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// CH38: Targets 
// Story: A Dubious Welcome 
// by Maonyman 
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It was a long and monotonous drive through the hot and dusty landscape. 
At first it had been fairly interesting, thanks to the unique nature around them. The image that Celestia had sent them had hinted at an exotic foreign world, but seeing it firsthoof was much more impressive. The trees were so unusual, with their odd leaf-less lower branches and wide, flat tops, and she saw a herd of the "antelopes," as Anon had called them, running off in the distance. He said they didn't have any magic but she still wondered about those horns. Perhaps there was latent magic lurking in the background of Earth's creatures.
Despite the vibration of the "pickup truck" disrupting her concentration and making her quill-writing a bit sloppy, Twilight had added a copious amount of notes to her little notepad. It was more than halfway full now, and she was excited to go over it back at the castle. She wondered what Fluttershy would think of the wild creatures she had learned about here? Apparently some humans kept bunnies as pets too! Nothing like Angel, though, these were just wild and dumb animals, as far as she could tell, no real intelligence. In fact, all the animals of Earth seemed unusually stupid compared to the ones she was familiar with. Maybe that was why the humans didn't mind treating them so poorly.
She cut off that train of thought before it started to bother her. Who was she to judge another species' culture and habits, anyway? Dragons and griffons hunted for food too, after all. They just didn't industrialize--
Nope, not going there. She put her hoof down and refused to think about that. She looked around for a distraction and saw Starlight in the middle of checking her locator spell, then she leaned her head through the window in the back of the cabin to give Mpho some more precise directions as they got closer. She had done that a couple of times now.
"Can you tell how far we are!?" She shouted over the wind.
Starlight shook her head and yelled back, "Hard to say for sure, but we're still a ways off, I think! An hour, maybe!?"
Twilight nodded and sat back again, not eager to continue shouting back and forth at each other. Her gaze continued to wander and she noticed there was another truck following behind them now, but she shrugged it off. It's not like going down the same road was suspicious behavior.
However, more trucks began to slowly trickle in, and by the fourth one, Twilight was getting very uncomfortable. She scooted around to the front of the pickup truck bed and leaned her head through the window.
"U-Uh, are we being followed?"
Mpho looked over his shoulder at her with an eyebrow raised, then smiled reassuringly.
"Do not fear, pony. They are friends, more of my people. We are not facing Arno's camp just with our one little truck. There will be more trucks coming, soon there will be a dozen, maybe more."
"Oh. O-Okay."
She felt silly for worrying now and pulled her head out of the window, trying to ignore the heat growing in her muzzle.
True enough, over the next hour or so, about a dozen more trucks smoothly merged one by one behind them, forming a formidable sized raiding party. 
The ride dragged on, becoming monotonous, and Twilight found herself zoning out. As she did so, her thoughts drifted onto Anon, and she bit her lip nervously. She really needed to decide what to do about him. The landing had interrupted her just as she was about to bring it up with him, but maybe that had been for the best--what would she even say? Somehow just telling him to forget it felt wrong. She did care about him, after all, and did not want to hurt him. 
Maybe she could just wait until he made a move. That's what all the fillies do when they know a colt is crushing on them, right? This was kind of a unique situation though.
Unbidden, Starlight's comments popped into her head, "Aren't you curious? Just a little?"
She turned to look through the rear window and caught Anon watching her again. This time, he held her gaze, and for some reason this made her blush and turn away, her ears folding down shyly. Then she caught Glimmer's eye and saw her smirk, which only made her blush harder.
Why was she getting so flustered anyway?
Sure, it was flattering to know he cared so deeply for her, but that was no reason to feel so embarrassed. Her tail was flicking nervously and she just couldn't help it. Blasted thing had a mind of its own sometimes. And it didn't help that she knew this was all going to earn her even more teasing from Starlight later.
She turned to watch the landscape slide by and tried not to think about Anon watching her backside. Her head unconsciously began to turn as if to look over her shoulder, then she caught herself and faced forward again. So what if he stared? If he liked what he saw, then what was the harm? It wasn't as if she was upset about it. She was just... worried about needing to turn him down eventually. After all, a pony and a human? Ridiculous.
Still, her wings shuffled a bit as she repositioned onto her side. It was more comfortable, that was all. The fact that it accentuated the curve of her hips was purely coincidental.
She realized she was still blushing.
Eventually, Starlight leaned through the window for the last time, and Mpho brought the vehicle to a stop. The rest of the convoy roared up around them, vehicles grinding to a halt all around.
