The buzzes echoed through the halls. Red Noise, with a scowl, flew by the windows. He was catching up to Humerus as they neared the double doors at a great speed.
The doors opened. Pinkie Pie waved at the two. "Sure, guys, come on in!"
Then, Humerus crashed on to one of the crystal thrones. He and the throne fell to the ground with loud thuds.
Red Noise almost flew into the wall but he swerved upwards, almost doing a loop, and hovered his way quickly to the ground.
Pinkie Pie gasped again. "That's Rarity's chair! She's going to ask for another chair like that if she sees dirt on it!"
Under the many colorful lights hanging from the ceiling's roots, Red Noise looked at Humerus, still having that scowl. He tapped one of his hooves.
Humerus got up with a groan, grasping and gripping the table, struggling to do so.
Pinkie Pie trotted to the changeling. "You need a helping hoof?"
He looked at Pinkie. He pulled himself up. "It's alright, Pinkie!" Humerus smiled. "I don't want to stress you out!"
"What's with the commotion there?"
"Twilight!" Pinkie shouted.
She rushed up to the approaching Princess of Friendship—rushing from the door. The alicorn, with her wings and her horn, with no sign of royalty like a crown, gazed at the chair on the ground. Emblazoned on it was the image of three blue diamonds. She gasped at the sight. Then, she saw the two changelings in the room—one of them right in front of the crystal table.
She grinned a nervous grin. "Ah, you must be the changelings Pinkie must've been telling me about!"
"Princess Twilight!" Then, Humerus rushed to her and hugged her.
Twilight recoiled a little. "Uh, are you sure you got the right changelings, Pinkie?"
"Yup!" She closed her eyes, smiling. "I'm super-duper confident that we've got the right changelings!"
Twilight smiled, also. She looked back at the chair on the floor and sighed. "We need to clean this up."
Silence was in the room.
"I said, we need to clean this up!" Then, her eye twitched.
Humerus balked away from Twilight. He was still smiling. "Yeah, her nervous mode!"
A small purple and green dragon huffed his way to the room and quickly set the chair right.
"Thanks, Spike!" Her eye twitched again.
"You're, uh, welcome, Twilight..." He looked at the two changelings. "Say..." He brought a hand to his chin "...I hope you didn't wreck Rarity's chair." He walked towards the hallway. "If there's one thing that she likes in this castle, it's the crystal chairs." He paused and turned to the changelings, pointing at them with his two hands. "Also, first two good changelings in the castle! Nice!" Then, he continued walking down the hallway.
"I can't believe that I just met Spike, Twilight's number one dragon assistant!" Humerus rushed to Twilight and hugged her again.
She gulped. "Uh, Red Noise?"
Red Noise sighed. "Yes, Princess Twilight?"
"Can you please tell Humerus in the nicest way possible to stop hugging me like that?"
Pinkie giggled. "He's been like that for all of us, Twilight! He's very happy to see us!"
"So, I have so many questions to ask you and your friends, Twilight Sparkle!" Humerus yelled as the two changelings and the two ponies walked between tall walls, great windows, and giant columns.
Twilight giggled. The giggle resounded through the halls, spreading the laugh to the end of the hallway and to other hallways. "So, you're that kind of changeling, Humerus. I've seen colts and fillies like that when they meet a Princess, but I haven't seen a grown pony be so...eager about meeting a Princess, much less a grown changeling."
"That's because he's crazy," Red Noise said. "With all due respect, Princess Twilight, changeling acts too much like a cheery pony. Sometimes, back then, I used to wonder if he was actually our best infiltrator because of that attitude."
"Now, that's a scary thought."
The four laughed.
Pinkie stopped laughing. "Wait, I don't get the joke."
The other three laughed even harder.
Then, they stopped walking.
The tall doors in front of them were already open. On the walls were long bookshelves of many, many books of various sizes and colors and names. The bookshelves and the books almost made up much of the wall. At the wall's center was a shiny crystal model of a tree in winter. Two arched windows were on top of the bookshelves, lighting up the room. Between them was another window—round and on it was a symbol that looked much like the crystal tree on the wall. Between that window hung two green and yellow banners displaying on them a yellow symbol that also looked a lot like the tree. A ladder leaned on some of the bookshelves.
