Chronicles of Luna: Future Past Equation

by Pony of Science

Chapter 10: Solving for X

Chapter 10: Solving for X

When Princess Luna exited her dream travels, she was welcomed to the sound of crunching and slurping.

A quick look around revealed several old looking, hermitically sealed, labeled pouches, some opened; and Pinkie Pie, her companion, busily eating, a look of dissatisfaction and distaste on her face.

Luna raised some of the pouches to her face with her magic, and sure enough was indeed food and water, preserved and sterilized for long-term storage.

But based on the look on Pinkie’s face, taste had clearly not been considered as a factor in the process of creating them.

With trepidation, Luna opened one of the water pouches, and took a drink.

Luna instantly regretted it; the chemicals used to preserve and prevent spoilage were bitter and astringent, the water in the Manehattan municipal pool tasted better.

“Sorry Princess Luna, I didn’t see you were awake, or it would have warned you about the water ones. There really, really, super duper, extra bad” Pinkie offered, having finished the pouch of what had once been carrots.

After her fit of coughing ended, Luna responded “ No, Miss Pie. The fault is mine. I hadn’t listened to my first instinct. I take it these were here after you had awoke?”

Pinkie continued, happy that Luna wasn’t upset with her. ”Uh huh, but these look really old. I’ve had freeze-dried carrots before at a fair, and these were so icky.”

“Clearly, the technique has been significantly refined, as well as improved since the time these were made. “ Luna commented.

Pinkie brought up an obvious question.” If these things showed up when we where asleep, doesn’t that mean that Gladiola mare was here? And if that’s true, why would she leave these old things for us?”

Luna took a moment to think before answering. “ It would certainly imply that Gladiola had been here at first glance. Equally likely is the possibility she had sent these through the modular walls, so she didn’t have to leave her current location. As for these, I rather hope to be true, as strange as it sounds, may have been from Gladiola’s personal cache, instead of the facility cafeteria.”

“But if Gladiola got out a year ago, like you said, why would she eat this icky stuff?” Pinkie asked.

Pinkie had been paying some attention to Luna’s relay of events during their stay on the various test tracks.

“The staff would have a much better idea about that. If I had to guess, it’s some how connected to her long stay in cryo-stasis.”

Then, Luna received an incoming call tone on her headset.

“Princess Luna, are you there?” the voice came from the earpiece, which had been silent since the shutdown. “Princess Luna, do you copy?”

“Administrator Mobius Chain? Yes, yes, I hear you. Did you and your party evacuate? And when were communications restored?” Luna asked.

“When power was restored to 35%. But that’s the least of our concerns. And yes, we’ve gotten out just fine. We’ve been talking with the RCSC, and we’ve all been quite concerned. What’s been going on since you followed Sunflower?”

“ Unfortunately, Sunflower got herself captured by Gladiola again in the main test track area, we’ve had no choice but to follow. Gladiola’s castigation of her sister has since taken a more personal, and far more insulting bent. At the same time, Pinkamena and I have been given the privilege of testing the facilities recently completed Alicorn track. “ Luna related, matter-of-factly.

“Alicorn.Track?” Not just Mobius Chain, but my multiple members of the RCSC repeated these words as well.

This was far more serious than they thought.

Not only had Gladiola cut out the Commission in approving facility proposals, she had apparently been creating her own projects.

In conjunction with that they’ve managed to figure out She’d been using her administrative capacity subtly for decades, it was becoming obvious as to how far she was capable of going, without oversight.

She seemed to be answering the question they had long been wondering, and it wasn’t one they wanted.

“Lead Balloon, Mobius Chain, I have several questions, and you and the Commission may be able to piece together what information I have for answers.” Luna broke the collective silence of the science ponies on the outside.

“Of course Princess Luna, What did you need to know?” Mobius Chain replied.

“ When I read through the dossier before arriving here, one of the odd occurrences was a missing suit?” Luna began.

After a moment, Mobius Chain had pulled up the report to the item in question on his tablet. “ Ah, yes, here it is: One EST Heavy Exposure Hazardous Environment Suit. Missing and unaccounted for, no evidence of theft. This was the second unexplained disappearance of EST property that month, and to some the first real evidence Gladiola had rejoined the world of the living.”

Lead Balloon took over, understanding where the conversation was going. “ The Freon Coil/Agar Culture Theory. After such a long period in stasis, her immune system wouldn’t be able to handle today’s mutated germs and bacteria.”

“ That also explains the multiple immunization vials that had gone missing. But why wouldn’t Gladiola at least try to contact the staff after acquiring the suit? Would revenge be her only motivation for hiding this long?” Mobius inquired.

“ Perhaps not entirely. The report mentioned that at the time Platinum Gladiola was in charge, there was an aggressive competitor, as well as a major corporation that was challenging both the EST and the Rich Corporation.” Luna responded.

“Tyranus Advancements, and Origin Corporation. She wouldn’t have known what had happened to them, not at first anyway. I could see how she’d want to keep her return a secret from them at first.” Lead Balloon answered.

“But both ended up being victims of their own ambition and criminal activities, correct?” Luna questioned.

“Mostly. TA ended up completely dissolved after its company head supposed perished in an explosion during a stand off with royal justice officers and guards at Manehattan. The entirety of its work, or rather, that which wasn’t seized by the courts, was transferred to EST. Origin is still mired in litigation for illegal experimentation, corruption, bribery, and other nastiness. Most of its main officials are still in special royal investigative custody after all these years. A vast majority of its shares were sold off, along with a vast amount of the companies assets, ironically to the Rich Corporation.” Lead Balloon exposited.

