaining it's natural footing. The old buildings became elevated homes for vegetation and sheets of vines hung over walkways and bridges. Joe, Ford, and the Mane 7 carefully made their way through the radioactive wasteland.

"Ohh, this place is really giving me the creeps," Fluttershy shook with fear.

"Tell me about it," Rarity said with dread. "Everything's so dreary and dead-looking."

"Have no fear, Rarity, I will protect if anything happens," Spike was at her side, taking on a heroic swagger.

That was quickly cut short when several feral dogs raced toward them, barking and yelping. fear struck the ponies and dragon like lightning. The prospect of being attacked by wild animals hadn't ever crossed their minds.

"Stand back, this could get ugly," Twilight took a defensive position.

Though her magic shield provided protection, the young princess didn't want to take any chances with a group of angry dogs heading right for her. However, the dogs ran right past them, not even bothering to acknowledge the group. The canines darted off and disappeared amongst the stagnant vehicles that littered the streets.

"What spooked them?" Ford continued on. "Dad, guys, come on. Let's go. It's only another two blocks."

"That's a relief," Applejack said. "Both the dogs and the house."

"Quite so, Applejack," Rarity turned to Spike, who was holding onto her.

His valiant bravado had completely vanished. The snow-white unicorn gave the dragon a deadpanned glare. Spike quickly climbed off her and smile sheepishly.

"Regardless, girls, that proves that we need to tread carefully," Twilight warned. "We don't know what else is out there."

"Twilight, it's a literal ghost-town. Aside from the radiation, I seriously doubt there's not much out here to be worried about," Rainbow said.

The protected group continued their trek across the, all except for Joe. Who stood in place, deep in thought. The dogs that the ran into, not even a few seconds ago, looked completely normal and healthy. There were no signs of radiation poisoning or alterations to there anatomy or biology. That didn't make any sense to him. Joe pulled out a Geiger counter from his coat pocket and turned it on. The readings show zero amounts for radiation in the area, not a single fraction of it.

"Dad!" Ford was growing impatient.

The older man turned his eyes away from the Geiger counter and over to his son and the Mane 7.

"Are we going home, or what?"

"Honestly I wouldn't mind that," Rarity said timidly. "Every second spent here makes me more terrified."

"I can't help but agree with you, Rarity," Pinkie slid to the mare's side. "This place is really giving me the heebie-jeebies."

"But, it wouldn't make any sense ta just turn back now, "Applejack claimed.

"Right," Twilight agreed. "Mr. Brody, are you coming."

Joe didn't answer. Instead, he grabbed his gas mask and peel it away from his face, sending the rest of the team into a panic.

"Whoa, whoa! Hey what are you doing," his son said, shocked and confused with his father's actions.

"Are you crazy?!" Twilight shouted. "What about the radiation?"

"Heaven's sakes, darling, what are you thinking?" Rarity asked, horrified.

"P-Put the mask back on!" Fluttershy desperately demanded.

Joe drew a line of long breaths, as if it was relief for himself that the gamble he just took didn't end up dooming him. Or perhaps it was hard to breath with a thick mask on.

"Dad?" Ford said worriedly.

"Dude, tell us if you're dying," Rainbow said.

"It's clean," Joe muttered. "I knew it."

"What? What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, now even more confused and scared. "You said this place was loaded with dangerous radiation."

"That's the thing, there is none," the analyst said. "The radiation in this place should be lethal, but there's nothing."

"Wait, so, no radiation?" Spike asked. "How can you tell?"

Joe pulled his Geiger counter back out.

"See this," he pointed to it. "This is a Geiger counter. It measures how much radiation is in the area. Right now, it's showing zero, which means there is no radiation here at all."

"But...the meltdown," Ford pulled off his gas mask.

"Does that mean we don't need the shield anymore?" Rainbow asked, turning to Twilight.

"I...suppose not," the faint glow of Twilight's horn faded away, causing the shield to vanish.

"It was getting stuffy in there," Spike grimaced.

"Sorry," Pinkie smiled meekly.

"Heh, ta think we were gettin' worked up over nothin'," Applejack chuckled.

