I took a sip of my coffee as I looked at the computer screen. The download progress on the bottom left still remained there like it was glued to the screen. Either the file was extremely huge, or the wifi was on the fritz again.
“That sounded like a crazy dream last night,” I heard a voice say.
I turned to see my coworker, Joe Dohn. We’ve been working with each other ever since I was hired. He was one of the few coworkers that I ever talked to outside of work.
“Yeah, it was,” I said. “Somehow it felt so realistic.”
“Dreams can do that to ya. It’s only when you wake up you realize how absurd they actually were.”
“Still though, my dream felt like a whole year had passed. It’s hard to believe it only lasted a night.”
“Dreams can be weird sometimes.” Joe looked over my shoulder at my screen. “Is that file still being downloaded? What’s in it?”
“I don’t know.” I tapped the side of the computer. “Mr. Johnson wouldn’t email me a file this big. He would’ve handed me a flash drive. The router must be down again.”
“Might be.” Joe then stretched his arms. “Well, I gotta get back to work on that email.”
I turned back to my computer as Joe began typing. That’s when I heard a weird noise.
Clop! Clop! Clop! Clop!
“Joe? Is that you typing?” I asked.
“Yeah, why?” Joe asked.
“It almost sounds like a pony trotting. In fact, it sounds just like it.”
Suddenly, I opened my eyes. I was back in the Golden Oaks Library.
Sheesh, how many times am I going to dream of being back in the human world? At this point, I’m surprised Luna hasn’t visited my dreams yet.
Clop! Clop! Clop! Clop!
That’s when I heard hoofbeats again. I assumed it was Twilight pacing. I got out of my bed and went down the steps. My assumptions were correct as I saw Twilight walking back and forth. The floor had a little groove forming.
“Twilight, what are you doing?” I asked. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“It's awful, it's horrible, it's tragic!” Twilight replied.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Here!” Twilight shoved a calendar in my face. “Now do you see what's wrong?”
The calendar said “April 9th” in giant letters.
“We...forgot to celebrate Arbor day?” I asked. I actually didn’t know when Arbor Day was, but I doubt it was in the beginning of April.
“No!” Twilight retorted. “The problem is I just finished planning my schedule for the month, but I forgot to leave time to plan for next month! Don't you see? There's no time in my schedule to put together another schedule! I could move my meeting with the Ponyville Hay Board to the following Tuesday, but then I have to reschedule my lunch with Pinkie Pie, and you know what a nightmare she is with scheduling. This is an absolute disaster! My whole year could be thrown off!”
I sighed and went back up to bed.
And I thought the assistant manager in my department was a schedule freak…
As I went back to sleep, I realized that this was when the events of “It’s About Time” took place. In the show, Twilight gets a visit from her future self warning her about a future disaster. However, she was trying to get Twilight to not worry so much. At least Twilight and the others were able to make sure nothing would collapse in Ponyville.
Come to think of it, what if I could find a way to get Celestia to do a search party for all of the escaped monsters, like Tirek? It has been a while since I tried to change an episode.
I have been slacking off the past few days. But to be honest, there weren’t many recent episodes I could think of changing. “A Friend in Deed” already happened, but I didn’t need to change anything. Cranky deserved to be reunited with the love of his life, despite Pinkie’s actions. It was weird how this episode happened after Pinkie’s Birthday, though. In the show, the episode happened seventy days before Pinkie’s birthday. Perhaps my attempts to change the future made some events occur later than they were supposed to.
I didn’t think I could change anything for “Putting Your Hoof Down” either. It was about time Fluttershy started to grow a spine, and while Iron Will’s teachings were a bit brash, most of the residents here kinda deserved being told off by her. Also, I didn’t want to risk our relationship if she were to say something insulting to me during her “new Fluttershy” phase.
The next morning, I found Twilight still working on her schedules. Not wanting to bother her, I headed to the kitchen to make myself some breakfast. After I finished eating cereal and milk, I heard the wind blowing from the other room. I quickly put my spoon and bowl in the sink and watched from the kitchen as Future Twilight made her appearance. Soon, a blinding white light filled the library as papers scattered across the room.
Here she comes.
But what I saw after the flash made my jaw drop. The figure was wearing a black, torn-up catsuit like future Twilight, and they had a few scratches around their body. What was shocking was that their form was more dragon-like than pony-like. That’s when I knew it wasn’t Twilight, it was me.
