To Whomever It May Concern,
This is the story of what transpired after the arrival of that damned puzzle box,

I strolled into the Royal Library and waved to the twin librarians Header and Footer just like always. They waved back as I sat down into my reserved table in a nook between the bookshelves.

I wondered,"What shall I read today?" "Perhaps, maybe another Astronomy guide or perhaps a whimsical parable,"

But I was interrupted in my pointless pondering by Header and Footer when they lugged a huge box onto the table.

They said breathlessly " A delivery--- for-- you--Starswirl,"

I looked at them rather strangely, for I was not expecting any packages. I asked "From who?"

They had finally caught their breath when Header replied " I don't rightly know, I was minding the counter when two delivery ponies brought it in," "They said the box was for you and they handed me a note and they placed the box on the ground and left,"

Header handed the note to me, I looked at the note and it read "To Starswirl the Bearded, may you be able to solve this damned puzzle box!! I flipped over the page to see if whoever sent this box had written their name on it but it was to no avail as the back was blank. I said thank you to Header and Footer for the delivery. I got up from my table and levitated the box all the way to my chambers.

As soon as I brought the box in I placed it down on the ground. I wiped sweat off my head with the back of my hoof levitating a box this heavy was mentally exhausting. I cast a reveal spell at the puzzle box to see if there were any malicious enchantments. But to my surprise there were none, not even a little hex. It appeared to be a made of the blackest ebony and the shiniest gold trimming. The box had six giant gemstones on the lid ,the order of the gemstones were Amethyst, Ruby, Amber, Emerald, Aquamarine, and Tazanite. The box even with the beautiful jewels still looked sinister After half-an-hour of walking around the box I finally plucked up the courage to touch it.

I chuckled at myself, "Starswirl you coward, how can you be afraid of a puzzle box,"

But in the back of my mind I knew something was off about it but I couldn't place my hoof on it. I looked on the side at the jumbled mess of tiles, which I deduced would form a picture. There was one rotatable circle puzzle on the other side. The circle puzzle had old magic runes I had seen before but could not remember what their meaning was I guessed you had to match them. I ran my hoof over the back of the box to check if there were anymore puzzles. I felt small ridges and walked to the back of it and there was a riddle. The riddle was, There are four brothers in this world that were all born together. The first runs and never wearies. The second eats and is never full. The third drinks and is always thirsty. The fourth sings a song that is never good. Under the riddle was a smooth bowl shaped groove. I moved the circle puzzle around to see what would happen. I felt a wave of cold pass over me as I rotated the puzzle around. I felt quite unlike myself when I stopped moving the puzzle.

Finally I laughed unusually maniacal, "Whoever made this box was quite the paranoid bastard,"

I started to feel uneasy, my stomach felt like it had just taken a plunge off of a cliff. I fought the urge to suddenly vomit when I heard a knock at the door.

I weakly said, "Come in," The door opened up and then the Princesses trotted in and asked if I was coming to dinner.

I smiled, "Of course I am," Even though I felt like vomiting I still wanted to go.

Princess Luna looked at me worriedly "Starswirl are you sure you want to come to dinner, you look a little pale,"

Princess Celestia kindly said " We could have someone bring you something to eat if your not feeling up to coming downstairs,"

I replied "No no I am perfectly fine, Come now let us trot on down to dinner shall we?"

As we walked on down the stairs I started to feel better. As I sat down at the Royal Table I felt normal again but now I had an itching thought in the back of my mind of what could possibly be in the box. The nagging thought just kept piercing and piercing through my other thoughts. I had not even payed attention to the Royal Sisters when they started to argue. When they asked me my opinion who I thought had a harder job.

I absently replied not even considering their childish question, "What do you think is in that box?"

Both of the princesses laughed about how random the question was.

Luna, always the darker one, said carelessly, "Probably somepony's corpse,"

Celestia gasped at how dark Luna's answer was, said nervously, Luna- I -doubt- that -perhaps -its --a --treasure or maybe- just-- an- ancient pony's -belongings,"

Luna giggled at how her older sister's demeanor had changed. She said through fits of giggles, " Tia I didn't know you were such a chicken," "Starswirl why are you so preoccupied with what is in the box?"

I finally said , Maybe its forgotten tomes or perhaps it is a dragon's treasure.

We all debated what was in the mysterious puzzle box until it was time for the princesses to do their jobs. I retired to my chambers for the night. I laid in bed staring at the box wondering what secrets it hid from the world.

I laid awake all night transfixed on, what the hell could possibly be in that damn box. As soon as I seen the sun starting to rise. I leapt out of bed to starting on working on the puzzles. I scoured thru all my collection of tomes to find out the runes meant, I tried to work on the slider puzzle but I could not find out what the picture was.

Days passed.

Soon weeks passed.

I stopped coming to dinner with the Princesses. I started taking my meals in my room. I started asking everypony I met on the street if they knew what the answer to the riddle was. I couldn't concentrate on anything else but the puzzle box.

Months passed

"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE," I bellowed out hacking at the box with an axe.

None of my chops were doing any damage.

I finally stopped chopping to break down sobbing.

I could not stand to live anymore.

I plan to kill myself to be rid of this accursed box

And this is why I am writing down what happened to whomever it concerns

To be wary of the box

Sincerely yours,

Starswirl The Bearded

Twilight looked up from the letter with lite tears streaming down her face. Now knowing of her idol's descent into madness.
She felt determined to solve this box.

Author's Note

There is going to be another chapter just let me sleep for now. This my first attempt at a fan-fic so sorry for any errors or any out of character jumps. I would like some constructive criticism and please feel free to comment.