"This place is still scary," Fluttershy said, who was curled up with Rarity and Pinkie.

Rainbow rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Look, now that we don't have to worry about the nonexistent radiation, can we just continue on with our mission?"

"If it means getting out of here faster, then yes, let's keep going," Rarity said.

And so, with the overbearing fear of radiation poisoning out of the picture, Joe, Ford, the Mane 6, and Spike made it the rest of the way to the old Brody household. It wasn't a pretty sight. The house was left victim to natural erosion.

"Yeesh, this place is a dump," Spike said.

"It's been sitting here for fifteen years without any upkeep," Ford said. "Should that really come as a shock?"

As they treaded inside, the group was met with the earthy stench of rotting wood. Alongside that, the walls were slick with moisture and moss, and debris, organic and inorganic, littered the floor.

"Be careful not to step on any glass," Joe warned.

He search deeper within the home. Ford, flashlight in hand, shined it throughout the rooms. It was a haunting sight to be sure.

"Do you have any fond memories of this place?" Twilight asked dolefully.

Ford's answer was given in the form of his old toys strewn about his old bedroom. Plastic tanks and dinosaurs lay on the floor covered in dust and grime with cockroaches scurrying about.

"Ew, ew, ew!" Rarity shrieked, tapping her hooves as the little armored pests skulked past. "Oh, Joe better find those disks soon."

She grumbled in disgust, not wanting to be in this abhorrent place any longer.

"Not especially," Ford answered to Twilight. "Just average childhood memories. Back when mom was around and dad wasn't all "truth crusading."

"Do you miss living here?" Fluttershy asked.

The Navy officer sighed in thought. There was no doubt that he missed his childhood home. There always a sense of completeness, mostly due to the fact that the family was whole.

"Yes," Ford finally answered.

Meanwhile, Joe was rummaging through his desecrated office space. He tossed aside pieces of wood and cardboard until, lo and behold, there was a stack of plastic cartridges that held the disks that he need. Joe hastily grabbed them.

"Thank god," he mumbled quietly.

He placed into inside his bag and looked around for anything else he possibly needed. That's when Joe spotted it. Amongst the shattered glass and mold-covered plaster sat a broken picture frame depicting him, his wife, Sandra, and Ford when he was just a child. The aging man picked it up and swept away the broken pieces of the frame, leaving only the intact photo. Joe's gloved hand lightly trailed against the part of picture that showed Sandra. He missed her, he missed her so much. Not a day want by that he didn't think about her at least once.

The painful memories of losing Sandra brought back a suppressed feeling deep inside him; the feeling or guilt and remorse. There were times in Joe's life where he wished he was stronger, wished that his wife's passing didn't eat so much away at him. Maybe then he would've been a better father to Brody and not let such a wedge get driven between the two.

While Joe was bitterly reminiscing, Ford was also getting a dose of dulling memories. He picked up a plastic soldier off a table and stared at it. It brought back memories of his younger self playing with all the toys he had, acting out war scenarios.

"Everything okay, Ford?" Applejack asked softly.

The Navy bomb expert couldn't help let a tear trickle out from his left eye.

"Yeah, just..." he looked back down at the toy soldiers. "...a lot of suppressed memories coming back up.

"Ha, ha. take that, Pinkie. Pew!" Rainbow said playfully.

"Here I come, Dashie!" Pinkie giggled.

The two were playing with some of the toy soldiers. They clashed them together like they were fighting.

"Honestly, you two, this is now time to be playing around," Rarity reprimanded. "You don't even know where those things have been."

"Uh, they've just been sitting on the ground collecting dust, duh," Rainbow emphasize by shaking her head.

"Yeah, very dusty," Pinkie drew in a deep breath and blew hard on the plastic soldier.

A small plume of dust flew right into Rainbow's face. The surprised pegasus was taken off guard. She crinkled her nose has the dusty caked her nostrils. She drew in a shallow breath, then another, until...

"Achoo!"

Pinkie fell onto her back and laughed like a mad-mare. Rainbow, despite still reeling from the nasal assault, couldn't help but laughed at the unexpected play.

