Looking for Equestria

by the darkside phoenix

Exploring

After revising the map Luna gave me several times I decided to explore a nearby forest, I took this decision based in a couple facts: first the forest i was heading to was in the opposite direction of the Everfree forest, I wanted to stay away from this one since I knew the only thing I would find was my own world, I also took this decision thinking that the forest would be a place where I could find food and shelter.

Getting out of the castle was really easy, Luna showed me the emergency escape rode and told me no guards would be around, the map was really detailed for which I could easily find my way to the forest I wanted to go and not the Everfree forest.

It was already night time when I got to the forest, to my luck I quickly found a cave, it was barely inhabited by a couple bats, I wasn’t scared of the creatures I knew that they would do nothing if I didn’t bother them.
I quietly entered and laid on the floor I was so tired I fell asleep in no time.

I woke up the next morning with the light of the sun, the bats were gone, I stood up and decided to look for some water, wondering around the forest I noticed that the terrain was really hard to walk specially for a human as I walked I begun to thing that this journey would be really easy to a pony specially a Pegasus or a unicorn, but for a human it was hard and it would take more time to do than it would take a pony.

After a couple hours I finally found a river and drunk some water, I lit a campfire, which I knew how to do from camp when I was younger, and decided to stay there a couple days as I planned my journey in the forest, as soon as I made fire I noticed lots of woodland creatures running away in fear, I noticed some rabbits squirrels and birds but nothing to big what made me feel save and out of risk, I also noticed fish in the river, they didn’t seemed to be scared of my presence.

During the time I stayed in that little camp I planned what I would do, I had survived with apples and other fruits the time I had been in the forest and I saw a couple fruit trees while I was looking for the river, but I knew I needed something else to eat or I would starve to death, my first option were fish and it was really easy to catch them, for some reason they stayed put even when I stepped in the water, at first I thought they were death but then I saw them moving and felt confident about eating them, they tasted the same as the ones from my world but they seemed to be unafraid of the other creatures.

I wasn’t sure about the other animals they seemed harder to catch and I thought the were smarter than the ones from my world, which made me think it was wrong to eat them, after all ponies and other animals lived in peace in this world as friends, and since ponies are vegetarians they would never eat the animals.

I decided to stick to fish for a while and started walking again, the days seemed to pass really fast and I didn’t seemed to be advancing to much in my journey, I observed the animals behavior and noticed it wasn’t really different from the ones in my world for which I decided to eat them in a moment of need, I made a knife with a flint I found and some branches, I made basic traps to catch the animals I used the leftovers of my food to use as bait, this made some animals specially easy to catch.

While I was walking around looking for some shelter before dusk I found something amazing I bumped with an apple tree but this one was different from the others, it was taller and the fruit it gave was something I didn’t thought would ever be possible
the fruits looked like apples but they were bigger and their color was the one of a rainbow, I had found a zap apple tree, as I could remember from the cartoon it was really rare to find one, specially one in the final phase of the zap apple cycle.
I knew I had to pick them up real quick or they would disappear.

I set a fire near the tree to have some light since it was already night, as I climbed the tree I heard howling, at first I thought they were from wolves but then I remembered that zap apple trees were guarded by timber wolves, I heard them approach and I picked up a stick to use as a torch, as I waved the torch around I noticed the timber wolves backing off, I realized that since they were made with wood they were more scared of fire than other animals.

I collected the apples as quick as I could and after a while I saw them disappear in a zap, I didn’t slept that night, I couldn’t turn off the fire or the timber wolves would attack me and I had to stay awake to make sure the fire wouldn’t cause a forest fire,
the next morning I turned of the fire gathered my stuff and looked for other place to rest, I found a small cave and entered quietly there were no animals so I slept there for a couple hours.

I woke up a couple hours later feeling hungry, I decided to give the zapapples a try, the taste was unlike anything found in the human world, I couldn’t describe the taste since it doesn’t compare with anything I tasted before, they were so delicious that I wanted to eat them all at once, but then I though I could take some to the castle and show them to Luna I knew she had never seen one since she had never left the castle.

I explored that forest until I noticed I was out of the map limits and I decided to go back, I had took my time to make to the end of the map and I didn’t knew how long would it take me to get back to the castle.
I was exited to tell my adventure to Luna since I knew she had never left the castle and would love to know more about her kingdom, so after gathering my stuff from my last camp spot I headed back to the Canterlot castle.