Wait, I thought Twilight was the one who was traveling to the past, not me!
The dragon looked around the library.
“Spike?” Twilight asked.
Future Spike turned to her. “Oh, there you are, Twilight.”
“How did you do that? I just heard you entering the kitchen. Is this some sort of dragon magic or something?”
“No, this was actually a time spell you casted that came from the Star Swirl the Bearded wing in the Canterlot archives. I came from the future to give you a warning.”
“I didn’t even know time spells were a thing. How far into the future are you from?”
“About next week.” Future Spike then covered Twilight’s mouth with his hands. “Now please listen! A disaster is gonna follow if you don’t hear what I say! You need to prevent any disasters that will occur in Ponyville. You need to get Celestia to search Equestria for any escaped creatures from Tartarus. And finally, don’t worry so much about the future. Everything will be alright if you do what you’re told.”
“Wait a minute!” Twilight removed Future Spike’s hands. “How do I know this isn’t some crazy trick?”
“Trust me, even I wouldn’t joke around at a time like this.” That’s when Future Spike noticed me. “Oh, hey Spike.”
“Uh...hey,” I said as I awkwardly waved.
Twilight darted her head to me and then to Future Spike.
“I..uh..how?” Twilight was getting confused.
Future Spike then grabbed her head. “Just listen to my warnings, and you’ll be alright.” Suddenly, sparks came out of his body. “Oh, shoot. And don’t worry about the disaster! It’s—”
That’s when Future Spike disappeared in a literal flash. Twilight was dumbfounded by what just happened. I was the same.
“That was...quite a weird spell,” I said.
“Spike!” Twilight grabbed me. “If Future Twilight sent Future Spike to warn me about a disaster, then she must’ve known you were the only creature I could trust besides myself.” She then quickly ran out the door. “Come on, we must warn Ponyville!”
“I’m right behind you!” I quickly followed Twilight outside.
Why did Future Twilight sent Future me to the past instead of herself?
I chased Twilight to the center of Ponyville. She nearly bumped into Fluttershy and PInkie Pie.
“But Future Spike said not to worry so much about the future,” I said.
“Yes, but he warned that a disaster would come if we didn’t prepare ourselves first. Once we solve everything, then we can stop worrying about the future.”
Twilight quickly hopped on the bridge.
“Listen, everypony! I've got something really important to say!” she announced. “We have a crisis on our hooves!”
Everypony around us gasped.
“I've just been visited by someone from the future! They tried to warn me about a horrible disaster that's going to occur sometime before next week!”
“I can confirm that!” I said. “I witnessed it as well.”
“What kind of disaster?” Applejack asked. “And who was the fella from the future?”
“I don’t know what the disaster’s gonna be!” Twilight replied. “Spike got sucked back into the future before telling me.”
“It was Spike?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah, I didn’t know why Future Twilight sent me,” I said. “She could’ve just sent herself.”
“Whatever should we do, Twilight?” Rarity asked. “How do we stop the disaster if we don't know what it is?”
“We'll just have to work together to make sure we're safe!” Twilight replied. “Rainbow Dash, you and the other pegasi spread out over Equestria, and look for any kind of problem that could lead to a disaster, and I mean anything.”
Rainbow Dash saluted. “You got it!”
“Everypony else, time to disaster-proof Equestria!”
We all went on trying to find and fix anything that could result in a disaster. We fixed the bridges, cleaned the streets, painted walls, and more. Fluttershy even tried to make sure none of her butterflies flapped their wings in the wrong direction.
After what seemed like hours of preparation, Twilight’s long checklist was complete.
“Excellent. Well, we've done everything on the list,” Twilight said.
“Now we should do the next thing Future Spike said and warn Celestia about any escaped creatures from Tartarus,” I said.
“Right. But, wait a minute.” Twilight scratched her chin. “The Gates of Tartarus is guarded by a creature named Cerberus, and nothing gets past him.”
“Say, Twilight. Cerberus wouldn’t happen to be a giant, three-headed dog with black fur, would he?”
“If what my books say is true, then yes. Why do you ask?”
“Because of that.”
I pointed to the giant, black, three-headed dog approaching Ponyville. The creature gave out a roar from all three heads.
