>You look around the train station as you wait for your train to arrive.
>You're sitting on a bench in the middle of the train station.
>There were only a few other ponies there with Hekesuh and you.
>Most of them were bat ponies like you two, but there were a few other races, mostly business ponies.
>You counted 9 ponies in all, which wasn't much for a full train.
>Hollow Shades is a rather small town though, so you'd expect as much.
>"Hey Aux, why're you sitting like that?"
>You look down to see you're curled up into a ball on the bench, holding your bag to your chest.
>Easing up, you slouch on the bench and look at Hekesuh sitting next to you.
"I guess I'm just not ready for this... I've never left home before and I ju-"
>You're cut off by the sound of a whistle as you hear the train approach.
>Hekesuh wraps his foreleg around yours and pulls you off the bench as you almost drop your luggage in the rush.
>"You can tell me later! It's time to go!"
>As you stumble along, you see other ponies stare as they patiently wait for the train.
>You both near the platform and he stops right near the edge as you almost fall over the edge from the sudden stop.
>Covering your eyes as you fall forward, you see your whole life flash before your eyes.
>A sudden tug on your wing pulls you back onto the platform onto your backside as the train stops in front of you.
>You rub your posterior as you stand up and punch Hekesuh on the foreleg.
>"Ow, what was that for!?"
"For almost killing me!"
>Turning around, you see your hero is a small bat filly with a pale red coat and scraggly looking pale green hair.
>She looked like a little strawberry.
"Were you the one that pulled me up?"
>She looks at you with big blue eyes before a large smile pops onto her face.
>"Yep! I saved you life!"
>You sit down to get at her level and smile back.
"Well, I can't thank you enough! What's your name?"
>"It's Strawberry, mister!"
>Well, it seemed fitting.
>Hekesuh tugged on you to signal that it was time to go.
"That's a very cute name. But, my friend and I have to go now. I'll see you around sometime when I get back to Hollow Shades."
>You stand up and she says goodbye and hugs you, holding onto you long enough to where it started to feel uncomfortable.
>As she finally lets go, Hekesuh pulls you onto the train as fast as he can.
>"I can't wait to get to Filly Delphia! I can already imagine the mares there!"
>You sigh and find a seat as more ponies board the train behind you.
>Surprisingly you see Strawberry pass you and sit alone on one of the seats.
>She puts her luggage on the seat and sits on top of it so she can see out the window.
>Why was she all alone? And why was she going to Filly Delphia?
>Maybe she was visiting relatives?
>A couple more ponies pass you to sit down before everyone has boarded the train.
>One bat mare with silver hair and pale grey coat winks at you as she passes.
>Or was she winking at a pony behind you?
>You try to glance back quickly to see a much more handsome stallion staring at you as your face turns red.
>Quickly turning around, you pull out a book and open it.
>As the train starts up and rolls out of the station, you switch between reading your book and looking out the window.
>All you could see was more forest, so you mostly read your book until a flash of light shone through the window.
>Both you and Hekesuh put your hooves up to cover the sun until your eyes adjusted and you saw a beautiful field.
>In the distance you could see tall grass swaying with the wind.
>Cows grazed in the fields and earth ponies tended to their fields.
>You had no idea what they were doing, but it looked like a lot of hard work.
>Turning to face the other window, you saw a tall mountain in the distance.
>You open your bag to find your map of Equestria and look to see it's the Foal Mountains.
>They looked so beautiful, and the sky was so clear you could see the snow on the very tops of the mountains.
>Looking over at Strawberry you see her with big eyes looking at the fields and every moment or so looking at the mountains.
>Like you, this was probably her first time out of Hollow Shades.
>The scenery flied by as the train sped through the landscape.
>As the train kept going, you passed a giant water fall in the distance.
>Checking your map, you confirm it was Neighagra falls.
>You would need to visit there before you went back home.
>Opening your window, on the train, you could feel the watery air in your face.
>You had no idea how big it must have actually been.
>Ahead of you, you could see one of the rivers from the water fall stretch all the way to in front of your train.
>Thankfully there was a bridge over it, and it looked to be pretty safe.
>The train passed over it for a couple minutes as you looked down at the raging rivers below.
>When you finally passed over, you looked out the window again to see a large mountain in front of you, with your train heading straight for a tunnel carved into it.
>You shut your window as you neared it.
>Passing through the tunnel, everything in the train became dark.
>You could see just fine though, with your special eyes.
>Well, special for you and every other bat pony out there.
>Unicorns around you cast tiny spells to light up the area around them from their horns.
>After a good long while of nothing but rock being outside your window, you emerged from another hole in the mountain to see the sky was now dark and rain was pelting your window.
>You couldn't tell what time of day it was, but you felt yourself starting to get tired.
>The rhythmic thumping of the rain water on the window didn't help either as it made you feel drowsy.
>You looked over to see Hekesuh was already asleep though.
>Curling up on your seat, you closed your eyes to get some rest yourself.

>Your eyes shooting to feel something poking your side.
>You groggily raise your head and rub your eyes.
>The rain is still pelting your window from what you can see.
"W-who's doing that...?"
>Looking over, you see Strawberry standing there.
>"Um, I was getting kind of lonely being all by myself... And I was wondering if I could sit with you and your marefriend until we got to Filly Delphia?"
>You think for a second about what she said before making a connection.
"A-actually, she isn't my marefriend. And, uh, actually, she is a he."
>She looks at you, and back to the sleeping Hekesuh and starts to giggle uncontrollably.
>You put your hoof over her mouth to shush her.
"We don't want to wake everyone up. And to answer your question, you can stay with us."
>She gives a smile and crawls onto the seat next to you and puts her small luggage on the floor.
>She curls into a little ball on the chair and looks up at you with those big eyes of hers.
>"Thank you for letting me sit with you, mister."
>You give her a smile back.
"My pleasure, Strawberry."
>She lowers her head and slowly drifts off to sleep as you sit near the window.
>You put the side of your head up against it and watch the rain hit the window until you eventually drift off to sleep as you see the weak light of Filly Delphia in the distance.