//------------------------------// // The castle grounds // Story: Looking for Equestria // by the darkside phoenix //------------------------------// I watched the moon rising with delight, I was amazed by the fact that it was all done by the mare I’d just met, after the ``show´´ was over I waited for a while in the room, I had to make sure to go out at a time when no pony was awake so I would go unnoticed, after about three hours it seemed to be a good time to go I put the blanket Luna had gave me on and got out of the room. I had to crawl in all four so my shape would look pony-like, the castle guards were guarding the main rooms of the castle like the throne room and the princesses´ rooms so it was easy to avoid them, once in the gardens I looked back at the castle and got astonished by its magnificent look, it was unlike anything mankind had ever done. I walked around the gardens for a while when I got interrupted by somepony. ``halt´´ said the pony. At I was scared and I thought a guard had seen me but I stayed still, I though that if I ran I would be chased and then attacked. ``who is in castle grounds without permission´´ asked the pony. I slightly tuned my head so I could recognize my founder, once I turned I saw princess Luna and felt relieved and showed my face, she calmed down once she recognized me. ``it is thou´´ she said ``I see thy has decided to go out and followed my advice of covering thyself´´ ``good night princess´´ i replied. ``has thou enjoyed the castle grounds?´´ she asked ``actually´´ I answered ``I just got out of the room and I haven’t really seen anything yet´´ ``I see´´ she said ``would thou like me to show you around?´´ ``I wouldn’t like to bother you princess´´ I replied ``nonsense it would be a pleasure to show my domains´´ she insisted. ``the pleasure is mine then´´ I said``...after you´´ she told me there wouldn’t be anypony around so I cloud walk in my two feet instead of crawling in such an uncomfortable way, I stood back up and we begun to walk. we didn’t really talk while she was showing me around I was amazed at everything she showed me and she seemed to enjoy my emotion over even the most simple things. after a while walking she broke the ice and asked me about the human world, at first the question surprised me but I had no problem answering, after all she had told me about her world before and I thought I could do the same for her. at first I tried to avoid talking about the damage we were causing to our world but her upcoming questions made it impossible and I ended up telling her how we were killing our selves at will, she seemed shocked by my tales and wondered how could I be able to live in such place for which my answer was: ``hardly´´ she seemed worried about my answer and asked me why did I stay there if I wasn’t happy, I answered saying I couldn’t go anywhere better since that was my world. she noticed the sadness and the void in my eyes as I told her that, for which she stopped talking about it. there was a cold silence in the air for a while but she interrupted it again with the next question: ``earlier today I mentioned a legend about thou kind, are thou not curious about such legend?´´ ``now that you mention it´´ I said ``I do feel curiosity about it´´ ``would thou like me to relate such legend?´´ she asked. ``it would be a pleasure to hear it princess´´ I answered.