Chronicles of Luna: Future Past Equation

Chapter 12: Deviation

Power Level: 45%, it wouldn’t be long now. The power restore had taken most of the night, but soon all the delays wouldn’t matter.

The final stage would happen about sunrise; that should make an interesting surprise for early risers and the Canterlot royal guards.

Maybe even Celestia Herself would catch sight of it.

But, potentially, any difficult part lay afterward: Justifying her actions to the Royal Courts.

But logic would most likely prevail on that end; Gladiola had yet to meet an individual who could contest her on the logic front. It would take a miracle, nothing short of her own return, for find any pony, judge or jury, which would convict her.

Which in part, was why Gladiola planned it out the way she had. No direct involvement, no intentional injuries. Minimal consequences.

About the only part that had fallen through was the involvement of the guilty party.

Royal involvement RCSC’s only solution to the fact they knew she had returned, they just didn’t want to admit it. Luna had proven that, not only that; but exposed them for the old, lost, fearful bunch of hypocrites they are.

The fact the only thing they could offer her is a place at their table was almost insulting.

“They can only slow me down, while they try to keep me under a microscope, afraid of what I’ll would do next. “ Gladiola thought. “I don’t need oversight, I need progress. The whole of EST needs progress.”

Another point Gladiola had to consider: Silver Rose.

It was obvious now that Rose had ulterior motives for her accompanying Sunflower here.

They having no animosity, Rose would easily be able to ask to be placed in cyro-stasis until her level of illness could be effectively cured.

It would be an interesting conversation, but a pleasant one. Gladiola was looking forward to it.

Finally, there had been Princess Luna’s involvement, which while unfortunate, was a beneficial circumstance.

Gladiola now had a scientifically significant baseline established for Alicorns, and the Alicorn track was proving to be an effective test platform, even if she had to run the whole course again with a different princess.

“Perhaps the latest addition to the pantheon, Princess Twilight Sparkle, would suffice? She did study under Celestia personally, and she does seem the studious type, I’m certain she’d be happy to help” Gladiola mused.

Speaking of Princess’s, Princess Luna seemed rather pleased about this surprise she had come up with; what could she have in store?

******

Luna’s sly smile had disappeared upon entering the chamber.

Admittedly, the fact that she would be facing exponentially more turrets had already been expected; it was the culmination of every additional test aspect from the previous chambers along side the turrets, made the situation most perturbing.

Luna began to address her unseen yet omnipresent host.

“Platinum Gladiola, I must say, this whole experience has been most enlightening. But now, I must bring this all to a close. “

“Oh, and just how will you be achieving that goal?” Gladiola responded over the intercom.

Taking a moment, Luna drew a deep breath, and once again used the Royal Canterlot Speaking Voice.

“Royal Command Override Alpha One Two One Six. Authorization: Princess La Luna Mystique De Nocturne.”

A jovial automated Stallions voice responded. “ Override accepted, Princess Luna. Royal proximity security override activated. Facility lockdown overridden, all doors opened for exit. Power level 46%, freight and large scale staff elevators active for evacuation. Have a nice day, and hope to see you again.”

Gangplanks and catwalks appeared out of the walls directly to the exit. Turrets and other test implements powered down. And additional lights turned on to highlight all means of taking leave available.

“Your. Kidding. Me.” Gladiola said, rather surprised.

“Woohoo! Way to go, Princess Luna!” Pinkie pie announced enthusiastically. Pinkie was quite pleased with Luna’s surprise, it definitely was a big change from Gladiola’s brain bending, unfun, unfair ones.

“Thank you, Pinkie, but this just affords us a more even hoofing with Gladiola. And right now, we should be running.” Luna said, and then started to bolt toward the exit.

“Princess Luna? Wait!” Pinkie shouted as she galloped to catch up.

“My apologies, Pinkie, but there’s still much to do before this is over, and I can’t imagine Gladiola is going to just let us find her or her captives without incident. Every door may open for me now, but Gladiola still has control of the rest, and as she demonstrated.”

