Twilight stared at the page in front of her as if it had slapped her across the face.

“W....w-what?” The word dribbled out of her mouth with a mixture of incredulousness and fear. Behind her, Rainbow dash and Rarity were staring at their purple friend, unsure of what to do. By the time Rarity decided to step forward, Twilight's shoulders were shaking,

“T-there is no way...he...couldn't have....NO!” With a strong surge of magic Twilight threw it across the room where it smacked a wall and lay still on the floor soon after. Rarity and Dash both reeled backwards from the magical wave as it brushed against them.

“T-twilight dear please! Calm down!” Twilight whipped around and glared at the unicorn,

“Calm down? CALM DOWN?! My mother's grave has been desecrated by the hooves of some old codger unicorn for the sake of...of...AAAG!” Twilight stomped a hoof into the floor, her nostrils flared, and with a audible growl she marched past them and flung the doors to the hall open, startling the guards standing nearby.

Her mane was whipping about around her, caught within the grasp of her magic as she tromped towards the Castle gates, there was only one place she needed to be right now.

The Ponyville Cemetery.

It was all ready, she would walk in, have a chat with them both, there would be crying, anger, fear, and a whoooole lot of explaining to be done. But she was ready. Her entire life knowing this time would come and she was finally at it's edge, ready to slice into it with her words of determination.

So why was she shaking so badly?

Celestia repositioned herself on the cushion and looked over to her sister. Luna seemed to be fine, her mane was relaxed and swaying slightly to the right. Her eyes were locked on a book she was reading, although where she'd gotten it was not known to the alabaster alicorn.

“Calm down sister, all will be well after this, we assure you.” Celestia felt her ear flick,

“Calm down? How can I? I'm about to tell twilight that this entire time I'm her mother and you expect me to be calm?” She stood and began to pace about the room,

“I can't be calm, very much sit still, Lulu. I feel like my stomach is on fire, and my head is filled with mud...what if she gets angry?”

Luna flicked a page with her magic,

“She will be.”

“What if she thinks I’m a horrible pony?”

A nod,

“She will.”

What if...what if she hates me?”

“Twas bound to happen, dear sister.” Celestia finally stopped and looked at her sister, frowning. Flipping both her ears back, she walked over and sat down on the cushion again.

“Your not being very helpful with answers like those...” Luna cocked an eyebrow at her elder sister, flipping another page,

“And fretting over the inevitable is?” Celestia sighed, why did Luna get to be her voice of reason, she was too good at it. They sat like that for several more minutes until Celestia stood again, Luna merely kept reading,

“I mean sure, she'll be mad at me, I would be mad at me...well, 'disappointed' sounds good too,” Luna frowned,

“Be assured sister, there is nothing good about this situation your in, Twilight will have her world turned upside down, and all because you couldn't tell here the necessary truths she needed.” The white alicorn bit her lip,

“Well-I was--...oh come on Lulu, can't you agree with me at least once?”

The dark mare smirked and closed the book,

“We cannot, not when our sister is attempting to mask her fears with falsehoods and sugar coated comforts. Think of it this way, I'll never lie to thee. Take comfort in that fact, for we give it rarely.” Celestia grinned wryly,

“I don't believe that for a second, lulu. If memory serves, you lied to me for a whole three centuries about how you were feeling and look where that got us.” Luna sighed and tossed the book aside onto her sister's bed and stood,

“Yes well, we had a diamond dog on our shoulder, and could not see past it's hairy behind...” Celestia regarded the sentence with a look of confusing and disgust.

“I..think you mean you had a grudge...” Luna shrugged and waggled a hoof,

“Tis the same thing.” They both chuckled, and Celestia sighed, nuzzling into her sister's neck for comfort, to which Luna replied in kind.

“Thanks for being here, Lulu, it means a lot to me.” Luna chuckled, poking Celestia's chest,
“Do not forget that we are now her aunt. As such we have every right to be here when she is told...however, something confuses us.” Celestia paused in her nuzzles and looked down at Luna, she had her eyes on the doors to Celestia's chambers.

“Does it normally take your guards this long to locate thy pupil?” It was here that they both blinked, and looked at one another. Celestia found he self mentally checking the time, and found the number to be rather uncommon for twilight's arrival...it never took a half hour to find her.

“No, no it does not, I wonder where she is...” Celestia stood and opened her door, peering out. One of the guards looked back and nodded,

“Is everything alright Princess?” Celestia smiled,

“Yes, I was merely curious what is taking up the guard that went to retrieve Twilight Sparkle, has he returned yet?” The guard shook his head,

“Negative ma'am, would you like us to go and search for Twilight as well?” Celestia nodded,

“That would be appreciated, thank you.” She watched as the two guards left together before closing the door and sighing.

