Charter's Point Of View

The large stallion carefully laid the bat pony into the closet bunk once they crossed the threshold of the troop barracks. Charter has never really dealt with a bat pony before and it seemed as though their armor was strapped more different than his own. After his chest piece was removed, the lilac Pegasus began work on Strawberry's shoulder plates. Sleeping in armor wasn't exactly the best experience in the world but he was going to have to make an exception seeing how the black pony was already snoring softly in the bed below him. Charter leaned over to the window in order to gently pull down the shade to make it slightly darker in this corner of the building.

Slowly getting back into position the stallion stole a glance down at the sleeping pony. His eyes wandered over to his wings. Unlike the big feathery ones, Charter had, Strawberry's wings looked thin and bony. He could feel his face begun to heat up once he realized that he'd been staring at the smaller stallion for longer than he should have. Turning quickly on his hooves, the larger pony took his leave of the building heading back to check in on the other Canterlot Guard to make sure things went over smoothly. Aster had a way of turning something really simple into something stupidly complicated.

His hooves made little sounds as he trotted back through the doors of the castle with a simple nod to fellow guardsmen. Charter had just barely made it past the first hallway when he heard the shouts of some stallion from further within the castle. He quickly high tailed it into gear to find out what the problem was; however, the moment he rounded the corner to his right Charter ran muzzle first into Aster. The two bounced off each other with mixed grunts. Looking up at his sister the stallion just barely was opening his mouth to speak when she beat him to it,

"Charter! Do you know where it is?!" her voice was beyond frantic.

"Wha-Where what is?" Charter asked as his sister planted her face into her left hoof. "What are you talking about?"

"The medicine, it's gone!" Aster cried out.

Charter felt more confused than a colt whose just seen the world for the first time. The medicine couldn't be gone. Strawberry and Maine came straight here from the train station. It's not like it could just up an vanish. Shaking his head the stallion was still confused but he needs to focus, there has to be a reason the medicine wasn't on the ponies when they came in,

"Aster, explain to me in detail what happened," Charter's voice cracked a little when the words left his dry mouth.

The mare took a deep breath in, then released it as she tried to compose herself,

"Sergeant Maine and I made our way to Princess Cadance's room. Like Ordered. After explaining to Captain Armor about how Private Strawberry needed to get out of the sun we attempted to hand over the medicine, but it wasn't in either Maine's or Strawberry's pouch," Aster's word went by a little fast but Charter was still able to follow the jest of everything that left her mouth.

The stallion nodded. Something told him that Strawberry may know something about this since Maine was assured that the medicine vial was in the bat pony's pouch. Charter took a step back while he rubbed his chin with his right hoof. It was still daylight which means Strawberry won't be able to answer any questions until the sun goes down. That simple fact made this all more troublesome. A heavy sigh left the stallion's lips. He needed to retrace the Canterlot Guards's steps, maybe he could gain a lead to finding the missing vial of medicine. Charter could feel Aster's eyes bore into his own as he tried his best to avoid his sister,

"Alright"-he swallowed his wondering thoughts down his throat before clearing it-"Aster, go get Sergeant Maine and meet me by the train station," he ordered.

He watched as his sister hesitated before she followed through with it. Taking a deep breath in, then out slowly. This was a mess. One that needed to be cleaned up quickly and thoroughly. Charter took a minute to collect himself. He slowly trotted back down the hallway he came from with thoughts passing through his brain. They flashed before his eyes. The stallion remembers just how tired the bat pony was on the way up to and into the castle. So it's possible that he may have accidentally dropped it at some point from a to b. Now they just need to find it by taking their route in reverse. His hooves tapped softly along the floor as he made his way to the entrance he had just passed moments before. He quickly pushed through the doors as he wasted no time in his descent into the open space below.

Charter hastily made his way into the empire's surrounding buildings while dodging ponies of all kinds on the way to the train station. He made sure to keep a special eye out for anything that resembles a vial of medicine while he moved. On the way, his mind couldn't help but journey back to the bat pony that lay sleeping in one of his troop's cots back at the barracks. How his wings looked small and fragile, yet strong enough to actually lift a full grown pony up off the ground. They didn't have feathers of any kind, nothing to keep them warm and still... they didn't freeze. Now that he looks back on it. Everything about Strawberry seemed different. He had small fangs, bony featherless wings, a small feminine snout, a slightly pushed up nose, and large sunset yellow eyes. Charter could feel his heartbeat pick up. There was just something about the bat pony that caught his attention. Shaking his head hard, the stallion began to look around him. During his thoughts, he must have ceased his movement because he was standing in the middle of a market place. The heat grew softly along his face before he began to continue along his way to the station.

Once he got to the station he began to look around. He wondered all over the sides of the station. Every corner, every nook was checked once, twice, then thrice again. There wasn't any sign of the vial anywhere. All he did manage to find was a pair of four kinds of hoof prints. Three of them leading to the Crystal Empire while one was leading up to the station. Charter assumed the one leading to the station was his very own so he canceled them out in his mind. It wasn't long until after did his fellow guard show up with four extra guardsmen, one of them being Sergeant Maine who looked as though he had just been given a lashing from his very upset parent,

"Sir, did you manage to find anything?" A guard asked as she walked up to the Lieutenant who was busy studying the hoof prints.

One set was spaced out as if the owner of the prints was in a hurry to get somewhere,

"Maine," he began standing up, "Was there someone else who got off that train with you?"

Maine stumbled for his words for a minute. He hadn't recalled seeing anyone... unless,

"There was... one other pony on the platform. I didn't get a good look at them but-"

"But what?" Charter demanded in a soft yet firm tone.

"But the pony did run into Private Strawberry, maybe he had seen their face," Maine answered as he got into a military ready stance.

Charter let out a heavy sigh. The sun is only at noon so Strawberry would be dead asleep. With his mind made up, the stallion straightened his back. They needed answers, and Princess Cadence needed that medicine. The large lilac pony turned with his back towards the group,

"Keep searching along the trail until you get back to the empire," Charter ordered, "I'm going to have a little chat without sleeping guest,"

Author's Note

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOkay, soooooo sorry for how long it took me to actually get this out. I had to rewrite it a bit. I would love to hear from you guys in the comment section. I noticed a few people have been adding this story to their stuff and it makes me happy! I also got two likes as well. So excited about that.

Anyway, sorry if it seemed short but trust me... it gets better.

If you have anything to say about the piece, please.... do leave a comment.

Love,

Jasper