“Okay, everypony,” Pinkie said, “follow my lead.” She then screamed and ran away. Everypony else did the same thing.
“But if Cerberus is here, then all the ancient evil creatures that have been imprisoned in Tartarus could escape and destroy Equestria!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Destroy Equestria?!” I shouted.
“Yeah! Isn't it great?”
“Twilight, I know you’re my guardian, but I’m starting to question your sanity at this point.”
Twilight was about to cast a spell on Cerberus, but Fluttershy quickly came and calmed him down.
“Wow, I knew you were good with animals, but this is amazing!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Aww, he's just a big furry guy who got out of his yard, that's all,” Fluttershy said.
I’m so glad Fluttershy’s a great animal care-giver.
“Pinkie, do you have a ball I can borrow?” Twilight asked a screaming Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie instantly ceased her screeching. “Sure.” She then dashed to a tree. “I have balls stashed all over Ponyville, in case of a ball emergency.”
“I’ve heard of being crazy prepared, but you take it to the next level, Pinkie,” I said.
Twilight took Pinkie’s emergency ball and lured Cerberus back to Tartarus.
“I should probably tell Princess Celestia about this,” I said.
I quickly hurried back to the library and wrote a letter.
“Dear Princess Celestia,
Twilight and I spotted Cerberus in Ponyville today. Twilight told me that he was supposed to guard Tartarus. She is already bringing him back, but you need to send some of your guards out to search for any escaped creatures. I don’t know who might escape, but there’s no doubt that they’re dangerous if they wound up in a place like Tartarus.
Signed,
Spike”
I sent the letter to Celestia and hoped that she understood the situation. I didn’t know if finding Tirek earlier would alter the events of “Twilight’s Kingdom,” but it was worth a try.
The next day, I woke up as usual and did my morning routine. Twilight still didn’t come back yet, which kinda made sense, since the only gates of Tartarus were pretty far from Ponyville. I still remembered the location from the atlases in the Canterlot Library.
Then I heard the front door opening. Twilight came in looking rather filthy.
“Hey, Twilight,” I greeted. “So how did it go with Cerberus?”
“Great!” Twilight replied. “I got him back before any of the evil creatures could escape.”
“That’s grea—ulp!” My stomach got squeezy again. “Stand back!” I wheezed.
Instantly, I belched out a scroll. Twilight managed to dodge it at the last minute. The scroll bounced off one of the shelves and hit me right above my eyes.
“Spike! Are you alright?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I rubbed my forehead. “Thick scales, remember? That scroll flew pretty fast, though.” I picked up the scroll and read it. “Oh, thank goodness. The princess is gonna have her royal guards search Equestria for any escaped monsters.”
“Wait...” Twilight scrutinized my forehead. “Oh, no! I saw a tiny scratch just like this one on Future Spike! We haven't changed the future at all! The disaster is still coming!”
“Are you serious? We just fixed Ponyville and returned Cerberus. What could we be missing?”
“I don’t know!” Twilight cleaned herself up. “I did everything I could think of to change the future. But it didn't work. So maybe it's not what I do... Maybe it's what I don't do!”
Twilight quickly poofed next to a nearby bookshelf.
“If I stand right here and don't move a muscle until next week, I can't possibly do whatever it is that will cause a disaster that Future Spike wanted to warn me about!”
Twilight then stood solidly on the floor.
“But Twilight, Future Spike said not to worry about the disaster,” I said. “Do you really think a tiny scratch on my forehead is gonna prove that the future will still happen?”
Twilight said nothing. That gave me an idea.
“If you’re just gonna stand there and do nothing, then...” I quickly hurried up the steps and went under Twilight’s bed. There, I saw a book with a lock on it.
Twilight’s diary. Let’s see what secrets the lavender unicorn is hiding.
I pulled out the diary. I jimmied the lock a bit, and then—
KA-FWOOSH!!
“Yeow! My eyes!”
I was blinded by a white light, and the intense heat made me assume the diary exploded. I stumbled backwards and suddenly fell off the edge. A couple of hooves thankfully broke my fall.
“Honestly, Spike,” I heard Twilight’s voice say. “Did you really think I didn’t put a protection spell on my diary? It takes more than a simple lock to store your own privacy, you know.”