“Apparently she's playing hide and seek with my guard.” Luna giggled and went back to her cushion,

“We find it rather out of character for her to be doing such things...but the idea is humorous.” Celestia sighed, and for the first time that day,

a real smile sat upon her face.

As the train clacked along down the tracks, Twilight remained infuriated. Pacing back and forth in the middle if the isle. Her eyes attempted to bore holes into the floor and the tracks beneath it, and given enough time, she was sure she could have succeeded.

“Twilight, please sit down, I’m sure it's just some misunderstand--” Twilight silenced the unicorn mare with a glare.

“Aha...yes well...continue...” Next to her, Rainbow dash was lounging on the seat, her face contorted into a mixture between worry and anger, if that were even remotely possible.

“I don't get it Twi, how did this pony get your family book, and who the hay is this King Elictus guy?” Twilight stopped and blinked, looking back at the mare,only to find the book she'd discarded in the mare's lap. Quickly darting over and snatching it from the cyan pegasus, she growled at her.

“When did you grab this!?” Dash shrugged and put her head on the sill,staring out the window sourly,

“Jeez Twilight its not like its your diary or anything, I grabbed it when you stomped out the door. I figured it was important to ya so I brought it with us. But really, who is King Elictus?” She lifted her head and leveled a look of curiosity at Twilight. The mare sighed and sat down in the middle of the floor, cradling the book in her hooves.

“I..I don't know, this book, if legitimate, is from before Celestia and Luna's time. On top of that it has history I’ve never read in any books or scrolls. I think the only ponies who might know of King Elictus are Celestia and luna, and maybe Discord, but I'd rather not ask him.”

Rarity scoffed,

“He'd give you an answer I think we'd both find infuriating, that would only reveal itself as useful after we needed it.” A murmur of agreement went between around. Twilight clenched her teeth, It was true that Discord was now 'reformed', but the chaos god had shown little skill at being friendly.

Probably doesn't drink coffee in the morning...Despite the situation she'd found herself in, she smiled at the humor of the thought.

As the train rattled onward, Twilight eventually did simmer down; she even sat down for a bit next the the girls, but it was mostly out of the fact that she had nothing else to do. She didn't feel like chatting with the girls, and they seemed to be in a similar mood. Eventually the train did come to a halt and She Scooped up the tome in her magic, gave one look at the girls, and disappeared in a flash of magic.

Rarity sighed, running a hoof through her mane in frustration.

“I will say this for her sake, I hope this is all a farce, don't you?” Beside her Rainbow Dash was looking around, pensively,

“Um, yeah sure...” Rarity lifted an eyebrow,

“Your hardly the type to get jumpy Rainbow, what has you so worried?” Rainbow Dash shifted her wings and then shivered.

“N-nothing...I just don't like where this is going, ya know? Creepy books with knowledge locked away in burial sites, unicorns who show up out of no where, and...I...never mind.” Dash flipped her ears back and hurried forward, not allowing the conversation to continue. Rarity frowned, and followed.

Twilight arrived just outside the gates to the Ponyville memorial grounds a split second after she'd left the train...and immediately wished she'd taken her time getting there.

Well...this is awkward...

The purple mare quickly sidestepped off the path and allowed a group of thirty or so mourners; all of them unicorns, with a fresh casket levitated amongst them to pass by. By the looks on their faces, they were merely surprised by her appearance, but some were also frowning in her direction. She stole a glance at the casket and found the cutie mark wasn't one she personally recognized.

After watching them pass, twilight scoured the surrounding area for any other occupants, but found to her relief that she was the only other pony around. Quickly finding her bearings she trotted down the isles towards her family's branch field.

Each part of the property were sectioned off by gates with magically enchanted locks. These locks were imbued with genetic signature spells, directly linked to the specified bloodline it guarded. Should a grave robber try to desecrate the hallowed grounds beyond them...well it wasn't pleasant to say the least...

Having a ghost come out of the grave you'd robbed chase you down was terrifying in it's own right. Even scarier was that they would not stop until they'd caught you, and mortal ponies needed air to breathe and keep running...ghosts did not.

Twilight had been told this when she was younger, and while originally thought to scare her from breaking the rules, Twilight soon had found the stories to be very true.

Upon her first visit to the grave site, twilight had gotten a first hoof experience with ghosts.

