Charter's Point of View

The stallion kept a simple trot pace along the self-made path in the Galloping Gorge. He'd been here since last night and he had found nothing as of yet that would even speak of a secret base for traitors who wished harm on the Crystal Empire. The sun's heat thankfully couldn't reach him in the shade that bled through the leaves from the trees above. Charter looked around carefully as he pushed forward sweat beating down his body, his hooves were muddy and he cut himself on a thorn patch a few paces back the way he came but he simply went on as though they didn't bother him then again, Strawberry was probably going through so much more than he... Charter kept telling himself that he wouldn't be hurt as long as he didn't fight back. The lilac pony's ears suddenly perked up.

A twig was snapped somewhere to his right. He was no longer alone. Charter tensed up as he spread his hooves ready to fight off anything that would stop him from getting to his goal. Even as a foal Charter always went in a hundred percent in anything and everything he was involved with.

There was no movement from the direction the noise came from so the earth pony waited a few more minutes before he started back on the path through the dense trees and bushes. Charter sighed as he moved, maybe he should've asked for help on checked on his sister before he just up and left behind everything he's known but what choice did he have? A direct order from a princess given to him personally? He couldn't have disobeyed. He swore to protect the Crystal Empire and that's what he planned on doing. He was going to see this through to the end, even if that meant leaving home for a while. Aster would be fine without him there to breath down her neck or right her wrongs.

Charter had turned his hat backward as the bill of his cap kept hitting the lower hanging branches and even unzipped his jacket with the sleeves rolled up. He put a hole along the right shoulder from it getting stuck back in the thorn patch he made the mistake of falling into. His jump from the train had been far, far from graceful. The stallion looked up with his eyes closed before he lowered it back down to focus on the path ahead; he's been going over the plan for Strawberry's rescue for over an hour and the best he could come up with was to break him out of whatever cage they had him in, most likely having to wrestle a guard to get the key and then retrace his steps as they fall back into the woods after he also grabs the vile. Charter knows that plan has a whole lot of holes in it but it was the best he could come up with since he doesn't have anything to help him out beside his own bare hooves.

It was about five minutes later that he stopped once again only this time it was due to smell. Not just any smell though, this smell came from what could only be described as someone overcooking pie. The scent was coming from somewhere in front of him and ignoring his stomach's cry for the burnt food the pony crouched down low in order to crawl forward making mental notes on where the fallen sticks had been the entire time. He stopped behind some bushes and peeked through them to find a group of ponies, mostly stallions, that looked only half trained as they huddled around what Charter could only guess as a campfire. The smell of food got stronger and from the shouts that came from some of the colts Charter wasn't the only one to notice that the cook had overdone it.

The earth pony remained silent as he checked behind him to make sure no pony was going to get the jump on him. He turned back to the group at the campfire. Altogether he counted five, but that was mostly those at the camp so there could've been more somewhere in the gorge. That's when he noticed a certain yellow unicorn laughing. How? Did he escape during the confusion after the bomb went off back at the Crystal Empire? Charter perked his ears up in order to listen better,

"Kasedy, please!" a mare perked up.

"No, I can't believe the Boss would put me in a group of newbies after I managed to sneak the vial out of the Empire and then came close to killing the traitor!" the yellow stallion barked back with a snarl.

"You know how the Boss feels about him, even the Commander has a soft spot for the stallion," another colt joined in.

They went on to argue to a couple of minutes, Charter felt like he was watching a show with how much this group bickered. What really caught his attention was when they mentioned the base and how it was only an hour's journey away. They didn't give him an exact location but they gave him enough to tell that he needs to only go east. Charter slowly backed away carefully into the woods and then began to crawl through the trees to the right. He was still close to the camp that a snap could give him away but far enough that he could breathe normally again. The stallion rolled his eyes at how much those ponies argued which lead to wonder just how they could get anything done like that unless they're the look outs- Nah, the stallion shook his head -they couldn't be, so they must be some type of patrol.

Charter kept his crawl pace until he put a few good meters between him and the camp. He wasn't going to risk being spotted on only day one. A small thought crept into his mind, what if it takes longer than a few days? Would Strawberry even last that long before Charter could get to him? The stallion had to shake his head to get rid of those questions that threatened to make his chest tighten. There wasn't any room for doubt on Strawberry's strength, he would just have to put some faith into the bat-pony... he didn't know if he could handle Strawberry's death- not that he would die, the colt survived basic, he can survive whatever they threw at him Charter dwelled on the positive thought that popped into his head.

Heading east would've been easy if the woods didn't get denser than when he first disappeared into their shadows. That's when he started to think about things. The mare, Blu he believes Strawberry called her, called Private Nightshade her baby brother. Did that mean he had older siblings? Where they also involved with the attack on the Empire as well, or did Blu act out on her own? Charter stopped in his tracks in order to collect his thoughts. He drew in a deep breath before he released it a few seconds later. The earth pony was overthinking the situation. he needed to focus on the first topic on his list. To find the enemy's base of operations.

It wasn't until nightfall did he find something that remotely similar to a base. His hooves stopped at the edge of the small cliff that overlooked the place. Charter looked down in shock at the place. The base looked nothing like he thought it would for the buildings made up what most would call a small village made of wood, or at least that's what the outer ring looked to be made of. The closer to the center the buildings where the more they seemed to be made of bricks and clay. It was the building in the center that caught Charter's eye. It was at least two stories, seven windows lined the front with four pillars around the front door that looked to be heavy but he couldn't tell from how far away he was. Charter carefully crouched down as he searched for a way to scale the wall in order to get his rewards.