Scattered through the room were circle wooden tables. A few books laid there in a nice order, whether stacked vertically or lined up horizontally.
At the table sat a light-pink pony. Her purple and aquamarine mane was curled while she read a book, focused on obtaining whatver information was inside.
"Starlight Glimmer!" Pinkie shouted.
Starlight gasped and fell off the chair. "Ow..."
"Starlight Glimmer! Meet the changelings in town today! Red Noise and Humerus!" Pinkie threw confetti to the air, littering the purple carpet.
"Heh-heh." Starlight got up.
"Do you remember me, Starlight?!" Humerus yelled.
"Uh, maybe?" She grinned a nervous grin.
"Don't worry about Humerus, Starlight," Twilight said. She gestured to the changelings—a smiling and grinning one and a serious-faced one. "He's really enthusiastic about meeting the ponies here. Really enthusiastic."
Humerus flew towards Starlight, wearing a great smile. "Starlight!"
Starlight gave Twilight a shake of her head.
A purple glow surrounded the approaching changeling. With a gasp, he was pulled from Starlight. As he was floated away, he flailed, reaching out towards Starlight.
Then, Humerus, still in the purple glow, flailed on beside Twilight and Red Noise.
"I guess he's too happy to see you."
Starlight's horn glowed a light blue as a book also glowed a light blue, floating its way to Humerus. "What about you try to calm down with a book, Humerus." Then, she glared at Pinkie, and there was no calm voice. "Are you triyng to ruin my day with a rabid changeling, Pinkie?"
"The other changeling's not so rabid!" She smiled.
Starlight sighed and closed the book in front of her with her hoof.
Red Noise looked at Twilight. "Look, Princess, we want to leave—have to leave very soon. We might run late and miss our train to Dodge City—"
"The train to Dodge City, you say?" She giggled hesitantly, eyeing the two changelings with another nervous grin. "Last time I checked the clock here, it was ten-thirty! The train already left ten minutes ago!"
Humerus danced on top of a table, cheering.
Red Noise groaned and slapped himself with a hoof. "Now how long do we have to wait?!"
The tall doors opened and two more changelings arrived flying into the spacious library room. "The train's left!" Neon Guard shouted.
"Ooh, is this a guessing game where we have the train's left and right?" Pinkie raised her hoof. "I wanna join! I wanna join!"
Neon Guard gazed at the changelings and the ponies already there. "I see that you've met some of us." He looked at the Princess beside him and then bowed down. "Good morning, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Sorry for interrupting whatever you were having in this room."
Blue Alarm bowed down as well.
"I forgot!" Then, Humerus flew down from the table and bowed down.
"Come on, guys, you don't need to bow down to me. I'm just a normal pony—"
"Who saved Equestria a few times with her friends and one time on her own?!" Humerus flew to Twilight and hugged her again. "You're not a normal pony, Twilight! You're one of the best ponies I've ever seen!"
Neon Guard grumbled. "Humerus, do you even know who you're hugging right now?!"
"Of course, I know!"
"That's not what I mean, Humerus!"
"Group hug!" Pinkie shouted, and then she hugged Twilight, also.
Starlight and the changelings just stared at the awkward group hug right in front of them. Then, Pinkie and Humerus slowly walked away from Twilight.
"So—" Twilight looked at all who were there, just looking at her because there was not much else happening in the room "—the next train to Dodge City leaves Ponyville at eleven o'clock!" She smiled awkwardly. "So, um, enjoy your time here, if you want to stay here, that is." She walked out of the library. "Or, you can always go to the other rooms as long as you keep them clean and not dirty and unorganized, that is. Heh-heh-heh..."
Then, the tall doors closed.
"So, do you remember me?" Humerus asked from his seat across the table.
"Um, I'm not sure, Humerus." Starlight grinned. "Just go on and read the book."
"What about a game, Starlight?"
Starlight looked up from reading her book. "What kind of game? We have chess—"
"That sounds fun! Let's play chess!" He looked at the three changelings and Pinkie talking at another table; Red Noise was glancing at him with a mean eye. "Come on, everyone! We're going to play chess!"
