Chapter 7 – Explosive Rhythm

When the laser had finished cutting through the rock, ATLAS (or Blue as we will now call him) gave the wall a

gentle tap. It fell backwards, disintegrating as it hit the wall, and the trio moved through. "How come no

alarms have gone off yet?" Luna asked cautiously. "I jammed their primitive signals. It was easy, really."

Josh answered from Blue. Blue repeated his amazing wall-busting technique on the inner wall, and then

they were inside.

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The place was off-white, with simple prison cells on the top and more complex ones going down.

Fortunately, they were labeled. "Says we're in block D8," Josh muttered. "I can use that to give you guys a

good idea of where to go. Ah, perfect! Head to block A6, for Prisoners of War. She should be on floor six, cell

18A. Can either of you turn the three of us invisible?" Celestia nodded, horn glowing. Josh made Blue look

down at his hands. "Visible to only oneself? Interesting…" Josh noted. Blue raced forward, startling the two

princesses into following.

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As they passed through the C-block of the huge prison, they saw guards everywhere, and nearly bumped

into more than a few. Josh picked up on a conversation from across the room they were passing. "…And the

alarm is down?" a voice inquired. "Yes sir. We'll have it up in a second," a younger voice answered. Josh

made Blue turn a corner into a blocked-off, guardless corridor. "Did you hear that? They know," Josh said

darkly. "Fortunately for us, there's no way they can get past my handiwork on the signal. Unfortunately,

they're suspicious. We'll have to hurry." Luna and Celestia nodded grimly.

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The rest of the prison passed by in a blur until they came to something that looked suspiciously familiar.

"Isn't that the statue of Discord?" Josh muttered. Celestia looked surprised. "That was missing from the

grounds this morning. What do they plan to do with it?" Blue shrugged, and sauntered onward, dodging a

guard. Celestia and Luna looked at eachother and followed.

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"We're in block A, and no one has found us yet," Josh muttered. "This could be very good or very bad." Luna

raised an eyebrow. "Like, how bad?" Blue stretched out his arms as wide as they could go. "As Blue is so

thoughtfully saying, 'Like, this-is-a-trap bad'." Celestia nearly laughed. "You're thinking too far ahead. They

would never do something like that?" Blue rolled his optic, and though she couldn't see, Luna was

absolutely sure LaECOS was doing the same. "This is war, Celestia. Granted, I base my knowledge of war

tactics off of human strategy, which is generally a lot less friendly, the concept of winning by any means

necessary should remain the same. Therefore, proceed with caution." Celestia held up a hoof. "What do you

mean, 'less friendly'? What strategy have you developed to win a war?" Blue looked agitated, and it

appeared that Josh was conversing with him, as occasionally he would comment in his unintelligible

language. "A weapon so destructive that entire countries could be wiped out in under a second. A weapon

that our entire world banned it from military use," Josh said grimly. "The atomic bomb."

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When they reached floor six, the two ponies flying and Blue scaling the walls and stairs, they saw a crude

arrow marked "IMPORTANT PRISONER" pointing to Cadence's cell. "If this was a trap, they couldn't make it

any more obvious. That looks like it was hastily scribbled with a marker," Josh commented. Blue melted the

lock, and opened the door to reveal Princess Cadence. She looked the worse for wear, bound and gagged.

Around her were several inconspicuous crates. "Hold on. Do NOT enter this room." Josh warned, as he used

an X-ray to scan the room. "I was right, this is a trap. Those crates are filled with explosives, and the

tripwires are across the entire door. Cadence, can you hear me?" Josh called in a louder tone. Cadence

nodded and made frantic motions to the explosives. "Blue. Listen carefully. On the laser/EMP tool, switch the

mode to 'Emergency'. This makes the device a highly unstable portal device temporarily. Celestia, Luna, try

to free some others. This is going to be a BIG explosion."

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The two immediately left to coax other prisoners out, and sometimes teleporting them out instantly.

Meanwhile, Blue cautiously placed a portal on the wall next to him and another on Cadence's chair. The chair

slid through and Blue helped Cadence through and out of her restraints. "Thank you," she said in the most

melodic voice Josh had ever heard. They heard guards coming into the room and Celestia and Luna flew

over. "We just finished, let's get out of here! Perhaps we still have-" Celestia could not finish her sentence,

as the room erupted in a fiery conflagration sure to engulf them all. However, before it even touched Blue's

metallic skin, time appeared to stop. "Time? Is that what you need?" a familiar snarky voice said. Nightmare

Moon, appearing seemingly out of nowhere, tapped Blue on the shoulder, and Blue found he could move

again.

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"In case you're wondering, I'm going to do you a favor and let you live for now. As for my sisters, what do

you think?" Nightmare surveyed the scene with disdain. Celestia's face was frozen in an expression of

horror that would have been funny at any other time. "Why are you helping me?" Josh said, experiencing

the curious effect of being frozen in time from another being's body. "A favor from a friend," Nightmare said

dismissively. "Save the princesses too. As much as you want to take over Equestria, it needs to have

something to take over," Josh said irritably. "Okay, fine. But this is our little secret." There was a flash of

white, and then total darkness.

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The three princesses woke up in a daze. They were in the Enrichment Center, slumped on the floor. Celestia

took a while to adjust to the bright white lights, and saw LaECOS looking down at her. "Congratulations.

You have been asleep for approximately 876 minutes." Celestia looked around. "How did we get here? I

remember the room exploding, and then nothing. "Oh, I'm sure a guardian angel came along and saved us,"

Josh said, attempting a joking tone. "What's an angel?" Luna asked. Josh gently laughed. "That was a joke,

I have no idea. Angels are mythical humans with wings." Cadence looked around. "What is this place?"

LaECOS chuckled gently. "This is the Aperture Science Equestrian Enrichment Center. I am known as

LaECOS, but my real name is Josh Stevenson. If you've heard the news, I seem to have started a war

between two nations, and now I'm helping to end it." Sara walked into the room and saw the three ponies

slumped on the floor. "Omigosh! Are you okay?" Sara cried, running up to Celestia. Celestia nodded. "I'm

fine, thanks to… whatever saved us. Are you sure you detected nothing?" she asked Josh. "No, nothing, at

all. Sensors entirely blank," LaECOS said, a bare hint of nervousness in his tone that only a thousand years

of honed political skills allowed Celestia to detect. "Okay then," she finally said. "We must be off, we do

have a country to run." LaECOS said his goodbyes, and Luna stopped just out the door, turning back to him.

"We thank you for helping us," she said sincerely. LaECOS nodded. "Of course, anytime." The door then

closed.

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