By the time I regained my vision, Twilight was heading up the steps to put her diary back. I guessed it wasn’t ruined by the protection spell.
“It’s a good thing that spell worked,” she said as she headed back down. “Otherwise, there could’ve been a—GASP!!” Twilight was shocked after looking at my face.
“Don’t tell me, I have the same scratches on my face like Future Spike, right?” I asked.
Twilight nodded and handed me a mirror. Just like she implied, the scratches and burn marks on my face were similar to what Future Spike had. As I was observing the scars, a knocking sound was heard at the front door.
“Hey, Twilight,” Rainbow said as she walked in. “Another Pegasus just got back from Baltimare with an all-clear and...” That’s when she noticed me. “Woah! What happened to you, Spike?”
“I tried to read Twilight’s diary,” I replied.
Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Well, heh, that’s what you get for invading Twilight’s privacy.”
“My diary’s the least of our worries!” Twilight barked. “The scratches on Spike’s face is just another sign that the future hasn't changed! Not doing anything didn't work either! Oh, I wish there was a way to know what was going to happen so I could stop it!”
“Why don’t we get Spike to do another psychic ritual?” Rainbow joked.
“I told you I’m not a psychic,” I rebutted. “Although, if we really need to know about the future, why don’t we try time traveling like Future Spike did?”
“Spike, do you know how complex time travel is?” Twilight asked. “It can be dangerous if not done properly.”
“But we saw Future Twilight send Future Spike back, so she must’ve learned it so quickly. What about the scrolls in the Canterlot archives? Future Spike mentioned them.”
“That’s rather convenient for him to tell you guys that,” Rainbow Dash said. “Though he should’ve warned you about the disaster first.”
“But what if we cause a rip in the time continuum?!” Twilight asked. “What if that’s the disaster?”
“If you’re worried about it so much, then we can talk to an expert.”
“An expert on time traveling?” Rainbow asked. “Is there really such a pony?”
“I think I might know who.”
A few hours later, Twilight and I arrived at the house of a pony named Time Turner, AKA Doctor Whooves. I knocked on the door.
“Derpy told me how much her friend, Dr. Whooves, studies science and technology,” I said, “but his most common subject is time. Maybe he knows a thing or two about time traveling.”
Within a few minutes, a brown earth pony with a green bowtie answered the door.
“Yes? What is it?” he asked.
“Uh...are you Mr. Time Turner?” Twilight asked.
“As a matter of fact, I am,” he replied. “Is there something you need?”
“What do you know about time traveling?”
The doctor looked around and motioned us to come in. We followed him to a laboratory that would’ve put Twilight's basement to shame.
“I have been researching all there is to know about time,” Dr. Whooves said, “and while I can’t confirm nor deny that I’ve experienced it firsthoof, I’ve come to a conclusion that there are two theories regarding time travel.”
“Please tell us these theories,” Twilight said.
“Well, the first theory is that time is in a loop.” The doctor got out a chalkboard and drew a few diagrams. “Since the past has already occured, there is no way to alter it no matter what you do. This can be confusing because there would have to have been a timeline in which a past event hasn’t occurred. Let’s just say for example, your future self came and warned you not to eat a bad apple. That would mean that there was a timeline in which you ate the apple and got a stomachache. But since you warned yourself not to eat it, the event never happened. And yet, you would still travel to the past and warn yourself not to eat the apple as if it did happen.”
“That does sound pretty confusing,” I said.
“That’s why I came up with another theory: Time traveling is actually a certain way of visiting alternative dimensions.” The doctor flipped the board and drew more diagrams. “Miss Sparkle, let’s just say that your future self didn’t come to you. That would mean that you are in the ‘not visited’ universe.” He drew a line across the board. “Then this potential disaster happened in your timeline and you wanted to warn your past self about it.” He drew another line. “Instead of traveling back in your own timeline, you would actually travel to a different universe in which you visited your past self. Your own timeline wouldn’t be altered in any way, past or future, but at least you would prevent a disaster in another universe.”
“So, let’s just say, in theory, somepony goes back in time and stops Rainbow Dash from performing a sonic rainboom that caused my egg to hatch,” I said. “I would still be alive because my timeline wasn’t altered, correct?”
“That’s right,” Doctor Whooves replied.