"It's only for two players, Humerus." A smile appeared on her face. She eyed a faraway spot at the end of one of the bookshelves. The chess board floated from its place and on to the table.
As the wooden black and white board opened, the board seemed to set itself upright. The chess pieces went out in a grand swirl or spiral. All the pieces, from the pawns through the horses and bishops and the castles and up to the kings and queens, floated their way to their starting squares.
"So, do you want to play first?"
Humerus nodded rapidly.
The board glowed again and it rotated fast. The pieces never went out of their places. Now, the white pieces were in front of Humerus.
"Do you know how to play chess, Humerus?"
Humerus nodded again. "I read all about it so I can fit in with a few fancy ponies in our second-to-last mission!"
Starlight glanced at Humerus, a subtle surprise on her face. "OK...so, are you sure you know how to play chess?"
Humerus nodded another time.
Starlight stretched her front hooves. "So, let's begin!"
She smacked the table with her hoof.
None of the pieces went ouf their squares.
The changelings and Pinkie looked at the game about to start. "Ooh, a game of chess! Humerus, you can win the game by taking the king!"
Starlight giggled off-hoofedly. "That's not how it works, Pinkie!"
A loud thud.
Starlight looked back at the chess board. A short white piece moved ahead one square.
She smiled and narrowed her eyes.
She moved a pawn—the pawn in front of her king—two squares ahead.
Humerus smiled at the tremendous move.
"Are you sure you know how to play chess?"
"Of course, I did!" Humerus held up a castle piece. "This is a castle. Others call it a rook."
"Hmph." Starlight looked at the changeling with a glare. "Have you studied on how to play chess?"
A bead of sweat went down on his smiling face. "O-of course, I did that also! How else can you play chess well?"
"Because, if you really studied chess, then you should know that one wrong move would make you lose right now." Starlight clasped her hooves in front of her face, almost about to laugh.
Now, there were three changelings and Pinkie Pie around the table. The three changelings gazed at the chess board, not saying a word. They looked at Humerus, still smiling despite the possiblity of losing by Starlight's next move. Then, they looked back at the chess board. Pinkie kept whispering to Starlight's ear, "Go, Starlight! You can do it! You can do it! You can win! Wait for Humerus! Then, move a piece!"
Starlight grumbled.
Humerus looked at each of his chess pieces. The only piece out of place was the pawn that he moved. He placed a hoof on his chin, then two hooves on his head. He rubbed his head.
"Just move already!"
He moved a pawn two squares ahead.
Starlight raised a hoof to the air. "A-ha!"
The queen piece rose to the air in dramatic fashion—a wind surrounded it, the room started to shake, the lights above were moving around, the doors were clattering, the books were trembling to the point of almost falling out of their bookshelves and causing a mess, all while her horn was glowing and while she was grinning, looking at the chess board.
"It's a thunderstorm already?" Pinkie asked. She beamed. "Hooray for pegasi and instant weather changes!"
"Are we supposed to get Humerus now?" Blue Alarm gazed at the queen piece still rising in the air in a great swirl of wind. Books were now already flying out and surrounding the queen piece. "This is way too dangerous for chess!"
Then, the queen piece moved diagonally across the board.
The wind stopped, the room did not shake anymore, the lights became stable, the doors no longer clattered, the books that were in the air fell down to the carpeted floor.
There was silence in the room.
Starlight drew her breath. She closed her eyes.
Humerus looked at the chess board. "So, what was that all about, Starlight? Can you do that whole spectacle again?"
"Checkmate! Fool's mate!"
Starlight punched the table with her hooves while she smiled.
"Punching table time!" Pinkie yelled. Then, she joined Starlight in the punching of tables.
Starlight pointed, with a hoof, at Humerus. "Take that, Humerus! You lost!"
Humerus clapped and smiled.
Then, the doors opened. Twilight gasped at the sight of the messy library room.
"Oh, um, about the room, Twilight." Starlight slowly backed away from the grumbling Princess of Friendship.
The other three changelings looked at Twilight.
Humerus looked at Twilight.
Pinkie grinned. "Twilight! You're back!"
Humerus smiled at her.
The Princess of Friendship smiled. The grumbling stopped. "What about we clean the library together?"