Glory to The Necropolis!

    My most faithful student Twilight Sparkle

I heard from somepony that you were in need of some new books for your library. I thought it would be a nice early birthday present if I sent you some copies from the Canterlot libraries.

I know that your birthday is still a ways away, but I thought I could send you these books in case I could not be there like last year. I shall try my best to be there but if not then I hope that these books can make up for my absence.

Your loving teacher Princess Celestia.

* * *

Come on when is that delivery pony going to get here... Spike thought to himself as he crossed his arms and tapped his foot. He looked at the clock and scowled. He was supposed to be here yesterday...

"Spike, any sign on the delivery pony yet?" Twilight asked from the other room.

"Nothing yet, Twilight," Spike replied.

Twilight entered the room with a worried look on her face. "I hope he's got the right address."

Soon after receiving the first letter from Princess Celestia, Twilight had received a second letter detailing the books to be sent as well as stating that they should arrive with in 3 days time.

It was now 1:32pm four days after receiving the letters. "Do you think he got lost along the way?" Twilight asked.

"I hope not," Spike replied as he glared at the clock again. It had been his idea in the first place to have the books sent to the library. He noticed that Twilight had been upset about something lately, but she wouldn't tell him about it.

Spike hoped he could cheer up Twilight by getting some new books to read at the library, so he had secretly sent a letter to Princess Celestia sharing his idea with her in the hopes of getting some books from back home. He thought it would cheer her up even more if she got some new books sent from her teacher. He remembered how sad Twilight looked last year when she got the letter telling her that princess Celestia couldn't make it to her birthday party.

When Spike got his reply from the princess agreeing to the plan, he couldn't have been happier. In the letter he’d stated that he didn’t want any credit for the books, saying that he just wanted to see Twilight happy again. As he watched her pace back and forth, however the only expression she had on her face was worry.

"I hope they weren't lost, or damaged, or..." Twilight trailed and her eyes widened as a thought hit her. "STOLEN! Those were valuable copies from the Canterlot libraries! The delivery-pony must have been robbed on his way here!” Twilight started to frantically scamper about the room. “We need to go get help! Get the authorities! GET SOMEPONY!"

When Twilight got within his reach, Spike grabbed Twilight’s head and made her look him in the eye. "Twilight! Calm down.” Her eyes locked onto him, though Spike could still see the panic in them

Spike let go of her head and took a step back. “Okay breathe in..." the both of them promptly took in a deep breath. "...and breathe out." and with that he and Twilight both let out their worries and troubles. "Okay better?"

"Much better, thanks, Spike," Twilight said with a small thankful smile.

Spike arched an eyebrow at his friend. "What was that all about?"

Twilight frowned as she sat down on the floor “I don't know... I've been feeling on edge lately, but I’m not sure why..."

Spike put a hand on her shoulder, and smiled at her. “Hey... try not to worry so much okay?” He was rewarded with a small thankful smile and a nod. With that Spike turned to look at the library door. "Still what's taking them so long to get here with the-"

*Knock. Knock. Knock.*

"The Books!" Twilight sprang up from where she sat and ran to the door.

Spike watched her run off with crossed arms and a smile on his face. There's my Twilight.

When Twilight opened the library door she was greeted with a brown earth pony stallion in blue mail-pony uniform. Attached to him was a small cart with crate in it's bed. "I have a delivery here for a miss Twilight Sparkle?"

"Yes that's me, sir." Twilight said, quickly nodding her head, with a big excited grin.

The delivery pony pulled out a clipboard and pencil from his saddle bags. "Alright, please sign here ma'am."

"Alright," Twilight said with a smile as her horn glowed purple to pick up the pencil and clipboard. As she started signing her name she thought of something. "By the way." she started, arching an eyebrow in the process and getting a curious look from the stallion. "Was there a problem at the post office? These books were supposed to arrive here yesterday."

"Yes actually," the delivery-pony answered with a nod. "I heard something weird happened at the post office yesterday, though I wasn’t there when it happened."

"Oh okay," Twilight said with a small frown, her ears flattened a little at her unsatisfied curiosity. "Anyway," she started as she quickly shook her head, ridding herself of the question. "Here you go." and she floated the pencil and clipboard back to the stallion.

He looked over the document and found everything satisfactory. "Alright looks good to me. It’s all yours ma'am."

"Thank you," Twilight said with a smile. With that her horn glowed once more and the crate levitated out of the cart down to her side.

"You're welcome ma'am," the stallion said with a small bow. With that he was off with cart in tow behind him as he went back to his work.

As the delivery-pony headed off, Twilight turned around and went back into the library with a smile on her face and crate in tow.

"Hey, so that was the books!" Spike said with a joyful smile. Smiling not only at the delivery but also at seeing Twilight happy again.

"Yep," was all Twilight said as she floated the crate into the middle of the room. After a few moments, the crate landed gently onto the ground. Twilight refocused her magic onto the lid of the crate and gently pried it open to reveal its precious literary cargo.  "Now let’s start shelving!"

* * *

After a few minutes the pair had whittled down the number of books in the crate and now only a few remained to be shelved. Using her magic Twilight reached into the crate, pulling out another book and floated it before her. “Let’s see… ‘Legends of the Forgotten Kingdom’,” Twilight read the title aloud. She looked over at the list floating next to her and found its name. “A fantasy novel.”

She passed the book over to Spike and off he went.

Twilight turned back to the crate and lifted another book out. "Okay 'Expert Enchantments' that goes in advanced magics." With that the book flew off to its respective shelf. she then floated the next book to her. "'A Dance on the Razors Edge' a mystery thriller if I remember right." and it too flew away.

As Twilight reached into the crate again she felt her magic grab something heavy. The next book to come out of the crate was a massive leather bound tome that was almost as big as she and was at least 3 inches thick.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she stared in awe at the book. Sweet Celestia think of how much is in there! she thought with a big grin. She brought the book closer to read the tiny title 'The History of Stalliongrad, unabridged and unedited version.' she read in silent awe. But as she realised its shear size her grin slowly became a frown. But it won’t fit on the shelves.

Twilight looked around the library for a place to put the tome and her eyes fell upon a large empty lectern near the door. That should do the trick. she thought with a confident smile. She floated the tome over to the lectern and with a loud heavy thud the tome was in place. Perfect. she thought with smirk.

Spike returned as Twilight crossed ‘The History of Stalliongrad’ off the list. “That all of them?”

Twilight looked over the list and found everything crossed out save for an entry labeled ‘unknown’. “Looks like there’s one more.”

But when Twilight's magic reached into the crate for the last book she felt a sudden chill of cold run all the way up from her horn down to her hooves.

What quickly followed soon after was a feeling of dread slowly creep over her emotions that steadily rose as she raised the book out of the crate.

Floating there in her magics grasp was a regular looking old book bound in worn black leather. From what Twilight could tell the book had aged tanned pages within and looked like any regular old book, except...

"Wheres the title?" Twilight asked as she turned the book over and over looking for a name for the book.

"What's wrong Twilight?" Spike asked as he looked at the confounded mare.

"I don’t see a title anywhere," was Twilight’s confused reply. She opened the book and started flipping through the pages of aged tanned paper. "There's nothing on the pages either." Page after page she turned and each one was as blank as the last. "Do you think they made a mistake and sent a blank book? Or maybe they-"

As Twilight turned one more page she froze right in her tracks. Right there on the page in thick black letters was one simple word that chilled her to the very bone.

Hello.