Twilight was in the throne room of her castle, talking with the rest of her friends, minus Fluttershy. They had scheduled a meeting for the day, but the five ponies surrounding the map soon realized that their shy friend wasn't coming. They talked for a while, minutes ticking by, until an hour passed, and Fluttershy still wasn't present.

Rainbow Dash spoke up. "So, Fluttershy's not coming, then? Go figure.", she blurted out.

Rarity shot a glare at the cyan pegasus. "Rainbow! Just because she's a little late doesn't mean she's not coming!"

Applejack sighed. "Rarity, an hour isn't a little late. Fluttershy should'a been here ages ago."

Pinkie Pie shot up at once. "What if one of Fluttershy's animals are sick? Ooo, and what if she had to stay home? What if she wanted to leave, and she did, but then all the animals got sick?", Pinkie gasped. "What if they all died?!"

Rarity and Applejack facehoofed simultaneously.

Twilight was silent for a while, before eventually speaking. "Well, we don't know for sure if she's not coming. As much as I don't want to say it, Pinkie might be right.", she paused when Pinkie softly whispered 'yes!'. "Something could have happened, and she might not have been able to leave for a while."

"You could be right...", Rainbow replied, giving a small nod.

"Yea, let's not git ourselves too worried..", Applejack spoke up.

Suddenly, the doors to the throne room shot open, Fluttershy and Discord rushing inside, both pegasus and draconequus panting. The five ponies turned their heads abruptly to the noise, eyes widening at the pair.

Applejack sighed. "Ah stand corrected."

Twilight got up out of her seat, trotting up to Fluttershy and Discord, her worried gaze looking them over. "Fluttershy, what's wrong?!", she asked.

"Well, um....", Fluttershy started.

"Chrysalis is gone. She bolted out the door, and left, to Celestia knows where.", Discord interrupted, handing the note the Queen had written to Twilight, who, after reading it, looked up at Discord.

"Do you know where she would have went?", the draconequus asked.

Twilight shook her head. "Celestia told me she found Chrysalis with her hive, but..."

"Yes, but, um...", Fluttershy spoke up.

"Do you guys even know where that is?", Rainbow interrupted Fluttershy.

Twilight shook her head, again. "The Princess didn't tell me where it was. All she said is that she found Chrysalis there."

"So, then, are y'all sayin' we have ta go to Canterlot and ask her?", Applejack asked.

Twilight nodded. "Pretty much, yea."

Pinkie jumped up out of her chair, bouncing to the door. "Well, then, what are we waiting for?!"

Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack all got up from their seats, ready to head out. Fluttershy and Discord looked at each other, then to Twilight. The others looked expectantly at Twilight as well.

Twilight sighed. "How are we even supposed to get to Canterlot? Not all of us can fly, the train would take too long, and I can't teleport all of us."

Discord tapped Twilight's shoulder. "I've got you covered, Twilight."

With a snap of his claw, all seven of them were gone. Moments later, the group reappeared just outside of Canterlot, in the train station. Once the group recollected themselves, Twilight lead the way into the city, where ponies roamed about, touring shops, restaurants, and other businesses. A few ponies looked at the group curiously as they trotted though the town, but the ponies, and draconequus, took no notice. Soon enough, the castle laid just ahead of them.

In front of the castle doors, two guards, one a tan-ish unicorn, the other a blueish-grey batpony, were busy quarreling with each other.

"Nightfall, I'm telling you, Scout stuck those tacks in your armor. It was not me!", the unicorn was saying.

The batpony, Nightfall, snorted. "Sure. Whatever you say, Barley.", he retorted, rolling his eyes. "I'll have you know it took two and a half hours to get those tacks unstuck. I was late for my shift!"

Barley looked away from the batpony. "You'd be late even if your armor wasn't covered in tacks..", he muttered under his breath.

Nightfall whipped his head to glare at the unicorn. "What was that?", he growled.

Barley didn't have the chance to reply when a group of six ponies, and Discord himself, showed up. It didn't take long for the pair to realize that the ponies were the Elements themselves, lead by Princess Twilight. The two guards dipped their heads in Twilight's presence.

"Princess, what're you doing in Canterlot, if I may ask? You weren't scheduled to visit..", Nightfall asked when Twilight came closer.

"It's urgent. We need to see Celestia.", Twilight replied, urgency even in her voice.

The two guards stepped out of the way of the doors, simultaneously saying, "Of course.", then shot a glare at each other. Twilight said a quick thank-you and the group went inside. They found Celestia sitting in the throne room, chatting with her sister Luna. Celestia raised her head, turning to look at the group as they approached. The white alicorn noticed the group's grim expression.

"Is something wrong, Twilight?", she asked.

"Um, yeah! Chrysalis is gone!", Rainbow Dash blurted out before Twilight could respond. Rarity shot a glare at the pegasus, and would have said something if the situation weren't so tense.

Celestia's eyes widened, and Luna looked equally as surprised. "Wait, what?", the alicorn asked.

Twilight stepped forward. "Chrysalis is gone, just like Rainbow said. She must have gone back to her hive, but we don't know where that is. That's why we came to you, Princess."

Celestia nodded to herself, muttering something under her breath. She signaled to Luna, who turned and left the room.

"Where's she goin'?", Applejack asked, watching the night goddess briskly walk out of the room.

"She's getting one of my sergeants. They're the one who found Chrysalis and her hive in the first place.", Celestia replied.

The seven ponies, as well as Discord, of course, waited silently for Luna to come back into the room. A few minutes later, the moon Princess returned, a light orange pegasus at her side. The pegasus was a small, lightly built mare. Her mane was a bright gold, almost glowing in the sunlight. Her golden armor, worn by all of the Celestial guard, shone, freshly shined.

Celestia turned to look at the mare. "This is Sergeant Golden Feather.", she said, introducing the mare to the group.

The mare waved a hoof at the group in greeting. "Nice to meet you all."

The group greeted the mare, and afterwards, Celestia looked to the group, her tone growing serious. "Chrysalis needs to be found, and if she's with her changelings, she needs to be found soon. Golden Feather, you'll lead the group to the hive. I'll let you take the guards of your choice, Sergeant."

Golden Feather dipped her head. "Of course, Your Highness. We'll leave right away, as soon as I get some backup."

The Sergeant was about to lead the group out, when they heard Celestia cleared her throat.

"One more thing. You all come in peace. I don't want any fighting."

Golden Feather nodded. "We'll keep note of that, Princess."

And with that, the group headed out the castle doors, on their way to fetch some more guards.

Author's Notes:

Man, it's been over a month since I've updated this story! Don't worry, I haven't abandoned it, I just haven't been able to finish this chapter, with school and all.

I'll try to post a new chapter soon!