Genicorn headquarters. If there’s one thing I can say about these dweebs, is that they don’t screw around with their buildings. They managed to get one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city to be their main base. They even have their company logo plastered on a giant neon sign towards the top of the tower, a blue “G” with a unicorn head at the end of its neck.

My Gilda senses picked up on Blueblood’s signal a few minutes ago. I ran as fast as I could to meet up with it, and the trail took me to the base of the headquarters. I figured he would be heading to his hotel, but nope. He went straight for the Unicorn G.

It’s about eight right now. The sun fell an hour ago. I’m perched up on a terrace of a neighboring building, and I have a perfect view of Genicorn’s courtyard, all lit up for the night. The music hall might have been a fortress, but HQ blows that place out of the water. The base of the tower is a military base all on its own. It’s not surrounded by walls so much as a thick bunker that outlines the perimeter with a massive metal gate at the front entrance. There are armored ponies guarding the gate, unicorns providing magic support on the rooftop of the bunker, and pegasi swarming the air when there isn’t an airship taking up precious airspace.

And that’s just the perimeter of the compound. The inside is a lot harder. Ponies are walking around, giving each other random security checks. Sergeants are prancing about, barking orders at everyone. There’s enough space to park a few airships in the back, and there are guys doing maintenance on those suckers.

If the outside is this militarized, then no doubt the inside will be just as bad.

And where’s Blueblood in all this mess? I followed him here. To be more specific, I followed his airship. High above the tower, there’s a fleet of five airships hanging in the sky. These aren’t the standard black airships the blue-eyes use. These are white and gold, Canterlot colors. This is a royal escort.

So yeah, he’s up there in the clouds. I don’t know why he hasn’t landed yet. It would be real easy for me to get up there if I had wings.

Oh wait, I do have wings! Flying up is going to be easy. Small catch, I can’t use my damn wings because I’m an infected monster! It’s just a cherry on top of what I consider to be the shittiest day of my life.

I could sneak in and get him, but that’s harder said than done. They’re checking badges at every entrance, and they’ll probably be suspicious when a blue-eye goon who’s been reported missing or dead earlier today suddenly shows up all healthy, happy, and eager to go up to meet the big boss.

I could eat one of the patrols for a new disguise, but I count two problems with that. Problem one, I don’t want to. I’ve had too much pony goop inside me as it is and I’m still not getting used to it. Problem two, even if I wanted to eat some poor sap, there are too many eyes looking all over the place. It’ll be nigh impossible to single out a guy without someone else spotting me.

I run a claw down my face and groan. There is no easy way to go about this. I’m not going to get far without the whole place going on lockdown and five thousand guns pointing at my head.

“…Up here…”

Huh, did someone say something?

I look up. There isn’t anyone above me. Maybe I picked up something a pegasus said. Or I’m hearing things. Better not be hearing things. I don’t plan on going senile till the alcohol finally takes me, and current circumstances pushed that back indefinitely.

Back on track, how do I get to Blueblood?

He’s up there in the sky. No wait, one of the airships is landing on the top of the tower. I think he’s finally decided to land. Alright, Blueblood is up there at the top of the tower. How do I get to him?

What does Agent Possible do in the comics? She usually sneaks in through the air vents. I guess I could do that. Can I fit through the air vents? Agent Possible has to squeeze in to fit through those things, and she’s on the short side for a pony. Given my own size, I might just rip the vents apart trying to go through.

“… Come up here…”

There’s that voice again. I look up, nothing. There aren’t any pegasi blue-eyes flying nearby me. They’re all swarming around the tower. Even with monster powers, they’re a bit far for me to hear a random conversation.

The sewers are an option. Find a manhole to crawl through, come up through the plumbing. If I time it right, I can pop out of the toilet when Blueblood is taking a shit. Actually, no, that would be horrible timing. No, scratch the sewers. This trip is not worth a cesspool dive yet.

“… Hey featherbrain, answer me! I know you can hear me.”

Ah, the voice is in my head. What a relief. For a second there I was worried I was starting to hear things.

“… You are hearing things. You’re hearing me.”

It’s a snarky voice. I’ll roll with that. That’s what I need right now, a voice of sarcasm. That’ll help me break in. At least it’s not telling me to kill everyone.

