The pegasi-drawn carriage came to a halt outside the hospital and Celestia rushed inside, the unconscious human in her grasp. Wasting no time, she explained what had happened in the Everfree Forest, and the doctors laid her down in an empty bed, then ushered her out of the room and there she waited.

An hour later, Luna, Twilight and her friends arrived, and Luna spoke to her sister “I’ve taken care of her machine. How is she?”

Celestia shook her head “I have no idea. The doctors have been in there for an hour. Twilight, are you unharmed? After seeing the pain the human went through, I don’t want to see something like that to happen to you as well.”

“Well, I’m not really feeling anything. Maybe this was her first teleportation. I’ve been trying to dig up whatever I can, but I’ve found nothing so far.”

Celestia nodded, feeling rather uneasily, when the doctors came out “You may come in now.”

Twilight gasped “Is she alive?”

One of the doctors nodded “Yes, her condition is fine, but she did go through a great deal of pain. We’ve tried to discern the reason of it, but so far, we’ve been unsuccessful. We did, however, find something strange about her.” He rolled her over and pointed to the back of her neck. “See this? We think she was connected to that machine of hers you told us about, Princess, and when Twilight Sparkle teleported her out of it, well, this happened. For now, I think it’s best to keep her asleep.”

“I agree with him, sister.”

“But, princess, how can we find out anything out about her?”

Celestia thought about it for a minute, and then her horn lit up with magic. “There might just be a way.” She said slowly.

“Are you sure this will be safe, princess?”

“Perfectly, Twilight. We’ll be able to see her memories, but she will not suffer from it in any way.” She placed her horn on Lieia’s forehead and concentrated for a moment, then pulled back “There, that should do it.” A sphere of light was forming in the room, and as it cleared, they could hear a voice, and they could see an image that was obviously drawn from Lieia’s memories.

“Lieia, what’s taking you so long? I’m not gonna wait for you much longer!”

“Sheesh, Cara, calm down! I’ll be down in a moment!” Lieia shouted out through the window, fighting to get her shoes on. “Alright, I’m ready-Whoa, Cara, you see that?” A fiery yellow beam of energy was hitting the ground in the distance.

“I’m not falling for that, lil’ sister!”

“I’m serious! Something bad’s happening!” Another beam of energy hit the ground, creating a small tremor, and Cara finally looked behind her.

“What the hell…?” Another beam shot from the sky, much closer, making the whole house rumble and shake.

“Lieia! Get out of the house! We have to go! Now!” A swarm of fliers were now descending, firing at everything that caught their eye. One of them landed nearby, disgorging a number of soldiers that advanced towards the house, and Cara turned to Lieia “Now listen to me, ok? Get in the car and drive away from here, as fast as you can! Get to the spaceport!”

“B-but what about you?”

“I’ll delay them as long as possible, or they’ll get you as well! Now go!” She rummaged through her pockets, finding the keys and giving them to Lieia, and then took a length of pipe from the boot. “Lieia, get in the damn car!” They could hear alien voices, and one of the aliens came around the corner. Instantly, Cara swung with her pipe, dropping the alien like a sack of potatoes, following up with three more blows, before picking up its weapon.

“Lieia, get the hell out of here!” She turned around, just as a green bolt of energy hit her in the back. She managed to stay on her knees.

“LIEIA! GO!” Cara shouted, her voice hoarse with pain. Another bolt hit her, and she dropped. The fear that seemed to held her in place was suddenly gone and she quickly got in the car, started it and took off, driving as fast as she could, heading to the nearest spaceport. After a couple of minutes, her netphone rang, and she quickly answered “Yes?”

“Lieia, is that you?”

“Mom? Mom! Thank god you’re alive!”

“Lieia, is Cara there?”

“No. She… she… she’d dead, mom.”

“Oh no… Lieia, listen to me. Where are you?

“I’m heading towards spaceport.”

“Good, keep going and don’t stop. We’re trying to get there as well, but if we’re not there, don’t wait for us.”

“No, Mom, I’m not leaving you! Where’s Dad?”

“He’s right here. I’ll put him on.”

“Dad? Please hurry. I’ll wait for you both when I arrive.”

“Lieia, we’ll try our best to get there, but you must get on a ship and get out of here. Promise me you will. If you stay here, you’ll die.”

“I… I will, Dad.”

“That’s my girl. Goodbye, Lieia.” The phone went dead, and she returned her attention to the road. Among the way, she picked up several other fleeing people. No one knew what was happening. After an hour, she pulled up by the gates to the spaceport, and felt the ground tremble as a cargo freighter took off, its holds filled with refugees. Immediately, a squadron of old fighters fell in formation around it, providing a degree of safety while it took to orbit. Another ship lighted off as well, following the freighter. Lieia got out, and took off full-pelt, scanning the crowd of people, trying to find her parents. She tried to slow down, but the jostling crowd swallowed her, carrying her along in the cavernous belly of another freighter. Once inside, she found a window and desperately scanned the milling crowds for any sign of her parents. Minutes later, the ship shook as its engines started up, and slowly, almost reluctantly, it rose into air. The fighter escort returned, bearing scars of fierce fighting. She felt like someone had punched her in the gut. The dreadful knowledge that she’d never see her family again finally hit her and she slumped against the wall, tears running down her cheeks, as the heavily laden ship took to space.

