Sun & Moon Act II: A Crown Divided

Retrieved from the Star Swirl the Bearded Collection, Canterlot Archives
Dated: 16 Planter’s Moon, 1476 th Year of the Solar Throne (30 UIT)

Dear Clover,

If you are reading this, then it means the new Queen has taken my advice and kept you on as Court Mage in spite of everything that has happened. I understand that you may be cautious, perhaps even wary of accepting this post, but I assure you that it is necessary for you to continue to serve. Right now the kingdom requires a steady hoof at its helm more so than ever, and I fear that Platinum, whatever her pedigree, is not the pony to provide it.

You would of course be justified in asking why I have decided to depart in the middle of such uncertainty. Rest assured that were it not for the shortness of my time, I would be providing you with a complete explanation. Sadly mistakes of my past have arrived on my doorstep and are angrily demanding their due, and every moment I ignore them I do so at both my own peril and that of the whole kingdom.

Know this. Your former master and my former friend, King Solaris, is known to have died just this past week, slain in the midst of the Uprising. This story is not true. In fact, Solaris lives, though he left our kingdom that night, in search of what I do not know. But thanks in part to my own help, he now stands poised to unleash a danger greater than any I thought possible. Thus it falls to me to avert the calamity swiftly descending upon us.

Please do not try to follow me, for this task is one that I unknowingly appointed for myself years ago, a penance that I must bear for the mistakes that I made in my blind ambition. Whatever noble aims I placed before my eyes as I sowed these seeds, it is now my responsibility to bring in this treacherous harvest, and whatever the eventual end to this expedition, it seems increasingly inescapable that it shall be my last. Our kingdom needs you now more than ever, Clover, and I could not bear to think that my actions will have hurt anypony more than they already have.

My laboratory shall finally be open to you, its key delivered along with this letter. The answers to all of your questions are in there, buried in the depths of my research notes, and I beseech you to seek them out in whatever time you have. Should I fail in my task, the fate of all may yet rest in your hooves, and everything you need to know is held within those words.

Clover, you were always one of my best students, and I know that you will face the upcoming strife as well as any proud unicorn should: with an upright sense of justice, order, and reason. It is my greatest sorrow that I will not be able to watch as you inevitably eclipse all of my trifling achievements. May Harmony stand with you.

Your mentor and friend,

Star Swirl

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