Pinkie Pie still needs to help me out with my memories. I saved her and the kids from the infected and Blackwatch. I bit off a monster’s manhood in all that mess! The least she can do for me is help me out with my problems.

The double-liter bottle empties as I pour all its bleach into my beak. I toss it away and gurgle the crap like mouthwash. Spells can’t kill me, so why would bleach? This is my eighth bottle of heavy-duty super cleaner, and I think it’s my last one. The monster’s taste started fading away on the third bottle, and I couldn't feel my mouth anymore after the sixth. I guess it’s working.

I’m looking down from the roof-top of an apartment building as I swish around the bleach in my beak. This rooftop has a nice view of the Blackwatch airship that crash-landed not too long ago. There’s a big hole in the building where it crashed into, and the balloon portion of the airship is deflated and on fire. Toasty. I should’ve brought marshmallows to make s’mores.

No, I wasn't the one to take it down, although that would’ve been badass. There’s an army of Blackwatch goons closing in on the hoard of infected swarming the crash site. Spells are flying everywhere, and infected ponies are falling left and right.

I think this is where the growlers who attacked us came from, along with the monster I fought. Blackwatch must have been carrying a crap-ton of infected ponies in that thing. Wonder what they were going to do with all of them.

I overheard some blue-eye goons talking about what happened. The airship was transporting “specimens” from the Red Zone to a research facility. Apparently, the pilot screamed over the radio something about the monster tearing up the airship from the inside. Everything should’ve been locked down tight, so they figure it’s some form of sabotage. Something let the monster out of its cage.

At least that’s what the blue-eye goons are saying. In a way, it’s these guys fault the infected attacked. They were carrying the monsters, and they let them out. Thanks for the monster fight, buddies. It was great character building.

I lean over the edge of the rooftop and spit a beakfull of bleach over it. Hey, the monster taste is gone! And my teeth feel minty fresh.

I hear a pony screaming below me. There’s a blue-eye at ground level doused in bleach and swearing up a storm. I wave at him when he looks up, and dash away over the rooftops before he starts shooting.

Time to find Pinkie Pie. I didn’t see where she ran off to, but the force is pulling me in her direction. Thank Grover I got weird finding powers. Combing a city for a single pony would be a pain in the ass without it. Speaking of blindly following mysterious forces, I should make my list of powers while I’m running over rooftops. Might as well put spare time to use.

To start, there’s the finding force power I’m using right now. This one I’m going to get a lot of use out of, even outside of a fight. It’s something I can use to find a lost box of dough when I’m running my scone shop.

There’s the super strength, also useful. I can’t lift something the size of a rampaging monster, but I bet I can move boxes around without breaking my back.

A flock of pigeons takes off when I land on their nesting spot. Super speed, I think that’s my favorite. Who doesn’t want to jump over a building, run up a wall, and outrun the cops at the same time? Going this fast is a flipping rush! I should compete in the Equestria games.

The monster claws… Eh, I guess I can cut dough with it. The other griffons won't dare mess with me when I got these babies. They’re also good negotiation tactics, so maybe I can get better prices at the market by swinging them around.

Ground-spikes, I can’t think of anything for those. I did it once, on accident, and I guess they’re good in a fight if I do it again. We’ll see.

Gliding is a downgrade. I used to be able to fly and now I can’t. Why can’t I fly? Other downgrades include immunity to caffeine and alcohol. Why don’t those work on me anymore?!

I reach the edge of a building, jump for a glide, and hear someone below me shout in excitement. Super hearing, hearing every fly in the room will drive me nuts.

Regeneration, I don’t have to fill out an incident report if I injure myself while working. Cheaper medical bills too.

Eating ponies, tentacles are a gross way to go about it.

Crowbar, no, I didn’t do that one. If I got time, I’ll try to figure it out.

Shape-shifting into ponies I eat… I guess tax evasion.

I think that’s everything. Maybe I’m forgetting something. If I am, oh well. It might come back up if I need it. Overall, I think it’s all an improvement, apart from the caffeine.

Just as I jump from one building to glide to the next, the finding force takes a sharp turn downwards. I look down at the street and find an interesting sign of a sun stretching across a building wall. Sunnyside Daycare, the sign says. Yep, this seems like the place Pinkie Pie would go to.

I land on the roof on the other side of the street and give the place a good look. It’s a short building, three stories tall, but it takes up most of the space in its block. Its first two floors have all its windows boarded up, and the top windows are dark and impossible to see into. There’s a large pile of trash blocking off the front door, so there’s no getting inside from there.

Okay, scratch that, this does not look like a place Pinkie Pie would go to. It’s closed up and worn down. And honestly, looking at this place gives my worms the shivers. I know Pinkie Pie has a random streak, but taking a bunch of kids into an abandon daycare is taking it too far.

In one of the top windows, I see a glimmer of light, maybe the light from a glowing horn. I guess someone is crazy enough to be inside this place. A looter, perhaps? But why would looters choose a daycare of all places?

