Strawberry's Point Of View

After composing himself from nearly falling out of the window, Strawberry decided it was time for him to put on his helm and return to his guard duties. Maine, however, refused to tell the bat pony how he managed to spill cider on himself once Strawberry ducked his head back in to find his friend covered in the sweet liquid.

As the train came to a slow halt, the two stallions got up from their seats and began their journey to the door. Strawberry had to remind himself multiple times that this visit was not a vacation but no matter what he did he couldn't help but notice how even the train station was made of beautiful crystal and wood. He looked around to find that he and Maine were the only ponies to get off at this stop beside a light brown furred pony with a bit of their light pink forelock sticking out from under the hood of their frost blue hooded cloak. From the build itself, Strawberry could easily tell that the pony was a mare. The bat pony simply shrugged it off with his wings before walking off the platform with Maine right beside him. Strawberry looked over at him when a short snort left his companion as the mare rushed by the bat pony. She bumped into her on her hurried way,

"Well... that was rude," Strawberry muttered to himself before giving off a small, quiet yawn.

"I was kind of expecting for a few guards to meet us here in order to show us the way to the castle," the white stallion grumbled as he used a towel to clean himself while he walked.

"Come now! The Princess is sick," Strawberry commented with a glance back, "The guards are probably just a little behind on things,"

Maine rolled his eyes as his friend which only earned him a deflated sigh from the darker stallion. Wanting to hurry up and get the mission over with so he could see more of the city Strawberry rears himself up before taking off galloping along their path causing the white unicorn to hustle to catch up behind him. Strawberry spread his wings outward ready to take off when something wrapped around his legs to drag him back down to the earth. He looked back once he landed on his front hooves and pushed off the ground to find that Maine had used magic to summon up a rope-like structure. The stern look on his face told the bat pony that he wasn't joking around this time. The young stallion watched as the older one passed him by and waited a couple of feet before he let down the rope spell.

Strawberry didn't try to catch up to his friend. He had a feeling he was the reason that Maine had to deal with being sticky in places he didn't want to talk about. Their hooves soon touched the ground that was no longer earth. In fact, without him noticing... Maine and Strawberry had arrived at the Empire's outskirts. Looking around Strawberry once again could feel his heart begin to quicken its pace threatening to simply burst. The young stallion did a quick 360 as he continued to follow Maine. Sure he was the one carrying the medicine but Strawberry couldn't help but take in everything around him. First, he's able to travel outside of Canterlot now he's actually in someone else's kingdom. Being a bat pony didn't help at all either. Due to his nature, Strawberry was used on the night shift so everything was always dull, shady, and sleeping. It made for a very boring night.

"-erry...Strawberry!" Maine's voice cut the stallion from his thoughts forcing him to face his friend.

"Y-Yes, Sir?" Strawberry asked once he realized that Maine had in fact stopped motion while he kept forth.

"I said we're here," was all he responded with a concerned look on his face.

Strawberry quickly looked ahead to find that they had arrived at their destination. He looked up at the large four-legged castle that seemed to rise high into the sky. It wasn't until someone cleared their throat did Strawberry realize that other guards had arrived as well to greet them. Looking back down Strawberry nearly fell over. There stood two purple ponies; the stallion was a large specimen with a lilac coat of fur with a pair of reddish-orange eyes that reminded Strawberry of the leaves on the trees during the time of autumn. The other pony was about the average build for a mare if not a tad bit bigger. Her eyes looked as though they've stolen the shade from emerald shards themselves. Strawberry had to bite back a squeal due to the fact that both pony and their armor had a crystalline coat to them. Feeling his face heat up, the young bat pony was just opening his mouth before Maine swiftly was in motion to place a hoof onto Strawberry's lips sealing them shut,

"Sergeant Maine Crusher of the Canterlot Day Guard," the white stallion introduced himself while he placed a hoof onto his chest before he did the same to Strawberry's. "And this is Private Strawberry Nightshade of the Canterlot Night Guard. We're here on behalf of Princess Luna, she brings a vial for Princess Cadance to help with recovery,"

Strawberry looked at both the ponies before catching eyes with the bigger stallion. The bat pony personally thought that he seemed even bigger than his pal Maine. The two Crystal Guards looked back at each other before they gave their answer in the form of a nod,

"My name is Private Aster Wolfthorn of the Crystal Empire," the mare said as she held out her hoof to greet the two stallions.

Maine took her hoof gratefully as he shook it while Strawberry carefully shook her hoof with his eyeing the crystalline coat that sparkled in the sun,

"And my name is Lieutenant Charter Wolfthorn," the stallion's deep voice caught Strawberry completely by surprise.