The RCSC had kept close tabs on both Companies, especially after Gladiola disappeared. Some of them had a suspicion that one if not both played a hoof in instigating the circumstances of her imprisonment.

“ Tryanus Noir; I read that he was attempting to build a military for a coup de tat with the weapons they were developing in secret.” Luna completed.

Luna, having access to the royal archives, had a fair amount of reading on the history of Equestria since her absence.

The Tyranus Advancements scandal had been the most recent of such attempted coups.

The “allegedly perished”, mentioned by Lead Balloon, was due to the fact that while it was supremely unlikely Tyranus Noir survived the building explosion, his body was never found.

At least not enough of it to prove it was Tyranus.

“That’s right, Princess Luna. You think those companies got their hooks into Quark?” Mobius asked.

“ It makes sense; Quark does not seem the type to machinate such a plan on his own.”

Mobius chimed in. “ My guess is that eliminating the EST executive staff was part of the plan, then the RCSC. After that, acquiring EST would most likely be simple, and whoever owned it would monopolize the field of science, and use it for their own purposes, with Quark as their lapdog. Guess they didn’t plan the disciplinary review of Quark’s previous actions, along side his demotion and denial of all further involvement in any project. They even erased Quark from all past projects, as if he’d always been cleaning staff.”

“Ironic then, that EST ended up the monopoly.” Luna commented.

“Only on the face of it. The RCSC, and to some extent, I imagine, Gladiola herself, have taken great efforts to ensure that EST is never in the mindset of being the sole provider of scientific research and development for Equestria.”

Lead Balloon had that speech in his back pocket whenever ponies asked about that fact.

And a majority of that was true: Another important fact was that they had to report to Princess Celestia directly, and there’s nothing quite like having the ruler of the whole of equestrian species to help you keep perspective.
“Well then, that answers a good deal about the past. Now on to another point: the sealed off part of the facility had reserves of preserved food and water, correct?” Luna continued, eager to ascertain another unusual matter, one much more recent.

“Yes, there were emergency provisions, early versions of extended period preservation, stored in that area. But they were, rough, to put it mildly. The Emergency Provision packs within the facility were replaced by far superior ones once they got a full understanding of technique and compatible foodstuffs. The water pouches from were the worst; the only reason you’d drink those is if you had no viable choice.” Mobius relayed to the Princess. “Why do you ask?”

“Because it appears Platinum Gladiola took no chances with her fellow scientists theory regarding long cyro-stasis. I believe She has been sustained herself on these sub-standard provisions during her time out of the chamber, of which Ms. Pinkamena Pie and I have had the misfortune of experiencing. “

“Oh wow.” That was all Mobius chain could think to say.

Luna continued. “ These facts have been very informative, but something escapes me. The other missing artifact: The Shield of Damascus Heart. What is it and would Gladiola need it? “

Lead Balloon began. “ Oh yes, you weren’t there during that war. Well, the Shield, as the name suggests, belonged to one of the Knights of Canterlot. It was recently confirmed to have magically properties. Specifically, it allows the bearer of the shield to withstand injuries or circumstances that would be lethal otherwise. Considering that Cyro-stasis still isn’t a two way journey as of yet, She most likely used it so that reversing the process wouldn’t be lethal.”

“Fascinating. All this effort and planning on Gladiola’s part. I believe I understand why she took the tact she did.” Luna answered.

“ Pardon, understand what?” Lead Balloon asked.

“Why Gladiola set out to prove that EST doesn’t need The Commission anymore.” Luna started, The RCSC stunned. “That is why you called for royal intervention on this matter. None of you could afford the embarrassment of your lost Savior Prodigy returning to shutter the Counsel, Correct? “

It took some time before anypony answered. “ The rumbles of us being outmoded have been around for at least seven years now. We had hoped that Gladiola would have contacted us after her escape. If anypony could have silenced the rumors, it would be her. We had also hoped that, even after all this time, that Gladiola would accept our offer for her to join the Commission.”

Luna interrupted, this revelation surprising her. “ Wait, You wanted to make Gladiola a member of the Commission?”

Lead Balloon answered. “Yes, of course. Gladiola’s life had been one of solitude and intellect. She sped through school at such a pace nopony could get close. Sunflower didn’t help with that, especially after she stole Gladiola’s fiancé. When she began as the head of this facility, EST was at it’s most endangered. She got EST on solid ground, and ahead of our competitors. By the time she ended up in that Cyro-chamber, Tyranus Advancements and Origin Corp. were drowning in legal woes. A place at the Commission as thanks for all her work was a start, but it was something she needed more than that.”

“Peers.” Luna looked over at Pinkie, who was playing with opened package of gelatinized peach cubes to build confectionary ponies. “Friends. A voice other than her own to help her to grow and heal.”

“After her engagement was broken off, Gladiola became even more distant. We had hoped after she became head of this facility, being around so many ponies, she would start to open up. We had to change our plan when it was clear that while she was changing, the cracks in her faced were starting to show. Everypony knows the intellect of Platinum Gladiola, but almost no pony has any inkling about who she is as an individual; even her ex may not even have had a real clue. ” Gossamer Shield related.

Luna thought back to what Celestia had said earlier. “ Then perhaps it is time to find out. This matter will be a point of discussion when this is over. Now, if you will excuse us, we have the matter of a new test track to complete.” Luna replied, and turned to Pinkie Pie.

“Princess Luna?” Pinkie started to ask. “ If Gladiola has so much control over this place, wouldn’t that mean she’d have been listening to that whole conversation?”

“That’s exactly what it would mean.” Luna answered, a sly smile spreading across her face.

A look of surprise filled Pinkies expression; not really understanding, but the fact that Princess Luna had a plan was enough to fulfill her curiosity.