Near the far corner of the building, there’s an open window on the top floor. It looks like the perfect entry point for someone with wings. I think I’ll drop in and say hello to the looter. Give them a good scare with my claws, and then go search the place for Pinkie Pie. Heck, it may even be Pinkie Pie. I’m still going to scare her.

I swoop over the street and fly up to the window. It’s a bit small. I have to pull my wings in tight and suck my gut in to wiggle past it, but I get through.

The room I’m in now has a floor full of tiny tables and chairs, chests full of toys, walls covered with sloppy crayon drawings, and colorful decorations of flowers and bugs and dinosaurs and anything else kids might find interesting. It’s adorable and all, if it weren’t for the fact it’s dark as Tartarus in here. It’s two in the afternoon and I can open up a haunted house in here.

Now there’s a thought. This place is perfect for a haunted house! Nightmare Night is just around the corner. I can set up an audio system to play the sound of kids laughing or slow nursery rhymes. Then I would invite ponies inside, shapeshift into their friends and mess with their heads, and chase them around with my monster claws and scare the crap out of them. Maybe I’ll do a tie-in promotion with my scone shop. I’ll call this Gilda’s School of Horrors. That’s catchy.

Footsteps echo from the hallway. I put my plans of spooky business ventures on the backburner and take a peak outside of the room. Turns out I also have night-vision, as I can see everything in this pitch-black hallway as if it were day. Add that to the list.

There are two ponies making their way down the hallway. One’s a unicorn, and she’s using her horn to light the way. The other one is an Earthpony, and he’s scanning the hallway with glowing blue eyes.

Wait, those aren’t regular blue eyes. Those are Blackwatch blue eyes! Now that I notice, the unicorn is also wearing a Blackwatch uniform. She just doesn’t have the mask on. Damn it Pinkie Pie, you still have blue-eye goons chasing you! Do I have to save your butt from everything?

After the monster battle, and the infected attack, and the incident at the liquor store, and the apartment, and the lab, and after every other bullcrap thing today, I’m not in the mood to get in a fight, let alone kill anypony. I just want my memories back, and I need to find Pinkie Pie before these goons do.

The unicorn flashes her light spell into the room on her left, and the blue-eye takes a peak in the room to his right. While they got their noses in the doorways, I step out of the classroom and walk over to them. It’s clear they’re searching all the rooms, and I’m too big to hide in a room made for tiny ponies. Might as well meet them head on and avoid a fight somehow.

The blue-eye jumps when he hears my footsteps coming. He pops out of the room and looks me in the eye. “Jeez, you scared me Sir. I didn’t know you were up here.”

My body finishes shape-shifting into Sergeant Sweet Tooth just as the unicorn shines her light on me. I shrug. “What can I say, I’m a scary guy.” This disguise should fool them. As long as they don’t ask any hard questions, I’ll be fine.

The unicorn nods and walks up to search the next room. She’s a brown pony, red and purple mane, green eyes, and has a worried look on her face. “Please tell me you found the kid,” she says without looking at me.

Kid, as in a single kid. I wonder if they know about the rest of the group. “Nope, no luck there. Frankly, I can’t even remember what he looks like.”

The blue-eye tilts his head as he moves on to the next doorway. “You forgot what he looks like? The little trainweck zipped right under your nose.”

Iffy Sniff? I would put my money on the pony they’re looking for to be Iffy.

“And he wouldn’t have run away if someone didn’t have his mask on,” the unicorn says, rolling her eyes.

“Well excuse me for helping you out right after my patrol,” the blue-eye snaps back. “It’s not like I knew we’d be rounding up twenty kids, all of which just escaped case-yellow quarantine, mind you.”

Ah, so they do know where they are, and it sounds like they have them in custody. Great, I’m going to have to free them, and that means plowing through another group of Blackwatch. Maybe they’ll have two monsters for me to fight this time.

The unicorn swings her light over onto her buddy. “Is the big, strong stallion afraid of catching a little cough?”

“You might think it’s a joke, but I’ve seen what can happen to a case-yellow.” The blue eye points down the hallway. “If one of those kids turns, then he’ll bite his best friend, and the best friend will bite the filly he likes. Soon we’ll have a swarm of infected fillies and colts attacking us from behind! All it takes is one to end it all.”

The unicorn stares at her buddy for a moment, and then shakes her head. “I doubt that will happen. You’re going to scare off the kid if you keep talking like that.”

“If he hasn’t left the building yet,” the blue-eye grumbles. “Sir, are those kids staying here? We don't have the horsepower to keep watch of all those kids and run Wellness at the same time.”

Ah, a hard question. Now I might be screwed. Or not. The force is pulling on the memories of Sergeant Sweet Tooth. His army experience, dealing with the Blacklight plague, fighting off the infected. If I give an honest answer from the bottom of Sweet Tooth’s heart, then I’ll be fine.

“Don’t worry,” Sweet Tooth says to the blue-eye. “They’ll be gone soon enough. And if we can't get rid of them, then we'll do what we do to the rest.”

The blue-eye just looks at me, eyes glowing in the dark. “The rest, sir?”

