Change Up

Despite the fact that an all-powerful army of millions was about to invade an entire region, Princess Celestia didn't think the guards should deal with this.

She figured that instead, she should use the Elements of Harmony. But who would use it? Twilight and her friends were hours away; by the time they got here the invasion would have already started. And besides, teleportation spells didn't work from that far away. This was a problem. Celestia needed to find anyone or everyone able to perform a certain action defined by the Elements: Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic. She would have to think this through.

A lot.

And that's how she ended up strolling through the marketplace of Ponyville.

After all, she did need to get to the Tree of Harmony. Princess Celestia had sealed all six elements into the Tree of Harmony, where they belong. They could only be retrieved by one of four princesses at any given time. And that's what she was going to do.

Besides, she might as well look for anyone who might qualify for the Element.

She spotted a few people.

Twinkleshine; plausible,

Lyra; somewhat,

Derpy; hell, no,

Golden Harvest; meh.

No one really fit the descriptions of the Elements. At least not yet. She needed to expand her search.

The Everfree Forest. Murky, gloomy, dim, dusky, shaded, sunless, black, dismal (shadowy?). Despite it being all these things, Princess Celestia was not scared of the Everfree; in fact, she used to live in it with her sister.

This was going to be a walk in the park.

Literally.

Through the trees, the Princess spotted her own home. She smiled and thought of all the great times she and her sister, Luna, had shared there. She shook them out of her head. She was on a mission.

Princess Celestia glanced at the time.  10:19 AM. This gave her eleven more hours before the changeling invasion.

The Tree of Harmony gleamed with a bright lights. So bright, in fact, that if you stared into it for longer than five minutes, you would go blind. Give it ten, and you'd go deaf as well, and by fifteen, the magic would be so intense it would reach your heart and you'd be nothing but an outer carcass. But the Princess had only been there for two, not like the magic would effect her anyway. Her's was strong enough to cancel it out so it gave no effect at all besides the occasional hallucination at the hour mark. Not that she would be there for an hour. She needed to get this over with quick. She took a deep breath.

Her hand collided with the center of the tree. The six-pointed star, or Twilight's cutie mark. She winced as energy rushed through her body, up through her arm, through the trunk of the tree and down to the roots. The lights of the tree flickered, and the Elements of Harmony clattered on the ground. Princess Celestia picked them up, and stored them in the glass case designed specifically for carrying all six of the Elements.

She needed to take them back to Ponyville quick.

But she needed to take care of one thing first.

"The food was great, thank you," said Twilight, as she handed her plates and utensils to the waiter.

"It most certainly was!" inclined Rarity. "If this place wasn't so far away, I would come here every day! Ooh, but then I would get fat. I don't like fat. If I could eat here every day without it being so far and not getting fat I most certainly would. Perhaps the burnt calories from the very long walk would make up for what I ate. Yes, I assume so. Oh, but then I would get dirt on my hooves. And I would get sweaty and hot. That would make me ugly! On second thought, I don't want to eat here everyday." She rambled on and on and on, but not before Spike let out a giant belch, echoing throughout the entire resterant.

"Spiiiiiike!" scolded Twilight, with a sigh of disbelief.

"That wasn't from eating the food," Spike assured.

"Spike, don't lie." Twilight crossed her hooves and looked at him. "Just say 'excuse me' or 'sorry' for ruining all these ponies appetites."

"No, I'm being serious," Spike said truthfully, holding up a letter.

"A letter? From the Princess? Can't she see we're all on vacation?" said Applejack.

"It must be important," Twilight said. "She said she wouldn't send anything unless it was, like, life threatening." She opened the letter and read it aloud.

My faithful student Twilight Sparkle and friends, I've come to inform you of an. . . incident that happened earlier today. The Changelings are back and are about to strike all of Equestria. . . don't worry about getting back, it'll take you too long and besides, I already have the Elements of Harmony with me. I just need to find the right ponies for the job. . .somehow. Just warn the others in Manehatten and do it fast. You and I both don't have much time so we sure need to do this quick.

Regards, Princess Celestia

There was a bit of exchanged emotions between them.

"This is bad," Twilight said.

"Not good," Applejack agreed.

"Awesome!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"Horrifying!" weeped Rarity, being the drama queen that she is.

"Oh, my," said Fluttershy, quietly.

"PAR-TAY!" screamed Pinkie.

"Shut the fuck up, Pinkie," everyone else said at once.

They needed to get back to the city and warn the other ponies in it. Fast. They dashed out of the restaurant without paying their bill and dashed into the city of Manehatten to warn the ponies of the coming danger.

At least she had gotten that message out. Now she had to find the next step to her plan.

Princess Celestia needed to think for a little bit. She sat down beside the stump of a tree, and laid her head against the trunk. Then, after laying the box next to her, she closed her eyes. A small plan was forming in her head.

Yeah, she had to find the ponies, but how? There simply wasn't enough time to round up everypony in Equestria and take each and every one of them into a room and interrogate them. She would have to wait things out, but not for too long. She wanted enough time to track down Chrysalis. Yes, that's what she would do.

She opened her eyes.

And when she looked to her left, the Elements of Harmony were gone.