3-3 Recap · 11:32pm Jun 5th, 2015
Greetings from the Land of the Rising Sun. Here's your recap!
Previously on This Thing
CT looked up at Twilight from where he was sitting. “Connie—the real CT—actually met the princess when Project Freelancer first visited Equestria. She was my mole within the program, you see,” he explained. “She seemed to think that Princess Celestia actually aided the Director in his experiments on Alpha.”
Twilight’s heart stopped. “No… that… that can’t be true! S-she’d never….”
“She’s a politician, Ms. Sparkle. Even the best ones can't be good all the time. Comes with the job. It would greatly surprise me if her collaboration with the Director was the first morally gray road she’s taken.”
Sarge turned away from Grif and adjusted the weight of his shotgun. “Fine. If ya wanna keep playing at commander, I guess I’ll just have to stop the Blues myself!”
Grif folded his arms as Sarge walked towards the others. “If you’re going, don’t even think about coming back! We don’t have room for deserters in my squad!”
Sarge looked over his shoulder. “Good. Any squad with you in command is not one I want to be a part of!”
Grif’s hand curled into a fist, and Applejack heard his knuckles cracking. She couldn’t blame him for being angry after everything Sarge was saying, but even she wasn’t prepared for what he said next.
“Well, maybe I got everything you wanted because you’re a terrible leader! You ever fuckin’ think of that?!” Whatever Sarge was about to say next halted in its tracks as Grif continued his assault. “Maybe being in charge of a shitty backwater base is all you’ll ever amount to because you’re just an incompetent, irrelevant old man with nothing to offer anyone!”
The very air around the group was silent. Even the birds in the distance stopped chirping as the pure venom in Grif’s voice seemed to suck the life out of everything around him. Unfortunately, one of the members of the little group took the awkward silence as an opportunity to finally be heard. It didn’t occur to her just how big a mistake it would be until she opened her mouth.
“Um, Grif?” Fluttershy asked, idly fidgeting with the necklace around her neck. “I’m sorry for interrupting, but… there’s something I need to give you….”
Sarge took one glance in Fluttershy’s direction before rounding back on Grif. “Oh yeah? Well at least I don’t have a sister who’s both a little tramp and dead!”
“Oh yeah?! W… wait, what?”
“I… I found her. I saw her with my own eyes."
Trying not to tremble, Fluttershy pulled the chain holding the dog tags over her head. Be brave, Fluttershy. He needs you to be strong right now. She held the metal tags up toward him and did her best to keep her voice even. She was only partly successful.
“I-I’m so sorry, Grif….”
The mare in armor folded back her ears under Grif’s impatient glare. Right away he noticed she was holding a piece of paper and a pen in the glow of her magic aura, and was looking at him with sad eyes.
“Um, it’s about Private Boltshot….”
Oh… right. The issue of Boltshot had been brought to him immediately after the battle. He had been the single casualty from Grif’s squad. It had been his plan for the pegasi to use clouds as cover. He knew it would have provided no actual cover, but he was relying on its effectiveness at getting his troops close enough to the enemy with the element of surprise. From what Washington had told him after the battle, there was something he needed to do as the stallion’s commanding officer.
“I have the template for the letter you need to send to his next of kin,” the mare levitated the paper and pen over to him, and Grif took them hesitantly, as if afraid it might bite him.
Grif just stood there with the sheet in his hands as his head pounded from the stress. He looked out into the clearing at all of the ponies under his command. All of the lives he was responsible for. All of the brown-nosers, lazy slackers, and the few that still thought they were better than him. Grif remembered the lunch he had with Princess Celestia back when he first started being a leader to them. Her gentle encouragement to get him to finally realize his potential had actually been rather inspiring, and Grif had actually felt motivated to make a difference for the first time in years. Now though?
“Simmons, why does it feel like being a leader is actually harder than just being a regular soldier?”
Dangling the dog tags in front of him given by Sunny on Tex's behalf, Church gripped the bottom of one of the metal tags and pulled. It came off, and what was concealed within was now in Church’s hand.
“It’s a data chip!” he exclaimed, and right then Twilight knew Church was holding the answers he was promised. But there was just one problem.
“Don’t you need a computer to be able to access the information on there?” Twilight asked. She had computers in her basement, but she didn’t think they would exactly work with human technology.
“Nah, I can probably figure out a way to enter the thing myself. Looks like Tex is finally ready to come clean on exactly what she really is,” Church said, raising his gaze from the chip in his hand to the unicorn in front of him. “See, Twilight? Sometimes you just need to have faith.”
“Your former student?” Twilight asked, looking at her mentor curiously
“Yes. You’ll learn all about her in our coming conversation. As it happens, she is as much the reason for all of this as I am,” Celestia then took a step closer to Twilight and lowered her head to look her student right in the eye. “First, I owe you an apology, Twilight. I should have told you everything as soon as that ship first crashed. Now, it’s time for me to correct that error.”
Celestia rose to her full height again. “Let me start from the beginning. From the day I first met the Director of Project Freelancer: Doctor Leonard Church.”
