"Crack"
Fizzlepop suddenly opened her eyes as soon as she heard the sound of a twig being snapped, over time she had got into the habit to be a light sleeper even if there was really no need for it.
She looked up and saw that the fire was now extinguished and cold, in the sky for sure you could have seen the firmament and the moon that illuminated the environment with a very faint if not imperceptible bluish light, however for her things at night were much clearer and more visible.

"Crack"
She heard again in the distance, about 10 meters from her the group with which she had gone to look for wood the day before had gathered together, a little distant from the others and behind a boulder to hide from the guard who in that moment he was on the lookout.
Apparently they had decided to really take that night walk in the woods even though she had warned them of the risks.
“From now on, what happens is their problem” Fizzlepop thought and pulled back the covers.
A couple of minutes had passed and yet the alicorn could not fall asleep, "why do I worry about them?", After a few seconds of brooding over it, she got out of the duvet and got up "maybe it's better that I go and see what those four are up to after all it is the duty of a queen to be careful of her subjects. "

Fizzlepop had walked for over two hundred meters in the direction they left but he had not yet found anyone, he was starting to return to the camp, "maybe they have already returned to the camp".
She was about to back off when ... "Help!" she heard a scream coming in the distance, she recognized the voice of Smooky Jaster and immediately began to run in that direction, she wanted to use her wings to go faster but could not because of the thick brush that surrounded her.
On the way she stumbled a couple of times on roots she hadn't seen and had made a few cuts on her face, chest and forelegs as she ran through the vegetation, after about thirty meters she came to the mouth of a cave.
"Ahhhhh" Immediately she ran into the cave which was over 15 meters deep and 6 meters high, at the back she could see Smooky Jaster slumped on the ground, his left rear hoof had a strange angle, probably it was broken or dislocated, next to him there were Glitter Drops and Spring Rain attached to the wall, they were trembling with fear and on their faces they had expressions of terror.

Fizzlepop followed the line of their gazes, "Grrrrrrr" heard a loud, deep growl that shook the cave, what she saw made her blood freeze in her veins, in front of her was a ursa, apparently a minor date the dimensions which, although small compared to those of a larger ursa, it could almost reach the ceiling of the cave.
For a moment Fizzlepop froze in place until Glitter Drops yelled at her, “Fizzlepop help us! Smooky has a sprained ankle and we can't escape! "
The alicorn had to act in a slice, to raise the stallion the help of the two mares put together would have been necessary, but someone had to distract the ursa, apparently Smooky's friend was also missing, “where is Rose ?! " she asked to the unicorns.
"She went to warn the guards" they said fearfully.
When Spring Rain replied the Ursa tried to attack Fizzlepop but she barely dodged, when the Ursa stopped Fizzlepop found herself with her back turned towards the bottom of the cave and between her and the exit was the imposing ursa minor.
She could catch a glimpse of Glitter and Spring standing on either side of Smooky to help him stand up, but what made her frown was that they were coming out of the cave… without her, "hey where are you going ?!" she called, however they didn't even deign to look away and kept walking forward, "help me!" she said desperately, but the three were already gone.

Fizzlepop couldn't believe it, “they really abandoned me, without thinking twice” it made her feel bad, she wanted to scream, cry, get angry with those she considered friends… friends who left her there to die so that they could save their skin. ..
"Grrrrr" she felt in front of her realizing the situation, the ursa had begun to approach her in a threatening way, it was obvious that he wanted to hurt or kill her, her urge was particularly territorial and aggressive.
Instinctively, Fizzlepop did the only thing that came to her mind, took a deep breath, opened her mouth and threw a flame at her huge creature.
Immediately the fur caught fire and the ursa took a few steps back while struggling to put out the fire, at this moment Fizzlepop had an escape route but could not run, it was in danger of being crushed by the enormous paws of the ursa, the only option it was trying to fly over it.

Fizzlepop rose from the ground with outstretched wings and flew as fast as possible towards the exit, the creature made sudden and random movements to try to put out the flames and in the meantime perhaps try to hit the alicorn.
Fizzlepop had just managed to get over the ursa's head and salvation was almost near, except that the ursa long limb and with a quick movement managed to grab Fizzlepop's left hind leg and slam her to the ground.

As soon as she felt the claws sink into the flesh, Fizzlepop was thrown to the ground and stunned, behind her the ursa had managed to put out the flames and her fur was blackened and burned, he walked over to her and put his paws around her abdomen and squeezed with an iron grip.
Fizzlepop felt the air coming out of her lungs as she desperately tried to free herself, she tried to bite the paw but it only served to anger the beast it held even tighter, she began to feel the claws cutting her skin and blood leaking from the wounds.
The ursa stretched out the other leg and took both wings of the prey it had in its clutches in its hand and began to pull at them with all the strength it had.

Fizzlepop felt a pang of pain on her back and then…. "crack" was the sound of her wings being snapped and ripped off.
“Aaaaaaggghhhhhhh” an excruciating scream of pain from her came out of her mouth, her blood gushing from the stumps that had been her wings and her excruciating pain ran through her entire body.
In anger and panic, Fizzlepop channeled all the magic she had in her horn and shot it in the face of the Ursa.
The creature grunted in pain as it brought a paw to its face and tossed Fizzlepop to the ground.
Fizzlepop tried to crawl away as she couldn't even stand up “help! Somebody help me! Please!" she screamed with all her voice that she was left, but no one came to her rescue.

