Returning to the abandoned mansion, our hero Pip followed Pinkamena down a staircase in the back yard, making their way back to her underground laboratory.

“I must say, Pip. You provided me with unprecedentedly positive results today. It makes me quite proud as a scientist to know that my spirit serums are a success!” Pinkamena said, an uncommon smile gracing her face as she laid her notepad on the desk.

“Why thank you Pinkamena, I’m kind of glad you asked me to help, because these spirits should be a big help on my quest….speaking of which, would you mind telling me where Chrysalis is?”

Chuckling and adjusting her monocle, the doctor nodded

“Ah, but of course, its only fair. Your girlfriend should be arriving shortly, as I gave her a couple dozen bits to spend at the arcade."

“Ar….cade?” Pip asked, staring blankly.

“Oh, you didn’t notice the sign? Being a scientist doesn’t really pay the bills, so I supplement my income by running an arcade out of this house. We even have a cool zombie mascot!”

“Wait, that zombie was your…..”

Glaring and crossing her arms, Pinkamena nodded

“Yes, that zombie you killed was my mascot, and I was trying to hide my frustration in the name of science. It was very obviously paper mache, and I’ll expect payment for that in the future.”

Looking away in shame, Pip took a step back.

“Well, I think I’ll go check on Chrysalis then. Though she's not my girlfriend!”

Smirking, Pinkamena began working on building a replacement zombie

“Well if she’s not your girlfriend, then feel free to come by sometime if you’re in the neighborhood."

Pip made his way back up the stairs, returning to the second floor of the mansion, hearing all manner of sounds coming from the arcade that Pinkamena had mentioned.

Stepping over the slain zombie mascot, Pip stepped into a scene even stranger than the rest of the mansion: large cabinets standing in rows, powered by some unknown science, and on the glass screen were all manner of flashing pictures.

“How in the name of Celestia did she build all this?”

Pip heard Chrysalis’ voice off in the distance, and made his way through the rows, until he found his companion flailing her hooves wildly on a machine with the name “Clop Clop Revolution”, which was located directly next to another machine named “Clop Clop Counter-Revolution” which had a sign that read: “Reserved for Royalty”.

Suddenly the machine stopped playing its music, and a large image reading “You lose!” appeared on the screen, right as Chrysalis fell onto the floor, panting heavily. Pip quickly rushed over to check on her.

“Chrysalis, are you ok?!”

She looked up at him, panting and worn out.

“S…sure thing, Pippy. But this machine is a..."
She kicked the machine out of anger.

“A Cheater!”

Upon kicking the machine, an alarm went off and the pair were surrounded by a ray of light from the ceiling.

“Vandal alert! Evicting!”

The ray of light picked the pair up, and unexisted them, making them appear outside the mansion on the front lawn. No one knows how the unexisting ray worked, but it was probably science.

“Huh…now what were we doing before we got here, Pippy?”

The Changeling Queen turned and looked at Pip

“Oh, yeah. While you were in the arcade, Pinkamena helped me become stronger with the help of some weird medicine, so now I really feel that I could take on your knights!”

She chuckled and put a hoof to her mouth to hide her grin.

“My Knights? You mean, and slay the queen as well, my little colt?”

“Well…erm…yes, that too.”

He rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little conflicted about the idea of still having to kill his traveling companion, even if she were the scourge of ponykind.

“Good, because when the time comes for you to attack me, I wont hold back, even if you are adorable.”

Chrysalis yawned and brushed Pip’s mane, laying her head on the grass.

“But I still have one question: How will we get to your hive, now that we don’t have that boat?” Pip asked.

“Isn't it obvious, Pip? I’ll give you one guess on how we will get there!”

Pip looked around, thinking long and hard about how on earth they could cross that vast ocean.

“Chrysalis, I have no earthly idea.”

She laughed and sat up.

“I’m going to fly us there, dummy!”

Pip looked back at her, confused.

“You mean to say, you’ve been able to fly this whole time?!”

“Well duh, I’m a changeling. We can all fly!”

“Then why didn’t you fly us there in the first place!” He stood up, glaring at her for having not told him.

“Because, Pippy. This story would have been extremely short if I just TOOK you to the end of it, wouldn’t it? You can thank me later.”

And with that, Chrysalis laid on the ground and began to take a short nap, still tired from playing at the arcade. Pip stared down at her, his eye twitching slightly from anger.

Author's Note

Finally decided to finish up my story :D