"YAY!" chorused four fillies, two draconequuses, a changeling, and a colt. The ensuing sound waves caused their mothers to flatten their ears against their heads and duck for cover.
Then the group of troublemakers was gone, leaving behind nothing but a few magic sparks and the scent of chocolate. Queen Eris raised her head cautiously, using a bit of her chaos magic to create a pair of fluffy pink earmuffs. Far-cry and Obsidian gave her questioning looks until Galaxia mouthed, 'Can I have a pair too?'
Then Eris laughed and let them know the coast was clear. They got up and brushed themselves off, with a reasonable amount of hearing tests afterwards, before they made their way to one of the chamber walls and melted through it.
They came out in a small room with tubes from everywhere in Canterlot Palace, and as they listened carefully they could hear the seven heading for the library, to be exact, the huge, sprawling, multi-level, massive Canterlot library. A lot of knowledge and a lot of playing space.
Knowing their children were (somewhat) safe, they said their goodbyes to Galaxia and left for their respective homes. It was the start of a month-long stay between the seven. Next year, they would stay a month at Obsidian's hive's more pleasant quarters, and the year after that.....nopony knew where Eris, Pestilence, and Discord lived anyway, so they would find out.
* * *
IN THE CANTERLOT LIBRARY
"I piiiiiick......Midnight, Sombra and Discord."
"And I pick Aphrodite, Chrysalis, and Luna."
Thus the teams quartered off and left for their respective levels, team 'Blazing Glory' following Celestia to the tenth level of the library and team 'Harmony' followed Pestilence to level twenty. Once there, the two teams gave their all to buil massive book fortresses, but Discord was too busy making cotton candy clouds the same color as Celestia's mane to help.
Over at team Harmony's base, Pestilence, the more responsible sibling, used her magic to shroud level twenty in a peppermint-scented fog, while Aphrodite made sure the inside of the fort was clean so they wouldn't trip over anything when being invaded and double-checked the trapdoors and the 'dungeon', placing wards over the books as she went so they wouldn't collapse in one hit.
Chrysalis used her magic to fill the dungeon with cells and the green goop stuff she had to make a pool of the sticky substance in each cell, eventually going to help Luna, who was busy making secret escape routes out of the fort besides the front door and the back window.
They were done far before Celestia got around to calling the start, so they went to level twenty-five and made another fort just as quickly. Then they stocked both forts full of ammunition: A Filly's Guide to Magic, A Growing Mare, Forbidden Love, and The Tome of Necromancy were some of the titles Luna and Pestilence read as they stashed them on the ramparts of the fortresses they'd built.
Finally, Blazing Glory got their tails in gear and began the countdown. Over each of the two (known) forts, magical numbers fizzled.
five....four...three...two...one...GO! thought Pestilence as she silently dispatched Luna and Chrysalis, her rangers and scouts, with a couple waves of her gray lion paw. Meanwhile, Aphrodite used her magic to create high-power fog-vision visors for herself and Pestilence, making the entire level seem like no fog was there at all.
Approximately thirteen seconds after she dispatched Luna and Chrysalis, Chrysalis came back dragging her brother by his cloven goat hoof, and tossed him in the dungeon. She came up and reported to Pestilence: "They got Luna." before she darted out the window.
After Chrysalis reached what Pestilence assumed what was level fourteen if she was going fast, Aphrodite whispered down one of the chutes that riddled the fortress: "Come look at this." Pestilence climbed up one of the pilfered library ladders to the rampart level and looked where Aphrodite indicated, seeing the spiral staircase that connected all the floors.
On it were Sombra and Luna, though Luna was on a magical tether. She lead him right past the actual fort and to the emergency library staircase, taking him to the backup fort. "Shall we?" asked Aphrodite with an innocent wave of her pink hoof.
Moments later the two crept along behind Sombra and Luna, muffling the sounds of their hoof-falls with Sombra and Luna's own. Near the backup fort, Pestilence leapt out from behind a bookcase and knocked Sombra for a loop with a heavy random tome. Aphrodite pinned him down, one hoof on his horn to negate his magic, while Luna grabbed Discord from the original fort and together they transferred their prisoners to the backup fort's dungeon.
Next came Celestia herself, striding through the minty fog as though she hadn't a care in the world. She waltzed right past the 'futuristic history' section of the history level, level twenty, and took a left....right into a trap. She tumbled over a tripwire and was pinned by a gob of Chrysalis's gooey stuff.
Celestia was transferred to the secret dungeon as well. Discord tried to wave a claw, then his brown lion paw. Failing miserably at both. On all their prisoners, everything was covered except for the nose, mouth, eyes, and some space around each.
