//------------------------------//
// CH42: Infiltration 
// Story: A Dubious Welcome 
// by Maonyman 
//------------------------------//

Starlight groaned. A rock was digging painfully into her side and she tried to roll off it, but her body was weak and slow to respond. Her head ached terribly too, making it hard to concentrate. 
Not being able to move was a bad thing, right?
She struggled to lift a fetlock and rub her eyes, then blearily cracked an eye open. The world was blurred by dazzling sunlight and her hoof flopped useless back to the ground.
"Nnng..."
With what seemed like a momentous effort, she rolled onto her belly. Vague memories flitted through her mind. Anon tending to Celestia's horn. A sharp prick in the neck. Twilight being carried away. Then she was here, alone, in the dirt, in the blazing sun. She looked up and squinted into the sky.
What the hay was going on?
At least her head didn't seem to weigh a ton anymore. In fact, she seemed to be rapidly gaining strength.
Oh, duh, it's the regeneration spell! It must be helping to flush her system and rejuvenate her. She gave a silent prayer of thanks to Princess Luna for helping her get through that casting.
Squinting up at the sun again, she realized it had moved a significant distance from what she last remembered. That meant she must have been out for a long while.
Oh horseapples, Princess Luna must be worried sick! Once her mind cleared fully, she would have to send a report ASAP.
One mystery remained though: why was she lying in the dirt in the middle of nowhere? What had happened to Anon, and Twilight, and Overture in general? Why had they left her behind?
She pondered this as the world slowly came back into focus, then abruptly, she noticed the faint aura surrounding her. She stared at it in confusion for a long moment before she finally remembered the jewelry hanging from her ear. It was the enchantment doing exactly what it was meant to do: hiding and protecting her, keeping her safe from all but the most powerful of magical creatures.
The humans must have been awfully disappointed when she vanished right from under their noses! She grinned with satisfaction, but her joy was short-lived. They still had Twilight, and probably Anon and Celestia, too. 
Beginning to feel almost herself again she groggily got to her hooves and looked around. There wasn't much to see. She really was in the middle of nowhere. The only things in sight were trees and the dusty remains of Arno's hideout. 
The aura surrounding her was beginning to fizzle out now that she had regained her consciousness, but that was easily remedied. One invisibility dome spell later and she had all the time in the world to think in safety.
She cast around for Celestia and found she was not terribly far, but still further than she could easily teleport without wearing herself out. Then she cast around for Twilight and she was just as far and in the same direction. Okay, so Overture had them both. Probably Anon, too. 
Well, it was a start.
Feeling much better now, she decided it was time to put Princess Luna's worries to rest, if only partially. Focusing her magic, she reached out for her home, then pressed the words into the connection, trusting to the spell they had set up to deliver them the rest of the way. Gosh, she hoped the spell had been working--she had no way to confirm Princess Luna had actually been receiving her reports. 
"Princess Luna! I'm so sorry for the long delay since my last report, I'm sure it had you worried. First, the good news: We found and rescued Celestia. She was in pretty bad shape, but Twilight and I carried her out and Anon began tending to her wounds. Problem is, while I was watching Anon tend to her, I was knocked unconscious by some sort of stinger the humans used against us. The earring's charm protected me, but by the time I awoke, Twilight, Celestia, Anon, and all the rest of the humans were gone--I'm all alone now in the middle of a savanna near where we found Celestia. I have to thank you for helping me with that regeneration spell--I'd probably still be out for half a day or more without it. I do still feel Celestia and Twilight, but they're too far for a simple teleport, so I'll have to rely on the pegasaddle to carry me for a while. Don't worry Princess, I won't make the mistake of trusting these 'Overture' humans again. I do still trust Anon though--Twilight probed him and he's definitely on our side. Anyway, busy night ahead of me. I'll update soon, okay?"
Satisfied, she released the spell, then focused her magic again, renewing her various wards of protection, and adding a simple light-bending spell that made her appear as just a smudge of color from behind her. It wasn't perfect invisibility, but it was enough to pass a cursory inspection, and true invisibility was nigh impossible on the move. 
Then, her muzzle forming a hard, determined line, she twitched her withers to activate the saddle, then set off toward the sun.
* * *
It was dusk by the time Starlight found the compound. A low, unassuming brick of concrete, it wasn't particularly impressive, but Starlight knew better than to underestimate these humans now. 
She and Twilight had eviscerated Arno and his crew with ease, but they had been consumed with rage at the time and had actually been lucky that the unrestrained magic hadn't simply blown the two of them up right alongside Arno.
Starlight shuddered at the memories and turned her mind to something else.