"All right, Pinkie, you got me," she smiled in defeat.

"At least they're having fun," Twilight grumbled.

"Just makes the mission a little more worthwhile," Ford said.

"Wait, so you don't mind them messing with your old toys?" the studious alicorn asked.

"I mean they've just been sitting on the floor for fifteen years," the military officer said. "And I'm not really interested in bringing them back."

"Really? I would think you'd want to bring 'em back fer ya son," Applejack suggested.

"Hmm, you have a point there," Ford gave it some thought.

Back with Joe, he was still holding the photo. He held it against his chest before his eyes fell on something else. Hanging on the wall was a string banner that read "Happy Birthday Dad!" It didn't take much thinking to know that Ford was the who made that for his father. It had just been standing there from the day it was hung. At this point, Joe felt teary-eyed himself. Ford did all that for him, wanting to make his birthday special. But, that never ending up happening thanks to the so-called "nuclear disaster." With all that out in the open, Joe only wished he noticed it sooner, at least they would've shared another loving moment. The heartbroken man looked back down at the photo, a sad frown growing more raw on his face.

The storm of emotions was interrupted when Joe heard rustling through the broken windows. He looked out and saw the bushes shaking and dancing. Then came the sound of thunderous whirring.

"What's going on?" Spike asked.

"Helicopters," Ford replied.

"Oh yeah, we kinda have those in Equestria," Twilight said, but quickly realized the implication. "But, what are they doing here?"

"Only one way to find out," Rainbow zoomed out of the house.

The rest quickly followed. They left the ruined house and stepped out into the leaf-littered street. Several helicopters zoomed overheard.

"Where are they going?" Rarity asked.

The followed the same direction. As they rounded a corner, they were met with something shocking. Across a body of water was another part of the quarantine zone, which was where the nuclear power plant used to be. But, instead of that, there were some facility buildings with nearly a dozen cranes seemingly in a circular formation.

"What? Seriously what is going on?" Twilight was now completely confused.

"Are they rebuilding the plant?" Ford turned to Joe.

"I don't know," Joe replied, just as confused. "I haven't seen-"

As he turned back he saw an armored security truck pulled up toward them. He closed his eyes and sighed. They had been caught. Ford groaned and turned toward the officer who were exiting the truck.

"Oh, no," Fluttershy whimpered.

"Well, that's just great," Rainbow huffed. "Stand back, I'll take care us this."

"No!" Twilight cried out. "Do you want us to get into more trouble."

"Well, then what's the contingency plan?" the daredevil pegasus questioned.

"There is no contingency plan. We have to let them take us into custody," Twilight said solemnly.

"What?! I can't go around with a felony on my record," Rarity resisted.

"We aren't even in Equestria," Rainbow deadpanned.

"A crime is still a crime," the fashionista whined.

"Just do what they want us to do," Joe said. "It's better than to alternative."

He lightly gestured to the guns the officer wielded. They were demanding something in Japanese, but it was apparent what was needed to be done. A round of defeated sighs came from the ponies and dragon.

"Can we at least take this to our graves?" Spike pleaded.

"I don't think that's the right thing ta do," Applejack said.

Left with no choice, the group was led into the back of the patrol truck, where they were cuffed.

"This is no way to treat a lady," Rarity quietly whined.

"To be fair, we we're trespassing," Twilight said.

"Not helping," the agitated mare replied through gritted teeth.

The doors slammed shut and the truck rolled off toward the site. It took longer than the group thought. It had already grown dark as the truck trailed down the bridge leading to the facility. Joe, Ford, the Mane 6, and Spike all sat quietly in the back. It was a frustrating turn of events, a simple retrieval mission turning into a cart off to interrogation and, inevitably, jail.

"Dad? You okay?" Ford finally broke the silence, worried for his father.

Joe was just muttering to himself, not of it discernible.

"Joe, come on, talk to us," Spike encouraged.

"...Should've never involved you in this," the older man spoke quietly. "I never meant any of you to get in trouble. I'm insane. I'm completely insane. It's the same as it was fifteen years ago, now I'm going to lose you."