That only left Midnight. Even with her three successful (and rather simple) captures, she would not let her ego cloud her rational thought. She knew that Midnight was probably booby-trapping level ten to pieces as they spoke, so they decided that it would be safe to go in one big group after her. Getting Luna a fog-visor, they slid down the stairs (all it took was a lever and, viola, ramp!) swiftly and quietly.
Climbing off at level ten, the trio met up with Chrysalis as she prowled through the aisles of books. Waving them over with a hoof, she made the gestures to tell them to keep quiet and follow her. Then she made the 'prepare for battle' signal, and slunk off down the aisle, leading her compatriots to an even bigger fort.
They looked up, scanning the ramparts for Midnight. There she was, on one of the balconies, using her magic to increase the rain and thunder of the storm she'd created before clopping off to continue her patrol. Then Harmony made their move, and entered through a back window with some squeezing.
A large map of the fort levels with a red dot labeled 'you are here' told them all they needed to know. Right, up ladder, duck under the swinging axe booby-trap, and so on. After what felt like several eternities, but in reality was only fourteen minutes and twenty-six seconds, they reached the trapdoor to get to the ramparts.
Invisibility spells were put on, and they slowly and silently crept towards their unsuspecting victim, her purple mane flapping in the wind, her black back hooves braced firmly on some expensive-looking books. Then, when they were almost right under her, she turned and started trotting away.
So they followed her, and when she paused her patrol, they struck. Then they dragged her up to the secret fortress and added her to the dungeon. In a flash, both teams met as equals again, dismantled the separate book fortresses, and with seven hours remaining before bedtime, they began to construct the massive fort that would hold all seven of them as they slept.
* * *
SIX HOURS LATER
Celestia sighed as she finished the wards on the western ramparts. The fort was huge, and her equally huge mana pool needed time to replenish. They had one hour left before bed, so they made Discord and Pestilence make the beds in the bedrooms out of non-sticky cotton candy clouds with more sheets of non-stick cotton candy for blankets.
Then they met in the war council room, on the third story of their fortress on level seventy-two of the Canterlot Palace Library. The enchantments placed were specially altered or crafted to last for a month, so they would live there for Discord, Pestilence, and Sombra's visit.
So plans were laid for the night: smuggle all manner of entertainment machinery and snacks in, using the high level of the library to deter visits from Queen Galaxia and the servants. Discord was able to conjure up a slew of ziplines, so the massive book-fort and all the levels of the library were connected by a controlled zipline system.
A clock was pilfered and added, and so they watched as it struck nine thirty. Jackpot.
The eight young creatures slipped themselves into their zip-lining harnesses and attached themselves to the line that went to floor one of the library, which was almost a complete downwards fall. A special enchantment at the end prevented them from becoming royal pancakes, and they unhooked and brought the cart they'd set up and filled with books so nopony would take it.
Careful planning paid off, though, as they took the freshly-oiled cart and rolled it behind them into the hallway without a sound. The corridor took a left past the stairway to Galaxia's private quarters, then the one to Celestia, Midnight, Luna, and Aphrodite's rooms.
They went down through the castle and to the kitchen, the doors being like the gates of paradise. They slowly opened.......to reveal Galaxia giving them a disapproving look. They all froze.
After a few tense minutes, Celestia realized something. "That's not mom!" she exploded. Luna, Midnight, and Aphrodite took a closer look and realized that, indeed, it was a fake queen! A cardboard cutout painted in her likeness was placed right in the middle of the kitchen.
That crisis averted, they wheeled the cart by the royal pantry and went in. Jars of cookies, some gummy ponies, chocolate, ice cream cartons, and other treats stacked themselves on the cart. Then every trace, crumb or stray hair was picked up, leaving no evidence at all that they'd ever been there.
Then the whole convoy left for their fort. They carefully avoided the guards patrolling the hallways, when the unspeakable happened. Discord stopped and covered his muzzle. But it was too late. The sneeze sent a pair of guards racing towards them.
"Let me handle this," Midnight hissed as she slipped to the front of the group. Taking a relaxed stance, she quickly cloaked the cart in a 'Don't Look' spell and began her spiel of excuses, beginning with a neutral greeting.
"Hi!" she said, and the guards stopped and looked confused. Then they looked at her. From Discord's vantage point, he saw her innocent smile become a tad bit forced and some sweat breaking out behind her left ear. The guards continued looking at the group until with a spike of light from his horn the unicorn guard unveiled the cart piled high with sweets.