"What is it?" Twilight asked her as she withdrew her head.
Starlight's muzzle had a grim set to it, "We're nearly there. Celestia is very close. I think she might be just behind those hills in the distance there."
A man jumped out of a nearby vehicle and jogged up, speaking quickly in a foreign language to Mpho. He must have informed the man that they were here, because he immediately twirled around and began shouting orders at the other men who were exiting the other vehicles. 
He turned back and said something to Mpho, who then turned to Starlight and said, "Can you show us precisely where?"
She shook her head, "Not yet, we need to get closer. But I'm pretty sure they would hear our vehicles approaching."
A quick exchange later, Mpho said, "Arno and his men likely already know we are here. It would be foolish of him not to have scouts watching for approaching vehicles. Time is now of the essence."
Twilight gasped, "B-But, the element of surprise!"
Lizzy patted the air in a calming gesture, just like Anon sometimes did.
"Don't worry, Twilight. It takes time for even a small outfit like theirs to get up and leave. There's no way they've already packed up and left."
Twilight shuffled her hooves nervously, but Starlight laid a hoof on her withers, an odd sort of gleam in her eye.
"C'mon, Twi. Let's pay them a little visit."
Lizzy's eyes widened, "What? N-No, you have to wait for--"
Starlight glared at her, "If they can't escape, then Celestia is in even more danger than ever. We need her out of there NOW. Besides, your people need to know what they're up against, right? We can protect ourselves. We'll get Celestia, get out, and get you some much needed intel in just a few short moments. Then you all swarm the place."
Lizzy frowned, folding her arms as Starlight continued, then sighed and shook her head.
"I doubt we could stop you if we tried. Go on then, magical unicorns. Do your thing."
Starlight grinned and said, "Only one unicorn here, lady. Ready, Princess?"
She said the last word with a bit of playful sarcasm and Twilight rolled her eyes, responding similarly, "Yes, my faithful student. I am ready."
They both giggled--mostly due to nerves--then their horns glowed in unison, preparatory shields appearing around them both. Starlight prepared the teleportation spell, then waited while Twilight attuned to her. It was tricky, teleporting together like this, but they were no novices. They popped into the ether.
Almost immediately, they reappeared around the back of a small complex of buildings. They looked around quickly, nervously, but there was nobody there to see them.
Starlight's horn flickered and she let out a nervous puff of air.
"Phew, lucky aim. Alright, Twi. Right behind this wall, I think. Here we go..."
They repeated the teleportation process, and a brief moment later, they popped into a dimly lit room. Twilight couldn't make out much so soon after the bright sunlight outside--stupid, she should have compensated for that--but luckily from the sounds around her it didn't seem like anyone had noticed their presence yet.	As their eyes adjusted to the dark, they realized why--they had appeared in a small side room which seemed to be used as a sort of storage and holding area, filled with boxes and tubs of various supplies and equipment. 
Together, they slowly moved toward the empty doorway and leaned their heads out into the room beyond.
It was dark in that room, save for one spot right in the middle. One bright lamp hung from the ceiling, it's light poured out and drew their gaze down.
Twilight's chest sunk with horror.
Celestia was strewn across a wide circular table, her labored breathing sounding rough in her throat even from this distance, her hooves tied together with one foreleg bent at an unnatural angle. Her wings were picked almost raw, barely more than pale white appendages now, feeble and pathetic looking. Her beautiful mane and tail had been roughly hacked off, leaving only a few inches of straggly hairs behind, and there was a bright red tube attached to her foreleg, slowly pouring her blood out into a barrel.
But that wasn't what Twilight was staring at.
Twilight's eyes were frozen on Celestia's horn.
Celestia's horn where it laid on the table.
It had been broken off, violently shattered at the base, the mutilated stump on Celestia's forehead pulsing and sparking pathetically.
In their stunned horror, both ponies had stepped out into the room, unconsciously trying to get closer to help their Princess.
There was a yelp of surprise from one of the humans, then a general clamor as everybody leapt to attention.
Twilight hardly even noticed the growing commotion.
She realized she was crying--with horror or anguish or rage, she could not tell.
All she could see was the horn.
She screamed.
Starlight screamed.
They both reared as one, their horns bursting into blinding light. The room all but exploded with the primal energy of their raw magic. In the glow of their horns, they saw humans rushing about.
Targets.
Twilight took aim.