Lieia awoke with a start. The last thing she remembered was the purple pony somehow snatching her outta the Seven-Ten. She took a look around her. She was in a cell, lying on a bed. Strangely enough, it was soft. Then it came to her.

She was in prison.

Quietly, she crawled over to the door. Unsurprisingly, it was locked, and the door handle was terribly hot. Suckling her singed fingers, she looked around, trying to find a way out. A single window was in one of the walls, but thick iron bars blocked it. Sighing, she ran a quick inventory check. It came to her as no small surprise that her revolver was still in place. They hadn’t even bothered to check her for weapons. She cast another look around the cell, when an idea came to her. She took out her knife, slicing the mattress in long strips, weaving it in a rope. Next, she took her clothes off, stuffing them with the filling and hanging the whole thing from the chandelier. Now, she waited, and as she crouched in wait, she realized that a dungeon cell wasn’t the best place for someone in underwear. Luckily, she heard someone coming down the stairs, and stop by her door.

“Right, then, don’t try anything… foolish… Oh, Celestia!” The unicorn guard shouted, unlocking the door and rushing inside the cell, lowering the dummy from the chandelier, but was knocked out instantly as Lieia pounced on him, but then she heard a voice right behind her.

“You’ve got nowhere to run, human!”

Had it only been a voice, she might have succeeded in her escape, but she’d be questioning her own sanity afterwards. Alas, the voice also had magic, and it didn’t hesitate to bind her legs and arms at once, leaving her thrashing on the floor wildly.

Celestia looked at the silently seething human. “You certainly are very resourceful. But please, trust me when I say we mean you no harm. Please, tell me who are you and how you found our world.”

“Lieia Grisova, Captain of 3rd EXO Company, Trader-Asli Coalition Marine Corps Service Number 2566-891-683-8990.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Name, rank and service number. That’s all you’ll get from me.”

“Hum-Lieia, please, talk to me. I’m not going to harm you.”

“Riiight. I’m supposed to believe that? My head still feels like someone is having at it with a jackhammer.”

“I truly didn’t mean for that to happen. Please, talk to me. You don’t have to fear us.”

“Lieia Grisova, Captain of 3rd EXO Company, Trader-Asli Coalition Marine Corps Service Number 2566-891-683-8990.”

Celestia sighed. This was going nowhere. Casting one last look at the human, she left, trying to decide what to do with her, meeting Luna just outside her bedroom.

“Oh, hello, Luna. Where are you going to?”

“Hello, Celestia! I was going to talk to our guest, see if I can coax something out of her.”

“Good luck with that. She tricked the guards in her attempt to escape, and she might just well have gotten away.” Celestia explained how she Lieia had done it. “She didn’t say anything to me, either, except for her name, rank and service number of her armed forces.”

“Wish me luck, then!” With that, Luna cantered off.

Luna arrived at Lieia’s cell and knocked on it. “Hello? Are you awake?”

Silence.

“I must say, that was a fine trick you pulled on the guards. Serves them right for not being more thorough.”

More silence.

“Human, are you there?” She peeked through the small hatch, and her heart stopped for a moment.

The human had killed herself, hanging from the chandelier. Without a second thought, she tore the door open, rushing inside and lowered the human on the ground and placed her ear to her chest, listening to pulse. She felt something cold press against her neck.

“Unless you want to find out what colour your blood is, I suggest you do exactly as I say.”

Oh, horsefeathers.

Lieia stalked over to the door, slamming it shut, and got out of the rope harness. The neck loop was only for distraction. She turned to the trembling princess. “A’ight then. Where’s my rig?”

“What?”

“My armour? The Seven-Ten?”

“In a storage area.”

“Take me there. Now.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Need to get back to HighCom. I got a report to send in. Right, then. Lead the way, miss.” She gestured with the knife. “C’mon, I ain’t got all day.”

“Uh, okay.” Luna concentrated for a moment, teleporting them both to the storage room where Lieia’s armour was kept.

“What the-Oh. Now that’s handy.” Her eyes caught sight of the armour, and without much ado, she leapt in and started it up. “Oh, baby, momma’s missed you! Say, lady, could ya point me to a door big enough for me?”

“I teleported your equipment here. I’m afraid there are no doors big enough for you here.”

“Well, sorry, but I must get out of here. Vasari ain’t known for doodling around.”

“Perhaps if you would trust me again, I could teleport you outside the castle.”