“Would it be possible to travel forward on the same timeline after traveling to the past?” Twilight asked.
“It’s possible, but I would imagine that it would be much harder than going back to your original. I hope that answers all the questions you two have.”
“Sort of,” Twilight said. “Thank you.”
Back at home, Twilight was still worried about what might happen.
“I know Future Spike said that I shouldn’t worry about the disaster,” Twilight said, “but how can we tell if we stopped the disaster from happening? I mean, look at you, Spike. You’re starting to look more and more like Future Spike, which means that the disaster that Future Spike said will happen is going to happen.”
“But Twilight, we’ve seen how I got those markings,” I said. “I had that small scratch from a paper cut, and I got the rest of them from that protection spell. All that’s left is the black catsuit.”
“Which means that Doctor Whooves’s first theory is coming true. And with ‘next week’ being right around the corner...”
“Wait a minute, what if there was no disaster to begin with? What if we went on this wild goose chase for nothing?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Think about it. Have you noticed how I got my scars from mundane events instead of a huge disaster? And if a disaster were to occur, wouldn’t Princess Celestia or Luna warn us or something? What if Future Spike was trying to say that we shouldn’t worry about the disaster because there was no disaster to begin with?”
“Are you saying that we did all this for nothing?”
“It’s possible.”
“I’m not so sure, Spike. I’ll have to keep monitoring until next week happens, and then we’ll see if the disaster was prevented or not.”
I sighed. “Fine. But I really think this a waste of time.”
Ignoring my previous comment, Twilight went on trying to observe anything that looked out of place.
A few days had passed, and while Twilight did rest a bit, she still monitored nearly everything like in the show. I helped a bit, even though I knew it was pointless in hindsight.
“12 hours, 31 minutes, and 42 seconds until ‘next week,’” Twilight said as she wrote down in her journal. “Still no abnormalities that could lead to a disaster.”
“There were no reports from Celestia about the escaped creatures yet,” I said. “Still believe in a disaster happening?”
That’s when we heard Pinkie Pie come in.
“Hi guys. What’s all this?” Pinkie asked. “Are you trying to figure out what your next birthday present will be?”
“Despite the fact Future Spike said not to worry about the future, Twilight is still convinced that a disaster is still coming,” I replied. “Also, I recovered a bit from my scratches.”
“I thought dragons were fireproof.”
“Not completely.”
“Okay, guys. I have a plan,” Twilight said. “Since we’ve got little time until ‘next week,’ we need to head on over to...”
“...the Star Swirl the Bearded wing in the Canterlot archives,” I said. “And yes, you are that predictable.”
Twilight groaned and Pinkie giggled.
“Are you sure you’re not Future Spike?” Pinkie asked.
“I heard about it when Future Spike showed up,” I said. “I had a feeling we were gonna head there sooner or later.”
After a few hours of preparation, Twilight, Pinkie, and I headed to Canterlot. It was already nighttime, and we were wearing the same catsuits like what Future Spike wore.
“Okay, the Canterlot archives are right over there,” Twilight said as we got off the train. “Let's move!”
After a few minutes of “sneaking around” (Twilight was the only one doing it), we arrived at the Star Swirl the Bearded wing. A guard was kind enough to let us in. I guessed being the star student of Celestia has its perks sometimes.
“Alright. Now we gotta search for any time spells before sunrise, which isn’t going to be long,” Twilight said. “Let’s spread out!”
We searched the archives for any spell related to time. That’s when a familiar book caught my eye.
It was a book about bells, and it was locked up in chains. I remembered how Cozy, Tirek, and Chrysalis stole the book in order to operate Grogar’s bell. But I knew that wasn’t going to happen this time. I quickly looked around until I found a thick book about keys. I picked it up and aimed at the lock.
I hope this doesn’t ruin the spine.
With full force, I whacked the lock as hard as I could.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Snap!
After my third swing, the chains broke apart and the book fell off the shelf. I was able to catch it in time.
Those are some weak chains. I’ll have to remind the princess to get stronger ones.
Not wasting any time, I flipped through the pages until I came across a section about Grogar’s bell. I quickly read through it until I came across the page about how to activate it.
Sorry, Future Legion of Doom. You may have been one step ahead, but I’ve already cleared the staircase.
