The Princess and the Empire

by Princess Starflight

Chapter 1

The friends go back to Zephyr Heights, with a plan...

"Ha. It sure took you long enough. Seriously, even Twilight Sparkle wasn't such a coward," Chrysalis snarked. "Now...hand me the Princess."

"Let my mom and everypony GO!" Pipp screamed. "Or else I'll, like, shoot you with my awesome new alicorn horn! And you're not going to take me away so easily!"

"What? You wanna fight, Princess?" Chrysalis smirked as her horn started glowing.

"With pleasure!" Pipp yelled, and charged, kicking Chrysalis hard on the face. The princess was about to do more, but Sunny pulled her back.

"This wasn't part of the plan! We need to fight smart, not fight angry."

"I DON'T CARE! Chrysalis has my mom and I. WANT. HER. BACK!"

"Pipp-!"

Pipp lunged toward the evil changeling queen, horn glowing and wings spread out. She blasted magic at her, but Chrysalis blocked the attack and launched one of her own. Pipp growled as Chrysalis trapped her in sticky, slimy, green goo. She struggled to get out of it but her legs were stuck to the ground. Pipp tried to use her magic, but apparently the goo was magic-proof.

Izzy was furious. "Don't you DARE hurt Pipp or Sunny or anypony else!" She used her magic and, with difficulty, managed to levitate Chrysalis in the air. She whipped the changeling to the walls until they started cracking, with Chrysalis howling the whole time. Sunny saw what was happening and helped Izzy. But even though their combined magic was extremely strong, Chrysalis got over the shock and pain, and levitated herself away. She started firing small blasts of deadly magic at the ponies. They had to duck out of the way, and that was much harder than it sounded.

Pipp tried to fly, but found that she couldn't. "Look, if you take me, you won't hurt Zipp, Sunny, Hitch, Izzy, or anypony in Equestria!" she yelled to Chrysalis. "I'll let you do it if you promise! Please..."

"Hmm." Chrysalis considered the offer. It seemed pretty good to her. At the restored hive, she could drain Pipp of her love, and then fly back to Zephyr Heights as her. There, she could take what was hers! "Fine. You drive a hard bargain...but I'll do it." She cackled and freed Pipp from the sticky goo, but held her tight to prevent her from escaping.

Pipp looked at Izzy. "Goodbye..."

"No!" Izzy yelled. She used her magic and took Pipp away from Chrysalis. "You need to go. Now!"

Chrysalis smirked. "Oh, I don't think that's going to happen, little unicorn." And with that, she took Pipp back and disappeared with her.

"NO!" Izzy screamed. "PIPP!"

But strangely, the anger seemed to clear her mind instead of the doing the opposite. And Izzy instantly knew where Pipp was. Maybe it was magic. Maybe it was love. Maybe it was something else, but Izzy didn't need to know what it was.

She waved goodbye to Sunny. "I know where Pipp is - I need to save her! Please, stay and take care of Zephyr Heights. Reassure everypony, repair the damage...I need to go." And before Sunny could protest, Izzy disappeared in a wink of light.