3-4 Recap · 9:24pm Jun 19th, 2015
Back from Japan. Such a delightfully weird little country! Anyway, it's recap time!
You know the drill
Twilight said with a nod, “So what do we do? How does this all relate to the Forerunner ruins that are supposed to be in Equestria?”
“Well, it would seem that Sunset Shimmer and the Director were lying to me in their reports," Celestia answered. "They did find the ruins. If we can find Sunset and the Director’s joint research on them, we can prove that they were working together. Then, we can deliver that information to the Chairman of Oversight and they will shut Project Freelancer down for good.”
“But… what about the Director’s threat?” she asked a frowning Celestia. “Even if we find these ruins, he might still destroy Canterlot!” The princesses, my parents, Spike… all of them gone.
Celestia just looked at her with grim determination. “Let me worry about Canterlot. What’s important is that you find whatever Sunset Shimmer and Project Freelancer left in the ruins.”
“What about you, Simmons?” Sarge asked. “You coming?”
The man in maroon raised his hands and twiddled his fingers anxiously as he looked back and forth from Sarge to Grif. His gaze lingered on Twilight and for a moment, the little unicorn thought her friend from Red Team was going to join them.
“No sir,” Simmons monotonously reported.
Twilight felt her throat clench up and she suddenly found herself unable to look at him. Strangely enough, it was Rarity who spoke up.
“And here I thought you were one of the good ones…”
Fluttershy swallowed nervously. “Well… when I went back home today to feed the animals, many of them were - understandably - a little bit agitated that I wasn’t there to feed them breakfast this morning… or give them their midnight snack the night before. I tried to explain the alien attack and the lockdown, but most of them still wouldn’t cooperate with me.
“As you can imagine, I found myself with no choice but to use my last resort…”
Rainbow nodded, “The Stare?”
“Yes, but… it didn’t work.” Fluttershy took a deep breath and tried to calm herself, but she could already feel her throat tighten, “That’s never happened before! I don’t like using it, but the Stare always makes even the most rebellious critters behave! Now I’ve got a bunch of animals that are mad at me and won’t listen and I don’t know what to do…”
Fluttershy’s rant became rapid sniffling that was dangerously close to tears. Seeing this, Rainbow quickly put a hoof on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring rub.
“Hey, it’s okay Fluttershy. We can figure this out!” Rainbow said, though without much confidence. Rainbow Dash didn’t know anything about Fluttershy’s trade, so she wasn’t exactly sure how they’d figure it out, but they would!
Rainbow scratched her chin, “When was the last time you used it?”
Fluttershy repeated the action herself. When was the last time she used the Stare? She knew it was recently… very recently in fact. Wasn’t it during the fight with the…?
Fluttershy looked back at Rainbow Dash to find her tearing into her letter like a foal opening a birthday present.
“Who’s that from?” Fluttershy asked.
“Dunno. Didn’t say,” Rainbow Dash kept her focus entirely on opening the envelope as she responded.
Rainbow quickly pulled out the letter and unfolded it. Fluttershy watched her eyes move back and forth as she read its contents. The more she read, the more Rainbow Dash’s face seemed to turn into a scowl. When it seemed that she reached the end, Rainbow hastily crushed the letter in her hooves and began crumpling it up, glaring daggers into the paper.
“Um… what’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked.
“Nothing. ‘S just a stupid letter from a stupid jerk!” With an angry grunt, Rainbow Dash tossed the offensive paper over the side of the cloud that her home sat on.
Hey Dash,
How’s it going? Y’know, Wonderbolt Academy is taking applications soon. You might want to start thinking about applying!
You won’t have to worry about seeing me there, my dad found us a new client and has the whole company on the move again. As always, I can’t tell you where we’re going in case the authorities get a hold of this, but let’s just say we’re going to need to dress warm.
I really hope you’ve been getting my letters. I haven’t gotten a reply from you in a while. It really sucks not having you around anymore. Anyway, gotta get ready. Talk to you later!
Gilda
Twilight’s ears perked up. “Oh, right! The ruins we’re looking for are in the Frozen North.” The unicorn mare immediately made her way to the wooden table in the center of the library where the small stack of books currently sat. “Celestia sent me this research put together by another pony. I’m certain that something here holds a clue about where we have to go.”
Levitating the literature in her magic, Twilight sorted through the various books. She flipped over various reference materials on the Three Tribes pre-Unification and a couple from admittedly dubious sources chronicling theories about an alien precursor race. At the bottom of it all was a simple journal. Unlike the others, this one looked to have never been published, as when she opened it, she was greeted by hoof-written words on lined paper.
The first page was short and simple:
A Chronicling of My Expeditions in Search of the Forebear Ruins (temporary title)
By: Arcane Star