She let out a magic pulse and got one back almost immediately, but only the one. That told her one of them was conscious and capable of magic. Probably Twilight, now that she thought of it. She'd mentioned her horn had healed surprisingly quick, but even so she doubted Celestia's was already capable of a pulse. Celestia's insane gift for healing magic wasn't much use when it was her own horn that needed healing.
Starlight shook herself. She needed to focus--her best friend's life could be at stake! ...Well, okay, second best friend. Sorry Twi, turns out Trixie can do just one or two things that you can't.
Suppressing a blush now, she forced herself to focus on the task at hand. She needed a plan of action.
Hmm.
Get in, get Twilight, get Celestia, maybe get Anon, get out.
Yep, easy.
She took a deep breath. Here goes...
* * * 
The inside of the compound was a sterile, austere place. Bare concrete hallways lined with plain steel doors with strange, exotic writing on a little plaque in the center. Fortunately the door handles, though strange compared to the latches she was used to back home, were not hard to figure out. Some of them had odd little mechanisms that required her to magically manipulate some tiny pieces inside the device before the door would open, but none of the doors held her up for more than a minute or so.
Of course, she wasn't just opening doors willy-nilly. Before she even touched a door, she would cast clairvoyance and take a peek inside. All the humans would see is a faint shimmer in the air where her line of sight originated, and so far none had even noticed her smudgy outline when she tucked up close to the wall to let a human pass, nevermind a tiny floating bit of shimmery air. The plain, solid colored walls helped significantly with hiding her--even a simple stripe painted on the wall would have made her much easier to spot. Instead she merely had to avoid standing in front of a door or sign, and she was nearly invisible. 
Good thing too, as the place was bustling with activity. Humans shuffled around endlessly, popping in and out of doors, jabbering in their foreign tongue as they passed, pointing at a clipboard, or a small glowing device, or even just at each other. None of it made any sense and she quickly learned to ignore the humans beyond what little effort it took to avoid them.
Starlight tried to follow her horn toward Celestia or Twilight, but it was hopeless. It would just as often point into a solid wall as down a hallway, so convoluted were the paths within the complex. She peered into room after room after room only to find storage, or a meeting, or once two humans violently making out in a dark closet. She'd desperately wanted to prank them in some way, but figured saving half the princesses of Equestria probably took precedence. 
Then suddenly, one of the multitude of voices passing by caught her ear. She knew that voice.
She turned around to see Lizzy and another human walking swiftly toward her. She dodged aside and slid up close to the wall as she'd done a dozen times before, but this time, she turned and followed the pair of humans. She couldn't quite make out their words since they were facing away from her, but she thought she heard Twilight's name at least once. The humans wove their way down hall after hall after hall, but finally, they turned into a doorway. Starlight lunged through the door as it was being swung shut, her tail just barely pulling through in time, and tumbled into the corner of the room, curling up defensively in case anyone noticed her.
She was in a small conference room alone with the two humans. Lizzy and the man sat down and Starlight sat up straighter to try and see the device they were looking at. Then suddenly the man spoke.
"It's ridiculous. Just hours ago she was near death, and now she's healthy as a--well, as a horse. Her body is learning to reject the anesthetic and I guarantee she'll be awake before long no matter how much we pump into her. We have to figure out how to restrain her, and we have to figure it out now."
Lizzy sighed and rubbed her brow, "If you had just fucking stayed out of this, I already had them in the palm of my hand, Peter! They trusted me, but no, you just had to butt in and--"
"I won't take any lip from you, missy," Peter said harshly, "Just because HQ promoted you to lead doesn't mean you get to talk back to me."
"We're equal rank now, jackass. I can say whatever I fucking want to you. And I'm saying you've completely bungled this when I already had it under control! Why did you tranquilize them!? You saw that other one disappear as soon as she went down--who knows where she is now!"
"We'll deal with her when she shows her face."
Now who could turn down an invitation like that?
Starlight hopped into the chair beside him and, with a flick of her horn, dissolved her light-bending spell. Lizzy, who had been facing that direction, immediately leapt up with a shriek, startling Peter into looking behind him. He, too, leapt out of his chair, stumbling over backwards and falling gracelessly to the floor. Starlight smiled pleasantly.
"Looking for me?"
Peter lunged for the door but Starlight's magic seized it and secured it firmly in place, effectively welding it to the frame. He yanked on the lever once, twice, then stopped and turned slowly to face her.
"Alright," he said, slowly raising his hands, "You got us. What do you want?"
Starlight pretended to think about it, tapping her muzzle with a hoof.