Strawberry's Point of View

The young bat-pony suddenly opened his eyes the moment when something ice cold made contact with his face. Strawberry looked around to find that he was no longer inside his family home. No instead he was outside in the dark with nothing but a single torch lit and placed a few feet in front of him. Raspberry laughed as Blueberry placed the bucket down on the muddy grass. The wind blew softly as the clouds rolled in looking dark and full. Strawberry slowly rose to his hooves before he carefully walked over to the torch his siblings were standing next to which lit them up in sinister shadows that played around their features making them look even darker than they had the days before hoof. The two of them snickered as something clinked and tugged at Strawberry's neck. His eyes looked back to catch something metal shimmer in the darkness. He squinted forward to make out metallic loops. He was chained to something buried into the earth.

If it wasn't for the metal muzzle on his face Strawberry would've yelled at his siblings for acting like children. His life wasn't some type of game to be played with, and he certainly wasn't some pet they found in the woods. Raspberry laughed again at his brother's attempts of pulling the muzzle off,

"Berry, Berry, Berry..." he chuckled as Blueberry face hoofed, "It's clipped on the back! Not that you can even reach that far!" he teased as Strawberry opened his eyes then looked down to find cuffs around his fetlocks and coronets.

Strawberry whined at the sight of his newly forced state. The bat-pony closed his eyes as he sat down so he didn't have to watch his siblings walk away from him while droplets began to fall down from the darkened sky. His body ached, his head was throbbing, his bandages felt too tight around his barrel all while tears have begun to form in his eyes but they didn't fall until his opened his eyes halfway to stare at the blurry torch in the night. He slowly rose back up again to test just how much room he had, apparently Raspberry only allowed his baby brother five inches of chain to wander around. It wasn't much, but at least this way he could stare at the moon, only it had begun to rain so the moon gazing was out of the question; however, just as Strawberry sat down to stare at his cutie mark- which was made of a Treble Clef and an Eighth Note- his ears perked up at the sound of a soft whisper of his name.

His tired eyes looked around before his dulled yellow ones found a pair of sunset orange orbs staring back at him buried in the bushes that lined the back of the manor as a fence between it and the flatlands of Equestria. Strawberry was taken back by the fire that was held from within those familiar orbs and it wasn't until the eyes look over towards a brown mare with a fluffy pink mane did Strawberry flinch slightly. Nothing was more creepy than having eyes stare at you with hate-filled into them,

"You know," the mare started, "If it wasn't for you my special somepony would be here with me as of right now,"

Strawberry stood up with a tilt his head at the bushes but when the mare looked back the eyes had vanished. The mare noticed this and followed his glare towards the empty bushes. She turned back towards him to say how rude it was for a pony to ignore another when something hard and heavy hit the base of her neck knocking her silently to the ground. Strawberry stared blankly at the earth pony who now stood in front of him. Charter looked back at him before he cracked a small smirk,

"Strawberry," he stated in a hushed voice, Strawberry would to try and smile back at him to let Charter know he was glad to see him again even if he did have on a muzzle.

Maine's Point of View

The rain came down in a thin shower as Maine stopped at the corner of his street. He watched as ponies ran around to get out of the falling water into the safety of buildings or their apartments while he simply stood there in his black fedora and a slightly worn red pea coat with the collar flipped upwards. He even made sure to take the tan band out to allow his tail to fall freely, even though it was short. Maine could remember the first time he laid eyes on the bookstore across the street along with his first play date with his colt friend in the upstairs apartment.

Maine made sure that he wasn't followed back to Canterlot before, on, and after his train ride home. Aster was right about one thing, it didn't make any sense that the prisoner would freely throw Strawberry's last name outward into the open like that... unless he wasn't talking about Strawberry. His gut tightened at the thought of Strawberry's older siblings. Maine's met them once when they were younger, Raspberry made sure to leave a scar to be remembered by, Blueberry was just a friendly as Rasp but not as crazy.

The unicorn looked both ways before he trotted across the street, an act his body punished him for by sending pain into his chest. Once across the pony made quick movements to make sure he was inside the book shop. A tiny bell rang over the door. It was a small shop filled to the brim with books of all kinds. You had the fantasy, the comics upfront in the windows, paperback, hardback, fiction, and the works. Maine liked coming here as a colt, now the place sends a shiver down his spine with the new knowledge of what actions take place with Strawberry's last name.

"Be right with you!" a rough voice called out into the warmth of the air.

A small swallow and Maine realized that he hadn't even thought of a way to tell the older stallion of the situation, sure it was a need-to-know basis but still... Strawberry wouldn't want this colt to worry on his behalf. Maine was doing enough of that already. The white stallion used magic to take his hat off as well as to roll down the blinds to the windows and door. If Maine was able to discover this place it wouldn't take much for the guard to find this place either. Maine swallowed again before a coal-gray stallion no bigger than Strawberry turned around the corner with five books circling around him in glass-green magic. He opened his matching eyes while he stopped in his steps. His face of shock was quickly replaced with a happy one with the shake of his head.

"Well, I'll be!" he chirped before he strolled on over to the other unicorn, "Maine Charles Crusher!"

Maine gave him a small smile while he fixed his mini red bow tie around his neck. The stallion still couldn't think of anything but that he now remembers where Strawberry gets his hair color from,

"Hello, Mr. Nightshade," Maine replied with nervousness seeping into his voice.

Author's Note

Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun! So I decided to try and do a three-split chapter, so please please let me know how you think it turned out, if not I learn that this isn't really a good style for me. I know I've done this before but I want to know your guy's opinion on the subject thank you.