“You know, pew pew, like the rest of them.”

The unicorn shines her horn right in my eyes, and I got to shield myself with a hoof from the bright light. Even with night vision, going from darkness to bright light is not pleasant. “You’re not Pillow Talk, are you?”

And I gave them a bad answer. How do these blue-eyes keep figuring it out? Can I salvage this? “Uh, what are you talking about? Of course I’m Pillow Talk. Who else would I be?”

Something dark slings around the blue-eye’s shoulder and he points it at me. The unicorn’s horn shifts from the flashlight into a bright blue glow. “Pillow Talk doesn’t have a horn.”

I touch my forehead with an armored hoof. Yep, Sweet Tooth is a unicorn. Didn’t think that through.

I let out a sigh and shake my head. “You know, this could’ve been easy. I didn’t want to do this.”

In a flash, I head-butt the blue-eye through the wall. The wall crumbles around him and he crashes into a tiny table and a shelf of coloring supplies.

The unicorn hits me with a flurry of spellbolts, the hall is flashing and dancing like a rave.

I shapeshift back into a griffon and grab her throat with a claw. Not my monster claws, I don’t want to kill her, just my regular old griffon grip. I slam her against a wall and tighten my grip on her trachea. Her horn fizzles out. Her eyes bulge as she tries to grasp for breath. She hits my arm hooves and kicks me in the stomach with her back legs, but I’m not budging.

“So here’s the deal,” I say, brushing off her hits like a champ, “I’m looking for a group a kids. There’s a pink mare hanging out with them, and maybe a doctor of some sort. Any idea where they could be?”

I loosen my grip to give her a chance to say something. She opens her mouth, but only says two words.

“You monster- ack!”

My claw clamps down hard, talons digging into her skin. I can feel her blood dripping from the tips. I hiss in her ear. “Am I the monster here? I’m not the one keeping kids as prisoners.”

“Not- ack- prisoners,” she wheezes. “Came to- ack- help!”

“Ms. Griffon!”

That squeaky voice sounds familiar. I look down the hall and see a small, green, pegasus colt flying my way. He zips right next to me with the biggest smile I’ve seen on him yet.

“Iffy!” I say to him, returning the smile. “You’re alright. Did you get away safe?”

“You bet I did! Ms. Pie told us to run away when the monster came. I wanted to stay and fight it, but she yelled at me to follow her, so I did. She took us across town and into this daycare place, but Blackwatch was waiting for us and attacked us when we got inside, but I’m faster than them and I flew away before they caught me. And now you’re here and you’re going to save us!”

The unicorn is struggling harder, so I slam her into the wall and she quiets down. “I’m glad you’re okay. I just need to take care of these goons and we can go down and save your friends.”

“Cool!” He backflips in the air while squealing in excitement, just like Rainbow Dash. “So let’s kill these bullies!”

“Eh, what?” The unicorn stops struggling. Both she and I give Iffy the same look. Is this colt serious?

“Kill her, that’s what you do.” He shadow boxes the air and points at the pony in my grip. “She’s part of Blackwatch, and Blackwatch is evil. You got to kill the evil ponies.”

I look at the unicorn in my claw. Her face is going a bit pale, and I didn’t notice it before, but tears are streaming down her face. She’s wheezing for air as she tries to hit me, but her punches are growing weaker. It’s kind of pathetic.

“Well… That’s the thing… I’m not”-

“Iffy Sniff!”

Another familiar voice calls out from the other end of the hallway. I turn around to see a pink mare walking around the corner. Pinkie Pie? What the heck is she doing? There’s Blackwatch crawling all over the place.

“Iffy Sniff, we’re not playing hide-and-seek. I need you to come- GILDA!”

“Oh,” I give her a little wave. “Hi Pinkie. How’s it going.”

Pinkie Pie’s eyes dart between me, and then Iffy, and then the mare in my claws, and then the fresh hole in the wall, and then back at me. “Put Cherry down!” she screams at the top of her lungs.

The sudden jump in noise is enough for me to let go. The unicorn drops to the floor, and she’s gulping down air. She keeps sobbing in between gasps, and she ends up hyperventilating on her knees.

Pinkie Pie dashes over and dives down to the unicorn’s level. “Cherry! Breathe, Cherry, breathe!”

The pink mare sits down and holds the Blackwatch unicorn’s head up. Her eyes are bloodshot and tears are flowing from her face. Pinkie Pie pulls a napkin from out of nowhere and wipes the unicorn’s face off, then presses it against the side of her neck where my talons left their bloody marks.

“Just breathe,” Pinkie coos. “It’s going to be fine. You’re going to be fine.”

In between the gasps and the sobs, the unicorn spits out one word at me. “…Monster…”

“Shh, don’t talk, just breathe.” Pinkie Pie looks up at me. The happy mare I remember isn’t here now. Instead, this is a serious mare. Her brow is furrowed and her lips are in a stiff frown.

Okay… there’s something going on here that I don’t know about. Someone needs to explain things, now!