AJ and Fluttershy soon made their way to the garden, hoping that something, maybe a hind, was hidden somewhere out there.
"I must say, the woods and gardens certainly seem a lot friendlier during the day." Fluttershy noted, waving to a few bunnies hopping by. The gardens, while not carrying the exotic and new flora the conservatory had, was no less beautiful. What was interesting was that, aside from some minor required maintenance, the the gardens and the surrounding wildlife were allowed to grow as wild as they pleased.
Soon leaving behind the stone path for a more natural line, the two teens walked a short way through the woods. These woods were a dark, primal place, untouched ever since the family settled here and before that. It not unlike the Everfree forest back home. Remembering that and the story they heard last night, they kept a lookout for anything that might jump out at them.
Before long, they came upon an open area with a pond under an ancient tree with giant, dark twisted branches that looked like they hadn't been cut in hundreds of years. Sitting on a rock below the tree and at the edge of the pond was Lord Scorpius himself, looking deep in thought.
Realizing they might be intruding, the teens stepped to make a quiet getaway when the man spoke up.
"I was wondering when you might find this place."
Freezing, they guiltily stepped forward.
"We're really sorry to disturb you." Fluttershy said quietly.
"We were just looking around-"
"Don't worry about it." Scorpius waved them off. "You're guests, and I did say you were free to look around. Come." He stood up and gestured to the area. "Welcome to the wildwood, not a very creative name, I know, but we don't like to sugarcoat things. Anyway, this place has been mostly untouched since Andromeda settled here. In the past, these kinds of places were used for praying to the gods, but they're also a great place to think in peace and quiet."
"It's lovely..."Fluttershy, a bit dazed. AJ nodded, she too felt something strange about this particular area.
"Do you sense it?" Scorpius asked. "This particular wildwood is a focal point for magic. A large natural source of mana. Fantastic for large spells. It's said only those with magnificent amounts of magic themselves and sense them. Though, considering who you are, I'm not surprised."
"Woah..."
"Let me show you something else." He led the two mages even further beyond the wildwood before coming upon a stone statue that looked almost as old as the one in from of the castle. However, this statue depicted two people in a loving embrace. Flowers blossomed around the bottom and a few vines and some moss had made their way onto the people. The woman they released was Andromeda, but the man they couldn't place.
"This is Andromeda and her husband, Clover the Clever. They wed not long after the castle was built."
"They definitely look like they were in love." Fluttershy noted.
"Indeed they were. Clover was even an apprentice of Starswirl the Bearded himself! Story has it their first meeting ended up with an argument between them over some new mana transferral theory. They kept meeting, and kept arguing about theories and experiments before eventually they realized their rivalry had turned to love."
"That....definitely sounds like Twilight's family." AJ consented.
"Apparently they were the only person the other found who could match them in wits. They loved each other more than anything in the world and did everything together, never liked to be apart for too long. Their daughter built this after they died to commemorate that love."
"Awwww...." Replied both girls.
"Yeah, they were one of the lucky ones." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Love has been sort of a...complicated issue for this family. Many of us were scholars, and I'm sure you've heard of how scholars can be. Especially in our family. A lot of us excelled in magical and academic pursuits, our ability to maintain relationships....wasn't the best. It's either, you find your soulmate and live happily ever after, or it ends up a mess."
"Well, I'm sure you're one of the 'lucky ones'." Fluttershy said innocently.
"Scorpius!" A distant, piercing voice echoed. "You'd better not be in that wildwood again! I will not have you looking like a woodsman in front of out guests!"
"It's...complicated." He admitted. 'But I'm glad Night and Shining found their other halves.
AJ moved closer to inspect the statue the top part had the two lovers gazing longingly into each others eyes. The base had an inscription carved onto it:
Andromeda the Shadow and Clover the Clever
May their love continue to shine even in the darkest of nights.
While AJ though that was sweet, what intrigued her what that there appeared to be some sore of stone piece missing, as there was some small stones looking like they were supposed to hold something.
"That's odd..."
Rarity and Rainbow Dash arrived back at the music room, to find Cadence and Shining Armor playing with their daughter. The room was large but set up with sofas and chairs that added an air of comfort when families sat down to listen and play.
"Hey you two!" Cadence greeted cheerfully, sitting near a harp, bouncing her giggling baby on her lap. "We were planning on taking Flurry out later on when it got warmer, so we decided on staying in here for a while."
"Abababa!" Flurry cooed, enjoying herself.
