//------------------------------//
// CH43: Threats 
// Story: A Dubious Welcome 
// by Maonyman 
//------------------------------//

Anon was pissed. 
Not because of his kidnapping, or Overture's betrayal, or the separation from Twilight, or even from being held captive like this.
He was just fucking bored.
"COME ON ALREADY." 
He pounded yet again on what he knew damn well was a one-way glass. 
"FUCKING DO SOMETHING!"
His fist still ached from the last time he had pounded a few times, but he punched the glass again anyway.
"Ow."
With a roll of his eyes, he turned around and slumped against the glass, folding his arms grumpily. If all they were gonna do was make him sit here alone in a cell forever, why even bother taking him too? They had Celestia, they had Twilight... what the hell did they want him for? Were they just having a giggle watching him about to piss himself just for something to do?
He paced around the completely bare, plain, empty white room. 
How long had he even been here? He'd fallen asleep for who knows how long--probably about ten minutes thanks to the horrendously uncomfortable hard concrete floor. He'd been here a while that's for sure, and he was fucking sick of being here. At least prison cells had a bed and a toilet to entertain yourself--he had jack shit. There weren't even tiles to count.
Suddenly remembering a trick he'd seen once in the movies, he went up to the one-way glass and cupped his hands around his eyes. If he could make it dark enough on this side of the glass, then... Yes! He could just barely make out a wide table surrounded by a dozen or so chairs and a sort of control panel thing right up against the glass.
The room was other wise completely empty. No one was even watching him. 
He'd been pounding and yelling at an empty room.
"For fuck's sake..."
There was a faint click from the lock of his door and he whipped around, saying, "Oh, FINALLY!" He didn't even care what they were here for, just so long as it wasn't more nothing.
The door opened. Then it shut again. That was it.
"Uh..."
"Oh, right!"
Anon jumped as, for the second time that week, a purple pony abruptly materialized directly in front of him.
"FFFF--Oh. It's you."
Starlight Glimmer glared at him, "That's it? 'It's you'? Geez, how about a buckin' thank you, huh? I'm about to save your sorry hide!"
Anon grinned despite himself, "Alright alright, thank you. You want some scritches as a reward?"
He reached out and rubbed her ear and she jerked in surprise.
"H-Hey! Don't--hnnng..." Her eyes glazed over for a second or two, then she shook herself and hurriedly stepped back, her tail twitching rapidly. "S-Stop that! We need to get out of here."
Anon grinned, his mood improving rapidly upon seeing one of his new pony friends again, "I'm all ears. What's your plan?"
She rolled her eyes and said, "Get you, get the others, get out."
"That's it?"
"Worked so far, yeah?"
He had to give her that.
"Alright, then let's go."
She nodded and her horn began to glow, "This is gonna feel a little weird."
Anon shrugged, "I've teleported before."
Her muzzle split into a wicked grin, "Oh this isn't teleportation."
And before he could reply, her horn flashed and the room spun crazily, he lost all sense of balance, and the ground rushed up to meet him. However, instead of a face-plant into concrete, he abruptly found himself standing before Starlight, her body towering over him. 
"What the--you shrank me!?"
"Yep! Now get up here, we need to move."
Dropping to her belly, she extended a forehoof half as tall as he was to give him a ledge to hop up on. He ignored it.
"Why the hell did you shrink me!?"
She rolled her eyes again, "So I can carry you around, duh."
"You couldn't carry me before?"
"What do I look like, an earth pony? Besides, you wouldn't fit in my light-bending spell. Now quit bitching and hurry up, they're already on my tail!"
Grumbling all the while, Anon lifted himself up onto her hoof, then scrambled up her side and sat at the base of her mane, wrapping some tufts of hair around his arms to secure himself.
"Great! Now..."
Her horn flickered and the world around them gained a sort of hazy texture. She opened the door a crack, slipped out, then shut it behind her.
They heard a shout down the hallway and both of them tensed, but the man simply sprinted right past them and around a corner, hardly giving his sleeping comrades a second glance.
"What was that about?" Anon asked.
"Hay if I know. They've been running around the whole time I've been sneaking around, but that was crazy even for this place. But whatever, look, Twilight should be in this cell right next to you, Lizzy told me where you all were."
"Lizzy!?"
"Mmhmm. I guess she really did want to help."
Anon wasn't so sure about that, but he held his tongue as Starlight approached the adjacent door. She cast some sort of spell, then gasped.
"She's not in there!"
"Oh, what a surprise. You seriously trusted Lizzy?"
Starlight glared back at him, "Don't give me shit, Anon. I didn't just ask her, I pulled it straight out of her memories. Twilight's been moved since Lizzy last saw her."
"Alright alright, fine. Celestia then?"
"I guess. We can find Twilight afterwards."
She trotted down the hall, turned around a corner, and froze, Anon leaning around her neck to see what stopped her.
