A quick question/Recap · 3:26pm May 8th, 2015
Act 3 Part 1 is going up later today, (unless... y'know... you're reading this later, at which point it's already up) YOU PUMPED?!?! I'll post the recap below, but I have an important question to ask: how many of you actually read these recaps and find them useful? I'm toying with the idea of just stopping posting them once Act 3 gets rolling, but if enough of you want, I'll keep the recaps coming too! Thoughts?
Anyway...
Previously on IAIMAY *dramatic music!*
“...‘Memory is the key’ means there’s only one thing with the memories needed to bring down the Meta and Project Freelancer,” Tex explained to the gathered ponies and blue soldiers. The group was standing in front of the derelict dropship under the stars. “The Alpha. We need to unlock it.”
Twilight took a step forward. “The Alpha? But, wouldn’t that mean… going back?”
Tex nodded, “Yes. Back to Repertum. Back to Freelancer Command.”
CT looked down at Rarity, “You’re her aren’t you? The protégé!”
A light suddenly switched on in Rarity’s brain. This man didn’t know her at all! He thought she was somepony else entirely!
“N-no! I’m not the Princess’ student! Twilight, she’s…”
“Bullshit!” CT grabbed her by the horn and forced her to look up at his terrifying brown helmet. The pain elicited another whimper from Rarity, and she glanced at the pistol in his other hand. “Why else would a unicorn of Equestria be here? The Princess sent you to cover her tracks, didn’t she?”
“W-what?”
CT apparently misinterpreted her confusion as surprise, as a dark chuckle escaped him. “That’s right, I know all about you and your Princess’s little joint project with the Director!”
Church bobbed his head as he and Tex stood around the Epsilon unit. “So they… broke Alpha? How?”
Tex’s voice went quiet, and the M.I. suddenly sounded cold. “They tortured him. Psychologically and emotionally. The Director presented Alpha with endless unwinnable scenarios designed to push him to his breaking point. What was worse, he was made to think that his failures were hurting everyone he knew and cared about. When he couldn’t take it anymore and his mind started to fragment, Project Freelancer harvested those fragments and they became the A.I.s we used.”
“Right, each one of them based on one of Alpha’s traits!” Church exclaimed, starting to get it.
“Exactly. And since Epsilon has the memories of what the Director did to Alpha, that makes it pretty decisive evidence. Probably enough to get him convicted on the spot.”
“So, if we need Epsilon to unlock the Alpha, does that mean we need to find the Alpha next?” Church asked.
“No,” Tex sighed. “We already have him.”
“We… do?”
“Church, when I first learned about what they were doing to Alpha, a couple of the Freelancers and I tried to break into the labs on the Mother of Invention to save him. But we failed. After that, the Director knew he had to move Alpha in case one of us tried breaking him out again. So, he hid Alpha in a place he knew no one would look to find him...
“A box canyon in the middle of nowhere.”
“What?” Church gasped. “You don’t mean…?”
“I do,” Tex said, her voice trembling the more she spoke. “There’s no such thing as ghosts, Church. Not even in Equestria. Haven’t you wondered why you can do the things you can? Things like living without a physical body? Didn’t you wonder why you were relocated separately from the rest of your squad? When you were in Blood Gulch, did you ever wonder why you’re here?”
“Tex?” Church’s voice was barely a whisper. “What are you saying?”
“It’s you, Church… you’re the Alpha.”
"What do you want with the Monitor?” Rarity asked, glowering.
“That Monitor has information that will lead me to another Forerunner site!” CT told her as the two stared each other down. “Perhaps you’ve been there? It is on your homeworld, after all!”
Rarity tilted her head. “What?”
“Apparently, there’s some pretty damning evidence against Project Freelancer there.”
They met Sarge and Donut as they arrived in front of the garage door, and in short order Sunny came galloping in from the distance.
“What’s going on? Why haven’t you guys brought the ship?” she asked.
“Yeah, about that…” Church rubbed the back of his helmet as he explained how the Meta had taken Epsilon, and had promptly fallen to the Elements of Harmony.
Tex appeared after he was done. “Okay, so where’s Epsilon?”
Twilight took a breath. “Well, from what I can tell, the Elements of Harmony work two ways: if the target is simply disharmonious in nature, the Elements put them in stone.”