"Hmm... What do I want..." She brightened suddenly, "Oh! I want you all to go rut yourself with a serrated knife!"
She leapt out of her chair and approached Lizzy threateningly. 
"Where. Are. They."
Lizzy backed up against the wall, hands held up.
"W-Wait, I never--"
Starlight reared and slammed both her hooves on either side of Lizzy's head, her horn sparking ominously.
"WHERE ARE THEY!?"
Suddenly she heard a click behind her and, nerves already on edge, immediately projected a shield spell around herself. An instant later there was a horrendously loud BANG and she winced as her horn twinged with the strain of absorbing a massive blow. She whipped around to see Peter holding something in his outstretched hand, pointed at her. It flashed, there was another BANG, and her shield took another hit. 
Was this the firearm Twilight had mentioned? She scoffed--this was nothing!
She took a step toward Peter and his eyes widened as there was another BANG. She grinned wickedly and said, "You're going to have to do better than that."
Suddenly the door rattled and she heard a voice shout, "What's going on in there!?"
He immediately shouted, "IT'S PETER, MAXIMUM BACKUP, WE'RE--GAKK" His voice was cut off as Starlight punched him in the throat with a burst of magic, but the damage had already been done. Immediately there was a chorus of shouts from outside the room and Starlight knew her cover had been blown. 
"Tartarus..." With another burst of magic she threw Peter against the back wall so hard that his skull left a red smear as he slumped to the ground and she whirled on Lizzy.
"Where are Twilight and Celestia? NOW!"
Lizzy slowly held up her hands, looking surprisingly calm.
"Second floor, Twilight's in the south east corner, room B502; Celestia's in the south west corner, room B548. Anon is in B503 right next to Twilight, if you're interested."
Starlight squinted suspiciously, trying to ignore the growing clamor outside the door and trusting to her weld spell to hold for now.
"That was... too easy. What are you playing at?"
Lizzy shrugged, "I wasn't lying earlier. I like you ponies. And since it looks like you knocked Peter out cold--maybe even killed him--we're alone. So, I'm helping."
Starlight slowly sat down, though she kept her shield spell up.
"...How badly do you want to help?"
Lizzy shrugged again, "I'll do anything I can, provided it doesn't cost me my job here. No offense but the pay here is fantastic."
Starlight hopped up again and approached Lizzy, who took a hesitant step back.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Yet."
"W-What are you--"
"I need you to picture one of their cells clearly in your mind," she said as she drew near, looking up into Lizzy's face, "I'm going to take us there."
"No."
"No?"
"They're video recorded. I'd be seen."
Starlight frowned, "Do you want to help or not?"
Lizzy folded her arms, "I told you, I'll do everything I can without getting fired. Video evidence of helping you wouldn't just get me fired, it'd probably get me thrown in prison."
"Uuuugh, fine. There's another way, but you're not gonna like it."
Lizzy looked hesitant, "O-kay... what is it?"
In response, Starlight jabbed her horn into Lizzy's gut. 
She gasped in horror, but Starlight's magic poured into her body as she probed her way up and into Lizzy's mind. It was a deeply unpleasant feeling, she knew, but there was no other way to get the locations of their cells without learning to read human maps and signs and all that, and there just wasn't time. The banging on the door was getting louder and her weld spell wouldn't hold up forever. 
Starlight drew forth Lizzy's memories of the compound they were in and searched for memories containing Twilight, Celestia, and--after a moment's hesitation--Anon, too. Starlight noted the locations firmly in her mind, then slowly withdrew from Lizzy's body. 
The woman slumped heavily to the floor, wheezing and shivering with the after effects of the spell. Starlight grimaced--Twilight had always had a subtler touch with that spell, but she didn't really have time for finesse. She leaned down and peered into Lizzy's half-lidded eyes.
"Sorry about that, but don't worry, the effects should fade soon. Thanks for your help, Lizzy."
"Any... time..."
Starlight smirked, then cast her light-bending spell again. Just for laughs she released her weld spell just before another loud thump and the door was flung open as a huge man stumbled wildly into the room and crashed into the table, knocking it over and sending chairs flying. She suppressed a giggle as she focused her magic and teleported out of the room.
Starlight reappeared in an empty hallway save for two doors, each guarded by a solitary human. They looked up, startled by the pop noise she had made, but neither of them noticed the slightly blurry patch of floor between them. Then her horn pulsed twice and both humans slumped to the ground, snoring loudly. 
She used clairvoyance again to peer into a room and saw Anon pounding angrily on a huge mirror. Well, may as well start somewhere, she figured. She withdrew back to herself, focused her magic on the little bits inside the door, twisted the lever, and stepped inside.