The memory faded as it came to an end, leaving the equine spectators speechless. Applejack spoke first.

“Wow… Ah certainly didn’t expect that.”

Twilight nodded in agreement.

“You can say that again, Applejack. Princess Celestia? Your thoughts?”

“I think we’re making a decision too fast, Twilight. We know next to nothing about her. We need to look further in her mind.”

“I agree, but after what I saw, I have a feeling she’s suffered much. But it’s the only way.”

Celestia nodded, then returned to the sphere and brought up another memory.

The streets on Marivan, capital of Galanthus were full of people. Everyone was gazing at the vast screens hovering in the air. They announced the death of last of the Alexi blood, leaving the Trade Order leaderless. But, good news was also spread. Lord-General Denaros Wersian had recently established the Trader Emergency Coalition, bringing the Trader worlds united under a single banner. As if that wasn’t enough, the first Trader Defence Navy battleship had scored a decisive victory against the Vasari. Everyone was cheering. In addition, a widely-known Trader merchant by the name of Lucius Mannacher was dedicating his entire wealth to the Coalition. He was giving a fiery speech right here on Galanthus at this very moment.

“Our only option for survival is the Coalition!” shouted the elderly man, raising supportive roars from the onlookers. He slammed his fist on the pulpit in his front.

“We all must do our part, no matter how small or insignificant! All of it will help our war effort! Seek out your local recruitment station, fellow people! I know I will!” This raised more cheers from the crowd.

True to his word, Lucius Mannacher did enlist, distinguishing himself as an able logistics officer, ensuring every soldier was equipped with everything he needed.

Lieia watched the spectacle from distance. Truly, she couldn’t wait to reach her turn. She had nothing left in this world, but she would fight. Her parents would approve, she guessed. She would fight to save humanity.

The next memory revealed them how Lieia saved one of Asli, establishing a friendship with her, the celebration following liberation of the Asli homeworld. Everyone gasped when the human went after the downed fighter without a second thought. Shortly after, the memory ended.

“Um, princess? Can I say something? If that’s, um, okay with you…”

“Go ahead, Fluttershy.”

“Well, we’ve all seen that she’s a good person, right? She saved somepony’s life, after all.” The other ponies nodded, but Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Hold on, now! We all saw what she did to that animal back at the Everfree Forest! I say she’s dangerous and should be locked up! Who’s to say that she won’t attack us?” Twilight took a step forward. “Rainbow Dash, tell me what you thought about the Daring Do book when you were stuck in the hospital?”

“How is this relevant, Twilight?”

“Just answer the question.”

“…I hated it.”

“Indeed you did. And tell me, what did you think of it when you had read it?”

“That it was, in fact, a very good book.”

“You liked it so much that you snuck back in the hospital, didn’t you?”

“…I did.” The admission wasn’t easy for the cyan pegasus.

“Well, then, that taught you not to judge a book by its cover, right?”

“So, you mean we should try to know the human better?”

“Exactly. I’ve been noticing that she is unconsciously resisting the spell Princess Celestia used to see her memories. Not exactly the best way to gain someone’s trust, is it?”

“Certainly not, my student. One more memory, and then we’ll take her to the castle.”

Lieia shoulder-rammed the Vasari soldier in the boulder, swiftly ending his life and turned her attention to the rest of his squad, who were madly firing their weapons at her. She noted, with a sort of grim satisfaction, that her shields had dropped only by two percent. She laughed when they unhooked their close-quarters weapons and charged at her. She took a step back, pulled out her dagger and started systematically slaughtering them. She bisected one, impaled another two and backhanded the others across the battlefield. Lost in the haze of close combat induced frenzy, she looked around, finding one left alive. She advanced on him, raising her left hand and curling it in a fist. The terrified alien didn't even manage to say something before a hail of bullets ripped his body apart. With a sigh, he fell, landing face-first in a pool of his own blood. Alerted, she looked around, until found the culprit - a white-armoured woman with compact, wrist-mounted machine guns. She took off her helmet and Lieia's heart stopped for a moment.

It was Cara.

Moments later, she enveloped her sister in a crushing hug.

"Hey, hey, hey! AaaaAAAARK! Stop that! You're breaking my back!" Lieia nearly squealed, unable to contain her joy.

Lieia finally stopped crushing her sister and lowered her back on ground "I thought you were dead! I mean, I saw you get shot!"

Cara shrugged "I did. Turned out, it was some kind of a stun charge. Look, I don't want to talk about it. It was bad enough already. For now, let's just be happy that we're both alive and kicking ass."

"I hear that! Let's go!" Together, they charged off towards the enemy line, more and more troops following in their wake as the final Vasari stronghold fell under assault.

“Well, that’s it for today, then. We’ll see you tomorrow, Twilight.”

“Very well, princess. Until tomorrow, then!”

Next Chapter: Chapter 4 Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 30 Minutes