Tell a group of ponies that a stampede of mildly irritated bunny rabbits was approaching, and you could spark a panic. Tell them that Princess Celestia was injured, the elements of harmony were missing, and changeling infiltrators were in their very midst, and there was only really one reaction Luna should have expected: pure and unrestrained pandemonium, the type of chaos that would put Discord himself to shame.
Cherry Blossom walked through the chaos, paying as much heed as a leaf caught on the wind.
Panic was a rather fruitless endeavour. The time and effort spent on panicking could often be better put to work on solving the problem... to wit: ferreting out perfect infiltrators amongst a group of strangers.
Where should one begin? With the pony with the blue-and-pink mane, skulking around buildings with what looked to be a bandolier and a grappling look? The trio of ponies who were shouting incomprehensible things about horrors and collapsing in the street, cracking open their eyes to see if anyone was paying attention before doing the whole thing over again? The wall-eyed pegasus that bumbled overhead, perhaps. No pony could be so naturally clumsy as to crash into a bright blue box on a rooftop.
Quite why the box was up there to begin with was an entirely different mystery.
Cherry couldn't quite decide whether, in a town of such stranegness, a changeling would stand out more, or less. Perhaps they ought to be looking for the dullest, most level-keeled pony they could find... though that criteria might lead one to suspect Cherry herself. The thought was mildly amusing in a way.
But this wasn't a time for japes. It was a time for deliberation, and she did her best thinking in the midst of nature. Venturing into the Everfree forest at a time like this was probably profoundly unwise, so she could settle for the next best thing. The unicorn found a tree, sat beneath it, and closed her eyes.
Think. Think. Thunk. Thumk. Thump.
Wait? What?
She cracked and eye open, and craned her neck around the tree, and a frown spoiled her zen. Of all the trees in Ponyville, she had to sit at the one shared by a pony who believed himself to be some form of woodpecker?
"Please stop doing that.
You are throwing my rhythm.
It's quite distracting."