“… Well, I’m not going to stop you from killing everyone. It’s an open option. Just get me out of here sooner than later, would ya?”

Correction, it’s not directly telling me to kill everyone, just suggesting it. That’s still concerning. “Who are you?”

“Don’t you recognize my awesome voice?”

I shake my head. Why I do it, I don’t know. It’s not like a random voice in my head gives a crap about body language. “Not really. I don’t talk to many voices in my head.”

“It’s me, silly. Rainbow Dash!”

I perk up at this. “Wait, what?”

The voice mentally groans. “Don’t tell me your amnesia kicked me out of your head. We’ve been best friends since flight camp!”

“No, I remember you. In fact I’ve been trying to find you.” I look around, just to make sure this isn’t someone messing with me. After all this time, finding Rainbow Dash feels like a long shot. Maybe I finally snapped and this is my insanity talking to me. My head does feel a little tingly. “I’m not going crazy, am I? You’re not my conscience bringing up ghosts to guilt trip me, are you?”

While I can’t see the voice, I can hear it smack its hoof against its face. “Sheesh, you’ve always had trouble putting two and two together. I’m here Gilda, up in Genicorn HQ. Don’t you have Rainbow Sense to check where I am?”

I look up at the tower, just a bit below where Blueblood’s ship landed. “What’s Rainbow Sense?”

I can almost hear the smirk in her voice. “Oh, you know, just a super cool power I use to see where everyone is. I use it a lot when they’re not sticking me with needles. There’s not much else to do in here.”

I get a smug grin on my face. “Oh, you’re talking about Gilda Sense. I use that all the time.”

Rainbow’s voice claps her hooves together. “Great. Use it to find me and get me out of here. I am sick of this place.”

As if that’ll work. Last time I used my Gilda sense to try to find Rainbow, nothing happened. Kind of pointless to do so again. It also didn’t work for Blueblood when he was out of Manehattan, so it could be a distance thing. Could be useful to try it again.

“Just humor me.”

"Sure, I'll humor you, Mister Voice." I ping Rainbow with my sense. To my surprise, I get a lock on her.

I look towards where my sense is tugging me towards. The top of the tower, almost near Blueblood.

“Holy shit, it’s you!” I say out loud.

“And she figures out two plus two equals four. Way to go, kiddo. You’re the top of your class.”

I grab my head with both my claws. “This is unbelievable. I’ve gone through so much shit trying to find you. I’ve been attacked by monsters and spells. I keep eating ponies for some damn reason. I was about to break into a fortress to beat the crap out of a prince just to find you. But here you are, in this fortress all along.”

“It’s a bit early for a celebration. You still need to break me out of this fortress.”

“No, you don’t get it. All this shit I’ve been through, I could have avoided it. Where do all the bad guys keep their prisoners? In their big lairs! It happens all the time in comic books. Why didn’t I think to look here in the first place?”

“Hold your questions for later. You need to focus right now. I’m still locked in here. They’ve been poking and prodding me for the last month and now you’re right outside Blackwatch’s door, ready to bust in and play the superhero. So get a hold of yourself and get to it!”

I nod. Rainbow’s right. No time to freak out now. I have a goal, get my friend out of this place. Heh, who needs Blueblood? I can get Rainbow out on my own.

I get up and look over the edge and down at the compound. Before I run on in, I take another look at the heavily armed militia patrolling the place.

“Hey Rainbow, there’s a slight problem.”

“What?”

“I don’t know how to get into the tower.”

“Kick in the doors and walk in like you own the place.”

“Let me clarify. I don’t know how to get in without running through the business end of a slaughterhouse.”

She’s silent for a moment. “Hmm, that is a problem.”

I lean against the ledge and tap my chin. I’m going after Rainbow instead of Blueblood now, but I still have the same problem from before. How do I get into this place without causing a ruckus?

From down on the street, I hear a whistling sound. I look over and see a Blackwatch earth pony walking away from the gate. He shows the guard his badge, to which the guard nods and waves him off. The earth pony nods back and continues on down the road.

Hmm, a lone pone out for an evening stroll. I watch him go down the sidewalk and stop at an intersection. What looks to be an armored carriage of some sort drives past him before he crosses to the other side. After another minute or so, he stops outside a sandwich shop and goes through the door.

An evil grin crosses my face. “I think I just found my way in.”