Just down the hall were at least a dozen armed men standing near an open door in a defensive formation. One of them--the leader, probably--gestured urgently at the others. 
Starlight's horn flashed and she whispered, "Anon, I think that's where Celestia is!"
"Well then what are you waiting for? Do something!"
She shook her head and stepped back nervously, "Do what!? I can't take on that many at once!"
Then Celestia's voice reverberated clear as day down the hall.
"I am only going to ask this one more time. Where is Twilight Sparkle?"
The leader murmured into a radio on his shoulder, then raised his voice to say, "There's nowhere for you to go--just surrender and this doesn't have to get messy."	
Starlight inched closer, her horn glowing dimly, and Anon hissed, "What are you doing?"
She stopped and turned toward him, a nervous grimace on her face, "I dunno, a distraction, maybe?"
The former princess stepped into the hall and Anon gaped at her transformation. Her mane was still short but no longer patchy, her wings were fully feathered again, her broken leg had been restored to its normal function, and her coat gleamed with a healthy sheen. She also glittered with a golden protective shield surrounding her.
Then Celestia spoke again in a voice filled with contempt, "You cannot stop me. My horn is healed, my magic restored. Only my patience protects you now. Take me to Twilight immediately or I will tear this place apart to find her."
One of the men, clearly terrified, accidentally shot at her, the gunfire surprising him as much as it did everyone else in the hall. The bullet traveled about an inch past her barrier, then stopped and plinked harmlessly to the floor.
"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" The leader shouted, but it was too late.
Celestia dropped into a battle pose, her horn flaring, and immediately four of the men dropped unconscious to the floor. Starlight leapt to her aid, grabbing two of the men and slamming them into the wall. If she was surprised by the assistance, Celestia didn't show it as she whirled on the leader and her magic lifted him into the air. Starlight's horn pulsed and the two she held collapsed to the ground as well.	
The others, uncertain without new orders, took a step back, eyeing their defeated comrades nervously. 
Celestia's voice flowed throughout the hall, deep and resonant, "Now then, let's try this again." 
The leader grunted as the magic surrounding him intensified about his throat.
"Where. Is. Twilight."
"Right here, pony."
Peter's voice echoed down from the far end of the hall. Celestia dropped the abruptly unconscious guard leader and turned, and Anon saw Peter slowly advancing on her from within a veritable phalanx of guards. Each one wielded an odd sort of energy shield that overlapped with its neighbor, joining to become a larger shield, the lot of them uniting to form a solid dome-shaped barrier around them. At its center was Peter... holding a barely-conscious Twilight by the horn, a pistol held to her head.
Anon gasped, and Starlight began slowly sneaking forward, silently weaving around the seemingly paralyzed guards behind Celestia.
"It's over, pony," Peter said coldly, "If that horn of yours so much as flickers, all I have to do is twitch my finger and your precious Twilight Sparkle dies instantly."
Celestia merely laughed--a cold and cruel laugh that sounded unnatural coming from such a holy looking figure. It made the hair on Anon's neck stand on end.
"Twilight is the one thing preventing me from obliterating you and this entire facility with a single magical burst, and you threaten to kill her?" Celestia began to slowly approach, her voice falling to a low, ominous growl, "Believe me, you do not want to know what happens if she dies."
Peter scoffed, "Oh, spare me the empty threats. You wouldn't dare risk her life, and we both know it. Now how about you stop right there and put on this horn ring nice and easy, and nobody--or pony--has to get hurt."
Celestia did halt, but then the air around her seemed to swirl ominously. Anon held his breath as Starlight snuck past her side and slowly inched closer to the wall of shields. He didn't know what she had in mind, but he hoped it was something good. 
Celestia spoke in a low, dark tone, "There are fates far worse than death awaiting you if she comes to harm, human. Let her go, and I will limit your suffering to a single lifetime."
In response, Peter yanked her head up and jammed the pistol firmly into her skull, though his breathing had quickened considerably. 
"I'm warning you, pony!" He shouted, his voice creeping higher, "Back down immediately or your precious Twilight dies! I'm giving you to the count of three!"
Celestia's eyes narrowed and the ominous swirling grew worse, though her horn remained dark. Starlight's hoof tentatively poked at the lower left corner of the shield, finding it to be quite solid. 
"One!"
Anon looked back and saw a dark aura had begun to grow around Celestia's head, though her horn still did not glow. He abruptly found himself staring into the inexplicable oblivion that he'd observed when Twilight teleported him, then they were inside the shield wall, Starlight crouched in between two of the guards. 
"T-Two!"
Anon leaned around Starlight's head to stare terrified and awe-struck at Celestia, who now glowed ominously with a sinister darkness that writhed and warped around her. Starlight's horn began to glow.
Peter seemed to hesitate for a moment. Then he cried out.
"THREE!"
And all hell broke loose.