"Hey, hey, Joe. Come on. That's crazy talk," Applejack condoled.

"Nah, this is crazy talk," Pinkie began spouting gibberish nonsense. "Plpfft. Mu-mu-mu. Blalalpbla!"

Rarity swiftly covered the mare's mouth with her hoof.

"That's enough, Pinkie," she said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Okay-dokey," Pinkie's answered was muffled against the unicorn's hoof.

"Yeah, nopony's losing anypony," Rainbow added.

"They're not letting us out of here," the older man said, dread filling his tone. "Any of us. Now that they have the disks..."

"The disks?" Ford questioned. "What about them?"

"Why would they care about the disks?" Twilight added her own question.

Joe just began muttering incoherently again.

"Dude, you're like starting to freak us out," Rainbow said.

Ford leaned closer to his father. "Look at me. I'm listening now. Tell me what's going on."

"I'm cursed, Ford," Joe grunted. "That's all I am. I'm so sorry."

"Tell me what you know!" Ford outright demanded.

His outburst startle the ponies and dragon.

"Whoa, nelly," Applejack said. "Ah wasn't expectin 'im to be so forward now."

"Animals, Ford," Joe finally said. "Animals. Birds, mammals, insects, reptiles, whales, bats, you name it. All of the speaking, making noise, echolocation. Imagine that on a more...epic scale. That's what's on those disks, Ford. the sound of an animal screaming."

"S-Screaming. Screaming for help?" Fluttershy asked.

"No, it was more broad," the old plant worker said. "I couldn't figure what it was saying, but, there was communication."

"Do you know what was making it?" Twilight asked.

"No," Joe answered. "But, one thing I know for sure is that if get those disks, we're not getting back out."

"Why?" Rarity asked apprehensively.

"Because they'll want answers. They'll want more info," Joe said. "They will demand answers out of all of us, even if we have them or not."

"But...But...we barely know what's going on," Fluttershy whimpered.

"They'll just get you for experimental reasons," Ford said grimly. "You guy's aren't from this world after all."

A new wave of dread and horror washed over the Mane 6 and Spike. Stuck in some facility with no possibility of returning home with the grave thought of what the people will do to them.

"We should've never came along," Twilight chastised herself.

Her wing wrapped around a frightened Spike. The rest of the ponies didn't even know what to say. The sheer thought of what could happen to them couldn't be put into words.

"W-We have to get out of here!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"This is an armored truck. There's no getting out of here," Ford said sorrowfully.

"Says you," the determined pegasus starting ramming against the reinforced doors, but of course, they wouldn't budge.

"Come on, open!" she shouted.

She rammed into the doors again and again. Growing frustrating, Rainbow tried slamming her hooves against the steel doors. She began to grind her cuffs against them, but that obviously did nothing, either. Not a single thing Rainbow tried worked. The frustrated pegasus began yelling in anger, as if that would do anything.

“Come on! You can’t do this to us!”

“Rainbow…” Fluttershy tried to get her friend to stop.

“You’ll never take us alive! Do you hear me?” the mare continued to shout.

“Jūnbun!” one the officer yelled back, having had enough with Rainbow’s fruitless antics.

Rainbow slowly turned back around. She was upset. She turned back to her friends.

“There’s got to be something we can do,”

“It’s military-grade steel,” Ford hinted at the doors. “Plus, even if we somehow get out, we won’t get far and we’ll all be in even deeper trouble.”

Rainbow looked back to the others, who had their heads down in defeat.

“Best to just save your energy, Dash,” Twilight said woefully.

Rainbow let out a defeated sign and sat back up on the seat. There was nothing for it, they were in big trouble and there was no way out of it.

“This sucks,” the perturbed pegasus said.

“What else is new?” Spike asked rhetorically.

The only thing our heroes could do now was sit and wait for the inevitable interrogation and imprisonment that was to come. Though it seemed things were bleak now, nobody truly knew just how dire and chaotic things were going to get.

To be continued

Author's Note

Big thanks to kaiju and pony fan for the some of the quotes in this chapter.