She was about to have her second.

As she came to the large gate that held her family's burial grounds, she could already tell something was wrong.

Very wrong.

The air was thin, cold, and felt like freezing metal was placed against her throat every time she breathed. Fog was obscuring the area within and she could only manage a glimpse at the nearest headstones.

On top of this she felt like she was being watched...

“Twilight...”

“GAAH!” Twilight leaped forward and latched onto the nearest object in her location with the grip of an earth pony, which happened to be the gate. With a loud groan the gate rattled violently and the fog whipped around her in a frenzy, Twilight scrunched her eyes shut and felt the gate rattle for a few seconds more, and a loud click echoed off into the silence...

With the mare still holding on, the gate swung inwards slowly, eerily, and now, deathly quiet.

After several seconds of very hard breathing Twilight felt it safe to open her eyes. The area was still enshrouded with fog, and considering she was alone and had clearly heard someone speak her name, yeah, she didn't feel safe or comfortable anymore.

“O-okaay...twilight, just go in, check on your mother, and get out...no biggie...”

Sliding down off the gate, she inched forward just past the border between her family's grounds, and the outside world. The moment she'd completely crossed that physical line between life and the dead around her, the great iron gates slammed shut with such ferocity that She screamed and bolt forward, using a tombstone as a defense...

The gates remained solid and unmoving now.

Slowly picking her self up off the ground twilight slunk over to them and tried to open them, to her dismay they didn't even budge.

“Well...I’ve got one foot in the grave already...might as well dig further right?” She said looking at the tome with disdain, to which it gave no answer.

“Right, talking to myself, coping method for fear...totally doesn't help right now...”

“Twilight...”

Said titled mare froze, and darted her eyes around, but nothing came to her eyes save the fog and near by markers. For a few brief seconds she stood there, unsure of her decision.

You wanted answers, now go find them. Slowly she nodded with what she hoped was her conscience and not some long dead ancestor. Taking a deep breath she spoke aloud to the grave site,

“I-I am Twilight Sparkle, and I enter a-as a patron of said house, I mean no soul here harm or dishonor...please let me pass...?” several seconds ticked by, and she felt like berating herself for thinking it'd do anything, when the fog suddenly swelled, and then dissipated to the sides, revealing the path before her. She flipped her ears forward in curiosity.

“Huh..I never thought that would actually work...” walking forward on uneasy hooves, Twilight began her trek to her mother's resting place, which she hadn't visited for a few months now. Normally she'd only visit on holidays or particularly melancholy days where she felt lost or truly alone.

The latter days were few and rare since she'd moved to Ponyville.

Twilight had once asked her mother why their house grounds were located in Ponyville and not Canterlot, and Velvet had smiled, petting the small foal's mane gently.

“Because Canterlot is no place for the dead, Twily. It is a place to live and become something for others remember, and Ponyville, well Ponyville is a place to remember what you became, and to always cherish it.”

At the time Twilight liked that answer...now however, she scowled, never realizing the deep inset wisdom of those words until her mother was gone and she couldn't ask more.

As she rounded the bend of a particularly sharp corner with oak trees shrouding the light over head, she shivered, the feeling of eyes on her made her neck hairs stand on end.

“...I know your there...I'm just, just here to see my mother...”

The words came out crinkled and forced, alas, she got no reply and the feeling didn't abate.

Finally she rounded the bend and came within sight of her mother's tombstone. As she approached it though, her footsteps stopped short and her eyes widened, both out of surprise and fear.

She really was not alone any more.

“Hello...Twilight...”

The apparition stood just in front of the tombstone that had her name so smoothly inscribed upon it, a light frown creasing the face of the former matriarch of House Sparkle. She was a ghost of her former self, literally, and Twilight could barely see through her to the next tombstone.

Twilight was shocked into a state of stone cold silence. Her mother was both out of her grave....and very much dead.

A few seconds whisked by and Twilight finally moved, if only to shake her head and continue staring. She eventually spoke, lifting a hoof as if to move forward but didn't, fearing the image of the older mare with evaporate like the fog around them.

“..M-Mom?”

Velvet smiled and turned her head to look at Twilight, and the younger mare suddenly felt warmer than she had since she'd entered the grounds. That smile was genuine, that smile was safety...

That smile was home.

Velvet chuckled and trotted forward, her form neither shifting the grass nor disturbing the fog. She lifted a hoof and brought it to The unicorn's face, a hint of mirth leaped across her eyes as twilight tried to lean into the touch but found no contact.