“No. I’ll just make my own exit.” Turning her chaingun on the wall, she unleashed a hail of bullets, tearing a hole in the wall. Luna stared at Lieia, who waved at her. “See ya! Or not. We’ll see how things turn out.” Luna didn’t even have a chance to warn her that the castle was pretty high up from ground. “OH FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaahhh…!” A distant thud could be heard. Horrified, Luna ran over to the wall, looking downwards. Much to her surprise, Lieia was already running away, heading for the Everfree Forest.

“Luna, what is happening here? Why is there a hole in the wall? Wait, don’t tell me she…?” Celestia appeared at her side.

“Yes, she did. She pulled that trick of hers again, forced me to teleport her here, then she put a hole in the wall and ran off.”

“How exactly did she get you to do it?”

“She put a knife to my throat, sister. It is not something you ignore.”

“Ah. Well, she’s certainly far more resourceful than even our best guards. But I can’t leave her running around free and unchecked. Send the guards out to find her.” Luna nodded, running off to gather the Royal Guard, while Celestia gazed at the retreating figure.

“Overlord, Overlord, this is Gold Leader, please come in!”

“Gold Leader, this is Overlord, where the hell have you been? We lost contact with you shortly after you reported your contact with the indigenous folk down there.”

“Yeah, well, things escalated pretty quickly. Also, I found a Mauler down here, but it’s dead for a while now.”

“We suspected as much. A small Vasari recon fleet arrived here as well, not long after you left for surface. We managed to destroy it before they could escape, but we have to withdraw. The battlegroup is in serious need of repairs. Suffice to say, we can’t retrieve you at the moment, but we can send you some supplies down.”

“I’ll take what I can get. A dropship with an LRV, some fresh food wouldn’t be amiss either. And a squad or two, perchance?”

“You got it, Gold Leader, reinforcements coming down soon as you mark a location.”

“Roger that, Overlord.” She ran through the small town, taking care not to crash into anything as quite a few ponies jumped out of her way, screaming in surprise. She shouted to warn the ponies, successfully managing to get clear of the town and once again, headed towards the Everfree Forest. Once there, she’ll call in the reinforcements and disappear from the face of the world until the TAC returned en masse. Then things would finally go her way.

IF ONLY THIS DAMN PURPLE UNICORN WOULD LEAVE HER ALONE.

She popped the canopy before she could be teleported out, tumbling in the grass. Quickly disentangling, she stood up, pulling out her revolver and pointing it at the unicorn. “Now, why can’t you just eff off, huh? Why’s it so hard to leave me alone, hmm?!” The unicorn shrunk under her gaze.

“You try that again, you’ll be sorry for that.” She walked over to the Seven-Ten, but then heard more wings fluttering. She groaned. The day just couldn’t get worse, could it? She turned around to see Celestia land a small distance away, a stern expression on her face.

You had to jinx it, huh?

Shut up.

Karma’s kind of a bitch, right?

One day I’ll find you and kill you. Oh yes indeedy.

We both know you’d have to put a bullet in your head, and we both know you’re not that crazy. Although, having a conversation with oneself does count as crazy.

How about we sort this out later, hmm?!

Meh.

“You leave me no choice, human.”

“Same here. I was going to leave, but what with you keeping me in your prison, the fleet has to leave without me, so I’m stuck here anyways.”

“Please, do not make this any more difficult than it already is.”

“Ah! Don’t you even try any of your space magic on me, lady!” The revolver now pointed at Celestia, who flinched slightly. “I’ve just about have had enough of this. Now you listen to me: I’ll be getting in my Seven-Ten and leave for somewhere quiet. You won’t see me again. However, should you try to stop me, should you try anything, I won’t hesitate to pull the trigger. We clear?”

“Princess, look out!” Twilight screamed in terror, drawing Lieia’s attention away from Celestia.

“Hey! Shut it already!” Her eyes turned back to Celestia, who was doing the magical boogaloo, throwing a rock at her,  cutting a gash across her cheek.

“You dirty motherf-“ Lieia spun around, aimed at Celestia and squeezed the trigger.

The shot shook the air like a thunderclap and Celestia’s chest exploded in a red mess of blood. The alicorn princess let loose a colossal cry and collapsed. The empty bullet casing tumbled through the air, landing in grass.

“Told you I wouldn’t hesitate.” With that, Lieia turned around, got in the Seven-Ten, and took off, just as first of the Royal Guards arrived.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5 Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 23 Minutes