"Um.....I'll give you a dozen cupcakes just don't tell!" Midnight blurted desperately. The guards exchanged a look, then nodded. "Two dozen, and nopony'll ever hear about this." they answered. More sweat trickled down behind her ear.
"A dozen and a half, and as a bonus I'll find you an excuse to eat them in the library away from prying eyes." she answered, making it sound like it was her final offer. The guards' faces showed their terror at losing their chance to get cupcakes for free on the job.
"Deal!" the pegasus nearly yelled. Midnight wiped her brow and smirked. She re-cloaked the cart and instructed the guards to follow one in front and one behind. The excuse was that they had been found sneaking through the halls and the guards were escorting them back to the library.
Luckily though, nopony ran into them on their way to the library. With a snap of Pestilence's claws, the cart disappeared and reappeared in their fort. Then she turned to the guards and with a snap of her claws again the two found zip-lining harnesses over their armor.
"Hold tight." Celestia said before grinning as Discord snapped with his tail, and they rocketed up to level seventy two. Once there, the guards got their promised cupcakes and then they left, just as promised. Then phase two was initiated.
After sorting the sweets and grabbing a snack, they set out for the electronics. Laptops and gaming systems, DSs and the like. So again the cart was cloaked and again they crept down the halls. This time, however, the operation went of without a hitch and the book palace was almost fully acceptable.
Except for one heinous crime against all foals everywhere: there were no toys. No toys. No. Toys. That must be fixed. And it was, in one fell swoop there were toys practically falling off the ramparts and squeezing out the windows. Then the eight decided to call it a night.
* * *
Luna yawned for three whole minutes before she opened her eyes and saw a horrible sight. At some point during the night Midnight must've convinced Discord to sleep with her, because they were curled up on her candy cloud. Luna headed for the most heavily enchanted place in the whole book palace: the bathroom.
She needed a shower, hay, her brain needed a shower after that horrific display. She flipped on the handle and was temporarily drenched in chocolate milk before her coat, mane, and tail fluffed up and made her look like a blue puffball.
"Didya? Didya? Spill the beans already!" Discord complained as Luna climbed back in the large hole she'd made in the cieling. "Yup. Just watch," she answered confidently. A moment later two starnge things appeared in the summoning circle, seemingly mid arguement.
The taller one was covered in green cloth, brown stuff, and had sheets of shiny green stuff on her shoulders. Her mane was in pigtails, and it was a green-ochre color. The thing's coat was a light orange-pink, and she had......no tail. Where her hooves should've been were some shoes made of the same shiny green stuff, and she held a curved stick that had the shiny green stuff on it and was made mostly out of wood, with a thick shiny cord keeping the thing curved. Strangest of all, though, was the odd blue marking across the top of the thing's face.
The smaller one was in a similar tail-less state,except where things were green on the bigger one, they were blue on the littler one, but her eyes glowed bright white-blue and she had a loose yellow mane. There was no blue slash over the top of her face, either. There was one thing they had in common.
Around each of the things' necks was a gold cord. On the smaller one a sapphire pendant was mounted on a golden disc, similarly an emerald was on the bigger thing's gold cord. It seemed to be the only thing the two had in common, except for their glowing eyes and lack of tails.
The things looked around, their gazes eventually settling on the seven observing creatures observing them. Finally Luna lit up her horn, transforming into something almost identical to the things, but with purple skin and green hair held up by a strip of the brown stuff. Since she was a rough copy of the two things in front of them, she changed some things. Black clothes, turqoise hair, and Luna was all good.
Slowly the rest followed Luna's example, and they became like the strange creatures in front of them. Sombra and Discord changed too, becoming what the females assumed the males of that species looked like. Then, attempts at first contact.
"What are your names?" Celestia asked gently, apparently in the language of the strange things. The small blue one started shaking and backing up, fumbling with a stick that had a shiny head as she stuck the backside of it on the shiny string.
"Sylvanas," she finally managed to mumble coherently. "Sylvanas Windrunner." Then the green one jumped in front of Sylvanas Windrunner and glared at them with a look of such concentrated hatred that if Chrysalis could eat hate, she'd never have to eat again.
"My name is Alessia Windrunner, and back away from my little sister." the green one growled. Celestia started. She knew just how to salvage the situation. "Luna, little sister, let's-"
"You have a sister?" Alessia Windrunner asked, slowly lowering the curved branch and the pointy stick until they pointed towards the wooden floor. "She is your little sister?"
"Yes, I'm Princess Celestia of Equestria. This is my sister Princess Aphrodite, and our twin little sisters Princess Luna and Princess Midnight. This is Princess Pestilence and her little brother Prince Discord, and our friends Prince Sombra and Princess Chrysalis. You are?"