By now the princess knew she was going to die, a myriad of thoughts were going through her head: her death, her parents, what she still had to do in life, the lands she wanted to visit, and finally…. her friends.
All thoughts were replaced by just one word ... BETRAYAL.
Fizzlepop felt a mad anger coming from deep inside, an anger against her friends, against her peers, against all those who envied her, against the friendship that she had betrayed her.
However Fizzlepop could not finish her thoughts, behind her she felt the ursa approaching again, again she tried to channel all the magic that was left in her body, she could feel it accumulating on the tip of her horn and empower them there was anger and hatred for the creature in front of her.
The ursa understood that it had to kill the intruder, so it threw the most powerful blow it could.
The moment she saw her claws approach her face Fizzlepop fired the blow that came out of her horn with lethal power, but it was not fast enough, the ursa had managed to hit her by moving her body with pure force of the blow; Fizzlepop flew a few meters out of the cave and when he landed, he felt a huge pain in his right eye and forehead.

The pain was equal to what she felt on her back where the wings used to be, now the pain was unbearable and she was starting to faint, the last thing she saw was black armor running in her direction …. “They finally arrived, even if it's too late for me now”, this was the last thought before closing her eyes.

"Help! Help! Guards! " Ebony Rose was screaming loudly as she ran towards the camp as fast as she could.
Hearing her screams, some suddenly woke up and the guards ran to her "what's up Miss?" one asked.
"I need help, my companions are stuck in a cave with a minor ursa, you have to help them!" Rose explained, still out of breath from running.
They looked at each other for a moment and then said "okay, show us where they are."
The three ponies ran through the forest in a desperate attempt to come to the rescue before it is too late; by now they had almost reached their destination except that they had stopped abruptly.
In front of them were Glitter Drops, Spring Rain and between them was Smooky who limped and was leaning against the other two, Rose gave a sigh of reassurance seeing that the three had managed to escape "you did it, you safe and sound!" she said running to hug the stallion, yet their looks were anything but joy.
Glitter Drops, after taking a breath, began to cry and collapsed on the ground and said "Fizzlepop is still there, we left her to die!" Rose and the guards looked at her with concern and one of her said “are you talking about the princess ?!”.
Glitter Drops sniffed at her and then nodded "yes, we left her with the ursa, we didn't know what to do and ran away while she was a distraction, in panic we ignored her screams .... we could hear them even after we left. " she finished saying as she started crying again.

A guard realizing this turned to the other, "take these 4 to the camp, I will go to the princess's rescue", the guard did not wait for an answer and ran in the direction they were headed before.
After about fifty meters he reached the mouth of the cave but what he saw almost gave him a heart attack: in front of him was the princess immersed in a pool of blood and behind her, inside the cave what seemed to be the carcass of an immense beast.
He immediately moved near the body of the princess who was still alive but unconscious, he tried to assess the damage of her: her wings had been torn, she had deep cuts all over her body and her horn had been broken.
Her blood kept gushing from the stumps that were her wings and from the deep cuts, which was good because it meant her heart was still beating; he took a knife from his saddlebag and with magic heated the blade until it was hot, when it was hot enough he placed it on the open wounds to cauterize all the cuts.
After making sure the princess wasn't bled to death he lifted her body gently and placed her on his back, her hooves hanging limp on either side and her head hovering over her neck, but at least she not would fall as he ran.

In the meantime, the group followed by the pegasus had arrived at the camp, and a professor immediately came forward who began to take care of Smooky Jaster's paw and to accompany him was Ebony Rose.
Glitter Drops and Spring Rain sat on the logs that were around the fire they had rekindled, the moon was still high in the sky and illuminated the earth with the usual bluish glow.
Glitter Drops was still crying while the other sat silently mulling over what had happened, around them they could hear the other students who had woken up and were chatting, while others had gone back to sleep.

The silence was broken by the metallic sound made by the armor of a guard running towards the camp, in the distance he seemed alone but the closer he got closer the more he could make out the slumped shape of the princess above him.
The ponies that had been watching had expressions of horror on their faces, it must have been shocking to see a body mutilated like that for students their age.

The guard ran towards his colleague and spoke quickly but clearly "the princess is still alive but she is badly injured, we must absolutely take her back to the royal palace!"
"Okay" replied the other one "I'll take her in flight, put her on my back"
The guard who still had the princess draped over him did not think for a moment and with his magic moved her onto the other's back, tied her so that she did not fall and immediately the pegasus took off and disappeared on the horizon .

The students who had been watching did not say a word, they were bewildered by the latest events, the professors were the first to decide to move and they ordered everyone to go back to sleep, but no one closed their eyes, apart from those who were already asleep: unaware of what the princess had just been through.

Author's Note

And here is also the third chapter, I thought about it a lot and did not know how to make Fizzlepop lose the horn, initially I thought I was following the original story told in the film, but then I wanted the story to be more dramatic and justify the hatred of Fizzlepop towards friends who have betrayed her.
I hope you liked it.