//------------------------------// // Back in the castle // Story: Looking for Equestria // by the darkside phoenix //------------------------------// It took me months to get back in the castle and I feel like the whole trip took me a year or something, when I was entering the castle from the door Luna showed me before going (I can’t believe I still remembered after a whole year) I saw some pegasi arranging the clouds I guessed they were preparing winter, I was lucky I got there before it started, I don’t think I would have survived in winter conditions. I had no trouble entering the castle and getting to the room Luna gave me, all my stuff was still there and it seemed like no pony had got in. I had really long beard and hair so I looked for something to cut my hair and shave, I found an old razor blade, it wasn’t rusty or anything but I was wondering why I had brought a razor blade if I only planned of camping in the forest for a week or so, I also found my old Swiss knife I didn’t took it with me when I went to the forest I was returning from because I didn’t found it before. I cut my hair the best I could with the little scissors and I shaved, I then took a bath and changed clothes, night was falling and I saw as Luna raised the moon, I then checked my backpack again to notice that most of my food was rotten, well except from the Zap apples they seemed as fresh as the day I picked them up, I threw the other things away and took the apples to share them with Luna. Once it was dark I got out to see if I could meet Luna and tell her everything, I put on a sheet to cover myself so the guards won’t notice I wasn’t a pony once in the gardens I was stopped by a thundering voice. "Halt!" the voice claimed, I thought it was the end of my days in Equestria as somepony had seen me. "Does thou not know that this are royal grounds" the voice continued "Thou has no right to be here. Show thyself!" I was terrified as I slowly turned around to show my face, to my surprise in front of me was Luna with an angry frown on her face that faded away as she recognized my face. "It is thou" she said as she smiled "It has been a long time since we last met. How was thy journey?" "Is an honor to meet you again princess" I replied "It was really quite an adventure I can’t wait to tell you about it" "And I am dying to hear it" she said "I... apologize for my rudeness, I thought thy was an intruder" "No problem your majesty I would also be concerned if I saw a strange figure wondering around covered" "I brought something from my journey that I want to share with you" I said as I showed her the Zap apples. "What are these?" she asked worried. "They are called Zap apples" I answered " I found them in the forest and their taste is incredible" "Oh! I see" she replied as she examined the apple I handed her. "They aren’t dangerous" I replied as I noticed she wasn’t confident about the apples. She didn’t answer, so to show her there was no danger I took the apple and bit it. She looked at me for a while like waiting for something to happen, I offered the apple again and after about a minute looking at my face she accepted it. "This is... the taste is just...sublime" she said after the first bite. I couldn’t help but to giggle at her reaction. Her face turned red and she tried to hide her shame behind her hooves which only made me laugh more. "You see, I told you there was nothing wrong with them" I said. "Thou said thou found this in the forest" she asked "What else did thou found there?" I then started telling my journey to Luna as I talked I noticed how much attention she was paying, it was like she was hearing about another world, something she had never seen before and it was in her own kingdom under her own nose, I omitted everything about my food source apart from the zapapples since I knew she would find the idea of eating other creatures ratter weird or terrifying. I felt happy to see her reaction and after I was done I told her I was planning on going on another journey and that once I came back I would tell her everything about that one too. She smiled with excitement and thanked me for my tales she then greeted me and we both went to sleep. That night I slept like I hadn’t slept in a whole year.