Whispering Woods expedition part three: The Graveyard

Dr. Lindsley's Report 29th entry. 04/05/1056 A.N. 08:00 PM I was right all along, the statue was the epicenter of the enchantment. However, looking back now I understand that simply calling it an enchantment is an understatement. It is far more than that, older and perhaps at least as powerful as Celestia herself. We arrived yesterday's afternoon. As we explored, the environment around the graveyard seemed to remain stable, no change in temperature nor humidity in the air. Then, it was presumed by us that this entire area has been locked away in a bubble where time wouldn't pass, guarded by the paranormal phenomena that extended travel time greatly were one to try and approach. This hypothesis was backed up by the fact that our biological needs have "paused" whilst in here. However, what that hypothesis did not explain was the fact that we still felt thirst for water, and that not only did we feel rested, but reinvigorated. I've spoken with the others, and apparently I wasn't the only one to've been freed from my back pains. Most notable was Sergeant Willow, one of the Guards who've accompanied us in this journey, who has completely lost the scar that ran right across his chest. He always proudly presented that scar as a proof of service during the Changeling Raid of Canterlot. Needless to say, he wasn't very happy to lose it. As the hours passed, we completed the survey of the area and started clearing the moss from the tombstones. Thankfully, each tombstone has the name of whoever it was that was entombed beneath, but not only that, the dates in which they were born and also the date of their death. What's surprising about this find is that we realized that all of the graves on the outer edges of the circle have been quite recent, the newest we've found so far being only a couple of days old. Closer to the center of the graveyard, the tombstones are much older, some of them listing dates before the Nightmare Moon. If we conduct a deeper search, it wouldn't surprise me to find at least a few dating back to The Age of Chaos. Dr Quill was visibly in bliss as we cleared the stones from the moss that covered them, undoubtedly an archeologist's dream to hopefully have access to so many possibly historical remains. As the others spread out onto their many tasks, most of them uncovering the tombstones while some checked around the perimeter for other passages or trails that led into the graveyard, I put myself into work with decyphering the machinations behind the area's enchantment. As stated in my previous entry, I heavily suspected that the statue was its focal point, and so would spend several hours carefully syphoning tiny strands from the power that emanated from it. I've worked with relics of the past before. Syphoning from their power to transcribe their enchantments into paper and usable spells is my specialty. Certain relics, such as the Crystal Heart from the Crystal Empire, nearly lost me with their complexity. So carefully woven, they were, that their very nature was artistic. So, in artistic terms, I would describe the enchantments flowing from the statue as a sea of ink and paint, constantly twirling and mixing within itself and creating hundreds of new colors never before seen and never again remade. It's gone The statue's gone I was just staring at it, and it's no longer t