“Like Discord?” Pinkie asked.
“Yes.” Twilight continued, “If, however, the target of the Elements is being corrupted by some other entity—or entities—then that corrupting influence is uh… destroyed.” Twilight swallowed. “The A.I. fragments were corrupting Agent Maine, so…”
“Let me get this straight: the Epsilon A.I.—as well as every other fragment that could be proof of the Director’s wrongdoing—were destroyed by your magical artifacts?” The fury growing in the little M.I. was palpable.
Twilight could only squeak and nod her head once as her ears wilted.
“So that’s it then? We failed?” Church asked.
“Not necessarily,” Tex said, as if reading Twilight’s thoughts. “Church, when we found Epsilon, you said you saw flashes, right?”
“Yeah, it was like, sending images to my brain or something,” Church answered.
“Those weren’t just images. They were memories,” Tex said, and all at once a ray of hope filled Twilight’s mind. “It’s possible that you reclaimed some of your memories as Alpha!”
“Yeah, I don’t know. I still don’t exactly remember anything different.”
“Remember, those memories were what made Epsilon go insane in the first place. Unlocking them isn’t going to be easy,” Tex sighed. “It’ll take time.”
“Well, we don’t have that much time,” Twilight said, remembering the Mother of Invention. She wouldn’t have been surprised if Project Freelancer had already started their attack on Equestria by now. “Tex, isn’t there any other way we can stop Project Freelancer?”
Tex was quiet for a long time as she stared at Twilight contemplatively. Finally, she turned to the pony beside her. “It’s Rarity, right?” Rarity nodded. “Still think you can track down CT?”
“Assuming he still has the Fire Ruby, yes. But how will that help?”
Tex’s figure paced through the air in front of the gathered ponies, Reds, and Blues. “For starters, we need to get back to Equestria, and we can’t exactly get back the same way you did last time,” Tex nodded at Twilight and Church. “But what we really need is the information CT found.”
“What information?” Church asked.
“If we can’t get evidence on what the Director did to Church, we’ll have to find something on his other major crime. If we can prove that Project Freelancer made illegal contact with an undiscovered alien race, we can put them away.”
“And how do we do that?” Twilight asked.
“We find the evidence that proves it… in Equestria.”
The Director’s image on the datapad suddenly vanished, replaced by what appeared to be an aerial view of a mountain and the land surrounding it. As she looked closer, Celestia realized that she was looking at Canterlot.
“What you are seeing now is the view of your capital from the targeting computer of the Mother of Invention’s Mass Accelerator Cannon,” the image of the Director returned, and his mouth curved ever so slightly upward. “Perhaps now you see the cost of letting your conscience take precedence?”
Celestia’s calm mask began to slip as she realized just exactly what was happening. Slowly, her brow began to lower and her neutral expression became a glare. Her tone became dangerously low. “You wouldn’t dare…”
“That is where you and I differ: I am able and willing to make the hard yet necessary choices. Are you?”
Celestia just looked at the image on the tiny screen with desperation. It was as if she was searching for something, but couldn’t find it. “Church... don’t. Do this. This isn’t you.”
Director Church looked right back at her. “You have forty-eight hours.”
With that, the image of the Director disappeared, and Celestia was looking at a blank screen. She then heard faint hooffalls as somepony approached behind her. Celestia didn’t even have to turn around to know that the dusk blue alicorn was standing there, a firm demanding look on her face.
Celestia looked down and gave a defeated sigh, her composure finally falling to reveal just how weary she truly was. “You’re right, Luna. I’m so sorry. I should have told you from the beginning.”
Celestia turned to look her sister in the eye. “It’s past time I explained… everything.”
Wow, I just caught up a few days ago, and then this gets posted. Thank you Flynt Coal.
Looking forward to it, Flynt!
Honestly, I don't really read the recaps myself since I've already read far ahead through the story. But it be nice to keep the recaps as a reminder for those who forgot what happened previously.
What? Eliminating the recaps? Then I would need to re-read the whole thing to refresh my memory each time a new chapter comes out.
I wouldn't like that very much.
Also, I saw the new cover-art. Fitting.
Keep the recaps.
I like the recaps, let's me get up to speed with what's been happening previously, especially if recapped events are stretching back a far while.