I tore out the most important page and shoved it into my mouth. I swallowed hard and made sure that there weren’t any other important pages.
“What was that noise?” Twilight called out.
“Uh...sorry Twilight! I ripped my suit,” I lied.
To make sure it was the truth, I tore a bit of the suit off with my teeth. It didn’t make a noise since it was rather rubbery. I closed the book and placed it down on the floor. I then quickly hurried to where Twilight was.
“I didn’t see any time spells in that section,” I said.
“Well, keep looking, Spike. We have to...” That’s when Twilight noticed me. “Oh, no. We better hurry. You're starting to look exactly like Future Spike.”
I looked at the hole in my suit and realized that it was in the same spot as it was on Future Spike.
Oh, oops. Well, I can’t change that anymore.
We continued to search for any time spells, but we found nothing. That’s when the sun rose up in the sky, indicating it was morning. Just like in the show, nothing happened. There was no disaster happening.
“I guess we stopped the disaster,” I said. “That or there was no disaster to begin with.”
Twilight sighed. “I guess you’re right, Spike. I should’ve listened to Future Spike about not worrying about the future. From now on, I'm gonna solve problems as they come, and stop worrying about every little thing! If only I had learned this lesson a week ago, we wouldn't have had to go through all this.”
“Twilight, Twilight, I found something!” Pinkie gave us a scroll. “It says you can go back once, and it only lasts for a few moments. Does that help?”
“Pinkie, you're a genius! Now I can go back and tell past Twilight that she doesn't need to go berserk with worry about a disaster that's never gonna come!”
“Wait, Twilight! I should go!” I declared. “If Past Twilight sees you, she might freak out. She might be able to trust me more, if she doesn’t assume it’s a trick.”
“Alright,” Twilight said. “But this won’t last long. Be sure to get to the point once you get there.”
“One sec,” I said. I quickly removed my hood and got down on one knee. “Okay. Go ahead.”
“Good luck, Spike,” Twilight said. Her horn glowed as I was encased in a barrier of magic. Papers were flying all over the place. I closed my eyes as I was surrounded by a white light.
Within seconds, the light dissipated. I looked around and noticed that I was back in the library.
Looks like it worked.
“Spike?” I heard Twilight asked.
I quickly turned around and saw her staring at me. “Oh, there you are, Twilight.”
“How did you do that? I just heard you entering the kitchen. Is this some sort of dragon magic or something?”
“No, this was actually a time spell you casted that came from the Star Swirl the Bearded wing in the Canterlot archives. I came from the future to give you a warning.”
“I didn’t even know time spells were a thing. How far into the future are you from?”
“About next week.” Realizing I’m wasting time, I covered Twilight’s mouth with my hands. “Now please listen! A disaster is gonna follow if you don’t hear what I say! You need to prevent any disasters that will occur in Ponyville. You need to get Celestia to search Equestria for any escaped creatures from Tartarus. And finally, don’t worry so much about the future. Everything will be alright if you do what you’re told.”
“Wait a minute!” Twilight removed my hands from her mouth. “How do I know this isn’t some crazy trick?”
“Trust me, even I wouldn’t joke around at a time like this.” That’s when I noticed my past self approaching. “Oh, hey Spike.”
“Uh...hey,” Past Spike said as he awkwardly waved.
Twilight darted her head to him and then to me.
“I..uh..how?” Twilight was clearly confused.
I grabbed her head. “Just listen to my warnings, and you’ll be alright.” Suddenly, sparks appeared all around me. “Oh, shoot! And don’t worry about the disaster! It’s—”
Flash!
“—nothing!” I looked around and noticed I was back in Canterlot. “Dang it!”
“What did you tell Past Twilight?” Twilight asked. “Did you tell her not to worry?”
“Well, yeah. I think I said the same thing Future Spike said. Although, I guess I’m Future Spike now.”
“Ah, don't worry about it. It's past Twilight's problem now,” Pinkie said.
“I guess you’re right, Pinkie Pie.”
At least I knew why Twilight sent me to the past instead of herself. Even though I barely changed anything in this episode, I was able to get Celestia to search for any escaped creatures. Plus, I managed to throw a wrench into the villain trio’s plans long before they even formed up.
“Hey, who removed the Big Book of Bells from its chains?” Princess Celestia called out.