A painting of a young woman holding up what appeared to be sheets of music hung on the wall near them. Rarity checked the nameplate and found that her name was 'Lyra'.
"Some music room this is. Where are the amps? The electric guitars?" Rainbow asked.
"This room was built long before them, Rainbow." Rarity pointed out. "It was built for classical musicians."
Rarity soon noticed and went over to where a large, old piano stood against the wall.
"Oh! Isn't this lovely!" She said, playing a few keys.
"I think that was added by one of our ancestors, who was a singer. I'm not good with history like Twilight and Dad are." Shining said with a shrug.
While Rarity enjoyed the piano's finely tuned keys, Rainbow noticed something else, namely that the piano appeared to be built directly into the wall itself.
This castle is way weirder than I thought.
Sunset and Pinkie soon found their way to library and both were stunned with what they saw.
"Ooh!" Pinkie awed. "Look at all the books."
"Is it possible to be both surprised and yet not surprised at all?" Sunset wondered.
Indeed, the library was huge, with each level filled top to bottom with books both old and new, enough to rival even the Canterlot Public Library!
Walking around, they found paintings, seats and lights for reading, and at the center a giant globe of the world.
"Hey girls!" Looking up, they found Twilight Velvet waving to them from the balcony of the story above them. Taking the stairs, she quickly made their way over to them.
"Isn't this library marvelous! There are books here dating back to way even before Andromeda! Even my own mother couldn't resist this place when she came here. I'll show you around a bit."
They walked on, with Velvet pointing out significant shelves or tomes.
"Those are old law books being preserved, apparently one of Night's ancestors was a prominent judge, and installed some of them himself. See over there? Those books are so old and rare it was commonly though there were lost forever! A few scholars came over to archive them. And those magic tomes over there are supposedly one of the few of their kind in existence."
"Wow. It looks like Twilight's family did a lot in the past." Sunset observed. "How come we don't hear more of them?"
Velvet just shrugged. "They preferred working behind the scenes, from the shadows, then casting a spotlight on themselves. Oh!" She pointed to another shelf. "Those tomes were recovered by Vulpecula during the burning times. You see, during that time, witch hunters and other followers of the 'New Religion' burned and destroyed any piece of knowledge they didn't like or agree with their beliefs, especially books about magic. Vulpecula went out and rescued as many of these books as she could, and openly opposed them at every turn until she was eventually caught and hanged as a witch by Queen Night Templar the Zealot."
"That's awful." Pinkie said dejectedly.
Velvet smiled mischievously. "What you might also like to know that she was the last witch Templar killed. On the night of Vulpecula was killed, Templar's room burst into flames! The history books say it was either an assassination or a candle falling over. But rumor has it Vulpecula's ghost had come seeking vengeance, along with the other victims of Templar's reign. Or that it Vulpecula's family seeking revenge. Whatever it was, it put an end to the burning times and the civil war, and Templar's sister Artesia was crowned Queen. And she certainly didn't see any reason to punish this family."
"Wow..." Both teens were in awe.
"Fascinating right? Over there are some books written by Ophelia herself."
"Ophelia?!" Sunset exclaimed.
"The one whose husband turned into a monster?" Pinkie asked excitedly.
Velvet nodded cheerfully. "Exactly! She loved experimenting and studying new spells. Rumor has it that one of these spells resulted in the beast. Because when word got around that there was something in the woods, several government officials and hunters asked her to put a bounty on the beast head. But not only did sh refuse, she forbid anyone from hunting the creature!"
"Woah.." was all Sunset could way.
"Yeah. It's with stories like these that Night's family has a....spotty reputation."
They soon passed by a statue of a beautiful young woman holding a wand.
"Who's this?" Pinkie asked.
Velvet shrugged. "I think she's the goddess of wisdom? Religion isn't my specialty. You can ask someone else later."
Sunset couldn't help but feel there was something familiar about the stature. She then noticed something odd about the eyes: they were pointed down, as though she were looking at something on the ground.
They eyes...they look like they're supposed to move!
They continued on before Velvet stopped and pointed down a hall of books to a desk where and old computer sat. "That is the first computer that ever entered the castle. Scorpius bough it back in the day. There are some newer ones, but he likes to keep that around for sentimental reasons."
They walked over and saw the computer was opened to a screen that said: Hello Scorpius! Please enter your password!
Pinkie and Sunset looked at each other.
Looks like we've got a password to find.