*******

“Okay, fine then.” Gladiola thought. “ Computer, MAOBL launch capacity charge, protocol Gamma. Authorization Code: Zero One Zero Five.” She ordered shortly after.

The same automated voice, which answered Luna before, responded. “ Code Accepted, Director Platinum Gladiola. Estimated time of full charge: 35 Minutes.”

“ Had the lockdown not happened, it would only take six minutes.“ Gladiola thought sourly.

“Calculate launch trajectory Four Beta. Open canopy five minutes prior to full charge. “

“Acknowledged. Reminder: Royal command override affects all other commands from Non-Royal entities within 10 meters.” The automated voice offered.

“Not going to be an issue.” Gladiola thought as she summoned the freshly sterilized HEHE Suit.

“Now, to go get my sister. She and Quark have a flight to catch.”

******

“Whoa. Sir, you should really see this.” One of the Techs said to Lead Balloon.

Curious, Lead Balloon headed over, and immediately saw the problem. It was a read out of the facilities power grid.

He knew there was only one thing that could cause that large a shift to spike the gird.

“Princess Luna? Are you there? Princess Luna, please respond.” As he called out to Luna on the comm., the rest of the RCSC gazed at the screen, various expressions of shock and fear over their faces.

“If this is the final step in her plan, well, it would be very impressive, if it weren’t completely terrifying.” Lead Balloon thought, waiting for Princess Luna to answer.

******

The sound of Lead Balloon in Luna’s earpiece wasn’t so much a surprise, as a distraction. Hopefully he had good news; she could really use a large portion of that.

“This is Luna, Lead Balloon. What is happening?” She asked.

“Princess Luna, our technicians have noticed a very large power fluctuation within the facility. Unfortunately, only one machine is capable of creating such a fluctuation: The Magnetically Assisted Orbital Break Launcher.

Luna took a deep breath before asking, rather certain she was in for a lengthy explanation. “ And that is?”

“ The MAOBL, as we call it, is the primary component of the Equestria
space exploration and discovery program. This facility houses one of the four across Equestria. “

“Yes?” Luna responded.

“We use this one mostly for deep space satellite launches. The Space program is still undergoing safety restructuring after the incident with major Tom Foolery to allow ponies into space again.” Lead Balloon finished solemnly.

“I take it then, that this information is being relayed to me because you believe that Gladiola, once her two prisoners are reunited, are intended to launched into deep space?” Luna asked.

“Precisely. And if had to hazard an additional guess, Cyro-stasis chambers are likely to play a part in this plan.”

Luna paused a moment. “Cryogenically freezing those who conspired against her, then launch them into the void of space. Thorough.”

Pinkies face had a notable expression of surprise upon hearing Luna’s assessment

“ How long do We have before launch. I would have to believe that the shutdown slowed down the timeframe?” Luna continued

“Yes, that’s the good news. Estimates place the launch time at around 30 plus minutes. And since the MAOBL is at the peak of the facility, finding it is relatively easy.”

“Provided they aren’t frozen yet, this is the most promising information I’ve heard all night. “ Luna affirmed, spreading her wings after finding another stairway, Pinkie holding firm on her back.

******

Sunflower ran behind a wall when she heard the exit door open and the stairway activate.

Carefully, she looked around the corner; Nothing.

“Maybe she got tired of hearing my bawling?” Sunflower thought.

Carefully, Sunflower stepped toward the exit; she didn’t a repeat of Gladiola’s earlier deception.

Shortly, Sunflower had made her way through the exit, toward the elevator.

“Luna might have found Gladiola too. Maybe Luna’s taken control?” Sunflower then thought hopefully, as the elevator shaft hummed with life, bringing the car up.

That thought quickly went out the window when a large clamp grabbed hold of Sunflower’s midsection, followed shortly by the vision of a pony in some kind of science-armor.

Fear then crossed Sunflower’s face as Gladiola’s voice came from the armor. “ Good news, You’re finally going to be leaving here very soon, though you won’t be going home. And if the last Pony is any indication, this will definitely be a one way trip.”