Tears.

Tears immediately started streaming down her face. Velvet frowned and sat down.

“Twilight...”

“I-I'm sorry, I can't help it...y-your dead...your gone..and yet..your here!” she lifted her head up if only to make eye contact with her mother briefly and then looked away,

“You..you should be sleeping...”

“I cannot...”

“....Is...Is it because of this?” twilight pulled the book off her back and sat down, setting the tome between them. Velvet grimaced if only for a second, before nodding.

“Yes...and no, have you read it?” Twilight wiped at her eyes and coughed, glaring at the book.

For the first time in her life, Twilight contemplated burning a work of literature, if she could call it that.

She shrugged,

“Bits and pieces, not the w-whole thing...why? Why is it so important that I read it..who is King Elictus? Why didn't you show this to me when you were alive? Where---” Velvet lifted a hoof, effectively stopping the mountain of words that would have no doubt exploded from twilight's mouth.

“First off, it is imperative that you read this, and DO NOT show it to Celestia or Luna, you'll never see it again, that I can assure you of. Secondly, King Elictus was a royal unicorn king who came from far up north, the book explains further, but not much was known about his life. If you want more information, talk to Discord, tell him I sent you, and he'll drop the randomness.” she paused, and waited till Twilight's sobs were calmer before continuing,

“Thirdly, I wasn't allowed to tell you when I was alive, it was an order.”

Twilight blinked and flipped her ears forward in earnest curiosity,

“B-but you weren't a guard mom, shining and dad were, but not....were you?” Velvet frowned and yet again nodded,

“At one point, yes, I was a solar guard for Celestia, and then...I wasn't. I removed myself from her army after starting a family.” Twilight frowned, that momentary pause in her mother's speech made Twilight squint at the older mare.

“There's more to it then that..you didn't just quit, that's not like you. you're still not telling me everything are you?”

Velvet pointed to the book,

“It has answers you seek, ones I am bound even in death not to speak of. From there you must go see night light, for more information...I assume he is well?”
Twilight nodded,

“If by 'well' you mean alive then yes, and he still is terrible at golf.” They shared a chuckle and Velvet stood,

“I must be off, this spell only lasts so long sadly, but you must know two things Twilight, my grave was not unwillingly robbed of that book, I allowed it to happen, because you need to know this secret, and I needed to have this talk with you...and secondly,” walking forward she gently placed her horn against Twilight's making a wave of fresh tears alight on her cheeks.

“I will always love you...even in death I hear your songs when you visit, and I sing of your life, I rejoice that we lived together, and I watch over you...No matter what happens...” As she spoke her body began to fade, and her voice dropped in volume.

“You will always be my little Twilight Sparkle, my daughter.”

As the last worse left her mouth, she vanished, leaving Twilight with so many more questions, so many more words to say...

and so many more tears to shed.

It was several moments later that she finally stopped sobbing and managed to lift her head up, only to blink in confusion.

The fog was gone, and in it's place was a familiar male Unicorn. With the same college vest, glasses, and double colored mane. He was currently hunched over a gray metal fog machine that was sputtering little gout’s of acrid smoke, He sighed and tossed the wrench into a bag of tools. He turned, stood and leaned on the thing, gracing twilight with an all to creepy grin.

“Ponyfeathers. Machines these days, never built like they used to be. Oh! Hi there Twilight, have a good chat with Velvet?”

his eyes...they were yellow now...

Twilight frowned deeper...that voice...that grin...

“I must say you were quite good at the gate, I didn't think you could scream that loud, I think you might've even broken the record for—GLURK!"

Twilight jumped to her feet and had seized the unicorn by his throat lifting him off the ground and shaking him vigorously.

“YOU!”

“elugruheg...” The unicorn wheezed as the noose tightened and he was suddenly slammed into the ground face first.

“You VILE,”

another lift off and the unicorn smashed into the ground again.

“LOATHESOME,”

another body to earth contact was made,

“EVIL,”

Thud.

“LITTLE,”

Thud.

“COCKROACH!” She paused just long enough to see the unicorn was still present and in one piece, and...smiling?

“Well...that's certainly...Erg...no way...to treat a friend...Twily---”

With a scream of fury Twilight wrenched the body over her head and launched it up into the clouds where it made a draconequus shaped imprint.

She huffed, her breathing hard as she stamped a hoof several times into the ground for good measure.

Now she really wanted to burn that damned book.

Author's Notes:

I regret nothing.

if any errors are spotted please point them out, I'll fix them asap.