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// (12-2) Secrets Revealed 
// Story: The Ruler of Ponies and Men 
// by Boopy Doopy 
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A few seconds later, Twilight and I were standing in the Royal Library, at the edge of the archives. There were a few guards standing stationary, glancing our way for a second before going back to attention, clearly not worried about anything.
“Looks like she hasn’t gotten here yet,” Twilight noted. “Are you sure this is where she’ll be?”
“Yes, I’m positive. I would be very surprised if she didn’t come here. Either way though, we need information on that bell. If we can stop it, that would be the best. If we can’t, then at least you and I can stand a chance against her and surprise her.”
“Do you still have that protection spell over you?” she asked. “If she attacks, you get in front of me and protect me. I hate asking you to deflect blows for me, but if-”
“I know,” I interrupted. “I understand, and I will. Let’s go see what we can do about that bell while we can though.”
With that, the two of us headed inside, carefully scanning the shelves to look for anything about Grogar or the Bewitching Bell. I tried to remember if Brimstone mentioned anyone in particular when we were here however long ago, but no one immediately came to mind.
“We might also want to check for information on Gusty the Great,” Twilight mentioned. I was happy that she was here, knowing that she was smart and studious enough to come up with something. “Although it looks obvious that these books were rummaged through. We might also need more security for the archives. The fact that this happened is unbelievable.”
“It was probably my fault,” I explained. “Brimstone was with me when he originally came here. I apparently have a problem with being much too trusting to all of these ponies.”
“That’s not what I mean,” she explained, picking up a book that looked vaguely familiar to me. “This one was put in upside down and has a page torn out of it, see?” She opened it fully to make her point. “Spells are being stolen from the archives. We can’t let that happen.”
“Oh, that?” I started, remembering what I did. “That was me. I was in here with Brimstone when I found that spell and tore it out.”
“What were you tearing out?” she asked as she looked down to read it, scowling at the idea. “Also, you really should be treating books with more respect, especially ones like…”
She trailed off as she read, her face changing to a look of shock. I avoided looking at her as she did, not wanting to make it seem like it was a big deal, although we both knew it was. I went back to looking for information on the bell as she started speaking again.
“Is… is that- do you know what this spell was supposed to be?” she asked seriously, sounding a bit in awe.
“I do,” I responded calmly, still not looking at her as I scanned the shelves.
“You can’t use this!” she said loudly, almost yelling. “This isn’t something you can just- did you use this before?”
“I didn’t,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “And this is why I didn’t tell anypony. I knew the second someone found out, they’d be all over me.”
“And they should! Time travel isn’t something you should mess with, believe me! It’s supposed to be here in the archives for a reason! There are so many things that can go wrong-”
“I know, that’s why I haven’t used it, Twilight,” I said frustratedly. “I know how dangerous it is, which is why I haven’t done anything with it yet. I’m not as stupid as you all make me out to be.”
“I’m not saying that, but what do you think you’re going to do if you use that?” she asked. “I don’t think going back in time to talk to Cadance would do anything, so I can’t see-”
“Let me just have an ounce of hope in my life, Twilight, okay?” I snapped. “There is nothing for me to look forward to, do you understand that? Just having it in my possession, even if I probably won’t do anything, it lets me have a little bit of hope in my largely hopeless life. Can I just have this one thing, please?”
She took a breath to respond, but didn’t say anything. Instead, she went back to looking through the books, as did I, seeing if there was anything useful. We examined silently for a few minutes before she spoke up.
“I wouldn’t use any sort of time travel spell,” she told me quietly. “Just based on who you are, I’m worried that doing something like that would turn out horribly for you. I can’t imagine anything that could change how things are now, and even if you could, it might hurt you more than you know.”
“I know, Twilight,” I responded with a tone in my voice. “I’m not an idiot. But in my opinion, if it comes to that, it comes to that. I’m not going to just use it willy nilly though, nor have I. The fact that this is all happening is proof enough of that. Anyway, do you think this book could be useful?”
“I know, I’m just worried about what could happen. I’ve had a couple of experiences with time travel, and neither of them went well, trust me on that.”
“Twilight. This book. Do you think there’s something in it?”
“Huh? Oh, let me see.” She walked over to read through it quickly and frowned. “This isn’t anything. This just talks about how Gusty the Great hid the bell from Grogar. That’s not that useful.”
“Look at the story though,” I said. “She hid it from him. Do you think that means there’s nothing we can do but try to take it from her?”
“I don’t like the idea of that, but if she comes before we can find something else, we can go with that plan. It’s as good as anything else. But let’s- let’s hope that’s not the only thing we can do. I'm not sure that would end well.”