After everything was said and done the two Canterlot guards followed tightly behind the Crystal Empire ponies as they made their way into the castle itself. The walk was relatively quiet between the four of them. At least, until a yawn broke through Strawberry's internal battle to fight back against it. Once it was over the bat pony suddenly felt more tired than when he first boarded the train. Looking around Strawberry felt his face begin to heat back up. The other three had stopped for a few seconds to watch the young stallion. Maine had his face in his hoof but at least he didn't make any noise like the larger stallion did when he turned his face away from the night pony. No words had been said and none needed to for the signal to be thrown towards him. Strawberry hasn't even been in the Crystal Empire for more than half an hour yet he's already embarrassed Maine and himself.

The group of ponies rounded a corner to find an even bigger hallway that withheld many more doors. Sounds of silence did not sit well with Strawberry. It made him feel really uneasy. His hooves marched slower than the other three and he hoped he could stay awake long enough to actually make it to the Princess. Maybe it was his age but the younger stallion couldn't take not being able to talk any longer so he cleared his throat as he sped up to keep the pace,

"So, Lt. Wolfthorn"-Strawberry quickly adjusted his helm when the giant stallion turned his head back to look at the smaller one-"Do you happen to know where the gift shop would be here in the Crystal Empire?"

This earned a hard stare from the pony as he shuffled his wings a bit,

"My duties hardly leave me time to deal with pointless 'gift shops'. To answer that ridiculous question," the larger stallion shot down.

"Brother!" the mare growled before she slowed down to join the bat pony in the rear, "What the blockhead meant to say, was that you'd have to ask me since he hardly leaves the castle or the bar-"

"Enough, Private Wolfthorn!" barked the Lieutenant as he snapped his head forward.

However, this only enabled the mare. She gently nudged Strawberry to slow down even more and he took the hint wholeheartedly. A small smile appeared along his face as they started to get into a discussion about the idea of him getting something to remember the Crystal Empire by. Aster couldn't help but giggle when one of Strawberry's yawns caused his sentence to become all bunched together. Somehow in an unexpected turn of events, the two got talking about ponies in armor. Strawberry had to try unreasonably hard to focus on her words when it finally came to the realization that she was calling his name,

"-awbe-Strawberry," her hushed voice finally kicked in.

Strawberry shook his head hard. Surely he heard what she was saying, right? He simply raised an eye in response but it didn't seem to get the job done so he cleared his throat as best he could,

"Yes-s?" he slurred the "s" a little bit he blamed his ability to not be able to remain awake during the day like Maine could. He was special like that with not being a bat pony and all.

"Are you okay?" her words came out a little too loudly causing the white stallion's ears to perk.

"The sun!" Maine cried as he suddenly brushed by Charter and Aster to quickly stand by Strawberry as he fought to keep his eyes open. "I'm such an idiot!"

"What's wrong, Sergeant?" Charter asked as he walked over to the trio in time to find Sergeant Crusher taking Private Nightshade's saddlebags and put them behind his own. "Is everything alright?"

Strawberry squint as a ray of sun, from one of the windows above, reflected off of the crystalline coat from the large lilac stallion straight into the bat pony's eyes. He hissed as he felt Maine gently push him into the shade of the walls. The white stallion pulled the darker stallion's helm down to cover his eyes,

"Private Nightshade is a Bat Pony, they're nocturnal creatures. Perfect for the Night Guard-"

"But make poor guards for the day shift," the Lieutenant finished the sentence rather quickly. "He can use my bunk in the barracks while you two finish delivering the medicine to the Princess,"

The two nodded before adjusting Strawberry so he could lean upon Charter. Doing a three-leg walk, Strawberry could feel his heart quicken again as the scent of fresh hay and something really sweet came rushing to his nostrils. The smell pretty much attacked the young stallion but he couldn't place what it was. With his right arm over the bigger stallion's shoulder's the bat pony softly leaned into the violet armor feeling its strange warmth which he could only guess came from the sun's painful rays. Strawberry put a hoof up to his mouth as he let out a tiny cough. He was feeling a bit warm and the armor wasn't helping one bit. Maybe if he got some sleep he'd feel much better. Maybe.

Author's Note

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUN! I had to rewrite this piece as I was writing it lol. Well any who its 4:35 am so I'm off to bed but not before I deliver this chapter out to the world! I am trying to make them longer but the guide that I have pinned on how to write fanfiction is kind of making me feel weird with doing the paragraphs like this and its kind've throwing me off, but that wont stop me!

Also, shout out to the two who favorited my first fanfic including the two who added this to their libraries! You lifted my spirit on this!